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CAMPAIGN OF 1887.

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SPEECHES

— BY-

-r'i7

HON. EDWARD BLAKE

-->. - ON THE POLITICAL QUESTIONS OF THE DAY,

delivered in the Province of Ontario, subsequent
to the Prorogation of the Federal Parlia-
V ment, June, 1886, and previous to , «
> •*^ . -' ' . its Dissolution, Jany., 1887. ^/^^j

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BY THE PROVIN

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Issued

ciAL Reform Association, Toronto,

Ont.

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Toronto:

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HUNTER,,

ROSE & CO.,

PRINTERS.

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1887.

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LIST OF SPEECHES IN THIS SERIES.

♦".

No. I.— (Lovdon): General Review of Situation. Riel Question. i

(Owen Sound) : North-West Maladministration. Riel.
No. s.^Bkaverton) : Indepen<Ience of Parliament. The Boodle Brigade.
No. 3.— (Chesley) : Public Finances — Taxation and Deficits — Farmers-
No. 4.— (^i><coE) '• Federal and Provincial Rights— Ontario— Nova Scotia. •

(GuELPH)— Elections near.— Tory Dodges— Nova Scotia.
No. $.— <OwsN Sound) : Principles of Liberalism— Duty of the Leader.
(Welland) — Policy of the Party — Functions of an Opposition.
(Oakwood)— Sir J. Macdonald on Functions of an Opposition.
No. 6. — Extracts— (Gv%u*h) : Home Rule for Ireland.

(Berlin): Firebrand Tory attempts to excite Germans.
(Oalt & Orangeville) .- Indian Starvation Policy.
(Pembroke) : Maladministration felt at Cut Knife Hill.
No. J.— Extracts— (K.KSDALL) : Business Methods required in Public Affairs
— Degradation of Parliament— A few Boodlers.
(Hampton) : Civil Service Reform.
(Galt) : Burden of Public Debt.
(Orangbville) : Burden of Public Debt.
(Belleville): Burden of Public Debt — The Interest on Debt
(Oakwood) : Burdei; of Public Debt— Our Public Expen-
diture
No. 8.— (Newcastle) : CarAdian Pacific Railroad Matters.

(LisTowEL): Canadian Pacific Railroad Matters— The last Sacri<

fee of $10,000,000— Collapse of Tory " Boom " Policy.
(St Thomas) : North-West Lands.
(HuHTSviLLE) : R.R. Policy— Sir John's Subsidies to " Guinea-Pig "

Directors — Assisted Immigration and Railway Frauds.
(Parry Sound) : Railway Policy of Liberals.
(Orangivillk) : Railway Policy of Liberals.
(Brantford) : The Kansas Slander.
(LisTOWBL) : The Sea of Mountains.
No. 9.— (Winoham) : Blake's Tribute to Mackenzie.

(Stavner): Blake's Tribute to Sir Richard Cartwright
(Brantfokd) : Blake's Tribute to Paterson— Duty of Young Men.
No. 10. — (Welland) : Liberal Party, Creeds and Classes.

(Orilua): Leaders and Newspapers— The "Mail" Crusade.
No. If.— (Aylmbr): Prohibicion and Politics.
No. 13.— (Toronto) : Interests of Labour— The Tariff.
(Welland) : To Knights of Labour.
(Bbllbvillb) ; Legislation for Labour.
(Desbronto) : Workingmen ;And Parties.

(Hamilton): Workingmen and Parties. ^'

Na 13.— (Hamilton) : Provincial Issues— The Religious Cry— Liberals and

Catholics.
No. 14.— (Lindsay) : North-West Affairs — Neglect, Delay and Misman-
agement—Race and Creed Cries.

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INDEX.

Abstinence from Intoxicating Drinks

Aflsisted Passages for Immigrants

♦♦ Blind Shares " Scandal

Boundary Dispute

Business Methods in Politics

Canadian Pacific Railway : —

Conditions Fixed by Parliament in 1878

Conservative Protest Against Expenditure

Cost to the Country

Diamonds (Sir John M&cdonald) . .

Discrimination Against Ontario

Historical Summary

Immigration into the North- West . .

Lands, Value of

Land Sales, Exaggerated Estimates of

Liability to Government Reduced . .

Macpherson (Sir David), Against C. P. R. Burden

Monopoly

Proposal Made for C. P. R. Construction in 1880

Public Interest in the C. P. R.

Syndicate Bargain in 1881, Results of

Wheat Production, Tupper's Exaggeration
Oartwright (Sir Richard), Liberals and
Chambly and Haldimand Elections . .

Chinese Question

Civil Service Reform : —

' Competitive Examinations

Compulsory Saving

Extra Remuneration . .

Salaries Increase^ Unwarrantably
' ' Superannuation
Costigan Testimonial

Debt of Canada ..
Diamonds (Lady Maodonald)

I'v.

PAOK

. . 324, 351
. . 241, 337

13, 106, 380

177

30, 217

208
208
223, 344
73
214
9-10
212
225 230
213, 217-222
224-232
209
343
210
207
215, 344
214
269
269
363

183
186
185
184
186

187, 197, 202
. . ' : 78

210

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**'V

*•,

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INDEX.

Factory Legislation ...

Fiuance of the Dominion : —

Annual Expenditure, Increase in
Controllable Expenditure, Increase
Credit of Canada and United States
Debt of Canada. .
Deficits . .

Interest on Public Debt
' , Loans, Comparative Cost of . .

' Mackenzie and Macdonnld Regimes

Surplus Question
Franchise Act

Compared

a-.

■4-

•«(

Gerrymander of 1882

Olobe and Mail

Haldimand and Chambly Elections
Home Rule for Ireland : —

Blake Resolution of 1886
^ Costigan Resolution of 1882 . .

Gladstone's Bill, Canadian Opinion on
Home Rule Just and Proper . .
House of Commons ; —

Civil Servants Intimidated . .
Disputed Elections Settled by Partisan Majority . .
.^ Franchise a Reason for Early Dissolution . .

Franchise for the Dominion Should be Provincial. .
Gerrymander of Constituencies
. Independence of Members Destroyed by Oorrup-

vlOu •• >• •• •• •• ■• ^^t

, , Indians and the Franchise

Manhood Sufirage
. Ministers, Testimonials to . .

Oath of Elections, Defective

' Returning Officers, Appointment of
. ,r Revising Barristers, . .

Woman Suffrage,
Hurried Legislation,

FAOB

863

.. 197, 200

187, 197, 202

.. 94, 200

196

198

.. 203-206

62-68

69-62
.. 301-306

269

156
156
159
286

06
68

129

.. 62, 63

8, 60

68, 74, 86, 180

.. 271-275

.. 67, 141

67'

.. «|.

6f^

178

Immigration Policy,

Indian Administration : —

"^ >. , Condition of Indians, . .

Official Reports of Condition of Indians
; %. , , Sir John Macdonald's Defence

Starvation of Indians

241, 335

400

.. 166-170

164

42, 92, 166

INDEX.

PAGB

863

197, 200

197, 202

94, 200

196

198

203-206

62-68

269

166

169

286

129

62,

86,

180

271-275

67,

141

67^

178

PAOB

Indians and the Franohiae 271-275

•* Kansas " Slander Rofuted 248-2r>0

King's County Election Case 69

Labor Question : —

Arbitration in Labor Disputes 360

, Assisted Passages for Immigrants . . . . 337

Bureau of Statistics Proposed 346

Canadian Pacific Railway Monopoly 343

Capital and Labor *349

Chinese Question 363

Contract of Service, Breaches of 330

. • . Co-operation 360

Criminal Offences Act Amendments (1872, ]87(>).. .. 330,360

Factory Legislation 363

Government Employees and Labor Unions , . 366, 371

.. s Immigration and Labor 336

Income Tax, Graduated . . 342

' - Knighthood Refused by Mr. Blake 352

Knights of Labor 352

Labor, Free Importation of 336

Labor and Capital 349

Labor and Temperance 361

Labor Representatives in Parliament . . ' . . . . 348

Liberal Stand on the Tariff Question 332

Mail's Anti- Union Agreement with Employees . . . . 358

Monopolies Fostered by Tariffs 343

Over- Production of Protected Manufactures . . . . 338

Partnership 349

Printers' Strike of 1872 357, 372-375

Prison Labor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Royal Commission on the Labor Question 347

Savings Banks and Wage-earners 366

Seamen's Act, Offences under 331, 370

' Specific Duties unjust to the Poor . . • 343

Succession Tax 342, 356

** (Tariff and Labor 331

VTariff and Wages 334

"''■ Taxation heaviest on the Poor 341

,' \Taxation increased by the Tariff .. ^ 340

•^. Taxation of Luxuries 342

;'' V * Taxation of Necessaries of Life 343

- * -^ Toronto Street Railway Company and Labor Unions . . 358

Wages of Labor, Average in Ontario 340

/' J-' .-

' I

INDEX.

A '•

Land Sales

Langevin Testimonial

Leadership, Duties of

Letendre Case

Liberal Policy

Liberalism Defined

Liquor Liconses

Maodonald (Sir John) Testimonial
Mackenzie (Hon. Alexander), Slanders against

Mail and Olobe

MaU a " Daily Orange Sentinel,"

Manhood Suffrage

Meredith and the " No Popery " Cry . .
Monopolies Fostered by Tariffs
Monopoly, Canadian Pacific Railway . .
Mowat Administration : —

Ability of the Mowat Ministry

■i Bible in schools

. / Boundary Dispute

Dominion Ministers in Ontario elections
Internal policy of the Mowat Government.
Meredith the Lieutenant of Sir John Macdonald . .
"No Popery " Cry in the Ontario elections of 1886
Separate School Act Amendments

PAOI

213, 217-230

.. 137, 144

287

160

142

.. 14, 103

2()2-268, 300

.. 301-306

306

.. 67, 14]

384

343

379
.. 386, 396
13, 106, 380
382
378
377
384
385

New Brunswick School Act

North- West policy and administration : — i

. "BUnd Shares "Scandal

'^ \ Danger of Half -Breed and Indian rising . .
Dennis (Col.), Report on Half -Breed claims
Difficulties of administration . .

Grievances of settlers

^ ' Guns (Mountain) useless at Cut-Knife
t^ Half-Breeds, Necessity for conciliating

• , Half-Breed claims

. r Immigration into .the North- West ..

y Indians, Condition of. .

" Kansas " Slander refuted

Land Sr^es, exaggerated estimates . .
North- West Council on Half-Breed claims. .
Population (Indians, Half-Breeds, Whites). .
Remonstrances from Half-Breeds unheeded

Riel in the North- West

" Sea of Mountains"

Speculation in lands

Surveys, Premature

31,

■■>

31, 213,

: wA..

;^>^

289

408-411

409

397

172-176

401

402

95, 212

400

248-256

217-230

404

399

407

408

257-260

PAOB

217-230

137, 144

287

150

142

14, 103

268, 300

301-306

306

67, 141

384

343

379

386, 396
106, 380
382
378
377
384
386

289

82
408-411
409
397
34
72-176
401
402
15, 212
400
(48-256
17-230
404
399
407
408
(67-260
11
32

■ »

* INDBX.

North- Weit policy and ■dminlstration :— •

Taohft (Archbishop) on Half -Breed claims

* Timber limit scandals . .

Wheat production (Tuppor's estimate)

O'Donoghue (W. B.) case..
Opposition, Function of . .
Orange Incorporation

Politics, Business methods in . .
Printing Scandals . . . .

Prohibition

Provincial Rights :—

Boundaries of Ontario

Escheats . .

Federal Constitution . .

Home Rule, Provincial

Liquor Licenses

Local Liberties and Popular Rights

Nova Scotia Case

Railway Control

Repeal of the Canadian Union

Streams Bill

Tarili and Maritime Province Trade

'* PAOB •

405
83 .
.. 32, 215 •

284 ^•'
.. 149-151
285, 307-319 . .

177
.. 242, 336
142, 321-328 ,-

13, 106, 380

13, 106

155

14, 103
102

112-126, 134-135
111
124 126
13, 108 -
119

Race and Religion : —

Appeals to Race Feeling condemned .. .. 160-164, 284

Bible in Schools 386-396

BisliopB, Sir John Macdonald's Letter to 307

" Catholic Horse " and " Protestant Horse " . . . . 319

Germans and French 161

4 Letendre Case 287

New Brunswick School Question 289

" No-Popery " Cry in Ontario Elections (1886) . . . . 384

O'Donoghue (W. B.) Case 286

b'Donohoe (Hon. John) 291

Orange Incorporation 285, 307-319

' _ " Protestant Horse " and " Catholic Horse " . . 319

Riel's Execution 422

Separate School Act Amendments 386

Railway Policy : —

. . Liberals, PoUcy of .. .. " 237,245

\^ , Reimbursement of Local Expenditure '234

Snbsidios a Moans of Par^amentary Corruption . , 7&-82, 239

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INDEX.

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Railway Scandals :— , .a - p^^^

Bale des Ohaleurs Railway (Robitaille, MoGreeyy, &o.) . . 80, 247

,<^ Caraquet Railway (Bums) 79,239

Gatineau Valley Railway (Mackintosh) . . . . 80

.-,^,, International Railway (Pope) 80

Northern Pacific Junction Railway (McCarthy) . . . . 81, 247

North-West Central Railway (Beatty) 76

Pontiac and Pacific Junctiou Railway (Chapleau).. .. 80

Quebec and Lake St. John Railway (Caron) . . . . 80

Reciprocity 133

Rial and North- West Rebellions :—

Documents Suppressed 39, 412

V- Half-breed Affidavits .. ..^ 417

«•* - HaK-breed Census . . 415

Half-breed Claims Commission 416

Half-breed Grievances 35,402

Half-breed Petitions 36, 406

HalMreed Sympathy, Value of 35, 401

Ministers Personally Warned in 1884 . . . . 411

Opposition Attitude Towards the Rebellion 419

Prerogative of Commutation . . . . . . . . . . 18, 46

Race Prejudices 19, 44, 422

RebeUions of 1869 and 1885 15

Remonstrances Unheeded at Ottawa. . . . . 411

Riel Invited to the North- West 408

Riel Issue Not a Party Question 25, 44

Riel's Execution 26

Riel's Sanity 24, 46

Riel's Trial 22

Trea-^n at Ottawa 421

Volunteers Commended 419

'4'

Scott Act, Dominion Government Responsible for Enforcing . . 326

." Sea of Mountains " 257, 260

Senate Reform : —

Second Chamber a Necessity

Senate No Protection to Provinces Now

Senate No Check on Hasty Legislation

Senate a Partisan Body.

Senate Should be Elected by Popular Vote

Superannuation of Civil Servants

56
53
53
54
56
185

Tariff Policy :—

* Agriculture and Manufactures
Agriculture and the Tariff ..
Labor and the Tariff . .

331

.^^. - V

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INDE^.

Tariff Policy :-7

. / • . r £1aritime Provinoes and the Tariff

Eeoipiodty and the Tariff
< Specific Duties Unjust to the Poor

Sugar Duties

Taxation Heaviest on the Poor
-■ Taxation Increased by the Tariff
'/'Z' Taxation of Necessities of Life.

Wages and the Tariff . .

Temperance Question

Tory Aliaaea

Tory Travelling Combination . .

Welland Election in 1872
Woman Suffrage . .

I /

) s ) ■ ■ •

/ '• Vll

, PAOB

119

133
343
339

• • • • crxX

• ■ • • OOv

343

142, 321-328, 351

.. .. fi7,

. . 294-299

283
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THE LONDON BANQUET SPEECH.

V GENERAL REVIEW OP THE SITUATION. ' \

KORTH-^WEST MALADMINISTKATIOISr.

RIEL'S EXECUTION.

•>. \*

• t

" I DO NOT PROPOSE TO CONSTRUCT A POLITL
CAL PLATFORM OUT OF THE REGINA SCAFFOLD, OR
TO CREATE OR CEJSdENT PARTY TIES WITH THE
BLOOD OF THE CONDEMNED."

Mr. Blake was in Europe at the time of Riel's execution, and
for some time afterward. Upon his return a banquet was given
in his honour at London, on 14th January, 1886.

Mr. Blake rose amid tremendous cheering and spoke as follows :
I thank you, from my inmost heart I thank you, for the
warmth and cordiality of your reception. I know it to be far
beyond any poor deserts of mine; but it is another and most
marked expression of that continuous, abiding and unbounded
kindness And confidence which have been shown me by the Lib-
eral party for these many years, and especially during those dark
and trying times which have passed since I took the lead. Will
you allow me to use this, my first available opportunity, to con-
grat'uiate the Liberals of Ontario on the activity they are now

displaying; AND PARTICULARLY TO EXPRESS MY JOY AT TBE
ENERGETIC CONDUCT AND SUCCESSFUL ORGANIZATION OF THE

Y"0UNG Liberals — (hear, hear) — and to return my grateful thanks
for the honour done me by my election to the honorary presi-
dency of their great convention, a gathering from which I expect
the best results. I declare, Sir, that it wovdd be as impossible
for my friends and supporters in and out of Parliament to surpass,
as it is for me to repay their goodness. It has cheered and sus-
tained me through many gloomy and some stormy hours, and I
can never foi'get it while I live. You know, gentlemen, I have
never concealed it from you, that it was witii reluctance I accept-
ed the lead. High and honourable as that post is, I never coveted
it ; it suits me in no one of its relations to my life ; I am deeply
conscious how inadequately I fill it; and I grow eftch year more
anxious 'to return to the ranks. I am told by some Ministerial

'.' ,j

* ■ *''

».'.,.'

>:» ■

organs, which, of course, have very confidential relations with the
Opposition — (laughter) — that my wishes p»re seconded by a con-
siderable number of my friends. (No, no.) I am glad to know it,

' and I wish that our community of sentiment in this matter might
lead that contingent to so far confide in me as to concert measures
to accomplish our common end. If they would accept me as their
leader for this purpose only, perhaps we might, so united, make
more progress tow.ds the desired end than we have done hither-
to. (Laughter.) I am not in the habit of oflfering myself for
office, but I make an exception in their favour, and shall expect
their reply ! (Laughter.) Meantime, as this is a question, not of
measures, but of men, they and I, as good party men, must try
and subordinatb our views for the moment to those of the major-
ity, in the hope that by continuous pressure we may convert them
• in good time to our opinionu. (Laughter.)

To be serious, gentlemen, I trust that at no distant day you
will relieve me, and meantime I will do my best, so far as health

• and abilities allow, to serve you in the place you impose upon
me. (Loud and prolonged applause.)

During the last few years many great struggles have taken
place, and the opposing parties have developed their views on
various important public questions. Let me run rapidly over the
roll and recall to you some of these issues, so that you may judge

\. of the claims of each side to public confidence and support. Try
the Government, as I often told you, by their promises and their
porformances. There can be no fairer test.

Let us look at the ^ - • '

'■'';'.■_,,• FISCAL AND FINANCIAL POLICY. * v

They declared Mr. Mackenzie's expenditures too high, and pro-
mised to reduce it. They have increased it about fifty per cent.
They declared his taxation burdensome, and promised not to raise
it. They have raised it about fifty per cent. They condemned
his taxation as unequal, and promised to readjust it. They have
redressed the inequality by imposing great sectional taxes, enor-
mous burdens on prime necessaries of life, and rates of duty on
important staples used by the poor about twice as high as those
laid on the rich. They declared his deficits scandalous and disas-
trous, but notwithstanding the vast increase in taaes they have
Traduced magnijicent dejicits of their own. (Hear, hear.) And
think for a moment what those deficits would be, had you still
the misfortune to be taxed as lightly as in Mr. Mackenzie's time.
Tiiink of it, and measure the failure of these men in finance !
They blamed Mr. Mackenzie for proposing a modest svrplus of
$500,000, and declared that he had no right to levy that large

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sum in excess of the actual demands of Government, and should
reduce the taxes at once. They, by their great added duties, col-
lected surpluses of near $20,003,000, of which they boasted as
evidences of statesmanship ; and they refused to reduce the taxes,
though we warned them of the result. The result is before you —

A RECKLESS INCREASE OF THE PUBLIC CHARGE, UNTIL IT HAS
REACHED AND PASSED THE CAPACITIES OF THE ENLARGED REVENUE,
AND YOU ARE FACE TO FACE WITH ENHANCED OBLIGATIONS, VAST

TAXATION AND AN EMPTY EXCHEQUER. They complained" of Mr.
Mackenzie's increase to the public debt, created in fulfilment of
their own settled policy. They have enlarged that debt beyond
the wildest conjectures of 1878, or even 1882, and have thus, apart
from the heavy charge of redemption, absorbed all the benefit de-
rivable from the lowered rate of interest over the world. They
have drawn from the people in duties and deposits, and perman-
ently sunk, enormous sums which would otherwise have gone in-
to circulation ; and they have thus increased the stringency and
clogged the wheels of trade. They promised by a system of re-
striction and taxation to legislate into great and permanent "pros-
perity the. manufacturing and agricultural industries. We pre-
dicted that their system would result, as to manufactures, in the
abstraction for a varying period of inordinate profits from the
people, and then in an unwholesome stimulus and an unwise ap-
plication of capital ; that with our small population a glut would
soon ensue ; and that there would follow demoralization of trade,
and distress alike to manufacturer and operative. Look at the
main glories oftlielr policy, tlie cotton industries, the vjoollen in-
diLstries, the sugar industries, for examples, and read in their
records the fulfilment of our prediction ! They have regulated
the flour-milling industry to death.

AS TO THE AGRICULTURAL INTEREST,

in whose leading branches we were producing a surplus, remember
their dishonest attempts to gull the farmers ; their declarations
that they could improve prices by duties ; their promises to bring
a town population to every farmer's door. Remember during a
brief period of high prices, their claim that it was all their doing.
Remember also our declaration that their policy would hurt and
could not help the farmer. Look at later prices for wool and
barley, wheat and beef, and other products, and draw your own
conclusions. As to the operative and the labourer, remember their
promises to them, and our argument that the free competition in
labour between Canada and foreign States would tend to regulate
wages, and that for labour there was no protection. It has since
been admitted by them that the condition of labour in the States
is a main factor. ■ , ^»t-.i;/.*i,^f- • ,jtt'>^js>

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-'■Need I say any thing of ' ">

THE BALANCE OF TRADE,

of the Minister's sage declarations that he was going to reduce
imports, of his joy when one year they balanced exports, of his
announcement that they were going to improve even on this ; of
the condition of the balances shortly after, and of the anxiety now
entertained that we may import largely so as to pay more taxes ?
(Applause.)

After a period of distress which culminated in 1879, there came,
as was natural and inevitable, in spite of misgovernment,

A GLEAM OF PROSPERITY TO CANADA.

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They claimed it all for themselves. They had done it with their
little acts — (lauohter) — and what they had done they would con-
tinue to do. Thei/ promised us ten years of pros^perity. They
advised us to clap on all sail. All over Canada they promoted
the boom and encouraged the expansion. They declared that it
was but the foretaste of good things to come ; we had had but the
first inkling of the joys prepared for us. (Laughter.)

Having dissolved in 1882, at the top of the wave, a year before
the time, " Return us," they said, " and we will make the good
times better still. What we ha\ j done, we will do tenfold." Do
you remember the hundreds of new manufacturers and the mil-
lions of new capital that the verdict of 1882 was to introduce
into Canada ? Many believed them. They got their majority.
Many acted on their advice, and launched into adventures, clap-
ping on all sail for the ten years' prosperous voyage. We warned
you that it was a delusion fostered by the crime or the folly of
the Ministers. Some sensible men in the walks of commerce and
finance soon after raised their warping voices too. Much mischief
was done, but much was thus averted. A crisis was avoided. But
a period of severe distress and depression is what you have under-
gone, instead of the promised ten years' voyage under unclouded
skies, with sails swelling before a favouring breeze. Tn truth,
instead of helping they had hurt yoa. They retarded the arrival,
they diviiinished the exterd, they shortened the duration of yoar
■prosperity, and they intensified the following depression. (Loud
applause.)

Look, I pray you, everywhere and at everything,. V „.,'..; ,.; ,

■ , .^[ :!' ' V ' CONTRAST PREDICTIONS AND PROM ISES \ . ' '• " , .'^

with events and results, and say whether oxir rulers are to be
trusted more ! Alas, their removal will not undo all the evil they
have wrought. Their works will live after them. (Laughter.)

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, They have brought the country into such a state that we must
• ahandon for years to come the hope of dispensing with vei^f bur-
densome taxation, though I believe our condition may be greatly
. bettered by wise readjustments and judicious relaxation, and by
honesty, economy and retrenchment in government. They pro-
mised to create a mutually beneficial interprovincial trade. They
have, indeed, forced some of our Western products and trade upon
the East, but they have failed to give the East a Western market,

' and they have produced in the Maritime Provinces a condition of
irritation and ill-feeling so marked, a sense of injustice at the vio-
lation of pre-confederation promises so great, that t is my belief
that the sentiment as to Confederation is less favourable, the link
of union is less strong to-day than it was ten years ago. I regret
that many in the East blame Confederation rather than misgovern-
ment for the unhappy results.

They promised that their tariff policy would

SECURBr A RECIPROCITV TREA.TY

in two years. Reciprocity was their goal ; and it was to be reached
by great Canada putting pressure on our little neighbours to the
south. (Laughter.) They have not secured reciprocity. They
have hardly tried. They have told us for seven years that it was
useless to try, and unpatriotic to talk of it ; and so far as they
dared their press has discouraged the idea. This is for us, as well
as for those of the United States near us on the south, though of
course not for those more remote, the greatest material question.
There is none so important on either side of the lino to the
neighbouring populations! But it seems to me that for many long
years they have minimized the chances of a treaty. In 1872 they
declined the United States offer of trade privileges in conriection
with the fishery relations ; they accepted the principle of a money
compensation for the fisheries ; they left the headland question in
abeyance-; they abandoned the Fenian raid claims ; they gave
away the free navigation of the St. Lawrence ; and having thus
seriously damaged and complicated our interests, they refused,
towards the expiration of the treaty, though pressed as well by
us as by the Imperial Government, to act with regard to the new
conditions shortly to arise. They took no step in time; but after
Congress had adjourned, and when, as everyone but themselves
knew, it was impossible to procure a mutual extension, they pro-
posed it in language most useful to the American Secretary.
They gave him an easy task. He blandly adopted their views as
to the inexpediency of shutting out the American fisherman, but,
to their great surprise, he told these superior diplomatists that,
under the Constitution of the Republic, Congress alone could ex-
tend the freedom of the trade, and thus he used our position as a

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means of obtaining a one-sided extension by which we gave up
all and got nothing. "■> • .. ,

OUR WISE MEN, , / . r • V '

informed at last of the Constitution of the United States, and
embarrassed by their own argument, yielded, with results to
the Canadian fisherman we can easily understand. Our Govern-
ment does not seem to have thought about — at any rate, they
made no effort to prolong — the transit arrangements, which soon
after ended to the detriment of important Canadian interests. A
promise was, however, given that Congress should be recom-
mended to create a commission to consider the fishery and trade
questions ; and negotiations are said to be expected, let us hope to
have a more prosperous issue than our past experience oi the
statesmanship of our representatives would warrant us in expect-
ing. (Hear, hear.)

The 'J ories mourned with bitter tears over

THE EXODUS

from Canada in Mr. Mackenzie's . time, and the slow growth of
population in town and country. They promised to change all
that, and largely at the expense of the Canadian Pacific Railway
to introduce fresh numbers to our soil. But the exodus tvas
greater than before, and the general progress of urban and rural
population has been slower than before, while they have expended
enormous sums on immigration, to a considerable extent on per-
sons who come into competition with classes already hard pressed,
and on others who were but transient visitors to Canada.

They complained of our restricted foreign trade, and promised,
by treaties of commerce, to open up to us new markets. To
achieve these triumphs • . .

^^.■

THEY APPOINTED A HIGH COMMISSIONER,

with a magnificent furnished mansion, and large salary and
allowances, aggregating, I believe, something near the salary
of the United States Minister at London. Missions to France
and Spain became the order of the day. In Spain we decided
to stop, because for some incomprehensible reason it was sup-
posed our advance might interfere with English negotiations,
which have come to nothing. In France we lost a treaty by the
dela3^s incident to reference to the Imperial authorities, ihe Min-
isters have laboured, and have not even brought forth a mouse.
(Laughter.) . . ' • ' . * .; -. ... * ^'

But I forget. There are mysterious rumours about a second
French treaty, which is said to have perished untimely before its

gave up

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birth, which has been buried in secret, and which we must try
some day to exhume for a coroner's inquest. They declared that
the new office would save the cost and inconvenience of English
Ministerial missions, but the missions have been more costly and
numerous than before. In fact, a Minister or two generally
crosses every year. But to make up, the High Commissioner
spends a good deal of his time in Canada. (Laughter.) Not-
withstanding the complete failure of their system, tliey reject the
step of aecuHng to Canada the right to make com'>nercial treaties;
the only step which will relieve us from the entaiiglements insepa-
rable from the present plan, and give us a chance to advance in
this direction our material interests. (Applause.) They have
failed to secure the extension of extradition arrangements with
the United States, which are in a condition scandalous to both
countries, making each the refuge of the other's rogues, and which
could be amended easily and, very soon were we in direct com-
munication with our neighbours through an agent at Washington,
as I have long since recommended.

They have always professed themselves the only successful ad-
justers of our relations with the Provinces.

I have spoken of their trade and taxation policy. I will speak
hereafter of their centralization policy.

'' ■ ' . ' ■" ' ■

AS TO THE MONEY RELATIONS, /

theirs has been a hand-to-mouth policy — (hear, hear) — not based
on general principles, bad for all the Provinces, productive of
local operations, demands, and expectations of the most serious
character. They have brought the question, at best one of great
difficulty, and touching a very grave, I hope not a fatal, defect in
the Confederation scheme, into still greater difficulties. At this
moment the situation of Nova Scotia is serious. That Province
has made representations to Ottawa which have perhaps got into
the North -VVest pigeon-holes — (laughter) — and discontent and ir-
ritation are aroused. The settlement with Quebec did not take
into account the claims of the other Provinces, and is said not to
be final for Quebec itself, which is claimed to be still in a dis-
tressed financial condition. Other Provinces are coming forward,
and the whole q^uestion has reached an acute condition. , v
While refusing to entertain the idea of "^

REFORMING THE SENATE,

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the Glpvernment have, by their appointments, their vacancies, and
"fey their management of Parliamentary business, impaired its
modest possibilities of usefulness and its modest share of public
confidence. That body is now pretty generally recognized for

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what it is, a convenient reserve of Tory patronage when in office,
and a powerful weapon in Tory handH after they are defeated at
the polls. (Applause.) They have two chances. If you support
them at the polls they have both legislative chamber-, but if you
defeat them they have the Senate still, and can use it to thwart
the popular will We believe that it is not consistent with the
modern democratic vieus of free institutions that the Executive
should have power to nominate legislators for life. (Applause.)
We believe that the legislative bodies should be elective, and respon-
sible to the people for whom they make the laws. (Hear, hear.)

Talk of the Senate as a revising body ! Read the record of its
sittings and of its revisory action on the great bills, and discard
that notion forever ! (Hear, hear). The Senate contains some
good men, some able and upright men, but its constitution is
vicious, and should be changed.

The Government was gradually (prced, in part to make, in part
to accept, improvements in

^ >

> , THE ELECTION LAW.S. '. ; '

To our long-continued efforts you owe the one day and simul-
taneous polling and the trial by judges. (Hear, hear.)

When the Reformers came in they gave up the right to name
the returning-officers, and provided that responsible public officials
should fill the posts. But the Tories, taking advantage of the
change while their opponents were in office, the moment they re-
turned to power repealed the law, and seized into their hands
the appointments. They took and have abused the power.
(Hear, hear.)

They have " , • '

SYSTEMATICALLY GERRYMANDERED ONTARIO.

This Pro>iuce was within one of an equal division at the polls in
1882. But the gerrymander took from us eight seats, and endan-
gered many more, so that we are in a decided minority in Parlia-
ment, and the change of a few votes would have almost swept
us out of the House, though still sustained by half the electorate.
This was a shameful and shameless act ; a high-handed usurpa-
tion ; an act of despotism under the forms of free institutions.
(Hear, hear.) It was an act which sapped the foundations of free
and con^titutional government, and outrage every notion of fair
play. It is an act which we must never forget till its perpetra-
tors are punished, and its wrongs undone. (Cheers.) j';i ■' ..
The Government has since taken from the Provinces the powep
which each Province had up till lately exercised of settling the
Dominion fianchise. It is a power which, as the neighbouring

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in office,
'eated at
1 support
it if you
thwart
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iJxecutive
pplause,j
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Did of its
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giins some
itution is

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t to name
ic officials
,ge of the
t they re-
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e power.

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in Parlia-

lost swept

lelectorate.

jd usurpa-

Istitutions.

)ns of free

lion of fair

perpetra-

bhe poweF
jttling the
rhbouring

K^ipublic proves, it is more consistent with the federal sjurit to
leave with the Provinces, They have thus cheated a double

FRANCHISE, A DOUBLE UEOISTIIATION, DOUBLE TROUBLE AND EX-

I'ENSE. Their franchise is less liberal than that of tlie late On-
tario Act, and they retain the plural vote. They have conferred
on the unenfranchised indian.s, of whom the bulk are shown, by
their own official reports, to be uneducated and dependent, who
have not yet got, are declared unfit for, and do not want tlie other
privileges an<l responsibilities of citizenship, who are the wards
of the First Minister and Chief Superintendent, the ri„dit of vot-
ing for their guardian's candidate if they chojse, and against hira
if they dare. They have taken from the municipal officers the
preparation of the lists, and, contrary to the English system, have
seized the a|)pointmcnt of makers antl revisers into tlioir own
liands. Their use of the power has been nioderated for a time
by the vigourous opposition and the force of public opinion ; but
they have in some cases greatly abused the power by the choice
of partizans whose names figure in the records of election peti-
tions, and are embalmed -in the judgments on the trials. This
act should have an end.

They have, besides these indirect means of affiicting the people's
choice, ...

' '• THEMSELVES ELECTED MEMBERS OF PARLLVMENT. ' '

They made Sir Charles Tupper member for Cumberland by act of
Parliament. By resolution they turned oflf the choi(;e — the ad-
mitted choice — of the majority of the electors of Kings ; they re-
fused to take the opinion of the court ; they refused to take the
opinion of the people ; they seated in Parliament the man whom
Kings had rejected, and he now represents the people, forsooth, by
grace not of the people's votes, but of the Conservative majority
in Parliament !
As to

THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY, , ., ./

the question is so vast and so encumbered with details that I
despair in this rapid review of giving you even a bird's-eye
glimpse of its later history. In 1:^78 both parties were agreed
that the country should not be further taxed for its construction,
but leading Tories thought Mr. Mackenzie had gone too fast;
they were alarmed because up to 1877 $6,250,000 had been spent,
and they condemned as premature the work between Port Arthur
and "Winnipeg. In 18S1 they proposed that we should arrange
for a company to construct part and own the whole road at a cost
to the public of about $60,000,000 in cash, and 25,000,000 acres ;
and that we should give the company vast privileges and mono-

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polies. They rejected better terms. But they pretended that
their barcain would involve no burden on the people, as it would
be settled out of the sales of the public lands. They justified the
enormous price, because of the expecte<l loss in operating in the
early years ; and they declared that the terms were liberal because
they were final, and that the contractors could and would do the
work without further calls on us. They have allowed the com-
pany to enlarge enormously the sphere of its operations beyond
the contract line ; to apply its credit and devote its energies
largely to these operations, an<l to expend on them out of the
company's resources to the close of 1884 over $18,000,000. They
have allowed the Company up to the same date to pay or set
aside for dividends about $20,000,000. They have altoived if to
^adopt in its stock operations the ivater ayf<tem, so that for $25,-
000,000 stock the original proprietors paid only $10,000,000, and
for the whole $65,000,000 the company received only $29,500,000.
They have since lent the company $30,000,000, and have spent or
pledged in connection with the extended schemes nearly $14,000,-
000 more. Taking no account of the $11,000,000 received by the
company from the land grant or of the temporary loan of last
session, the public expenditure in gifts and loans of cash is thus
$104,000,000, or nearly $500,000 for each electoral district, or
$120 fo7' each liead of a family in Canada. Of this sum about
$20,000,000 has been paid out of duties costing the consumers-
near $30,000,000, and tor the rest we borrow and pay interest, less
of course the company's repayments on their loans. • . ^

- ' TO PERSUADE US ON,

they told us in 1883 that between that year and 1801 we would
receive from North- West lands $58,000,000 in cash. Had they
divided that sum by ten they would have been nearei- the mark !
Since then they have impaired the security- and lowered the in-
terest for the loan. And all this has happened while the cost of
the work to be done by the company under contract cannot be
more, and ought to be less, than $58,000,000. They have hastened
beyond all reason and prudence the completion of the road^ at
enormous added cost, and in advance of any tanyihle necessity,
or any early prospect of local trajfflc over the larjer i>art of its
mileage. . ■ .. . ' > ,

, They have thus . ' "^ » '

..-v

IMPAIRED THE IMMEDIATE PROSPECTS OF THE ENTERPRISE,

and at the same time charged upon the tratHc of the North- West
unnecessary burdens, while for that country the vital question is
cheap rates of railway. To preserve the company's monopoly.

« 1

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they have disallowed local railway legislation in Manitoba, in de-
Hance of the rights and to the detriment of the interests of the
Province, and we do not yet see the end.

LOOK AT THEIR NOKTH-WEST POLICY !

At one time they encouraged speculation and proniotiod the
boom which has caused so much misery there and here. At
another time they closed large tracts to settlement. Always have
they been slow, negligent, and not responsive to the calls of duty
which were exacting as regards the development and administra-
tion of that vast region ; and so they created discontent and re-
tarded solid progress. They have used that country as a happy
hunting ground for their supporters ina'ide and outside of Par-
liament, from Lieutenant-Governor Dewdney to expectant-Regis-
trar Wilkinson. It has been one of the party resources of the Gov-
ernment. We have legal, medical, mercantile and broken-down
politicians in the older Provinces turning up in every comer of
th^ records, as

Timber speculators,
Coal miners,
Railway promoters,
Land Speculators,

Ranche owners.
Gold miners.

Land company promoters.
Office holders,
Contractors,

all looking to Ottawa and begging for favours. This phase of the
business has assumed in the Legislature the proportions of a public
scandal. (Hear, hear.) Members have been using their parlia-
mentary position to obtain advantages for themselves, and to
procure at a price these advantaged for others.

I know of a member, and so do you, who, as a reward for his
influence and exertions in securing advantages, got < v

GRATUITOUS INTERESTS IN TWO COLONIZATION COMPANIES ' f

— blind shares they call them. I know of a member who stipu- ' •
lated for a commission on the amount of a railway subsidy he
was promoting at Ottawa. I know of a member who, being a
director in a railway company, demanded as his share about half
the expected profits of the promoters, on the threat that he other-
wise would use his influence against the company's grant, which ',
he thought he could help or hinder. » -

I need not go on, though I could go further and climb higher.

The STATE OF THINGS IS DISGUSTING AND ALARMING. Nor Cau

you be surprised that men engaged in such transactions are but
little open to reason and argument. Their ears are in their pockets.

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But' yoti o'ugnt not to be astonished at this condition of affairs.
When the Canadian people returned to power the actors in the
Pacific Scandal, these i-esults were predicted. We could not but
suffer a degradation of the public morals. I do not intend to deal
•with the graver features of that transaction, but let me recall to
you one minor incident. Do you remember that in '72 there was
a private bargain whereby a prominent member secured a secret
share in the company ? On the surface he was to pose as the
independent member for Blankton, arguing and voting on high
public grounds for large subsidies and liberal treatment to the
comp'any. In truth, he was to be a partner in the concern,
making profits out of his vote and his seat. The facts became
known, but after a decorous period of retirement he was again
returned by his constituents, and now fills a Ministerial office. If
such a transaction is to be followed by political promotion, why
should you be surprised that it is followed by still more objection-
able and scandalous relations between members and the public
chest ? Why should yon be surprised that the disease has infected
electors as well as members, and that onore and more openly the
atrocious doctritie is disseminated that the public moneys should
be appropriated, and that local claims should be regarded vAth
reference to the political opinions of the district, and the degree of
support it may accord to the Government of the day.

Nor is this all. The ' ^

>-i

VI-

14 ■

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PATRONAGE IS ABUSED.

The office- holder is not free to vote as he wills. I know a case in
which a member warned an office-holder that if he voted against
the Government candidate he might lose his office, in which the
man did so vote, and was shuffled out of his office accordingly.
Thus you all see that a gigantic system of corrupt influence has
been organized, by which the independent action of members and
electors is checked, and the ascendency/ of the Government is
maintained. Our task is to break that system doivn ! (Cheers.)
In another sphere of politics a most unfortunate line has been
pursued by Ministers. They have attempted a course of cen-
tralization subversive of the federal pact. Our future depends
largely on the full recognition of the

I }

'ij

FEDERAL CHARACTER OF OUR CONSTITUTION,

and the preservation of our local liberties. But the Minister .was
from the beginning a legislative unionist on principle. If he
could have had his way, all power would have been centered at
Ottawa. He became a Federalist from interest, as the condition

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of keeping power ; that power he has used, so far as he dared, in
furthering legislative union. Both in framing and in interpreting
the federal act he has minimized its federal character.

He has made many failures in his anti- provincial campaigns,
but he has attained some successes injurious to his country. Of
these late examples are the extension of the power of disallow-
ance, the seizure of the provincial! railways, and the appropria-
tion of the franchises. As to his unsuccessful attempts, he jlaimed
the right to the issue of marriage licenses, but the Imperial
authorities decided against the constitutional lawyer — (laughter)
— who has boasted so vain-gloriously of his infallibility ; and he
was forced to abandon his prey. He claimed the right to es-
cheats ; but the Privy Council has decided against the view of
the constitutional lawyer. (Laughter.) And he was forced to
abandon his prey. . .

The Ontario Legislature by act declared that the law gave a
right to run timber down certain streams, and it provided for com-
pensation for the use of the owner's improvements. The constitu-
tional lawyer — (laughter) — averred that this act altered, and did
not declare the law ; that it was a theft of the owner's property ;
and he disallowed it thrice as unjust. The Privy Council decided,
against the view of the constitutional lawyer, that the law was
such as the Ontario Legislature had declared it to be ; so that
they had not stolen the owner's property ; on the contrary their
act vas his security for compensation for lawful use.

S* 1 believe the last Streams Act has not been disallowed ; we
kear no more of this great outrage on the rights of property ; we
jhear no more- of theft ; he has been forced to abandon his prey.
[(Applause.)

Yet the wound inflicted on the constitution is not healed ; nor
will be until there is at least some formal declaration and repudi-
[ation of the claim to disallow local legislation on local matters not
I affecting Dominion interests, -simply because an Ottawa Minister
may fancy the act unjust. This pretention is subversive of the
chief of ail provincial rights — that of effective legislation on purely
local affairs. r

The constitutional lawyer declared that the limits of Ontario to
the West did not reach Port Arthur, and to the North were the
height of land ; he averred that the limits of the Lake of the
Woods and the Albany River, and other waters were wrong and
[could not be supported by any court or tribunal in the world.

HE SOUGHT TO SEIZE ON A TERRITORY, THE SIZE OF A KINGDOM,
♦WHICH WAS THE PROPERTY OF ONTARIO. , .

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For the paltry purpose of creating strife between Ontario and

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Manitoba, he assumed to hand over this territory to Manitoba.
She was encouraged to take possession, while Ontario was declared
to be violent and wrong, because she claimed her own. But the
Privy Council has decided against the boundary set up by the
constitutional lawer, and substantially in favourof that which he
said no court or tribunal would support ; he will be forced to
abandon his prey. (Applause.)

The constitutional lawyer declared that even if the limits were
the Lake of the Woods, yet Ontario had no right to the lands, the
timber, the mines or the minerals ; that these all belonged to Can-
ada ; that not a stick of timber or a lump of lead, iron or gold would
ever be Ontario's ; and he has tried to divide up her inheritance
among his political friends. But the Chancellor has held that
the constitutional lawyer is wrong; that the property is Ontario's.
(Applause.) I am told that the prospect of a favourable result in
the higher court is excellent ; and so we may hope that he will be
obliged to abandon his prey.

The constitutional lawyer, seeking in 1882 the ,

' ' SUPPORT OF THE LICENSED VICTUALLERS,

declared that he had never doubted that the Local Legislatures
had no right to regulate the sale of drink ; that their acts were
waste paper ; that they would be so decided by the courts ; and
he advised the victuallers to test them. He declared that if re-
turned he would pass an act taking away his power from that
little tyrant Mowat. (Loud cheers and laughter.) The victuallers
were pleased, and voted accordingly. They called on him to re-
deem his pledge. He then told Parliament that Ottawa legisla-
tion was necessary ; that the local liquor laws were void ; that the
sale was free ; that we must act at once ; and all this he said was
shown by Russell's case. We pointed out that Russell's case did
not so decide; and that at any rate it was ill argued; the question
of municipal rights was never raised ; some of the reasoning was
questionable : and that the proposed legislation was wrong. He
insisted, and proposed a committee to frame a law. We declined
to sit on his committee. He brought in their report and intro-
duced his bill. We proposed postponement till the question he
had raised should be settled by the court. He refused. We pro-
posed action to remove the doubt in the sense of the Provincial
rights acted on for fifteen years. He refused. He forced his mea-
sure through, created his offi,ces, established his machinery , collected
his fees, issued his licenses, and involved the community in tur-
moil, confusion and expense. Meantime the victuallers had
taken his advice. They tested the local Act. The Privy Council
decided — against the constitutional lawyer — that tJie acts he had

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declared waste paper were good and valid. (Cheers.) Confusion
became worse confounded.

Next session came. We called for the repeal of the law which
it was now shown was nofc necessary, the ground for which had
wholly failed. He refused. He declared that though the local
laws were valid, the federal law was so also, and would supersede
them. .'

THE CLOVEN HOOF APPEARED. '

(Laughter). It was a matter of policy now, not of necessity. He
wanted to centralize. In the end we forced a reference to the
courts. The Supreme Court decided that the main parts of the
law were ultra vires.

Last session came. We asked him to discontinue the struggle.
He obstinately refused. We could obtain only a suspension, and
the worry continued still. Now the Privy Council has decided
that the emphatic and positive declaration of the constitutional
lawyer was altogether wrong, and that the Act is ultra vires. The
struggle was severe and protracted. It is ended now ! His cohorts
are disbanded ; his licenses are torn up : his staff is off duty ; his
Act is waste paper. He has been forced to abandon liis prey.
(Loud applause.) But at what cost to the public and to citizens,
it will not be easy to count up. Can you wonder that some people
have actually begun to lose faith a little in the statesmanship and
skill which, with such large pretensions, has produced such inade-
quate results ? ( Laughter.)

Now the Government has all this time been so " -

'7 - BUSY WITH POLITICAL INTRIGUE, ^

with schemes for retaining or obtaining political support, with
jobs, with the regulation of our private business, with its attacks
on the Provinces, that it seems to have had no time or energy for
the discharge of its most obvious and important duties. It

MARKED THE EARLY PART OF ITS OLD LEASE OF POWER BY THE

North- West rebellion of 1869 It has, I believe, marked

THE closing scenes OF ITS NEW LEASE BY THE NoRTH-WeST RE-
BELLION OF 1885. (Applause.) I cannot go into the details to-
night. I have done so in Parliament already. Remember, that
Oovemment was very specially responsible for diligence and liber-
ality in dealing luith the North- West, because of foi^mer events,
and because it ivas an unrepresented country, autocratically gov-
erned. I have, nevertheless, shown beyond all doubt, out of the
selected papers brought down under compulsion by the Govern-
ment, the most scandalous neglect, delay and mismanagement..
With an enormous Indian expendituie they had the Indians largely

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in a state of hunger, insubordination and disquiet. • With seven
years' time for action, full power to act, full knowledge of the dis-
content, and of the danger of delay, with constant petitions, reso-
lutions, representations, pressure and remonstrances, they yet did
nothing to settle the claim of the North- West half-breeds to like
treatment as was accorded those of Manitoba till it was too late —
till the fire was in the heather.

When they first acted, it was in a lame, inadequate and halting
sense, and with a fatal pause. (Cheers.) Even their second step,
after the outbreak, was unjust and unsatisfactory, and it was not
till after the commission had reported the need to yield that they
yielded. They showed, also, gross negligence in dealing with the
claims of the Manitoba enumerated half-breeds, whose first de-
mands, though pressed and proved for years, they refused to recog-
nize or settle, nor were they dealt with till April, 1885.

Their action as to the land office, the opening of the land for
entry, the surveys, the settlement of land claims, the recognition
of early occupation, wood rights, land patents, colonization com-
panies and reserves, and their system of dealing with letters, pe-
titions and reports were marked by \ . .'

APATHY, INCAPACITY, NEGLECT, PROCRASTINATION AND BUNGLING.

In truth, the story is almost incredible, were it not proved out
of the records. . •

Then in June, 1884, came Riel.

There was ample time that summer to settle all. All n 'ght
have been even then adjusted ; the grievances which were his in-
struments removed, and his power broken. They knew he was
there ; they kneiv he was agitating ; they knew the danger ; Sir
David Macpherson new it ; Sir John Macdonald kneiu it ; Sir
Hector Langevin knew it ; Sir Adolphe Garon knei: it — the vjhole
corps of Knights knew it. They were warned time and again ;
they were implored ; they were threatened. Nothing moved
them.

They were roused to action only on the eve of the outbreak.

. \ r ^ TOO LATE, ALAS, TOO LATE !

(Applause.) They were as ineffective in measures of repression
and defence as in those of redress. They demoralized and dis-
banded the local forces. With three years' warning they left
the guns in such an unserviceable state that they became useless
at Cut Knife, to the great danger of our gallant troops. They
chose a military post at Carleton, which was only tenable while
there was no enemy — (laughter) — and was abandoned the first

instant of the war.

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These are hut samples of their conduct. I say nothing of the
cost of the war, oi' the management of that business. Now, you
know

" WHAT FOLLOWED THE OUTBREAK. '

The loss of many lives ; many wounds ; much suffering ; terror
and anxiety among the scattered settlers ; great hardships ; losses
to individuals ; millions drawn from the public chest ; the country
injured ; the Indians unsettled ; a state of affairs produced of whicn
we cannot see the end.

I brought the subject before Parliament at the end of last ses-
sion, but the House was exhausted, the papers were unprinted,
the members had not read them ; Government denied the accur-
acy of my statements ; they called on their sui)porters to confide
in them ; they declared my motion inopportune, and called on
their supporters on that ground to vote it dow^i ; and voted down
it was. Since then there has been time to read the papers ; the
objections of last session no longer apply. Some of their sup-
porters have already declared that the Government was wrong,
and I do not believe they would now repeat their vote.

WHAT IS TO BE THE PENALTY Foil THE MEN WHO HAVE, BY THEIR
CRIMINAL NEGLECT AND INX'APACITY, PRODUCED THESE SAD

RESULTS ?

I have told them that in older days they would have been im-
peached as traitors to their trust. (Prolonged applause.) These
are not our modern ways. The penalty is milder — for such an
offence as theirs, too mild. It is but a withdrawal of the power
they have abused, of the confidence they have betrayed.

This mild penalty we call on the people to Inflict, and I will not
so far despair of my country as to doubt the answer to that call.
(Cheers.)

Since the close of the outbreak an event growing out of it has
to a great degree engrossed the public attention, and to that I now
turn — I mean r

THE FATE OF RIEL.

An effort has been made for obvious political purposes to colour
the character and exaggerate the import of the agitata on on this
subject. Some Quebec supporters of the Government have, in
common with some of its Quebec opponents, denounced its action
in very strong language, and words have been used, suggestions
have been made, things have been done, which do not commend
themselves to my judgment. (Cheers.)

On the other hand, the most violent language has been used in

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the Ontario Ministerial organ. The movement, as a whole, has, in
my view, been misrepresented, and a deliberate design is ap-
parent on the part of the Ontario Tories to create and intensify
a war of raxje and creed, amd to obscure by this means all the real
issues between parties in order to raise an issue, false in itself,
and which, handled as proposed by the Ministerial press, would
imperil tiie future of our country. (Cheers.)

It is quite certain that this question must, and it is most des-
irable that it should, be shortly debated in Parliament, and that
those who challenge the conduct of the Government should ten-
der a definite issue. This I hold, though 1 entertain very strong
opinions as to the reserve which should attend criticisms on the
exercise in ordinary cases of the prerogative of mercy.

As Minister of Justice I have had to advise in many capital
cases, and I do not forget the heavy responsibility which rests on
those in whose hands are the issues of life and death, and whose
task is rendered all the more difficult by reason of the large
measure of discretion vested in them, and expressed in the word
clemency. I know how, much these difficulties are enhanced by
heated partizan and poptilar discussion, in which distorted views
and an imperfect appreciation of facts are likely to prevail. I
have been falsely and wantonly accused of selling the prerogative
for personal and for political gain. I deprecated then, as I would
deprecate now, such attacks on Ministers unless made with good
and sufficient reason. So delicate, in my opinion, is the exercise
of this prerogative, that while I have sometimes been unable to
reconcile my judgment to that of the present Ministers, I have
felt it, on the whole, the lesser evil to be silent than to raise a
debate, and I can easily conceive, in fact I have known of cases
in Which, though I might difier from the conclusion of the Min-
isters, I should yet refuse to censure them for honestly taking a
line which I would not follow.

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BUT WE MUST BE GUIDED

IN EACH

STANCES.

CASE BY ITS OWN CIRCUM-

The right of discussion, of advics, of Cb.isure, has been denied by
a leading Ministerial organ. Yet it is unquestionable. Ministers
are responsible in this as in all other cases. I was myself instru-
mental in procuring the reform which made this sure, and the
rights which I helped to secure for my country I will help to
maintain. (Cheers.) But I declare that the occasion must be
special which renders discussion opportune, and the case clear
which renders censure expedient. • j < . ■ '.>

Why, then, do I hold that this is plainly a case for Parliament-
ary discussion. For several reasons. , „ >,

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Because the trial was for an extraordinary political offence. A
great agitation has supervened, and various questions have been
I'aised which cannot be disposed of save after full debate in Par-
liament.

Because some prominent supporters of the Government declare
Ihat they have been misled, deceived and betrayed by the Gov-
ernment ; and this charge must be investigated. (Hear, hear.)

Because these men also declare that the Government acted,
not on principle, but on party considerations, to punish an old of-
fence, and to gratify the hate of a section of their supporters, a
statement which demands inquiry. (Hear, hear.)

Because unhappily at an early day, and before the trials, the
Government declining the po8itio7i of neutrality and indiference
tvhich as tfte representatives of public justice, public mercy, and
2niblic policy they should have maintained, declared that the charge
which I preferred against them of neglect, delay, and mismanage-
ment in North- West afairs was the defence of their prisoners,
thus making themselves substantially private parties to the cause,
and in efect resting their defence on the wrisoners conviction.

I have always held that both parties ^ight be deeply guilty,
the GDvernment for neglect, delay and mismanagement, and the
insurgents for rising in rebellion, always a grave ofi'ence against
the State, and in this case aggravated by the incitements to the
Indians to revolt. But the Government identified their acquittal
with the prisoners' conviction, and thus disqualified themselves
for just judgment. (Cheers.)

For these and other reasons I deprecate any attempt to evade
or delay the Parliamentary discussion, and am ready to facilitate
as far as I can the ventilation of the whole question, including
the sentences of imprisonment, as to which I may be allowed to
express the hope that Government will, without delay, deal with
those sentences in a large and merciful spirit. But while I am of
this opinion, I hold strong views as to the character of the dis-
cussion.

Much has been said of the conduct of the French-Canadians in
raising this question, and

A WICKED ATTEMPT HAS BEEN MADE, ,

taking advantage of some too hot and intemperate phrases, to
arouse prejudices of race and creed against them because they
have shown specially warm feelings in this matter. It is true
that we Canadians are in a political sense one people. I could
wish that, without obliterating race predictions, there were among
us greater unity and love as fellow-Canadians. (Hear, hear.) To
that end I have laboured in my humble way, and not long since
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when defending: those of another faith than mine asrainst what I

believed to be unjust aspersions, I pointed out the true path of

duty in a community of divers races and creeds like ours, " where

we must combine firmness in the assertion of our own ri^jhts with

, , fulness in the recofjnition of the rights of others — (cheers) — we

'' , must cultivate moderation and forbearance; we must hold to the

• ' , '■ simple acknowledgment of each man's individual rights of con-

■' science in religious matters, and to the commpn citizenship of all

'V . in civil affairs if we would make of Canada a great and free

.; • country, inhabited by a happy and united people." (Cheers.)

'.;'-'> Race and religious feelings however, exist, and will have their

.:'.' ' effect. It is natural that those of us who are of one Province,

■ -• blood or faith, should feel more warmlv than the rest in the cause

>^ ' of men of our own Province, origin or creed. (Hear, hear.)

A ■•■•'. ~ • • .• • y / ». . .

', • \ . BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER.

'^' ^ V The condition I affix is this, that they should found their appeal
*: f on the great principlef^f justice, mercy and policy applicable to
all alike, and should dRiand no special favours by re" son of Pro-
vince, race or creed.

Those of us who belong to the other elements of our nationality
have also our duty to do — to make ample allowance for warmth
of utterance and hasty phrase, to calm rather than to excite pre-
judice, and to decide on broad and general, just ami generous
vieius, such as we would wish applied to ourselves. Let us do
unto others as ive would they should do unto us. (Cheers.)

As to the union for political purposes of one race or creed, ir-
respective of political principles, I am not now to speak for the
first time my mind. In 1871, when expressing the strong opin-
ions I felt and feel on the subject of the murder of Scott, I de-
precated any attempt to decide the question on the ground of
nationality or religion. In 1877, when protesting against some
ill-advised pretensions on the subject of undue influence, I de-
clared that I should stiuggle " to pi*eserve to each one of my fellow-
countrymen, whatever his creed, the same full and ample measure
of civil freedom which he now enjoys under those laws which en-
able him and me, though we may be of diverse faiths, to meet on
the same platform, and to differ according to our own political
convictions, and not according to our religious faith, or the dicta-
tion of any other man, lay or clerical." (Cheers.) And during
the last few years I have more than once warned my fellov:-coun-
trymen of an insidious attempt which has been made to effect a
so-called j^olitical union of all the French throughout Canada in
the interest of the Quebec Tory leaders. I have poinl;ed out that
this was an unpatriotic step fraught with danger to the Dominion,

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and with special danger to those who, being the minority, were

asked to work together as a unit, apart from questions of opinion.

But no encouragement was given by the Tories of the other

Provinces to these views. It was all RIGHT for messks Lange-

VIN & Co. TO COUNSEL SUCH A UNION SUBSTANTIALLY IN THE TORY

INTEREST. But when there is a breach in the Quebec Tory ranks
the cry of danger to the State at once fills the air. A united French
populationy U7iited iu the Tory interest, would he a piiblic blessing.
A more equally divided French population since it ivould weaken
the Tory interest is a public danger. (Laughter.) I say a more
equally divided French population, for i^ is not ray judgment
that the French are a unit on this question.

Foi- the same base party purpose of promoting race prejudice,
and giving ground for the cry of English against French, they
have been so represented by the Ontario Ministerial press. But
not so by that of Quebec, and I believe it to be but a dodge, and
that there is there, well as elsewhere some division of opinion.

So may it be 1

LET US UNITE AND DIVIDE, I SAY ONCE MORE, ON GROUNDS OP
REASON, ARGUMENT AND OPINION, AND NOT OF RACE OR

CREED. '

I hope and trust that the excitement having somewhat abated,
the further discussion in the press and among the people may be :
more tranquil ; that rash and hasty language may be avoided, ,.
and that when we meet in Parliament we may engage in the
debate in a temper and after a fashion suitable to our national
dignity, and regardful of our natic»nal unity. (Cheers.)

Now, on what lines are we to deal with this question in Par-
liament. Those of us vv ho have not engaged in the preliminary (JKs-
cussion, who are free and unfettered, to whom it is open, unembar-
rassed by any prior and premature declarations, to reach unbiassed
conclusions, have, I conceive, very special duties. We are to help
to obtain information on all points now obscure ; we are to listen .'.
to the arguments of those who have taken sides ; we are to coji- '
sider the whole case presented, and we are to strive for the for-
mation of a 1

JUST AND STATESMANLIKE JUDGMENT

by the House of Commons. We must endeavour to eliminate, as
j /actors in the decision, race and creed ; and cause the Commons of
Canada to speak ivith a voice and in a sense which posterity,
after these heats have cooled and these mists have cleared, shall
ratify and confirm. (Cheers.)

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I BELIEVE WE CANNOT, IF WE WOULD, MAKE OF
THIS A PARTY QUESTION. AFTER FULL REFLECTION
I DO NOT ENTERTAIN THAT DESIIIE; BUT WERE IT
OTHERWISE, I DOUBT THAT THE RESULT COULD BE
ACCOMPLISHED. (Hear, hear.) I EXERCISE NO COM-
PULSIVE OR CONSTRAINING FORCE OVER THE OP-
INIONS OF THE LIBERAL PARTY ON THIS OR ANY
OTHER QUESTION ; AND I ENTERTAIN THE IMPRES-
SION THAT WITH US, AS WITH THE TORIES. THERE
ARE DIFFERENCES OF OPINION IN THE RANKS NOT
LIKELY TO BE COMPOSED, AND WHICH I, AT ANY
RATE, SHALL MAKE NO ENDEAVOUR TO CONTROL
TO A PARTY END. FOR, AFTER ALL, THOUGH AT
FIRST BLUSH ONE MAY REGRET PARTY DIVISIONS
YET AM I GLAD IN THIS CASE OF THIS CONDITION.

For the leasons I have given I do not desire a party conflict
on the Regiiia tragedy. / do not propose to construct a political
platform out of the Ref/ina sea fold — (prolonged cheers) — or to
create or cement party ties with the blood of thi condemned. To
apply ivords I have already quoted in another sense, I do not care
" To attem;.t the future s pjrtal with the past's blood-rusted key,"

Now, as you know, I have been absent from Canada for some
months, but since my return I have read with care such papers
as I could find. While these have produced impressions on my
mind as to the material issues, I have been clearly led to the con-
clusion that the information required for a just judgement on
some, points is not before us.

I think we require an authentic copy of the evidence and pro-
ceedings at the trial, and also of the papers fourd at Batoche, the
F reduction of which was refused by the Government, but which,
ihink, Parliament should see, the rather that a Minister has
, lately made public one of these papers, of considerable importance
as affecting Riel's position, and tending to contradict the allega-
tion that he had himself procured the invitation to come into the
North- V\' est. / think we require an explanation as to why, if it
, was intended to execute the sentence, Riel was not 2^ut on trial
; for murder instead of for high treason. Was it because it was
thought inconsistent with Gen. Middleton's letter to try him for
aught save a political offence ? It is proper also to know more as
to the circumstances connected with that letter, so as to judge of
the weight to be attached to it.

As to the trial itself, i j must be confessed that the arrangements
for the administration of justice, originally of necessity rude and
primitive, had become by time less applicable to the circumstances
of the country and were not well suited to the trial of such a case
as Kiel's. The independence of the judiciary and its high stand-

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ing in fact and in public estimation are of the first importance :
and in a political case, in which the Government has taken sides,
this is brought home to the meanest comprehension. But the
judges of the North- West hold office, not like the Superior judges
I of the older Provinces, during good behaviour, but at the pleasure
of the Government, on which they are thus in some sort depend-
ent. Besides, they are also political personages as members of the
North-West Council and thus less fitted for political trials.

I regret that the course of legislation has been rather in the
direction of reducing than of increasing the s.^curities in these
cases. By the act of '80 the presence of two magistrates besides
the stipendiary in capital cases, theretofore necessary, was dis-
pensed with, one only being made sufficient. But I do not see
that the Government is censurable for having tried the prisoner
before the tribunal provided by the standing laws, though I may
regret that those laws did not provide a more satisfactory tribunal;
and it is always to be remembered that the special provisions re-
quiring the decision of the Executive before the execution, and
tlie attendant responsibility of Government, have been retained.

The choice of the judge is another matter. If I rightly under-
stand, Mr. Richardson, besides being a magistrate and a member
|of the North-West Council) was the paid legal adviser, the poli-

I tical law officer, so to speak, of the Executive of the North- West,
land I think explanations are required of such a choice for such a
[trial.

Something I had intended to say as to the panel, but on 'reflec-

[tion, in the absence of knowledge on one .material point, I think

it better not to suggest in this respect hypothetical criticism, and

therefore I abstain. I think it right to say that, in my opinion,

jthe Government acted in a very proper spirit in providing for the

[attendance of the prisoners' witnesses, and that from what I know

[of their leading counsel I should suppose it impossible that, in their

[management of the case, there was anything unfair to the prisoner,

or derogatory to the high character they deservedly enjoy,or theres-

;f ponsible duties they undertook to perform. (Cheera.) I am not im-

j plying, then, any present doubt as to the justice of the trial. For all

jmy inquiries it may have been just. But, besides justice in fact, the

(creation of a feeling of public confidence, of a general impression

[that all was fair, and that every security was taken for fairness,

lis important, and in that view of the duty of the authorities,

II think these questions should be examined.
Again, we should have before us all the withheld and suppressed

Idocuments as to the

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;- NEGLECT, IJELAY, AND MISMANAGEMENT OK THE GOVERNMENT

— not, I repeat, as Justifying rebellion, but as added proofs that
Government gave the occasion and opportunity to raise rebellion
by means of the feelings evoked aua the materials and chances
offered through their misconduct.

Look in this connection at Bishop Orandin's letters lately pub-
lished. Look at Col. Houghton's report still suppressed. Look
at the mass of papers still confessedly withheld. The Govern-
ment says that it will not now enter into this part of the case. It
is reserved for Parliament. Be it so. The issue is then deferred ;
but we must have the evidence. And these papers may have an
important bearing on the proi)riety of the decision, and on the
question whether these were the men who should have reached
that decision.

I think we should have the evidence on which

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GOVERNMENT HAS CHARGED THE WHITES OF PRINCE ALBERT WITH
. ^ BEING GUILTY, •'

more guilty than the Metis. If so, they should be exposed. In-
dians and Half-breeds should not bear the brunt while guiltier
whites go free — (cheers) — and the relation of these whites to
Kiel may have a serious bearing on his case.

Wey should have further information as to Kiel's demand Tor
money. As Government states the case, his conduct was base
and venal, and a strong impression has naturally been produced.
But the statement is involved in contradictions, for I find in the
memorandum of the Minister the following extracts from the evi-
dence : " He (Kiel) said that if he got the money he would go to
the United States and start a paper and raise the other national-
ities in the States." He said : " Before the grass is that high in
this country you will see foreign armies in this country." He
said, " I will commence by destroying Manitoba, and then I will
come and destroy the North- West and take possession of the
North-West." Kovj, however wicJced, ' absurd or indicative of a
disordered mind may have been these words, addressed to the man
he was soliciting, they are inconsistent with vinality. More light
is wanted here.
., I now come to a most important part of the case. The question of

|i f i !<

RIEL's MENTAL CONDITION

IS one to which I am at present disposed to attach greater import-
ance than as I judge does the general public. But I think all
will agree that we are clearly entitled to have before- us, besides

(1)

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VERNMENT

ALBERT WITH

the papers, the instructions, and report of the so-called Medical
(.'ommisHion wliich is referre«l to hy the Government. You will
remember the conHicting statements as to the character and results
(if the eiKpiiry. Thouj^h there is much on wliich we can and
ought to reach conclusions independent of the medical testimony,
yet this is a part of the case without which wo should not decide.

/ think, also, th<tt we should ham a statement of the rfroiinda on
which the Govern inent decided a,gainnt the recommendation to
mere I/, a course which wuj have been ■pevfcctln correct, but which
ovght to be explained.

And hero I may say that I regret that wo do not know the
grounds of that recommendation.

We should also learn something of the reasons for the la^^t
respite, of which several accounts have been given, one of an ex-
traordinary nature.

F'ullcr information seems to be required as to the grounds on
which the Government thought the execution of i^i« 1 necessary.
Warm supporters of the Government have allegetl that it shame-
fully betrayed and deceived them ; we want the evidence of this.
They also alleged that the Government acted to gratify the thirst
for vengeance, in respect of the Scott murder, of one section of
their supporters, and on a cold-blooded calculation of gains and
losses in the counties, rather than on gcneml considerations of
public justice, mercy and policy. (Cheers.) On this grave charge
we want light.

I will go no further. I have come to the conclusion that in
.this complicated case, where each of several branches may affect
{the general result, it is just that the materials for decision on
[every branch should be available before finally forming and an-
nouncing a general judgment; an<i therefore, much as I should
have personally wished to communicate to you my individual im-
pressions, I believe -I shall best discharge my duty, which, as you
will have seen, I consider to be as much judicial as political, by
abstaining at this moment from the expression of opinions which
would be, at best, but partial, prima facie, hypothetical, and sub-
[ ject to correction and review. It is with all the facts and circum-
stances before us, and in the ])resence of the Government, whose
action has been assailed, and of their accusers, that our deliver-
ance may best bo made. (Cheers.)

To some partisans on either side who think nothing is to be
said on the other, my view may be — will be — unsatisfactory.
But those who are willing to seek for the truth, and, casting aside
prejudice, to strive for just conclusions, will, I hope, recognize its
propriety.

Much has been said about political alliances and compacts in
this connection. I know of none. To none am I a party. ("Ap-

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plause.) / have had no commv/nidation with anyone outside of
my own party, I have never wished for office. On the contrary
I dislike it. Nor was there ever a time at which it presented in
my view so little to attract : so much to deter. Beyond this I
believe it to be from a mere paFty point of view the interest of
the Liberal party that the present Government should remain in
office a little longer — (laughter) — till the public have seen still more
clearly the results of their past policy, results which if developed
in our reign, might be, as in past times, attributed to us and not
to their real authors. But were all this otherwise, I believe that
a stable political alliance can be formed only on a general under-
standing on the substantial questions calling for early legislative
and administrative action ; and that it would be equally impossible
and undesirable to form one based on community of sentiment,
did that exist, ^^ith regard to an execution. Nor have I reason
to believe that c ii *hat or any other question the Government, though
weakened^ will he defeated this session.

For the purpose of forwarding their design to form an anti-
French alliance, the Ontario Ministerial organ has proclaimed
their defeat. But the organs do not play the same tune in Que-
bec.

IT IS ONLY A DODGE.

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-/■ The Government would doubtless like to make this an issue — nay,

i I ^ the issue — before the Euglisn ^^,8akingt.jpulations. They would

i; , like it because they know the loi: - calendar of their crimes. But

,' "" the accused shall not be allowed to choose the matter for which

v' • they are to be tried, or to frame their own indictment.
V \ ' For our part, we, too, know the catalogue of their offences. We

' . know the counts of the indictment ; and it is our purpose, apart

'^ altogether from this question of the man who is dead,

>'^' ' ^ TO DEAL WITH THE MEN WHO ARE YET POLITICALLY ALIVE

— (laughter) — and who, for innumerable political offences, deserve
a political death — (cheer) — as sure, as stern, as swift as that which
has at any time heretofore been meted out to those in like case
offending. 1 believe that in Quebec and elsewhere, in and outside
of Parltament, there ha^ been a growing feeling of uneasiness at \
the Tory 'policy ; that it is being recognized more and more as a I
dreadful failure; that its features of debt, taxation, restriction, |
extravagance, corruption, jobbery, neglect, mismanagement and
centralization have made for it many opponents ; that tht Govern-
ment is sinking in public estimation ; that the people are beginn-
ing to perceive the wisdom of our counsels, the folly of our oppon-
ents ; that our labours of these many years are at length bearing

. (1)

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fruit ; that the Government will be weakened this session ; and
weaker still thereafter, and will, if we do our full duty, be de-
feated at the polls. (Prolonged cheers.)

As IN MY ELECTORAL CONTESTS I HAVE MADE NO PRIVATE CANVASS,
BUT HAVE DEPENDED ON MY PUBLIC UTTERANCES; SO AS A POLITICAL
LKADER MY HOPES OF GAINING STRENGTH FOR MY PARTY HAVE
RESTED SOLELY ON OUR PUBLIC SPEECHES, ON THE POLICY WE HAVE
PROPOUNDED AND THE PRINCIPLES WE HAVE MAINTAINED. I have

for some time believed that several supporters of the Government
have been dissatisfied, have felt that they were on the questions of
the day and of the immediate future more in accord with us than
with Ministers, and have recognized the expediency of a chaaige.
They have seen that our country, which has great and solid natural
resources ; which even now, thank God, is showing in some quar-
ters signs of recovery from some of the evils inflicted on it by
its rulers ; which is inhabited by an intelligent, industrious and
progressive people, affording the main element of/^real prosperity ;
which requires only just and prudent, fair and statesmanlike gov>-
ernment to permit its advance on both the material and moral
planes, runs great risk if the present evil counsels are to endure.

Party ties, the bonds of friendship, long habit and assooii.don,
the consciousness of having borne a part, though reluctantly, in
some things now condemned, and other considerations of various
kinds have long restrained them, and may restrain them still ; but
j I do not abandon the hope that some may shortly come out from
the ranks to which they no longer in heart belong, and co-operate
[with us frankly in effecting a change in the public counsels. If
[they do not we will continue to fight the good fight with a stout
leart — (cheers) — as best we can without them. But if they do,

am sure you will gladly welcome co-operation and assistance so
[obtained.

Long have we hoped for a harvest from the seed we have been
[sowing ! (Cheers.) The harvest has been slow of coming. Some-
Itimes it has seemed as if the seed had perished. But it ma}^ have
been dormant only. It may have germinated now. Soon may it
I ripen — (cheers) — and the fields grow white to the harvest !

If I could raise my feeble voice beyond the limits of this hall,
land say a word in the ear of my countrymen through Canada at
{large, 1 would exhort them to come forward. Come forward, you
[who can cultivate and water, who can help to mature and gather
|in that harvest ! Do your duty to your country ! Take up the
responsibilities as youjenjoy the privileges of citizenship ! Give

JYOUR TIME, YOUR ENERGIES, YOUR LABOUR TO THE WORK ! ThoUQH
^-HE SKIES BE DARK, YET TRU»T WE IN THE SUPREME GoODNESS t

I We BELIEVE OUR CAUSE IS JUST AND TRUE ; WE BELIEVE THAT
TRUTH AND JUSTICE SHALL IN QOD'S aOOD TIME PREVAIL. It MAY

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be soon, it may be late. his ways are not as our ways, and
His unfathomable purposes we may not gauge. But this we

KNOW, that in our EFFORTS WE ARE IN THE LINE OF DUTY.

(Cheers.) We hope, indeed, to make our cause prevail. But,
WIN or lose to-day, we know that we shall receive for the
faithful discharge of duty an exceeding great reward —
the only reward which is worth attaining, the only reward
which is sure to last. (Loud and prolonged cheers.)

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Hr. Blake to the 9w^ Sonnd Reform Association.

3sroi?/Tii-"WEST .a.:f:fa.ti^s.

MALADMINISTRATION AND REBELLION.

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STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE OF 125,000 IMMIGRANTS.

TiipperianCalculationi— Premature Surveys— GrIeFanees of
tbe metis— Value of Half-breed Sympathy.

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FOUOE IS NO HEMEDY."

REFUSAL OF INFORMATION BY THE GOVERNMENT.

Scandalous Treatment of Indians— <' What About Rlel?»-
The '< Bunter and Smasher " Fanatics.

Hon. Edward Blake, on coming forward to respond, was
received with cheers and the waving of hats and handkerchiefs.
The applause was renewed again and again until he raised his
hand in request of silence. He said : —

" Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Reform Associations,
whose addresses I have just been privileged to receive: I give
you my best thanks for the language, all too kind, and the
expressions, all too flattering, which you have been pleased to
use towards me. I wish I could feel myself in any degree worthy
of them. I can only clai"m for myself that, conscious of many
imperfections and failings in my public career, it has, at any rate,
been animated by an earnest desire, to the best of my humble
powers and to the limit of my poor ability, to do some little good
to the country in which I was born, in which it is my happiness
to live, and where I hope to die, and so to leave the corner of the
world in which I live a little better for the life that I have lived
in it." (Loud and prolonged applause.)

Entering upon the discussion of public questions, Mr. Blake
touched briefly upon the tariflT, the reform of the Senate, Pro-

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vincial rights, the right of Canada to make commercial treaties,
and the independence of Parliament. Dealing more at length

QUESTIONS RELATING TO THE NORTH-WEST,

he said : — " You remember well what hopes the people of Canada,

V . particularly the people of Ontario, entertained for many years

with reference to the North- Western country. You know that

we desired earnestly to see. that country filled with an industrious

'"•I and law-abiding population, growing rich and strong, to their

own advantage first, but also to ours, increasing the material and

also increasing the political elements of Canadian strength. You

; know that, with that view, we have been willing, all of us, tc

f; ' • make some pecuniary sacrifices, to add somewhat to our burdens,

' and to engage in the prudent conduct of enterprises which most

. Reformers believe have been imprudently managed, and whose

management they have therefore opposed." "i^ou know, also, that

the progress of that country has unhappily been impaired by

■■' misgovernment, maladministration, and neglect. You remember

that AT THE VERY OPENING OF OUR CONNECTION WITH THAT COUN-
TRY, IN 1869 AND 1670, THE NEGLECT BY THE TOKY GOVERNMENT of

those precautions which ought to have been taken in dealing with

the annexation, not of a territory merely, but of the population who

inhabited it, produced a rebellion. (Applause.) For fifteen

years since that time we have gone on with full control of aflfairs

in the administration and development of that country. You

remember that from time to time statements were made of

grievances, of discontent, of neglect, of delay, of maladministration.

You remember also that the Government declared that those

'. statements were entirely without foundation, they declared not

.\ only that there were no grievances, but that there was no serious

complaint of grievances. Sir Hector Langevin went there in the

' summer of 1884, and three or four other Ministers as well. They

travelled about, they saw the people, they received entertainments.

. Sir Hector Langevin gave an account of the result. He said

THAT HE went THERE at the request of the first Minister for the

express purpose of finding out what the grievances were ;

HE found only two MEN WHO HAD A GRIEVANCE, and that

\ grievance was that there were not enough ladies in the country.
(Loud applause and laughter.) Now, these all- wise governors,
who claimed that they had so wisely administered affairs, also
declared that their success was marvellous and unprecedented.

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THE ROAD WAS " NOT TO COST THE COUNTRY A CENT,'

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they said when they were perauadiug you to advance large sums
in connection with the Canadian Pacific Railway (whi(ui sums

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at length

)f Canada,
any years
mow that
ndustrious
r, to their
.terial and
gth. You
I of us, tc
ir burdens,
^hich i^ost
and whose
V, also, that
fifaired hy
1 remember
niAT COUN-
KRNMENT of

ealing with
lulation who
For fifteen
)1 of affairs
ntry. You
e made of
linistration.
that those
eclared not
3 no serious
there in the
seell. They
jrtainments.
). He SAID
ter FOR THE
NOES WEKE ;

i and that
ihe country.
; governors,
affairs, also
sedented.

PENT,"

large sums
Iwhiwi sums
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now amount all told, apart from the land and includinsr the amounts
for the eastern extensions, to about $87,000,000, or about $400,000
for each electoral district — which would be about $1,200,000 for
the Countv of Grey alone). I say that they declared that this
expenditure would cost yju nothing, because, principal and
interest, it would all he repaid at no distant day hy sales of the
lands of the North- West. In the year 1880 Sir John Macdonald
declared that by the year 1891 we would have secured from
North-West lands some $71,500,000, from which you were to
deduct $2,400,000 for expenses, leaving about $69,000,000 clear
gain. So late as the year 1883 Sir Chas. Tupper brought down a
statement from the Department of the Interior, showing that in
the years from January, 1883, to December, 1891, they would
realize in cash $58,000,000. They pledged themselves to the.
people that every shilling, principal and interest, would be repaid
out of these lands. That is all exploded now ;

THE BU^LE IS BURST.

The returns from North- West lands for the period of five years
past were about four millions of dollars, and the net returns, de-
ducting the costs of surveys and administration in the West and
at Ottawa, were $370,000 only, while last year there was a bal-
ance of about $300,000 on the wrong side of the ledger, and that
without deducting a shilling on account of the $1,100,000 a year
we spend on Indians, $450,000 a year on Mounted Police, and
other charores of hundreds of thousands on account of administra-
tion. Put these sums on one side — suppose them to be paid in
some other way — and take the lands, what they produce on one
side and what it costs to administer them on the other, and you
find these results. I challenged these men on this subject in the
House of Commons. I said : — Will you say that of the sum you
mentioned only three year's ago as certain to be realized, even one-
tenth of it will be realizd net ? And they would not say me nay.
(Cheers.) They said the immigrants would pour in and were
pouring in rapidly. To the figures they gave of the number who
had settled I added something for the natural increase of the po-
pulation. And I find that, taking the official figures, showing
those who were actually there, and the natural increase, there
were

ABOUT 125,000 PEOPLE A-MISSING. .,;,

(Laughter and applause.) I asked them : — Did these people come
in ? You said they did ; w it true ? If it is true that they did
; come in, where a/re they now ? (Hear, hear.) Do their bones whi-
ten the prairie ? We know they don't, for the country is a healthy

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country. Have they gone away i Too many have, but not all
these. The fact is it was all a delusion- : so many people never
settled there at all. They said the people there would cultivate
enormous areas of the lands and produce enormous crops, to the
advantage of the whole people of Canada. They made a calcula-
• tion about that too. They said: The staple of that country is
wheat. Sir Charles Tupper, in my hearing (at one of those times
when he was persuading us to make some great grants for the
railway), asked us whether the members of the House had con-
sidered what a hundred thousand farmers in that country would
produce. %\i^ii-^- .r,*..

jjj,^^. A TUPPERIAN CALCULATOB. ^ '^''^ "^ 1'

■, " ■■■■ -f.ii

" I 'lave considered it," said he, " I have made a calculation ; I
./i.' ' that calculation, and it will perhaps surprise some of you
'^''■' wL iV not taken the pains I have to find out the facts. The
faccs <urj chat a hundred thousand farmers in that country will
pre duce 640,000,0Q0 bushels of wheal in a year ! " (Loud laughter.^
Vus, 4,^ yiet ' , it is a fact that he said that ; I heard it myself.
How diu 'le !'■ , ;T>. /ihese figures ? He assumed that each farmer
would crop S'iO acres of land, his whole homestead and pre-
; ; emption. (Laughter.) He was to live in a balloon, for Sir Charles
didn't leave him any room to build a house; he was to have his
'-. bams and stables in the air, his cattle were to pasture in the
clouds, he was to have no grass, he was to have no garden, he was
to have no roots, he was to have no crop of any kind but wheat ;
there was to be no room for fences, no room for roads through
his fi^rm, no anything, but every inch of 320 acres was to be sowed
to wheat ; and then he estimated that every acre would produce
twenty bushels, and so he made out that each farmer would pro-
, duce 6,400 bushels, and a hundred thousand farmers would, of
course, produce 640,000,000 bushels. (Loud and prolonged laugh-
ter.) These are the stories with which these men tried to gull, not
the farmers, because there is no rural audience that could be col-
lected that would not laugh such absurdities to scorn, but the
Parliament and the people o^ large. They went to work to sur-
vey the country.

ItMMENSE PREMATURE SURVEYS.

They said such an immigration as never was heard of before will
go into the North- W^t ; we must prepare at once for the millions
about to cross the ocean and fill up that territory ; we must sur-
vey SbcreB by the tens of millions — and they did. They surveyed
so far and so fast that there are hundreds of thousands of farms
surveyed whi6h will not be settled in your lifetime or mine. There

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is one block along theCanadian Pacific Railway itself 400 miles long.
Take the distance from Hamilton to Montreal — it is less than 400.
Think of a strip that long and forty-eight miles wide, all surveyed
and ready to be occupied as farms. And how manv homesteads
were there on that strip on 31st December last ? There were 138.
(Cheers and laughter.) And this was on the line itself — but

THEIR SURVEYS WERE NOT CONFINED TO THOSE PARTS OF THE LINE
FOR WHICH THEY WOULD HAVE HAD SOME SORT OF EXCUSE. I was

telling my friends at Chesley yesteixiay of a gentleman who was
travelling across the plains, and he caught up to an Indian or
Half-breed driving along in a Red River cart. He noticed there
was something out of the common in the cart. And what do you
suppose ? The cart had in it a lot of surveyor's pegs. (Loud laugh-
ter.) The fellow had picked them up as he went abng to make
his camp fire. (Cheers and renewed laughter.) We have been en-
gaged in these surveys of all these tens of millions of acres, and
meanwhile what has happened ? This happened : — The govern-
ment WAS too bust with these great schemes of bringing in

MILLIONS OF PEOPLE FROM THE OUTSIDE, AND THEIR SCHEMES TO
MAKE FRIENDS RICH OUTOF THE NORTH- WESTERN LANDS, TO ATTEND

TO THE FEW WHO WERE ALREADY THERE. They had no surveyors
to send out, and no money to spend in surveying the lands of the
people already long settled in the country, and who are calling for
surveys in the remote parts where they were settled, no that they
might patent, sell, divide, devise, mortgage, or otherwise deal with
their properties as you and I want to do. For years they called,
for years they cried, /or years they asked and begged for surveys,
and I could read from the blue-bo*ks the reports of the Govern-
ment's own ofiicers that there was dissatisfaction and uneasiness,
but that those who were dissatisfied must wait, because ^i^e^raTi^
projects of the Government left them no time to attend to the wants
a/nd demands of the veople already in the country. I said to
them once and again, " The best advertisement you can have to
induce people to come from abroad is a happy, prosperous, and
contented population already there. (Loud and prolonged ap-
plause.) Qet letters and statements from the settlers showing
that they are satisfied and cheerful, that they have iiot grievances,
that they advise the millions of landless folk abroad to come and
join them, and these statements, giving in their own simple langu-
age the story of their trials and of their success, will do you more
good than hundreds of statements by Sir Charles Tupper showing
that 100,000 farmers will produce 640 million bushels of wheat in
a year. (Loud and prolonged applause.) They will do more for
you, bepause no sensible man will believe these marvellous stories
you tell, while all sensible men will be inclined to believe the
statements made by the actual settlers themselves." (Cheers.)
But no, gentlemen, (D

TEEY WEKE BLIND AND DEAP

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to these considerations. A few years ago we pointed out that
some complaints had, as we had learned, come to Ottawa, and the
cry of the settlers had reached further than the departmental
pigeon-holes. Some had reached members of Parliament, myself
among others. I moved for papers showing what the grievances
of the settlers of Prince Albert were. I moved that in March,
1883. The House ordered that the papers should be brought
down. But the papers were not brought down until after the
rebellion broke out, until we were dealing with that question in
1885. Mr. Cameron, of Huron, moved that there should be a
committee of the House to consider the

• GRIEVANCES OF THE PEOPLE OF THE NORTH-WEST.

— grievances alleged to exist by the people of Manitoba, by the
people of the North- West Territories, by the North- West Coun-
cil, by settlers, and by missionaries. But the Government nega-
tived the motion for a committee. Then we said : — The true aaj'ety-
valve, the best thing that can he done is to apply the constitutional
remedy — give these people representation in the councils of the
ncUion; they live far off, they cannot see us, and we cannot speak
to them ; we have not the same means of learning their wants and
grievances as in other parts of the Dominion. Give them mem-
bers, men chosen by themselves, men who know the wants of the
country, men to come at the bidding of these people, to be re-
sponsible to them and to Parliament, to state the condition of the
country and call for redress of grievances. We brought in vneor
sures for this purpose. The Government rejected them, and de-
clared that they would not even give these people^epresentation.
There was no hurry ; the time would come ! But the rebellion
broke out, and after the rebellion was over, and in the last
session of Parliament, after five millions, to be paid out of your
taxes, HAD BEEN WASTED in war, after blood had been spilt,
after untold pangs had been inflicted upon the people,^

AFTER the reputation OF OUR COUNTRY HAD BEEN TARNISHED,
AFTER A SET-BACK HAD BEEN GIVEN TO THE PROSPERITY OF THE

North-West from which it will not recover for years, then —
THEN AT last, and not till then — they brought down and passed
a measure granting representation to the North-West. (Loud ap-
plause.)

I am absolutely convinced that had our advice bem> taken and
representation accorded in time, there wovM have been no rebellion.
It should not be lost sight of that it was of the utmost import-
ance, for high political reasons, that the Half-breeds should b&
kept peaceful and loyal.

IMMENSE VALUE OF HALF-BREED SYMPATHY.

The great danger in that country was from the Indians, and
the Half-breeds formed a link between us and them which should
have brought us more into sympathy with them and afforded
us means of controlling them, of learning their character and their
wants, and how best to deal with them. Now, in 1869, when
Canada assumed the Government of the new territory, the Half-
breeds of the eastern part came forward with a proposition. They
said : — It has ever been recognized by BHtain that the indians
living in a country over which she assum^ sovereignty, have cer-
tain moral rights, indefinite they may be, but not the less to be
regarded, in the soil, not merely that part of the soil they Jiappen
each of them to occupy, bvi the soil of the region. We are partly
of Indian blood, and as such, being residents of this region, we
claim compensation for that right which you are nx)w about to
take away from us. On the settlerment that right was acknow-
ledged BY the Government, Sir John Macdonald being
THEN IN POWER, and besides the title to the land they happened
to occupy, certain lands or scrip for lands were given to each Half-
breed, 160 acres for each person of full age, and 240 acres for each
child, expressly in extinguishment of what was called their Indian
title, and thus it was solemnly recognized that the Half-
breeds HAD such a title. As settlement began to extend in the
outlying North- West Territories, and the buffalo disappeared, and
the Half-breeds of these parts were obliged to change their mode
of life and settle down on farms, the demand for a recognition of
their rights of precisely the same character arose. It could not
be denied. They were in just the same position as those of the
East, and the rights of their relatives had been accorded. It was
in 1878 that this demand was pressed, and in the winter of that
year Sir John Macdonald's officers caused inquiries to be made and
reports to be obtained which showed that, in the opinion of those
whom they consulted, it was not merely important that the ques-
tion should be settled, but important that it should be settled with-
out delay, because „ : ..

DELAYS WERE DAKbElCOtTl^

and would produce sores and irritations, and render a settlement
at a later date more difficult. Upon that the Government decided
to ask Parliament to give them the power necessary to effect a
settlement ; and IN Mat, 1879, Parliament passed an Act at
their request, and, in their words, giving them authoritt
ro GRANT SUCH LANDS OR SUCH SCRIP, and on such conditions as
they thought right in the settlement of these claims. So that at

36
that time, and by their own reqnest, THEY were clothed with

THE FULLEST AUTHORITY TO SETTLE THIS CLAIM.

/ (

' I

CRUEL AND CALLOUS NEGLECT.

From that time till 1886 they did towards a settlement absolutely
nothing — absolutely nothing. Nor was their utter neglect pal-
liated by the absence of remonstrances, for from year to year
poured in petitions, representations, resolutions of meetings,
letters, yesolves of the North- West Council, all pointing to the
importance of at once settling this question. But, until January,
1885, they did nothinf — absolutely nothing. In that month they
did something which was a half-way measure, utterly inadequate,
and having taken that half-measuye they stopped, and until March
or April, 1885, after the rebellion had actually broken out, tliey
did nothing more. But in March, 1885, they took the first some-
what effectual step towards Recognizing the right of the Half-
breeds of the North- West in respect of the Indian title ; but even
then the recognition was inadequate, and it was not till April that
they were forced by fear to do justice. This delay took place not-
Trlt/hstanding that in June, 1884, the Half-breeds had called into
the country as their chief and leader Kiel, who had great influ-
ence over them, and in whom they had the greatest confidence, to
advise and counsel them, and to direct the agitation for what
they called their rights. One would have thought that even
though the Government had been blind and deaf to all hints and
warnings before, this, at any rate, would have awaked them. One
would have thought that when the author of the old trouble had
been called in again, and when he was holding public meetings,
exciting the people, and calling for redress, this would have
aroused them. More than this, there were remonstrances sent
down from high dignitaries, bishops, missionaries, public oflicers,
persons in authority all through the Territories, calling upon the
Government to act, and to act at once. They had, even then,
plenty of time and room to act, and plenty of reasons for acting
early. (Applause.) I do not know what possessed them ; I have
been utterlij unable to conjecture what it was that possessed
tJtese people with a spirit of ojstinacy and apathy so great as to
prevent them from taking even the first step towards the redress
of these grievances until it was too late. It could not be that they
were not alive to the state of affairs, for the papers show that
though they took no measures for redress, they did take me&sures
of repression. In July, 1884, they sent Col. Houghton to the dis-
trict, to take away the arms of the militia, for fear they might be
improperly used. They applied to the Hudson's Bay Company
for and got possession of the old post at Carleton, to be used as a

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special station for the Mounted Police, and they put a number of
men there in case of trouble.

M-, W

*<>'-\\ ;

• » • > I ► . .* ?

',,... THEY COULD INVENT MEASURES OF REPRESSION,

but toward the good old constitutional measure of remedying the
grievances, of taking away the causes of offence, of removing^ the
origin of the discontent and trouble, not the first step was Ween
until it was too late. (Cheers.) They say now that the rebellion
was precipitated, because in January they took the first step
toward settling the difficulty ; that Riel rose earlier than he in-
tended, because he found the Government was moving at last,
and he felt that if he waited a few days more the causes of dis-
satisfaction among the people would be removed, and he would be
without a cry for rebellion, and the people would not rise in his
support Does not that statement, in itself, prove that there would
have been no rebellion at all had the Government acted earlier ?
(Loud cheers.) Could I give you plainer proof of their guilt than
this — their own statement ? If they had acted in 1882, in 1883,
in the aummer of 1884, in the fall of 1884, even if they had acted
efeotually in December of 1884, January^ 1885, they would have
acted late indeed, but yet in time enough to remove what they
admit to be a main lever and help for Riel in the rising, the
grievance which was left untouched in spite of petitions, but which
was soon adjusted when the rebellion broke out (Cheers.) What
was the extent of this particular grievance? They say it was not
very great in the district which was particularly disturbed, in
which the rising took place. That has very little to do with the
question. The danger never was confined to the case of the few
men who rose. From them there coUld be no danger. The danger

WAS GREAT LEST THE HaLF-BREEDS GENERALLY SHOULD RISE AND
JOIN THE CAUSE LED BY RiEL, AND THE DANGER WAS STILL GREATER

LEST THE Indians also should rise. Now, the danger with
reference to the Half-breeds generally was very great How do I

Erove it ? I prove it by the fact that this grievance to which I
ave referred was submitted to a Commission, and that Commis-
sion has since reported the cases of about .^^,y.. .^^ ^..^^ ^tj,, ■,

1,700 individuals who were entitled to SHARE IN THIS CLilM,

or allowance for the extinguishment of the Indian title, and who had
not received justice for all these years. I prove it by the further
fact that there was an analogous and long-standing grievance
in respect of those who were entitled to share in the grant made
to the Half-breeds of Manitoba, but who were absent at the
time, and were not enumerated, and of these nearly four hundred
cases have been fonnd. These two together make aboiU two thou-

(1)

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i^i?

Q-rD

1-1

'•is

sancZ ea<e0 of this class of grievance. That is a good many in ifflelf,
but when you reelect tfiat the whole Half-breed population in the
North- West, men, women, and children, was about 4,800, and of
these about two thousand had long-standing and unredressed
grievances of this class, the case becomes startling indeed. Take
the population of Ontario, about two millions of people, and sup-
posj that over 800,000 souls amongst our population nad each one
an individual grievance against the Government of p -'^at many
years' standing, and I want to know how peaceful ai Jiet, and
contented and happy we would be. (Loud applause.) We would
agitate, we would protest, we would be disturbed and discontented,
and we should be unworthy of our name and of the position and
liberties our forefathers won Jor us if we should sit perfectly quiet
for years under absolute neglect without finding the first attempt
made to remove the grievances of so large a portion of the popu-
lation! , ., .

government's aUILT PHOVED FROM OFFICIAL DOCUMhNTS.

I can show to you from the papers and statements of these men
themselves that there were grievances affecting a large portion of
the Half-breed population ; that the fact was known to them, and
the importance of an early remedy was also know^ bhat they
asked lor and received in 1879 full power to settle ifficulty ;

that they did not move at all until 1885 ; that they were asked
again and again in the meantime to act ; that they were warned
again and again in the meantime of the danger of delay ; that in
June, 1884', Riel came in, and they were thus especially warned in
time to have averted the danger ; that they in some sort knew the
danger of the situation, and thought it serious 'jnoiigh to justify
them in taking away the militia service and establishing a special
post of the Mounted Police ; that notwithstanding all this, they
(di nothing to redress till 1885. In the Commons House of Par-
liament I HAVE TOLD THESE MEN FACE TO FACK, THAT BEFORE GOD
AND MAN I HOLD THEM RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERY DROP OF BLOOD
SPILLED, EVERY PANG SUFFERED, EVERY DOLLAR OF TREASURE
SPENT, ALL CUR LOSS OF REPUTATION, ALL OUR BLASTED HOPES,
BECAUSE OF THIS REBELLION ; AND WHAT I SAID TO THEM FACE TO

FACE I SAY TO YOU TO-DAY. (Loud and prolonged applause.)

Well, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, these are the men who
come before you towards the close of their Parliamentary term
and claim a renewal of your confidence. Will they ask it on
the score that after you first gave them your confidence, and
when they became connected with the North- West, they marked
Canada's acquisition of that territory by a rebellion due to
their mismanagement, and on the further score that towards
the close of their second term they have by their accumulated

(1)

■'^I^va >

miBdeeds and neglect produced a second rebellion in that conn-
try ? (Cheers.) I say no more damning record of utter incapa-
city, absolute neglect, and complete forgetfulncss of the duties
and responsibilities of otiice can be dmclosed than that which
, even the imperfect records we have relating to this unhappy
affair sufficiently evidence. But we have not got it all ! They
are too wise to let us have it all. (Applause.)

GOVERNMENT DARE NOT BRING DOWN THE WHOLE RFCORD.

The day that news came that war had broken out in Canada, I
called for papers on the subject. That call I have again and
again renewed since then. From various sources I learned, on
various grounds I conjectured, judging from the probable results
of motives of duty and policy, I was sure there were communica-
tions from various persons pointing out the situation of affairs,
particularly during the summer of 1884, and the fail of the .same
year. I called for these communications, but was told that at that
time nothing could be given. I called again and a^^ain. At one
time I was told there were not clerks enough to copy them, that
it would take too much time, th: :, I was too inquisitive, but that
I would get them some later ilay. At another time I was told
it was a monstrous request, for the rebellion would be aggravated
by bringing them down. (Laughter.) Again I was told that I
was a heartless, cruel man, asking that papers should be brought
down when the bringing of them down would put the lives of
missionaries and officials in peril. These papers, I charge, showed
that the missionaries and ojfficials had done their duty in warning
the Oovernment of the ti^e state of affairs, and that the Govern-
ment had neglected its duty in paying no heed to these warnings.
I ask you, as sensible men, do you suppose that the lives of mis-
sionaries and officials would be put in peril b^ papers being
brought down such as these ? (Applause ) They wrote to the
Government saying : — Here m a grievance ; the people feel it and
are discontented ; redress the grievance, and redress it quickly, or
difficulty will arise. Of course, such a letter as that would
strengthen, not weaken, the missionary or official who wrote it
with the people, for they would say : — " Here is a man who is
alive to our situation, who admits that we have grievances, who
calls for their settlement." Such a letter would not endanger its
writer's life. I admit, however, that there would be danger in
bringing down these papers, and that life would bo imperilled.

THE DANGER WOULD BE TO THE GOVERNMENT,

and the life imperilled would be the political life of those untrust-
worthy stewards of your affairs. (Loud laughter and applause.)

(1)

It*

And BO I went on asking until I was nearly as weary as they
were. Towards the close of the session before last, after having
made statements of many of the missing papers, I put a series oi
questions on the paper in which I inquired whether there were
letters from this, that, and the other person. In some cases I was
told there were, and in some cases that it was believed there were
such letters, but the papers would be collected and laid upon the
table at the beginning of the following session. When the session
— ^that is last session — opened, I asked where the papers were.
Sir John Macdonald said : — " If you will renew the question in a
day or two I will in the meantime look up the report of the de-
bates and let you know." (Laughter.) I asked again, but he told
me that he had not yet had time to look the matter up. You see
this matter was of no interest to him, and he had no doubt
forgotten it. (Laughter.) I asked again^ and he replied that
really my demands of the previous session had been so numerous
that he must ask me to go them all over again, and tell him what
I wanted. I said in substance : • • > v ".ih,<{,Mj.n f

The record is there. Now I will tell you what I want. I want
to know whether you acknowledge it to be your duty, and whether
you intend to bring down any of the papers this session, hav-
ing regard to the responsibility of the Government and the pledges
they have made ? )V-v- •-■- .*vtY'-^:i'^\,,-:'t.v«:

V He replied : — " We do." viHi^ti? # ijw

t I asked " When ?" h ir,v;h

He said : — " They are now in course of preparation."
I waited for weeks and still could not get them. I then moved
a resolution declaring that it was the duty of the Government to
bring down all the papers relating to this matter without delay.
They met that motion with a speech in which they pointed out
a.11 the papers that had been brought down, and suggested that no
more could be expected or desired. I spoke again. I went over a
large part of my own budget of the previous session, reading f i om
the reports of the debates. Then one of them rose and said : —
Now that the honourable gentleman has stated what he wants (all
of which and more had been stated in the previous session) we
will treat his speech as if it had been an order of the House, the
: papers will be prepared and brought down at the earliest possible
moment.

AND they're not DOWN YET.

(Loud applause and laughter.) But they defeated my motion be-
cause a confiding member on their own side of the House proposed
as an amendment that, having regard to tht 'declarations of the
Government and their willingness to bring down all the papers,
the House was satisfied, and the majority, composed largely of

(1) '

■;.''",^''.,' .■'

as they
r having
series of
lere were
tses I was
bere were
upon the
he session
pers were,
stion in a
)f the de-
tut he told
You see
no doubt
:>lied that
numerous
him what

it. I want
id whether
ssion, hav-
ihe pledges

len moved
srnment to
lout delay.
)ointed out
cd that no
irent over a
ading f t om
,nd said : —
wants (all
session) we
House, the
9st possible

motion be-
se proposed
tions of the
the papers,
[ largely of

■D '

Buch men as the metnber for Gloucester (Mr. Burns), of whom I told
you, carried that amendment. We moved for a committee of in-
quiry, I declaring in my place that I believed I could prove that
there were important papers affecting the delay, neglect, and mis-
management of the Goternment in the North-West, and which were,
or had been, in the archives, if I could gq^ a committee to take
evidence. But they voted that down, and would not give me the
means of proving my words, nor would they bring down the
papers.

WHAT DOES ALL THIS SHOW?

ifK:>'

If there was a dispute between two of your neighbours in which
the proof aforded by certain papers in the possession of one was
said to be important to make good the case of the other, amd if he
refused to produce those papers, would you say that that proved
his innocence ? (Laughter.) Not at all ; you would say that was
of itself strong evidence on the other side. The holder would be
ver^' glad to bring them forward if they helped his case and dis-
proved his opT>onent's. (Applause.) " Everything is presumed
against him who conceals or destroys the papers." That is what
tbe'law says, and the principles of the law are, after all, founded
on coinmon sense. You presume the worst against the man who
destroys the documents, because if they would not prove the worst
he would rather have produced than destroyed them. I hope
these documents, or the evidence of them, will yet see the light.
I am afraid it will require great pressure, and that pressure will
have to be applied by the electorate before we shall see the true
inwardness of this whole matter. Partly from such reports as the
Government were forced to bring down, partly from newspapers
and other sources, I haVe gathered certain facts, and have laid them
before Parliament and the people. These facts, some of which I
have stated, are even now fuUy proven, and you can depend upon
them. How much more there is to be learned, what greater
mystery of iniquity is hid yet within those pigeon-holes you can
only conjecture who see that in the face of all remonstrances, in
the face of all their own promises, in breach of their public duty,
the Government refuses to let them see the light of day.

Now do not for a moment suppose that I have stated all th/
grievances and neglects, or even the chief grievances and neglec^>
affecting those who actually rose. I have not done so, nor d^^
time allow. But grave grounds of complaint there were with r^®^'
ence to their surveys, their river fronts, the arrangements for*^®^
holdings, the reserves for colonization companies, and other natters;
and gross neglect — the grossest neglect — there was no rejt»oi^s® ^'
the letters, petitions, and remonstrances sent down by ^©se I^*^
people and their missionaries — some being never evep answered,

(1)

' i

i! /'..-■

and the bulk shamefully delayed and ignored. The discussion of
these grievances would require a speech. I pass them by for the
present.

I f *' NORTH-WEST INDIANS, -'i '

Another great source of danger to the North- West was the un-
fortunate condition ^f the Indian population. That population
was numerous, it was warlike and trained to battle and combat
of a certain kind — the Indian warfare. It was dissatisfied, irritat-
ed, discontented, because it also had been miserably misgoverned,
because the liberal appropriations which Parliament had made
(adequate, so far as I can judge, with the most moderate exertions
on the part of the Indians themselves, to sustain them with
reasonable comfort) had been so applied, or rather, so misapplied,
or were so left unused, that the Indians were in large num-
hERS starved, and in greater numbers half-starved. For the
official reports show you the cases of numbers of those people,
some mere children, people of tender years, actually dying of
starvation ; and others of disease engendered or accelerated by
famine. It has been shown that it was the policy of the Govern-
ment to coerce the Indians into such action as it thought right by
reducing them from rations to half -rations, and from that to q[tiar-
ter- rations, and I don't know how much lower, in order to starve
them into removal. The Indian is very different from the white
man in many respects. The habits of his life have led him to be
improvident, and he gorges himself when he has a supply of food,
and abstains very patiently when he can't get it. When you re-
flect that these half or quarter-rations are distributed weekly, or
two or three times a week, to the head of the family, you can
easily see, judging from the character of the Indian, what the re-
sult was likely to be. The starvation ratioAs given out were eaten
at once, and perhaps they were eaten by the buck, and the squaw
and papooses were left absolutely to starve. This was done in
some cases without any cause whatever. The food supplied was
also unsuitable, and produced disease and death. There were
other courses pursued of immorality and wickedness, to which, be-
fore a mixed audience, I dislike to allude, but which were certftiD
to produce the worst results. The

\ ^HOLE STORY IS HUMILUTINO.

•^.^tional sin has received a retribution. The Indians were so
"^is^erned and mismanaged that they were ripe for revolt. And
the fi^lf-breeds, who should have been our influence for good, had
*iso, as \ have shown you, been alienated by neglet, delay, and
mismanagpiQent. It was under such circumstances that Riel came

(I)

'■J

4:3 li

in, auJ under such circumstances that the Government remained
inactive during 1884.

"WHAT ABOUT RIEL ?" . ,-;

,■^r,

♦.Y

I shall now, with your permission, answer the question put me
by a gentleman in the audience, " What about Riel ? " I did not
answer that question then, desiring to finish what I had to say
upon the subject I was treating ; but I am ready to reply. The
Reform PARTY, although they believed that there had been
ON thet'Art of the Government great neglect, misgovern-
ment, and delay, felt ir to be their duty, while the re-
bellion WAS AFOOT, TO ASSIST THE AUTHORITIES OF THE COUNTRY
in the suppression of the revolt against law and in the restoration
of peace and order. They felt it their duty emphatically to do so,
having regard to the critical condition of the country, due to the
Indian population. It was that fear of the Indians, the knowledge
of the danger to those in isolated settlements, that induced us
finally to say to the Government : " Go on ; you know the danger,
you keep information on this question to yourselves, you say you
can't tell us ; all rigtit, don't tell us, but take all the men you say
you want. Take aU the arms and supplies necessary. We vote
them freely; we will help you as far as we can so that order may
be restored and the settlers «aved."

T V\

'•'nvi »tf?;i'

MM f

■'i\

ORDER WAS RESTORED

"«:

PiVi

and then came the process of the law against the rebels. You re-
member how, during the outbreak, the Government charged the
white settlers of Prince Albert with being the most criminal per-
sons in connection with this rebellion. And when the trials came
on they sent instructions to their counsel that amongst the most
impoi-tant things they had to do was to ferret out this matter,
find those wicked whites, and bring them to trial and punishment,
for they it was who incited the Half-breeds to revolt, and they
deserved a severer sentence than the others. No doubt the Gov-
ernment employed able and trustworthy counsel. No doubt those
counsel did their duty. But they were enabled to find only two
or three whites who were men worthy of being brought to trial.
One of them was concerned, but, being insane at the time, he was
acquitted ; and one was found not guilty, nothing whatever hav-
ing been proven against him. There were none others fit to be
even brought to trial. They put thirty or forty Indians and about
as many Half-breeds on their trial, and they put Riel upon his
trial also. The question whether Riel was properly submitted to
the extreme penalty of the law created great excitement. I was,
at that time, not in the country. When I returned I found

t>t>

THE COUNTRY IN A GREAT FERMENT.

I found an effort being made to create national, .dce, religious,
and party issues upon this question. 1 found the Toronto Mail, for
instance, declaring that the whole French and Catholic population
were going one way on grounds of nationality and creed, and were
to attack the Government because a Frenchman and a Catholic
had been executed, and calling upon all other races and creeds to
support the Government, and so, forsooth, to put down thiaSiational
and religious cry. I said that a question which involved the

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE, A QUESTION WHICH INVOLVED NATION-
ALITY AND RELIGION, SHOULD NEVER BY MY CONSENT OR BY MY IN-
FLUENCE, OR IF I COULD PREVENT IT, BE MADE A PARTY QUESTION

AT ALL. I want the administration of justice to be discussed, as
I want all questions which may touch religious or national feelings
or prejudices to be discussed apart from party bias, so that no con-
sideration of party zeal may influence us to do things that would
tend to impair the administration of justice, or to inflame religious
or national passions or prejudices. (Cheers.) ' For myself, and for
my party as its leader, I gave my pledge that when that question
came up it should be considered and voted on by us as each man,
after patient attention to the attacks ypon the Government on the
one hand, and the defence of the Government on the other, should
deem in his heart and conscience it was right and proper to vote,
and that we would not attempt to form any party connection. I
declared that upon it we would be, as I believed, divided in
opinion, and would vote according to our individual opinions. On
the other hand I declared that

ft '■)(?';

'^ fj.

THE WICKED ATTEMPT OF "THE MAIL" AND THE OTHER TORY
ORGANS TO RAISE A NATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS ANTI-FRENCH
AND ANTI-CATHOLIC CRY,

on the representation that all the French and Catholic members
would vote against the Government, was based on a mis-state-
ment. I stated my convic};ion that with them, as with the
Reform party, opinion was divided; aud I assured the people
that the cry of the (Government in danger was only a device to
entrap and excite portions of the people into a disastrous war of
race and creed. As I said, so it was. The Liberal members
made no party connection, gave no party 7ote ; each man voted
perfectly freely and as, in his conscience, he thought right, and
we were about equally divided. It was

iVrjiiWT:>ri m'^njr-

:r'n.fMaiir'';pttt

. rj.i;l^ rJ

A DIFFICULT AND COMPLICATED QUESTION.

I would like to discuss it before you at length, but, for waixt of
time, I am compelled to deal with only some of its phases, and in
a few words. The main point in my mind was this : Was the
man intellectually in such a condition that the extreme penalty
of the law should be inflicted ? Our law for all crimes recognizes
a great distinction between the moral guilt of men, even though
they commit what is known to the law as the same crime. The
degrees of provocation, of premeditation, of imbecility, or insanity,
are among the elements taken into consideration as affecting the
moral guilt and the consequent punishment. In all crimes known
to the Taw, except one, the weight to be given to these considera-
tions is decided by the judge. If you have attended the assizes
as jurymen or witnesses, you have probably seen two men con-
victed on different days of the same legal crime. At the close of
the assizes the judge sentences both, and in one case he may send
a man to the penitentiary for fifteen years or for life, and another

fuilty of the same legal crime he may send for three days to gaol.
F THEY WERE CONVICTED OF THE SAME CRIME, WHY NOT GIVE

THEM THE SAME SENTENCE ? Because, though the crime was the
same, the moral guilt was different, and what would be only
adequate punishment in one case would be far too severe in
another. Out of 279 sentences which do not affect the life of the
prisoner, and in which the judge apportions the punishment to
the crime, only one is in practice altered by the action of the
Executive. This is because the judge has apportioned the penalty;
but in the capital sentence the judge, under the law, is bound to
pronounce not the appropriate sentence but the extreme sentence
of the law, and the duty he discharges in other cases is handed
over in this case to the Executive. It cannot be contended for a
moment that there may not be as many shades of guilt in murder
as in assault or robbery. The consequence of this distinction
is that one out of every two capital sentences instead of one out
of 279, is commuted in Ontario and Quebec. In England less
than half the men sentenced to death are really executed. Why ?
Because the Government is bound to consider each case and to
decide, as the judge does on other cases, on the extent of responsi-
bilioy and of moral guilt. Now this man had been certainly
MAD. That is disputed by no candid man. He had i^EEN in

THREE LUNATIC ASYLUMS. HiS DELUSIONS WERE PROTED AND

KNOWN. If I had time to tell you of those delusions, you would
see that they were such as no sane man could hold. He recovered
and was discharged from the asylum. The rule is, as established
by experience, that three persons out of four who have once

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become insane either continue insane or become insane again.
The probabilities were therefore that, though he had recovered,
insanity would at some time manifest itself in him again. He
was proved to have suffered under the same delusions, the same
aberrations of intellect, in the North- West, as he had suffered
under when in the asylum, and under others also. I came to the
conclusion, and I believed aa clearly as I believe I am standing
here to-day, that

HIS INTELLECT WAS SERIOUSLY DISTURBED

and unbalanced, that he was insane. Having been myself a
Minister of Justice, having years before been called upon to dis-
charge perhaps the most solemn and painful duty that can be laid
upon a man — practically upon ray own responsibility to determine
whether a fellow-creature s life should end on the gallows, or
.whether it was compatible with or due to the interests of justice
and the good of society that he should suffer the secondary pun-
ishment of imprisonment for life — it became my duty tnen to
consider these questions in relation to the principles which underlie
them years before this case occurred. I came to the conclusion then
that where a man's intellect was seriously unsettled, though he
might have some responsibility, and though the interests of society
might require his punishment, I ought not, ^ Minister of Justice,
to advise that such a one should be consigned to the scaffold, that
J might send him to the penitentiary, and then, according to cir-
cumstances as they developed, let him remain there or remove him
to a criminal lunatic asylum for his life. I applied the conclusions
thus reached years before, after careful thought and study, to the
facts before me, and saw that I could not honestly vote in favour
of any decision but that the sentence of execution ought to
HAVE 'BEEN COMMUTED — not that the man should be pardoned as
so many have wrongly declared I said. I said that tne man was
guilty. He had, as the jury found, sufficient intellect to be pro-
perly declared guilty, but a secondary punishment ought to have
been substituted for the extreme one of death. (Applause.)

'.;!'' THE VERDICT DID NOT SETTLE THE QUESTION.

The Oovernment seem to have concluded that the verdict settled
the question. It did not. Our law requires, in order to an acquit-
tal on the ground of insanity, that the jury should be satisfied
that the pnsoner is so insane that he does not know right from
wrong. I will not give you the other technical distinctions. This
18 enough for the occasion. This, then, is all the verdict proved.
But the great bulk of the lunatics in the asylums do, as any doctor
will tell you, have a knowledge of right and wrong^and therefore

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there remained matter for enquiry by the Executive. Though
not so insane as to be entitled to a verdict of not guilty, was he of
such disordered intellect as not to be a fit subject for the gallows ?
To put it as a great English judge described the case of a commut-
ed murderer, .> ^ A

" THOUGH NOT MAD ENOUGH TO BE ACQUITTEI>, HE WAS OBVIOUSLY

TOO MAD TO BE HANGED.

71 >v»-

That is my firm belief. But the Government deliberately de-*
cided not to enter on that question, apd they claim that the ver-
dict settled it. They are wrong in law, they are wrong in justice^
they are wrong in humanity, and the principle they applied can-
not, as I believe, be supported. The execution, then, was on this
ground, as I thought, a blow at the administration of criminal
justice. Other important points there were — points of the great-
est gravity, but for their discussion there is no time, and I must
pass them by. I voted then to regret the execution. I never
gave a vote with so much pain in my life. The vote could do us
no good, so far as the man was concerned. It' was not* a question
of saving his life, for the man was dead. I knew, also, that a
large number of my own friends were inclined to' a conclusion, on
informatipn, as I believed, one-sided and inadequate, different
from my own. I knew that mapy, whose judgment I value highly,
thought differently from me. I knew too, that there was a cloud
of passion,

A MIST OF PREJUDICE ABODT THIS CASE, " :

which was likely to prevent the formation of a sound and un-
biased judgment among the masses of the population. I felt,
however, that there was a principle at stake. I decided to give
such a vote as would, in my belief, commend itself to the calm
consideration of future years, perhaps of future generations, when
that cloild of passion and prejudice should h&ve rolled away.
(Hear, hear.) I knew my conclusion would hp unpopular. I was
aware that it would lose me strength." I should have been glad
to have done nothing which would shock the prejudices or affec-
tions, still less anything which would oppose itself to the judgment
of honest, honourable, high-minded men with whom I had worked
so long, and with whom it may after all be my fortune to co-ope-
rate in the future. But, as I said the other day to my own con-
stituents, highly as I valued their' mandate to represent them in
Parliament, they would demand of me too high a price even for
that great honour if, as a condition of continuing it, they should
call upon me to sacrifice my convictions in order to satisfy their
opiniohs. I understand that what they sent me there for was
this — to act in general accordance with the great Liberal princi-

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pies, which they and I hold in common, and in all particular in-
stances to endeavour to apply these principles ; on every question
to ascertain the facts of the case, to discover the law applicable to
those facts ; to strive to reach a sound conclusion as to what justice
and the publjc interest required, and to vote accordingly, no mat-
ter whether I voted with or against their views; to take the
consequences, whatever these might Ue, but in no case to violate
my convictions. That was my duty ; not from fear of incur-
ring their displeasure, to give a vote which did not commend
• iiself to the heart and head with which I was called upon to serve
them to the best of my poor ability. (Cheers.) Knowing, then,
that it would be distasteful to valued friends who were allied with
me, while I would have been, very glad to Jiave given a different
vote, could I have done so honestly, I gave, without hesita-
tion, THE VOTE WHICH CONSCIENCE CALLED UPON ME TO GIVE, AND
I ASK YOU NOW WHETHER IT WAS BETTER SO TO VOTE, OR TO VOTE
AS SOME OF YOU MIGHT HAVE WISHED, AND AGAINST THE MONITOR

WITHIN. (Loud and prolonged cheering, and voices, " You did

right")

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BLAKE AT BEAVBRTON.

MISXJSKD MiACHIN^BlRY OF GOVKRISTMIENT.

AN OBSTRUCTIVE SENATE.

Encroachments of the Executive Power.

THE GERRYMANDER. THE FRANCHISE BILL.

Mr. Blake favoam

VIOLATIONS OF INDBPENDBNCE OF PARLIAMENT.

THE B003 3LE BilIQA.DE.

Contractors Testimonials to Ministers.

Boy Beaty's N.W. central R.R.
" Bums' Oaraauet R.R.
" BoUtaUle'B Bay des Chaleurs B.R.

I'O'iJT'rssas.

" Moare«vy's " "
" Oaron'B Lake St. John R.R.

Boy Cbapleau'B Oatlnean B-B.
"^ Pope's Short Line R.R.
" Macarthy's nicely subsidised line.
" Bergin's " " ••

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THB BLIND SHARE QANG^.^

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' The Timber Limit Industry,
" Lucky Young Men," Sons of their " Pas."

BOODLEUM GJ^A^THERUM.

Mr. BlaljLe said : — '

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : — I tlianic you very
heartily for the kindness and cordiality of your greeting. In the
course of our public lives it must happen to us who are engaged
in the fore-front of the battle for the people's rights to pass many
gloomy and many discouraging hours; sometimes, perhaps, we
are like to faint in the conflict. Our main and substantial support,
no doubt, must always be the conscientious conviction that we
are in the pursuit of duty. But you add to that support consola-
tion, encouragement, and good cheer when you enable us to re-
flect, as oftentimes in dark hours I have reflected, that there were
many and many a thousand honest hearts who had never seen
my face, never heard my voice, never clasped hands with mine,
never exchanged with me a friendly greeting, vet still whose
pulses beat high not only in zeal for the cause which I was advo-
cating, but also with kindly, aye even partial, affection and good-

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man who, whatever his faults and failings, they
was honestly endeavouring to promote their good.

will for the

believed

(Loud cheers.) Therefore, in no formal words, but from the bottom

of this heart, I thank you for the kindness and encouragement of

your greeting to-day.

We, in this country of ours, have a great advantage in one way
over those who live in the land from which some of us come, and
from which most of us are descended — the old islands beyond the
sea — in having as a rule blue and bright skies. But in most things
in life there are compensating advantages and disadvantages. In
Britain I found that they who were accustomed to cloudier skies and
a more weeping climate were not so much afraid of the rain as we
who see it more seldom. I have known of many a great assem-
blage held under circumstances which would have deterred us
from turning out in this our more favoured country. I have often
thought that many of our people fancied they were made of ma-
terial which would melt in a shower. (Loud laughter.) I am
glad that there are so many thousands here to-day whose zeal
the waters could not quench, nor the floods drown, to listen for a
brief space while we discuss public affairs of the deepest interest
to us all. (Loud applause.) Those who have engaged in these
extensive preparations, more extensive, I dai'e say, than the
weather has permitted to be made available, have always this
consolation, that they did their part to the uttermost, and that
they made every requisite preparation, and if there are some ab-
sent who would have been here under more favourable weather,
the result is not due to the fault of the managers, but to circum-
stances over which they had no control. But I will say that
I am gratified and surprised at the largeness of the numbers who
are here. It is a lesson for the party at large and for each of us
present — to do our best and leave the results to the great Author
and Disposer of events. We have been accustomed in our time
as a party to a good many dark days, to a good many threatening
hours, but I rejoice to believe that

X ' THE DAY BREAKS AT LAST,

that a season such as I have not known for many years of dis-
turbance and unrest on the part of those who are opposed to us,
and of those who take no active part in politics, and a season of
interest, animation and stern determination to do their duty on
the pieirt of those marshalled under the Eeform banner is apparent,
, and this is the ,. , -. »

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BEST OMEN OF OUR COMING VICTORY.

(Vociferous applause.) A long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all
together may lead, I believe, to results at the next election which

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will surprise even those who are most sanguine to-day. I wish,
however, to remind you that in this very riding of North Ontario, .
as elsewhere, we are labouring under special and peculiar disad- /
vantages, and that even in counties in which

THE GERRYMANDER

did not effect its expected end and object, as it did not here, it is
hoped to effect that end by the vexatious compliciitions and difti- '
culties to be imposed upon the people, and particularly upon the
Keformers, by the operation of the Franchise Act. And I wish
to remind you that no general leader, no local leaders, can do for
you the work imposed upon you by these efforts to hamper you.
It is your own work ; it must be done by yourselves in your local
committees, in the various polling sub-divisions of each riding. ''
And I warn you that it is not next j'^ear that the election is being •
run, but now. It will be decided in a few days or weeks in several
of these counties. Before I pass to other questions I desire to
impress this upon you, and to ask you to rouse yourselves to the
effort to see that the organization takes place, even late as it is ;
that earnest inquiry is made with a view to place every Reform

name on the lists, and to

■ '' ''■.

STRIKE OFF EVERY NAME

of our opponents which ought not to be there. (Applause.) There
are so many topics which ought to be dealt with that it is impos-
sible to handle them all, or, indeed, to deal with more than one or
two. I should like to have spoken to you respecting our finances,

THE INCREASE IN OUR DEBT, THE INCREASE IN OUR TAXATION, THE
TARIFF, THE RATE OF EXPENDITURE, ABOUT THE CANADIAN PACI-
FIC Railway, about North -West affairs generally, including

THE management OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, WHICH HAS RESULTED IN
SUCH SCANDALOUS AND HUMILIATING DISCLOSURES TARNISHING OUR

FAIR NAME. I should like to have spoken about Provincial rights.
I say we in Canada have a ,

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HOME RULE QUESTION,

as well as the people on the other side of the water. Here, as
well as there, it is essential to affirm the true principles of federal-
ism, the principle of leaving large local liberties to our several
Provinces, that we may create — for I regret to say that it has yet
to be created — a true, real, cordial union of hearts and hands in
those things common to all through the whole of Canada. (Loud
cheers.) I should like to have spoken about economy, and re-
trenchment, and reform, including the superannuation abuse, and

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to contrast the pledges and promises with the practices and per-
formances of the men now in power. But some of these things
I have already discussed, and you have the opportunity of know-
ing what I think of them through the public press. The subject
I want to bring before you is of another character — it involves
questions connected with

■ ' OURMACHINERY FOR SELF-aOVERNMENT, '

for the making of our laws, and the administering of our affairs. No
subject can be more important than this. Apply, as I have so often
said, a little of the common sense you use in ordinary affaiia to
public matters. Whether we are machinists, or manufacturers, or
farmers, or whatever we may be, we all use machines. If a machine
we are using is not constructed on sound principles it will not
turn out good work. Moreover a machine requires repairing and
oiling from time to time. Improvements are devised from time
to time, weaknesses and defects are develoj)ed by ex[)erii;nce ; time
brings decay. And these improvements must be adopted ; oil
must be applied ; weaknesses must be remedied ; repairs must be
made, as we find requisite. The same rules apply to the big ma-
chine at Ottawa and the smaller machine at Toronto for legislat-
ing on and administering your affairs. They are machines con-
structed of different materials and on a different principle from
those we use in our daily work, and they encounter other difficul-
ties and are susceptible of other weakness, and require other kinds
of improvements. But the general rules apply. I will refer first,
as its dignity deserves, to the Upper House of our two Houses of
Parliament. I say that part of our legislative machinery is not
based upon sound principles, and it is not doing its work well.
(Cheers.) ■ _ - ,

THE OBJECT OF A SECOND CHAMBER

■ .I/,

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under the Federal system, as stated by those who proposed it to
the people at Confederation, was the recognition of th* 8tat >r
Provincial entities and interests as distinct from ^h. ' vnmon en-
tity and interests. These latter were to be repr jd accordi^^ :
to the numbers of the people in the several Pi nces, and thiis
the majority was to prevail in the Lower House. The^ declared
that for that reason the representation in the Senate sh ild be jn
another principle ; on tKe principle of practical Provincial equal-
ity. It has not been acurately carried out in later days, although
that has been the substantial aim, in the execution of which On-
tario, Quebec, and the three Maritime Provinces grouped together
as one, have each equal numbers in the Senate. I say that as a
protector of Provincial rights, as an asserter of those principles

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which it was intended specially to guard, THE senate has proved

A DISMAL FAILURE.

A Voice — We don't want it.

Mr. Blake — How ha.s the Senate proved a dismal failure ?
How do I justify my statement ? In this way : We have had
quest 10118 of Provincial r'ujhts, of the interpretation of the consti-
tution in this regard ; .of complaints from one Province and an-
other of ditticultios of one kind or other of the special character in
respect of which it was said the Seriate luaa to be tl ^ 'tardian,
and yet, so far as I know, they have never moved a jutger for the
protection of the Frovinces or for the solution of these difficulties.
And why should they ? Why, it is absurd. It would be as sen-
sible if you were to determine to give the wolf the poiuer of ap-
pointing the sJieep-dog who is to j)rotect the sheep against the
wolf, and then trust with confidence in the safety of your sheep,
as to trust the guardianship of Provincial rights to a Senate
nominated under the present system. (Cheers;) Who is it that
can work aggression upon the Provinces or impair Provincial
rights ? The Ministry of the Dominion, sustained by their ma-
jority in the Commons. These are the only peraons whose inter-
ference you have to dread — the only possible wolves. Who appoint
the Senate, the sheep-dogs of Provincial rights ? This same Min-
istry. (Loud cheers and laughter.) And, of course, the men
whom they appoint are those who sympathise with their views,
men who will do homage to the authors of their legislative being,
and will act and vote in accordance with the wishes of these very
Ministers whose depredations are to be feared, and against whom
the Senate is supposed to be a defender. (Renewed cheering.)
There is

"•vl

another function the senate was especially instituted to

perform,

that of revising hasty and imperfect legislation, and checking
premature legislation. In this respect, also, the Senate, after
nineteen years' experience, has been proven thoroughly ineffica-
cious. / have seen Bills which, even in our hurried and unsatis-
factory way of disposing of business in the Commons, had taken
long and weary sittings, sent ur> to the Senate, read the first time,
read the second time, referred to Committee of the Whole, passed
by Committee of the Whole, reported to the House, read the third
time and passed, and sent down to us again almost in as short a
time as I have taken to tell the story. (Loud cheers and laughter.)
How much revision is there in that ? What is the good of it aW ?
(Loud applause.) But

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* ' THE SENATE IS WORSE THAN USELESS, - .

for it may, at times, be very harmful. It is no good just so long
as the machine is under the control and doing the bidding of
those who have the majority in the popular chamber; but the
moment the people's voice shall reverse that majority and give a
majority to the side with whose opinions the majority of the
Senate do not sympathise, it is no longer only useless, it may be
very dangerous, because it may become a determined obstruction
to the exercise of the people's will. I do not tell you that these
gentlemen hold their offices by so secure a tenure that they would
obstruct for a long time some measure which the people had ob-
viously and firmly, by a large majority, decided to pass, and on
which the people had earnestly set their hearts. Because they
dare not. They would know that such a course might give rise
to ark agitation which would sweep their institution out of exist-
ence. You know, however, that in the case of the great majority
of legislative and administrative acts, the people feel but a lan-
guid impulse, feeling strongly upon only a few leading measures.
That being the case, the Senate would have it in its power, with-
out great danger to its own existence, harmfully to ob&truct the
legislation of the House of Commons. The present plan gives
the Ivories two chances. As long as they are in power in the
Commons they have the Senate with them, and if they are de-
feated in the Commons they have still one of the law-making
bodies with them ; and, if they cannot md-.c the laws, they can
by this means prevent the making of the laws which the people's
chamber passes. Some of my Conservative friends may say :
Weil, that seems a good thing; we shouldn't change that.; we
want to have two chances. In speaking of this point before I
have simply asked fair-minded, honest Conservatives to consider
the old adage : " Put yourself in his place."

, '''

HOW WOULD MY CONSERVATIVE FRIENDS LIKE IT,

if, being in the majority in the Commons, they found themselves
thwarted by a bod}'^ nominated by their opponents ? They would
say it was bad and wrong. But what would injure them and
what would be bad and wrong in their case, injures us and must

. Be bad and wrong in ours as well. It is wrong for us all ; and it
is simj)ly AN unconstitutional way of thwarting the people's
WILL. They sometimes say, " Oh, there is no danger, a nominative
body is weak and cannot be presumed to interfere in derogation
of the people's rights." But they do interfere with the expression

' of the people's will. I remember very well when 'Mr. foly took

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otfice in Quebec, where they have a nominative Legislative
Council, he had not a single friend in that Council. There
happened to be two Conservative councillors who had become
alienated from their own party, and they gave him some support.
But for that he could tiofc have put a Speaker in the chair of the
Legislative Council. He would not even have had a man to
move a bill in that house. In fact, he would not have been able
to obtain a hearing in one of the two law-making bodies of the

' Province ! It was the reduction of the system nearly to an
absurdity. Yet that is what the Senate oj tJie Dominion 'may
come to. At present the Conservatives have 70 friends to about
14 of the Liberals, and the course of nature will increase this
p^-eponderance. Now the Legislative Council in Quebec refused
to vote the Supply Bill, the very thing which all agree a nomina-
tive body, an Upper House, should least of all touch, and Mr.
Joly's Government was actually subverted by that abuse of
power. Modern experience has therefore proven that a nomina-
tive body may, and does, interfere with the expression of the
popular will, and that the reasons thus advanced for the con-
tinuance of that body are not sound. Again, this principle of
nominative bodies is inconsistent with the modem democratic
theories of the law-making power. This was one of the main
controversies in Quebec before the Rebellion of 1837. One of the
principal grievances of which the people complained was that
there was a nominative Council whicli had power to thwart the
will of the people, and control the legislation of their representa-
tives. It was out of place then, and it is even more out of place
now, and in this democratic country, which ought to be "free from
all these remnants of feudal and aristocratic notions, that the
members of one of the law-making bodies should be appointed by
the First Minister and hold office for life. (Loud and prolonged
applause.) No matter how much he m,ay betray his trust, so lony
as the Senator remains worth a thousand pounds, and can dray
his limbs for a single instant once in every two years into the
Senate Chamber, so long he holds his place as a 'maker of laws
for you and me, and we cannot get rid of him. I say that is a
principle absurd on the face of it, and utterly indefensible in
respect to the law-making power, and I maintain that if there is
to be a second chamber it ought to be in some manner elected by
the people, and in some manner responsible to the people in
whose name and on whose behalf it is to make the laws to which
we are all called upon to render a cheerful obedience — (loud

I applause) — and until that is established it cannot be said that we
are really a self-governing people. I think, therefore, we ought
to have

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A SECOND CHAMBER OF REDUCED NUMBERS — I SAY OF REDUCED '
* »■ NUMBERS,

because that would avoid a considerable portion of the expense,
besides diminishing the danger of collision between the more
numerous and more popular body and the second or revising
Chamber. I think we ought to have that Chamber appointed by
election in one form or other, and, though at one time I rather -
inclined to another view, 1 believe the best mode is by direct
popular election. (Cheers.) It is said that there may be danger
in that of a dead-lock, because the Senate will be elected as well
as the House of Commons, and will claim equal powers. You
may have a dead-lock at any moment under the present system,
and it would, of course, be possible under the directly-elective
system. But there are many ways of obviating that difficulty —
^'j.; for example, the over-riding vote, the joint vote, the vote by a
specified majority, the decisive vote after a session or after an
election, a declaration as to the constitutional function of the
body — the question has been solved and solutions have been
suggested in many ways in various countries. The argument
respecting that difficulty ought not, therefore, to prevail. My
good friend behind me here, said a little while ago, while I was
speaking of the Senate, " We don't want it." I am not prepared
to adopt that view. (Applause.) 7 he example we have had
in Ontario of conducting the a fairs of a single Province ivith a

f '^ single Chamber is certainly cheering and encouraging ; but 1
maintain that the conduct of the a fairs of a Dominion made up

^,j V of several Provinces is a very diferent matter. Besides, I cannot

-*" ' forget it was

PART OF THE ORIGINAL COMPACT

^ ^ -

of Confederation, devised in the interests of the smaller Provinces,

that there should be a second Chamber, in which the smaller

: . Provinces should have a larger proportionate representation than

;;' ; they would have in the Lower Chamber, where the number was

based upon the population. Therefore, I am not prepared to

■'■<'■'- propose — still, less am I prepared to propose as a member coming

from the largest Province, one having great numerical weight in

the Lower House — that we should abrogate that pact, and take

away that supposed safeguard of the smaller Provinces. Just so

long as they conceive the ] ossession of that supposed safeguard is

of advantage to them, our best course, as statesmen, is to continue

this portion of our legislative machinery on the principle on

which it was originally introduced, making such changes as will

add to its efficiency and guard against its obstructiveness. and

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suc^ is the policy of the Liberal party a8 proclaimed in Parlia-
ment and on the platform, and as we ask the people to ratify it
at the polls. (Loud applause.) '

I come now to .

THE LOWER HOUSE, *

ot which I am a member, and in whose concerns you are chiefly
interested. The Tory policy has been and is to give to the
Executive, avd to remove from the people and the House all the
control they can in reference to the viaking of the Ho^ise. You
remember that when Mr. Mackenzie came into power, in confor-
mity with his avowed principles, he deprived himself of the
power the Tories had assumed after Confederation, of appointing,
as they pleased, the Returning-officers at elections. He said : —
I prefer not to avail myself of this power ; I will act upon this
view at the first election, and as soon as comes a session of
Parliament, if I am returned, I will settle it for all Governments
by legislation. So

WE RESTORED TO LOCAL OFFICERS

in your midst, to officers having duties to perform as citizens, apd
being men whose character, respectability, efficiency, and standing
in society, ought to be guarantees of their good conduct, the
functions of Returning-officers, though the vast majority of these
men throughout Canada at that time were political op|)onents, or
had been appointed by political opponents of ours. i?he Tories
did not object to that change, but agreed to it, and it was carried
out with the unanimous consent of Parliament. But no sooner
did the Tories resume office

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THAN THEY REPEALED THE LAW

and resumed the power of appointing the Returning-officers.
They said : — It was a good thing to allow the other rule while
our opponents were in power, because it gave us many friendly
Returning-officers, But now that we are back in power we will
take again the power to appoint only our friends to these offices,
and the influence due to their being our appointees. We can
a})point the registrars or sheriffs when they suit us ; they will
owe the office to us, and will not be ungrateful, and when they
don't suit us we can appoint other people who do. Abuses have
existed in the past in this matter. My friend and your friend,
the member for this riding, Mr. Cockburn, experienced one of
these abuses. I remember when it was my duty to call upon the
House, as a matter of privilege, to amend

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A SCANDALOUS RETURN MADE BY A RETURNING-OFFICER,

who chose not to return our friend, though he had been fairly
elected; I succeeded. The Government found that they were
dealing with a new Parliament, and a good many of their follow-
ers were not yet hardened by the constant process of voting for
the wrong. After having denounced me as the proposer of a
dangerous motion, subversive of correct principles, they were
obliged to yield, and your present member was duly returned.
(Loud cheers.) His case is an example of the danger of allowing
the Government to nominate the Beturning-oj^cers who are to
choose between them and their opponents. Remember this, that
the Government ought to he given as little power with reference to
an election as possible, because the Government is one of the parties
to that election. Both parties ought to be on an equality. A
case is to be trjed, and the country is jury. If you give one
party to a case power which affects the choice of the juiy there is
little chance of justice being done. Do not give to the Govern-
ment in political affairs, powers you would be the first to reject if
proposed to be applied in the case of a dispute in the ordinary
affairs of life. (Cheers.) Again, with reference to the

I VOTES OF THE CIVIL SERVANTS.

We have objected to the Civil Service vote as at present managed,
not because the Civil Servants are not respectable people. But we
do not believe in any vote that is not a free vote. " Franchise "
means freedom, and if you givea man thefranchise, and tell him how
he must use it, you simply offer a case of contradiction of terms. I
brought forward this case of Mr. Dodd, to which Mr. Edgar referred,
in which a member of Parliament by his own letter, was shoivn to
have gone to a public officer and told him during an election that
he ought to vote for the Government candidate, because he was the
Government candidate, and because if he did not so vote he ivould
run the risk of being turned out of office, for that was the rule.
His own letter proved that he had used those words. But the
man voted according to his own conscience, and not according to
the bidding of his assumed masters, and he suffered the penalty,
not by being in form deprived of his office, but by being shuffled
out of it by a cunning device which I need not stop to describe,
but the result of which to him was by the member's letter ex-
pressly ascribed to his vote — in truth it was because of his impu-
dence in using his franchise freely. They said he had taken an
active part in the elections. I know nothing about that. The
threat and the complaint made by the member was with reference
to hi3 voting simply, nothing more. I made my charge against

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the member, and against the Government, for I declared that the
Government, knowing the circumstances, had carried out the plot,
and had in effect deprived the man of his office, and the Tory
party in the House refused the committee of investigation for
which I had asked. I would like to know, if this is the system,
whether you think these are free votes or not. It is a

SCANDALOUS ABUSE OF POWER,

but it is only another instance of the Tory policy of controlling
elections and electors, instead of making them free.

Take another case. There was an election for the county of
Kings, Prince Edward Island. The Liberal candidate had a ma-
jority of about 86 votes. But the Tory Revising-officer made a
double return. Somebody had put in a protest against the Liberal
candidate, saying that he had been a member of the Local Legis-
lature, and had not effectually resigned. The matter was brought
up in Parliament, and notwithstanding our protest, it was referred
by vote of the Tory majority to the Committee on Privileges and
Elections. And that Committee decided by a party vote, not
that the man who received a majority should be declared elected,
not that the election was void and should be contested again ; but
that the man who had received a minorit}'^ of votes, the man whom
the people had rejected, should be declared elected, and should re-
present that county for the whole life of the Parliament. And
the Tory majority in the House of Commons confirmed that ver-
dict. We objected, and urged that the man who had the majority
should be given the seat. If there was any irregularity he could
be unseated in the regular way. But they refused. We said :
Suppose that you are right, and that lie is disqualified, that is no
reason why the other nan should have the seat ; void the election
and let it be contested again. But they refused that also. Wo .
asked them to refer the matter to the Supreme Court and not to
insist that a political body, in which they were a majority, should
decide a point of law. No, they said ; we are bound to decide it
ourselves. And they did decide it themselves, these righteous
judges, andtftey decided it for themselves, and I have been sitting
for four years with a colleague in Parliament luhom the Tory
members of the House elected in spite of the people's verdict,
(Loud cheers.) Add to this the case of Sir Charles Tupper, whom,
though his seat was voided, and he was ineligible for Parliament,
they elected for Cumberland by Act of Parliament — (cheers) — and
tell me whether these things should so be ? Then we come to

' THE GREAT GERRYMANDER,

by which they determined to control the popular vote of Ontario.
They determined so to affect the bounds of the different ridings

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that a practical popular equality ou the gross polls should not be
reflected by an equality in Parliament, but that a popular equality
of votes should be represented in Parliament by a great Conserva-
tive majority, and a small Liberal minority. I need not talk
about that in detail here. You know what was done in Ontario
and Muskoka, what was done in the Simcoes and the Vorks.
(Cheers.) I believe there are men from every one of those coun-
ties here. Desperate efforts were made by the Reformers, ani-
mated by that zeal which results from a sense of crying injustice
■ and gross fraud perpetrated upon a people, and from a stern de-
termination to redress the wrong. Some Conservatives, I rejoice
to say, gave but half-hearted support to their party, and some
went in opposition to it on account of

I THIS INIQUITOUS MEASURE.

> But you must not forget the dead weight so placed upon the Liberal
party, though they were enabled in spite of it to gain victories
here, in South Ontario, in North York, in East York, and else-
where. (Cheers.) They were unable over the whole Province to
overcome the effect of the gerrymander, and eight seats which
they held by right were taken, while many more were nearly
taken by the Tories. However, eight or ten seats were saved to
us on which the Tories counted as confidently as on those they won,
but which the superior zeal and earnestness of the Reformers, and
the candour and shame of a good many of their own supporters,
prevented them from securing. (Cheers.) What was the result
after all ? It was this, that while we had at the polls almost an
equalit}'^ of the people, within one of an equality on a due return,
we had in the House a majority of eighteen against us. I warn
you that you must

- DISPLAY ONCE MORE THAT DESPERATE ZEAL AND ENERGY

in every county which has been mutilated, if you would succeed
in the next contest. They count on a diminution of your zeal.
They say : " Tire Reformers will no longer be animated by that
burning sense of injustice that drove them to superhuman efforts
before, and, as for the Conservatives, we know them well. They
are, on the whole, a carefully disciplined body. A few were slack,
and fewer still were hostile, but now that the thing is done and
cold, they will fall back into our ranks, and labour in the gerry-
mandered counties as well as ever." I look to j^ou to defeat that
expectation by continuing the zeal you showed before. I look to
the Conservatives whose love of justice and fair play led them to
abstain, or to take part with us before, to defeat that expectation
of a relapse from probity, integrity, and high-i^mdedness, by

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showing that they are still possessed of those qualities. (Cheers.)
I want to say a word with reference to

THE EASTERN PART OF OUR PROVINCE.

That part of the Province is often misunderstood by Keforiners in
the West. It is true that we have been unable to return many
members for the East, because the divisions of ridings, even as
they were before the gerrymander, were wholly unjust to us.
Notwithstanding our small representation in Parliament, the
eastern part of Ontario, from the county of Durham to the
border, contains a very large number of intelligent, hard-working,
high-spirited Reformers — and I can prove it by the returns of the
last election. I wish to make the eye help the ear in this matter,
and I have prepared a little checker- board, on which you will see the
result of the popular vote in the thirty seats from Durham to the
border in the year 1882. The squares are, as you will see, pretty
nearly black and white alternately. It is true there is one black one
in excess of the white. I hope my Conservative friends will not -
mind if I say that in this little map they are re^presented by the
black and the Reformers by the white. (Loud laughter.) I have
not painted them very black, but still a good many shades blacker
than the others. (Renewed laughter.) This shows

THE STATE OF THE POPULAR VOTE -

at the last elections. In those thirty constituencies there were
enough Reform votes to have elected (making allowance for accla-
mations and exceptional conditions) sixteen Conservatives and
fourteen Reformers. That is what the people said at the polls,
and all we ask is that the voice of the people at the polls shall be
fairly echoed in Parliament, and if we are in a minority at the polls
we are quite content to remain in a like minority in Parliament
until we can convince enough people that we are right, to give us
a majority. (Cheers.) This shows what the people said, and this
(here the speaker turned the paper over) is what the returns to
Parliament said for the same district. (The reverse side of the
picture was received with loud laughter.) There you have a great
black sea, with a little white island in the middle. Only three
Reformers were elected, though we should have had fourteen;
and twenty-seven Tories, though they should have had only six-
teen. This is what happened, but there might easily have been
worse and more of it; for if the Tories had managed to turn 150
votes in these three riding which returned Reformers, they would
have made them return Tories, and the little white island would
never have appeared above the surface, although our proportion,
of the popular vote would not have been noticeably affected. We

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would still have fourteen-thirtieths of the votes, whithout one
single member to represent them. Even in a case like that

THE GERRYMANDER WAS OPERATED.

One would have thought that in Eastern Ontario, where they had
already enormous advantages — where they could count on over
twenty seats as things btood, far in excess of their lights — shame
and decency would have prevented the Tory majority in the
House from altering the bounds to hurt us still more. One would
have thought they would have been contented with having all the
Peats but eight or so, when they ought to have had only sixteen
to fourteen, but they were not. They took from the County of
Carleton, a Tory stronghold, a township or two, knowing they
could spare them from Carleton, and added them on to North
Lanark, so that my friend, Mr. Macdonnell, who got a majorty ot
200 votes in his old riding, was defeated by 80 votes through the
tacking on of these other townships. They added the Tory town-
ship of Kitley to the constituency of Brockville, and by that
means they turned a majority of 80 against them in the old riding
into a majority of about five in their favour in the new creation.
So to the man that had much, more was given ; and from him
that had not, was taken away even that which he had. (Laughter.)
From me, who should in justice have had fourteen supproters, and
would have had Jive, at any rate, on the old boundaries, all were
taken away but three ! And that is what a free people approve
of and admire. They do not deserve to continue free ! (Cheers.)

THE COMMONS OUGHT TO BE A MIRROR OF THE PEOPLE

at large, politically. If it is so, it is a truly representative body ;
but if you debase it into a machine to be artificially arranged by
one party to represent its opinions, even when they are not the
opinions of the people, you prostitute it to ths vilest party ends —
you deface the fair form of representation ; you destroy its sub-
stance, and you may as well give up its theory.
.1 refer to another thing. The Tories have not only taken the
appointment of the Returning -officers, manipulated the Civil Ser-
vice vote, and carved up the districts so as to secure the best
possible results for themselves, but these things not suceceeding to
their entire satisfaction.

THEY PROPOSE BY THE FRANCHISE ACT TO TAKE ANOTHER STEP.

The Federal system in its nature points to the Provincial fran-
chises as the true franchise for the Commons House of Parliament.
"^You must remember the principle of representation in the Lower

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and popular body, as established by Confederation, is that each
Province shall be represented according to the number of souls
that inhabit it. The men who are in the best position to say how
the mind of the Province shall bo most accurately represented are
the people of the Province themselves, and the form which they
choose for that representation for their own Local House is the
form which should be adopted for Federal purposes. (Cheers.)
That is the })lan pursued under the constitution of the greatest
example in ancient or moflern times of a country established upon
the federal principle — the United States of Amciiiea. Our own
experience pointed to the same course, for we had been eighteen
years under that system, and I have yet to learn of the first man
who showed, or could show, that any substantial grievance existed.
There are other reasons. Our country is large, extending over
four thousand miles. It is inhabited by different people of different
races, different creeds, different conditions as to occui)ation, realized
wealth, prosperity and advancement, and with different views.
How can w^e best be sure that the mind of each section shall be
fully represented in the House of Commons ? Certainly by adopting
the method which the people of each section have chosen for them-
selves. Any effort to establish

A CAST-IRON PRINCIPLE

OF UNIFORMITY MUST
DIVERSITY,

RESULT IN REAL

because if you apply the same system to different conditions the
result must be diversity, and not uniformity. Again, one of the
first rules which ought tp animate a self-governing people is that
you should impose as little labour, expense, and dij^culty as pos-
sible upon those who desire to get their names on the list of voters,
or to keep them there, and to exercise their franchise. A double
franchise, a double list, double machinery for making the lists,
and difierent systems of 8,ppeal — all this means enormous expense.

THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS WE VOTED LAST SESSION ON
ACCOUNT OF THE EXPENSES OF THE FRANCHISii ACT FOR THE YEAR.

We do not know how much more it is going to cost. They can't even
tell us how much the printing is to be. They rtiakejohs of thisprlnt-
\ing, giving it to their supporters at high pricet^ — prices in many
cases, as 1 am informed, twice and thrice what like work has been
done for, and admitted to be largely in excess of the cost of the On-
tario lists. They cannot tell us what they are going to pay the
revising officers. We asked that question the session before last.
jThey said they could not tell, but that next session they would
Ibring down a measure which would fix the rate. We asked this
Isession what the rate was to be, but they said they had not
Idecided. They do not tell these revising officers, who are to be so

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thoroughly independent of both aides, what their pay is to be.
They say to the revising officers in effect : According to your
work so shall your reward be. (Cheers.) Neither public nor
revising officers are to know how much, or on what principle,
they are to be paid. But this is not all, or nearly all, the cost of
the Act. The largest part is

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THE COST TO THE PEOPLE THEMSELVES,

the actual money cost of revising the list, of putting names on
and striking off those that should not be there, the loss of time,
labour, and money to members of Parliament, to candidates, and
to active party men. Even the loss of time is enormous, and it is
all a loss to the country, for the men who spend their time thus
are obliged to give up their ordinary avocations which increase
the wealth of the country. 1 want to see the cost of getting into
Parliament made as cheap as possible. (Loud cheers.) I . don't
want to see a plutocracy established in this democratic country.
I don't want to seethe law so airanged that only he who is a rich
man, who can a ford to spend hundreds of dollars to get names qn
the list, may aspire to represent the people. (Cheers.) I want to
see the avenue kept open so for all those who deserve to reach the
goal, no matter whether their purses be light or heavy, and I warn
you that so long as you choose to have a system which is expensive
and complicated, and so long as you do not like — and I suppose
few do — to pay the expenses yourselves, so long you are put-
ting a tax or duty upon the man who has a light purse, and giv-
ing an advantage or protection to the 'pian with a heavy purse,
in the race for legislative honours. (Cheers.) Then, again, the
system of making the lists leaves less power with the people, and
gives more power to the Government, and is all wrong.

IN ENGLAND WHO MAKE THE LISTS ?

Local officers appointed by local administrative bodies, whose
members are chosen by the people as in Ontario, This i« one of I
the most valuable features of British institutions, this system of
minor local boards, and it is very useful to give dignity and im- [
portance to these minor boards, such as must be given by entrust-
ing them with the making of the lists for the great national
elections. But our government says : — We cannot trust I

THE MUNICIPAL COUNCILS TO APPOINT THE PROPER OFFICERS To|
MAKE THE LISTS, OR TO ATTEND TO THE REVISION. We MUST AP-
POINT INDEPENDENT MEN, WHO WILL NOT BE CORRUPT, WHO WILL]
NOT BE PARTISAN, WHO WILL DO THE FAIR THING, WHICH OUR MU-
NICIPAL COUNCILLORS AND LOCAL ASSESSORS CANNOT BE TRUSTED!
TO DO. We, one party in THE PARLIAMENT, OiNE PARTY TO THEJ

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it'ontest, in order to secure even-handed justice, and per-
Ifect fair play to the pkople at lauge, with that high pur-

IpOSE, AND NO other, OF COURSE, WE WILL TAKE THESE APPOINT-
MENTS INTO, OUR OWN HANDS. ThEY SHALL HE OUR OEFICERS. We
IwiLL NAME THEM SO THAT IT MAY HE PERFECTLY CERTAIN THAT
ItHEY WILL DECIDE AGAINST US WHEN THEY OUGHT. (Loud cheei'S

land Icaiighter.) I never said that the municipal councils or asses-
sors always did what was right in this matter. But I .say, take it
|hy and large the whole Province over.that, as far as my experience
joes, the lists were made and le vised with reasonable fairness
junder the officers appointed by the municipal councils and the
jmunicipal councils themselves. (Cheers ) There were some excep-
tions, of course, and they were to be deplored, but, take it as a
Iwhole, there was no general cause of complaint respecting the
system of making or revising the lists, and there was an efficient
md cheap appeal in cases of in justice. The Government not
mly names the man to make the lists, hat names the man to
revise them — and they are the same man. (Laughter and ap-
)lause.) The man who has made the list, and has declared as to
the right of so-and-so to be on the list, must hear the appeal upon
that case and decide it. I would rather have some other person
ieclare whether the officer was right or wrong than himself,
^he English Government never dared to propose to the Engli.sh
Parliament that they should be empowered to name the persons
revise the lists. The English Ministers are men ofhit/h station,
|in conspicuous places before the world. I'hey are actuated, as a
''ule, by pure motives, and would, if any would, be perhaps hardly
likely gi'ossly to abuse such a trust. Yet they

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NEVER DARED TO SAY TO PARLIAMENT :

Hve us the power to name the men who are to revise the lists,
"^hat do they say ? They say : Give the high judges of the land,
^hile sitting in the courts administering justice, and as connected
ath their administration of justice, when they hold the great Court
)f Assize for the county, give them the appointment of theRevising-
)fficers. No partial inan, no partisan, no politician,no party to the
wntest does this in England, but a judge of the highest court, hold-
ing a most exalted office for other functions, elevated above the
lists and passions and prejudices of partisanship, sworn to do his
luty, and doing it amongst the people and under their eyes,
^hose prime condition of life is that he should do justice in every-
thing in which he officially acts. Here our partisan Ministers are
30 much more exalted above partisanship, so much more to be
trusted, that what no English Ministers ever dared to ask the
"^^nglish Parliament to commit to them, and what the English

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Parliament would have refused had it been asked, is asked for by
the Canadian Ministers and granted by the majority in the Cana-
dian Parliament, knowing, doubtless, that that was for them the|
EASIEST ROAD BACK TO PARLIAMENT. (Loud cheers.) , I make no
charges against the whole body of Kevising-officers, but I do say
that in some cases most

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IMPllOPEtt APPOINTMENTS HAVE BEEN MADE.

Take one instance, that of the County of Carlton. That is the
Prime Minister's own liding. In the election of 1S82 he had a I
lawyer as his financial agent, a man occupying the most intimate
and confidential relation to himself necessarily, a man entrusted
with looking after his receipts and disbursements and his interests
during the election. That man has been appointed by the Prime
Minister to revise the voters' lists in that county. (Cheers and
laughter.) Will that appointment change him ? Partisan last
election, this time ho is so far removed above party that he is to
revise the lists on which everything depends. I don't know
whether he is going to be financial agent again ; I suppose not.
That would be too great an outrage upon decency for even this |
Government to be guilty of. But 1 think it an outrage upon de-
cency as it is. When you can find such things in the case of the
Prime Minister, you can take that sample and judge of the rest.
(Cheers.) But I say that improper appointments have been]
made, and improper persons made judges, and needless judgeships
created, to serve this fraudulent purpose. We have had a good
deal of trouble already, and I fear we shall have more. We have
had

NAMES ILLEGALLY PUT UPON THE LIST

by the hundred — in one divi.sion of Toronto I am told they have
been thus put on by the thousand. They had no right to be
there, but they were put on in the expectation that a law would
be passed this session legalizing them, and so prevent their being
taken off. They were put on at almost no expense, but the Re-
formers have to go to great expense to take them off. They tried
to legalize it all. They brought in a clause which, if passed,
would have kept on the list the names thus illegally put on. And
they would have passed that clause, but that the Liberals showed
a determination to stay until the fall if necessary, and fight the
qu 'ifclon out, and that being so they thought better of it, and
wi iilrew it rather than provoke such a contest. (Loud cheers.)
But they suspended the operation of a clause by them brought in,
which, if it had effect, would have lightened our load a good deal.
Under this clause a man whose vote was objected to was obliged

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to attend at the final revision without pay, or run the risk of
having his name struck off. Being forced to with(haw the pro-
vision which would have legalized the names wrongfully put on
the list, they determined to suspend this latter clause untd after
the next revision. But why ? Surely what is to be good then
cannot be bad now. (Cheers.) Why ? Because the}' liad an
enormous advantage, and would make that advantage less if wo
could compel the attendance of these men without paying them.
And so

WITH REGARD TO THE FORM OF OATH.

Your old form of oath was some guarantee and protection in case
men were wrongfully put on the list. At first they brought down
a form of oath of that kind, but after reHection and consideration,
and after finding the condition of the lists, they struck it out and
brought in another under ivhich a man uhose name is wrongfully
on the list might vote without having to swear that he was entitled
to vote. They knew they had large numbers on the lists who could
not take an oath declaring that they were qualified, and so they
withdrew what they had first proposed, and left us without that
protection. As to the franchise, 1 would not seek to force my
views respecting the franchise upon any other Province, for I
believe that each Province should be allowed to deal with this
matter for itself. (Cheers.) Take the great question of

<"(■■

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FEMALE SUFFRAGE.

In Ontario a great many people are in favour of the suffrage for
women. (Loud applause.) In Quebec a very large majority are
determinedly hostile to the principle of giving the suffrage to
women. Why should Ontario force suffrage for women upon
Quebec ? (Cheers.) Why should Quebec insist that the people of
Ontario should not give the women of the Province the fraitchise
'f they desire it ? (Renewed cheers.) Let each Province decide for
itself. (Loud applause.) By giving the greatest freedom in this re-
spect you avoid friction and conflict, and get each Province fairly
represented. But I have declared in the House, and I repeat it
here, that if there is to be a Dominion franchise, inasmuch as
the Dominion does not touch questions relating to property, and
having regard to our system of taxation, under which every man
who is not a pauper must pay a share through the Customs, and
having regard also to our system of defence, I should favour, as
THE ONLY SENSIBLE Dominion franchise, residential registered
manhood suffrage. (Loud and prolonged cheering.) It would be
the simplest and plainest ; it would make no very serious difference
with reference to the character ofr the franchise ; it would avoid

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the complications, doubts, uncertainties, and in a large measure
the expense of the present system. (Loud and prolonged ap-
plause.)

I now come to another and most important question —

INDEPENDENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

I have spoken of the principles upon which the parts of our legis-
lative and administrative machine should be selected. But, after
you have the machine so far put together, you must see that it is
so regulated as to do its work properly. After electing your
members to rarliament, you must see that the conditions of action
will lead them to do their duty. The relations of the Executive
and of members of Parliament to the public treasury, and to
public contractors, must painfully press themselves upon the
mind of every Canadian who has at heart the honour of his
country, the respectability of its Executive, and the independ-
ence of its Legislature. It is necessary always to take precautions
for the avoidance of corruption. You know who it was that said,

"A GIFT BLINDETH THE EYE,"

and in all times a principal danger to popular institutions has
arisen from the corruption of those who were charged with the
people's business. Our country is a country of workingmen, of
those who themselves earn the bread they eat, and not a country
of wealthy men. A moment ago I said that the avenues to the
legislative halls should he freely open to those who live by the
labour of their hands or of their brains. But it would not be
prudent, it would not be common sense not to consider, as people in
other lands have had to consider, and to guard against the dangers
naturally growing out of the situation. There are temptation;
with reference to money, wealth, patronage, office, which, in the
nature of things, more seriously affect people in our pecuniary
circumstances, M'hich more seriously affect us who are not abso-
lutely beyond the reach of want, affect us who are dependent
upon our continued exertions for the maintenance of ouiselves and
our families, than they do the man who is very wealthy; not, God
forbid ! not because the poor man is of a less njble nature — it is
not so — but because his circumstances, in the very nature of things,
intensify the temptations in his case. So in wealth\'^ Er.gland, and
atill more here, it has been made plain that we must S'^rutinize

CAREFULLY THE RELATIONS OF THE EXECUTIVE AND OF MEMBERS

with contoactors AND WITH THE TREASURY. Laws have been
made with regard to some of these relations, and these laws have
been made more stringent from time to time as abuses were shown

Paf liament has also been a protection,

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for we have our customs — of late, 1 regret to say, not very strictly
observed — which make certain prohibitions in these regards. But
the main safeguard, after all, is and must be public opinion
(Applause.) We must evince a lively and determined public
opinion ; we must express the general view of people of all sides,
and from all quarters, that the public trutn, as a prime coiidition
of retaining the public confidence, must keep himself

NOT MERELY FREE FROM REPROACH,

but free from cause of suspicion, must thrust far from him, as an
accursed thing, even the very appearance of evil, must have no-
thing to do with any transaction of which it can be said, not even
that it did affect, but that it was calculated to affect unfairly his
public conduct. Unless you lay that down as your rule, if you
think that because it is the action of some one of your own party
you ought to approve, that because it suits your party purposes to
permit these doubtful, these dangerous, relations, you will suffer
them to exist, you degrade your Parliament, and you degrade
yourselves. (Cheers.) How shall we gain the best security for

PERFECT FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE OF ACTION

on the part of our Executive and Legislature ? This question is
before us to-day. Take the case of your school trustees. They live
amongst you and are constantly under the full force of local public
opinion. You elect them yearly and can i)unish them quickly.
You know what the law with regard to them says. Now, human
nature is the same in the narrow sphere of the school trustees'
action as in the great machine at Ottawa. What says the law to
the school trustees ? Here is what the Act says : —

"Any trustee who has any pecuniary interest, profit or promise
or expected benefit in, or from, any contract, agreement or engage-
ment, either in his own name or in the name of another, with the
corporation with which he is a member, or who receives, or ex-
pects to receive, any compensation for any work, engagement, em-
ployment, or duty on behalf of such coi'poration, shall ipso facto
vacate his seat, and every such contract, agreement, engagement,
or promise shall be null and void, and the remaining trustees, or a
majority of them, shall declare the seat vacant, and forthwith
order a new election."

You bind them tightly and justly, for though a man may not in
the slightest degree be affected because he is interested, still it is
not likely, it is not human nature, that he should be unaffected,
for " a gift blindeth the eye." And in your choice you consider
whether a man has kept, not merely the letter, but also the spirit
of your law. This is a disagreeable subject. Our political con-

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troverpies on public questions are bitter enough in tone. They
are far bitterer than 1 like them to be. I have a great desire that
we should conduct our political discussions in measured and mode-
rate language, with proper regard for the feelings, opinions, views,
aye, even the prejudices of our opponents, and that we should live
as good citizens, good neighbours, and good friends in private life,
though we may differ as to public questions. But when personal
questions are introduced, political bitterness is, doubtless, intensi-
fied. Still, I believe with those who have preceded me that it is
a duty, though a painful duty, a duty from which I have often
.shrunk, to speak and speak aloud on this subject.

YOUR MINISTERS ARE THE CHIEF CRIMINALS,

for they themselves offend, and they are the cause of offence in
others. An old and very gross case of improper dealing was that
which arose in 1872, with re'ercnce to an intending contractor for
the Canadian Pacific I^.ailway, Sir Hugh Allan, when enormous
sums were, at the solicitation of Sir John Macdonald and another
leading member of his Government, paid to Sir John, to tha\
member, and to Sir Hector Langevin, to be used in the elections,
on a promise and understanding between the parties with refer-
ence to the arrangements for the chartering of the Pacific Rail-
way Company, under the powers conferred on the Executive at
their request by Parliament. I say that is a

GREAT AND NOTORIOUS CASE OF ILL-DEALING.

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But there is one difference between that case and some of the other
cases which have been referred tu lately. The large sums received
from Sir Hugh Allan were obtained, gentlemen, to buy you —
(cheers) — to buy the electorate of Canada. They were not ob-
tained, it is said, and I believe truly said, to put into the pockets
of either the Ministers or members for their own use ; they were
simply to buy the electorate, and thus to secure the retention by
the buyers of their offices and salaries I do not know '.vhethor
the distinction commends itself to you as one very favourable to
the parties. I don't know whether you will be more or less in-
sulted by the idea that the electorate was to be bought through
the contractors' fund, and the Ministry so to retain its place, or by
the idea that members of Parliament and Ministers are to be
chosen not exclusively to serve the public interest, but to use their
positions to benefit themselves. The distinction is made, and if
it be any credit or advantage to the Conservative party 1 am
quite willing to give it to them. (Laughter.)

»r.^,»' ►;■':•,>'.

THE CRIME WAS GREAT,

whatever the distinction, and should have been much more severe-
ly punished tlian it was. After a comparatively brief exile from
power these men were restored to office, and though (it the first
hlush they had been downcast, and many of their friends had been
ashamed and humihated at the disclosures, yet that happened ivldch
often happens, for the path of shame is downwaud, and it
IS easy — they all agreed at last to declare all this to be a slander
nnd a calumny, and that theie never luas any Pacific Scxndal at
all. They have since then bettered their instruction ; they have
confided in your lenity, in your forbear anccy in your approbation
of these methods of conducting public affairs, and have gone Jur-
titer, without, as yet, faring worse. Whether they shall faro worse
or no*^ depends upon the next appeal to the people. Another case
.1 Jie gift, several years ago, to the present First Minister, by
means of

a settlement upon his family,

r the sum of about $80,000, which was subscribed for and pre-
ented to him or to his family while he was First Minister of
ICanada. It was so SUBSCRIBED AND PRESENTED LARGE-
LY BY ACTUAL AND INTENDING CONTRACTORS, whose
[business it was to obtain favourable contracts from the Govern-
Iment, and having obtained them to get the largest prices for the
least returns, and the most liberal allowances for extras that they
could manage. It WAS SUBSCRIBED LARGELY ALSO BY
>UBLIC CORPORATIONS GREATLY INDEBTED TO THE
TREASURY, and dependent upon the Executive for favourable
settlements of their indebtedness and favourable adjustments of
their financial relations. I will refer to one instance, that of the

northern railway company

)f Canada. That Company was indebted in an enormous amount
the Government of Canada. It was a bankrupt concern, and
jicknowledged its inability to pay its debt. It was calling upon
phe Government to ask Parliament to compromise the debt and to
lake for it a comparatively small sum. And while that was the
relation of the Noiihern Railway Company to the people, and to
[he Parliament, and to the Government of Canada, they FOUND

lONEY OUT OF THEIR POVERTY, out of their bankrupt ex-
[hequer.out of thatexchequer which they declared could supply only

small composition on their debt to the public, TO PAY $2,500
TOWARDS THE TESTIMONIAL TO THE FIRST MIN-

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, 72 •

ISTER. (Cheers.) There was not money to pay you, but there
was money to subscribe for him. What happened ? That which
you might expect to happen. Shortly afterwards a Bill was brought
in by this same Government for the relief of the Northern Railway
— (applause) — under which it was proposed to accept in full a
small proportion of the debt. It came down very late in the ses-
sion. Mr. Mackenzie, the leader of the Opposition, objected to
the concession, and insisted that it was too late in the session to
press such a bill, and declared that if it was pressed he would fight
it. (Applause.) The terms were too favourable to the company,
which should have been required to pay more. I heard the First
Minister tell Mr. Mackenzie that he ought not to resist the
Bill ; that he would be responsible before the people for ob-
structing wise and useful legislation, and that the people would
condemn him for it. (Laughter.) However, Mr. Mackenzie
took the responsibility. (Cheers.) He was not a man to flinch
from responsibility ; and he thus defeated the measure. (Re-
newed cheers.) What ensued ? Mr. Mackenzie attained office a
year or two later, and he had to deal with this question, the set-
tlement of which he had prevented on the terms proposed. His
Government made a settlenient with the Northern Railivay Com-
pany $500,000 better than the settlement which was proposed by
Sir John Macdonald, which we had obstructed. We saved the
public that amount. (Loud cheers.) But we received no testi-
w,onial from the Company. (Cheers and laughter.) I could give
you other instances of those who subscribed to this testimonial and
what their relations with the Government were, but one is per-
haps enough for a sample. You will understand that in the bulk
of cases the settlements between Governments and contractors are
60 covered up that the facts cannot be got at, and this makes it all
the more important to prevent these relations between the Execu-
tive and contractors. Well, all this was approved of. It was
thought to be rather an unhandsome thing to say anything about
it. It was a matter to be silently agreed to. It gives me great
pain, I confess, to have to refer to these matters, but the circum-
stances are such to-day that we are bound to point out to what
these things will grow if you do not check them. The thing was
approved or condoned, and two or three years ago the Minister of
Public Works,

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SIR HECTOR LANGEVIN, GOT HIS TESTIMONIAL TOO.

Why not ? What is right for the chief is right for the second in
command. He, it is true, has to do with the great bulk of the
contracts for public works. He largely decides upon the condi-
tions of tendering, advertises for the tenders, determines which

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tender shall be accepted, determines whether the contractor has
performed the work. He it is who gives the instructions for
changes, who settles the bills for extras, which allow the greatest
latitude for favourable or unfavourable settlement. He, I say,
even above the others, ought to avoid, as a thing utterly abomin-
able, any relations, except the direct business and official relations,
with the contractors who have or may have business with his
Department. The testimonial he received was ahout $20,-
000, and it was largely subscribed by public contractors who had
claims against the Government, or hopes or expectations whose
realization depended almost wholly upon his favourable decision.
Many of these claims have since been settled. What has happen-
ed .? This has happened — that many people suspect the Minister
of Public Works of having been influenced in his decisions by the
relation he allowed to exist between these contractors and himself
as givers and recipient of a large and valuable present. It may
or it may not have been so. No man can tell. We cannot judge.
God knoweth ! But the position is wholly indefensible. To no
puhlic man ought it to he ijoss'ihle to say : With one hand you
took from this man a testimonial, and luith the other you settled
his claim. (Cheers.) Then we had the

^■..

CASE OF THE MINISTER OF INLAND REVENUE.

The Minister of Public Works' testimonial passed off very well.
(Laughter.) The people did not seem to object very strongly.
The Tory party thought it all right. And so the Minister of
Inland Revenue received his testimonial in the shape of a house
and furniture, also largely subscribed for by public contractors
and others with whom, as a member of the Government, he had
relations, and as to the furniture, very largely by the civil ser-
vants of whom he was a superior officer. These I regard as very
improper relations between a Minister and contractors, and be-
tween a Minister and the civil servants who are, in a certain
sense, his subordinates and dependents.

THE CASE OF SIR JOHN's DIAMONDS.

Then, sir, tkts very year, we have our very greatest public con-
tractors, we have the principal magnates of the Canadian Pacific
Railway Company, a corpoi^ation having enormous financial rela-
tions with the Government, and at a time when an application
was to be renewed which the Government had last year declined,
an application for the cancelling of ten millions of dollars of their
indebtedness to the country in lieu of a portion of their land sub-
sidy, we have these magnates making to the lady of the First Min-

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ister very valuable presents, the cost of which is variously stated.
From the best information available I have believed it was at
east $15,000, but I see that the Mail newspaper declared the
other day that the value was only $5,000. I do not know whether
the value was the price of one good farm or of three, but either
is enough to condemn the transaction. (Applause.) Jn my
opinion it was a most unfortunate thing that the First Minister,
in view of the relations of the Company and his Government in
times past, in times present, and in expectancy, should have suf-
fered such a thing to occur. (Applause.) No gift of an import-
ant and valuable character such as this should have been accepted.
What happened ? The session came on, and the application of
the Company, which had been rejected by the Government last
year, was proposed by the First Minister himself this year. No
doubt it may have been solely his sense of right and justice, it
may have been solely his desire to promote the public interest
that induced the change of opinion. I hope it was so. We can-
not judge. That is just the difficulty. The unfortunate and in-
defensible relation was created, and the impression that all was
not right was naturally produced. Gentlemen, these things ought
not so to be. (Applause.) It is discreditable to us as a people
that they exist, and exist, apparently, with the approval of one of
the great parties in the State. There is

ANOTHER CLASS OF CASES

in which both Ministers and ordinary members are concerned, but
in which the guilt of Ministers, as their power and responsibility
are higher, must be deemed even graver than the guilt of ordinary
members. When Ministers act as these have done, depend upon
it members will follow suit. When the great and the high-placed in
our land stoop to indefensible positions their examples will be
followed all too fast. The path downward is easy and rapid, and
if those who should be exemplars of public morality, public in-
tegrity, and public probity, who ought to be men above suspicion,
place themselves in suspected positions, can you expect that others
not so highly placed will not act in a similar spirit ? Take the

RAILWAY GRANTS.

I say, and I say it with extreme regret, that a system has grown
up — it is not an isolated case — a system has growrf up under
which the grants in aid of railways, whether out of the exchequer
in money or out of the public domain in lands, the grants which
give value to the chartei-s, which give a price to the stock and
bonds, which give a possibility of gain or increased gain to those
who have control of the charters — under which these grants

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AKD THE CHARTERS AND POWERS GIVEN BY PARLIAMENT ARE TRAF-
FICKED IN BY MEMBEBS OF PARLIAMENT FOR PERSONAL GAIN. I

do not object to a public-spirited member of Parliament taking
an honest interest, as a public man, in railway development. Let
him labour as hard as he pleases as member for the development
of his county or his country. But I do object to api'etence of 'pub-
lic interest being used to cover private interest. I do object to the
admixture of private gain with the public duty. I do object to
members, not railway builders or railway contractors, knowing
no more about railways and having no more interest or concern
in them than the bulk of you to whom I speak, becoming ardent-
ly interested in these enterprises, not so much for the promotion
of the enterprises themselves as for the accomplishment of schemes
under which large and valuable concessions shall be made tribu-
tary to their own pockets. If your representatives are to be suf-
fered to enter into such relations with enterprises to which value
is thus to be given through the public exchequer or the public
domain,

THERE IS AN END OF ALL NOTION OF PARLIAMENTARY INDEPENDENCE

or integrity. Take the North-west Central as an instance.
This was a railway in the North-West which was at first in the
hands of a non-political body of business men. They found some
difficulty in concluding the arrangements they wished to make
with the Government, and they thought it expedient to find fa-
vour with the powers that be. What was their plan ? Thei/ took
Mr. James Beaty, member of Parliament for West Toronto, and
put into his hands, mainly for his own personal use, a majority
of the stock, or $286,000 of stock on which ten per cent, had been
paid, making $28,600, but for which he paid nothing. They said :
You take charge of this; we want the land rant and the loca-
tion, and yoa are the man to push them ; you ure a member and
a supporter of the Government. He took it up. He made

A political board of directors.

He put on Mr. Bunting, the late candidate in West Durham
against myself, THE Editor and Manager of the Mail, a very
influential man in Tory politics. He put on Mr. Hay, his col-
LEAGi'E for the Centre Division of Toronto. These were the poli-
tical directors for Ontario. Then he went to Quebec. He took
Mr. Billy and Mr. Riopel, two whole-soul?:d conservatives,
who, liko that well-known American character, were " for the old
flag and f.n appropriation every time." He put these on the
Board to represent the Tory political element of Quebec. He
took Mb WoodwoRth, the member for Kings, N.S., to repre-

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sent the Tory political element of the Maritime Provinces. And
he took Mr. Norquay, the Tory Premier of Manitoba, to repre-
sent the Tory political element of the North-West Thus these
seven Tory politicians were banded together, and, having duly
arranged the Board, the merits were laid before the Government
in a paper signed by them, and

WHEN THE LAND GRANT WAS SO APPLIED FOR OF COURSE IT WAS

GRANTED.

(Applause.) What else could you expect when such powerful
representations were made by such powerful men ? (Hear, hear.)
I am not considering now the expediency of the land grant. 1
am pointing out the process which was found advisable in order
to secure it, and the inevitable results of that process. Soon
afterwards the grant at a price was found to be insutficient for
the purpose, and they pressed that the grant should be made free.
At first the arrangement was that the company should pay $1
per acre for 6,400 acres per mile of the road. If their request
were conceded, and the land grant made free, it would make them
better off by $6,400 a mile than they had beei? before. They
applied for the free grant.

THEN CAME A LITTLE HITCH.

Mr. Woodiuorth said to Mr. Beaty : 1 don't like the way things
are going on. It seems to me you are not recognizing my
interests. It ivas agreed that you and I ivere to divide all the
profits, after giving a certain sum to he divided among the other
directors. Unless you recognize that plainly, .«o that I may know
you mea7i to act uiJ to it, I shall deem it my duty to use my
influence to stop the free land grant. And the land grant v;as
STOPPED. It did not come down to the House among the other
free land grants that session. It was only provided for by Order-
in-Council some time after Parliament had closed the session,
when, as I assume, the influence of the other politicians had over-
come Mr. Woodworth's. I must do Mr. Woodworth the justice to
say that after having considered the consequences of this kind of
transaction, he openly declared that he saw it was a mistake, and
expressed his intention to have nothing further to do with them.
I rejoiced to hear that manly declaration : after it my mouth is
closed with reference to the part he took before without due
consideration, a part which he obviously now regrets. If more of
those who have blindly engaged in these enterprises, under evil
influences, without seeing the mischief of following the

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EXAMPLE SET THEM IN HIGH PLACES,

had followed in his footsteps, I would be better pleased, and
would welcome home the wanderers who were finding their way
back to the right path He has seen that private interests are
likely to be paramount when the pocket is on one side and duty
on the other. You see it too. May we all see it while yet there
is time I

Mr. Beaty turned Mr. Woodworth out. He alleged that no
such understanding existed as v/as alleged. I do not know who
is right ; that question I leave to be settled between themselves.
It is of no consequence to us. Mr. Beaty introduced in his
room another gentleman, the member for Pictou, N.S., Mr.
TUPPER, to represent the Tory political interest in the Maritime
Provinces. I desire to do justice to the member for Pictou. He
was told, it appears, that the free land grant had been obtained,
that there was no more to ask, no more to expect from the
Government, that all was settled, and that there were no delicate
relations of that kind between the Government and the company.
But when the revelations of la.«t session were made, Mr. Tupper
at once wrote a letter to Mr. Beaty, stating that he had become a
member of the Board on an understanding which had turned out
inaccurate, and he resigned his seat at the Board. That act did
Mr. Tupper honour. (Cheers.) But if Mr. Tupper s conduct is
thus to be com'fnended, what are we to say of the other Parlia-
mentary directors of hon as-hunting railiuay companies? Can
we praise him without blaming them ? I doubt not Mr. Tupper
disliked to do what he yet felt needful to do, and dislikec: it
because his act was a condemnation of those who did otherwise.
Measure their corn in ihe same bushel as Mr. Tupper measured
his, weigh them in the balance which he used when he refused to
sacrifice his position and his integrity by remaining in the "
company, and what will be the result ? (Applause.) The corn
will be found short in the measure, the men will be found want-
ing in the balance.

Well, Mr. Beaty, got his free grant, and then went arranging*
negotiating, financing, seeking capitalists who would undertake to
build the road, but always with the intention of getting

" something for the boy."

(Cheers and laughter.) I do not mean that he intended to get
anything for one individual boy — the boy Beaty — apart from his
co-shareholders. They were all the boy, but he was the biggest - .
boy of the lot. His share would be the greatest. There is noth-

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ing to show, apart from the Wood wortli squabble, that ho intended
to cheat liis i)artnurs in the deal, and 1 do not suppose he did. But
ho wanted too iinich for the boy, and like many other people who
try to get too much, ho got nothing. But $G7.>,000, or something
like that, was the sum which Mr. Beaty virtually proposed
should bo ultimately realized by himself and a few others. Some
of the people to whom he went said : — " We will build the road,
but we cannot give this amount of tiibute to your people ; there
is not that much money for the boy." So Mr. Beaty went on
financing and negotiating, going to this man and that, and always
looking after his pul)lic interest as member of Parliament, of
course ; but always also casting sheep's eyes in the direction of
some scheme which would give a little " boodle for the boy."
(Laughter.) From time to time he wanted concessions from the
Government, and of course he got them. Was he not meuibor for
West Toronto, with six influential Tory supporters at his back ?
But the whole murder came out, and it was impossible for Mr.
Beaty to go on. He has lost his chance, he has lost his expecta-
tions, and, wor.st of all, I am afraid he has injured his reputation
as well. (Hear, hear.)

ALL THIS IS APPROVED OF BY THE TORY PARTY.

No, I ought not to say that. It is approved of by the Tory Min-
isters and the Tory members of Parliament. Whether it will
meet the approval of the i)arty has yet to be found out. We

. asked for an inquiry into these transactions. We asked for de-
lays. We asked the Government not to grant the indulgences
craved by Mr. Beaty and his associates on any terms, showing them

i that they should not extend privileges to men who had so abused
their positions as members. But the Government has laid it

DOWN AS part of THEIR PLATFORM THAT THESE TRANSACTIONS

' ARE HIGHLY MERITORIOUS, and that it is a good thing that mem-
bers of Parliament should be interested personally in the prose-
cution of these bonused railway enterprises. They think there are
not enough railway contractors, not enough business men and
capitalisis, not enough active, energetic men amongst the four or
Jive millions of the population of Canada to carry out these en-
terprises, and that the country will suffer loss if your 211 mem-
bers of Farliument are precluded from lining their pockets by
means of public enterprises which owe their value to the action of
the Executive. (Loud applause.) I say it is an absurdity ; I say,

KEEP THEIR HANDS OFF ;

I say, let your representatives keep their hands out of the public
chest, directly and indirectly. (Loud cheers.) Don't be gulled

(2)

ix -:

by this idea with which they seek to inipiesH you. If these inoii
are going to intereat themselves in these enterprises ou public
grounds, let them do so on public grounds alone ; let them int(M-
est themselves without having any pecuniary relations with the
Government or with the comjtanies, and let tin; 'ihodi'ji part of It he
left to TYien not in Parliament, to men not c/unyed tuitk duties 'Luhich
demand theii- absolute independence of the Executive. These men
were not any of them railway builders or contractors ; they weic
lawyers, doctors, manufacturers, and, above all, politicians. IViis in
an industry which has suddenly been largely developed in Canada.
Whether it is a wholesome and useful industry, that of members
of Parliament engaging in public works of this kind, which owe
their value to the public grants to be made by their leader, judge
ye ! Let me give you

ANOTHER CASE.

There was a charter for a railway through Gloucester, New Bruns-
wick, the Caraquet Railway. The company got a cash subsidy of
$3,'2()0 a mile, went on and built a considerable mileage, and last
session, just at the end of the session, for that is the time when
these grants are proposed, down came over thirty grants to rail-
ways, amongst them one of $3,200 a mile for ten more miloB of

\ J

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■'V::*'l

, THE CARAQUET RAILWAY.

I said to the Government : — Will you please lay upon the table
the papers which show the applications for these grants ? Yes,
they said, and some they did. When that grant came up, I said :
— I see this application is signed by a person of the name of
Burns. Can you tell me if that is any relation to the hon. mem-
ber for Gloucester ? " Oh," said the First Minister, " that is the
member for Gloucester. He has been very energetic and very en-
thusiastic about building this railway, and it is greatly to his
credit. Had it not been for his energy and enthusiasm the road
would never have been built." Very likely, I said ; for here is
another little paper, a list of the stockholders of this railway, and
it shows that

MR. BURNS OWNS ELEVEN OUT OF EVERY TWELVE SHARES

in the company, so that outoj every $1,200 jyt'oposed to be granted
by this Government,$l, 100 goes into his own pocket. (Loud cheers
and laughter.) And I believe he has paid nothing on his stock.
"Why shouldn't he be enthusiastic, energetic, and persevering ?
(Cheers and laughter.) If you could arrange for a bonus $1,200

to go to the improvement of your own farna and your neigh-

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hour's, $100 to go to your neighbour, and $1,100 to yourself, no
doubt you would be energetic and enthusiastic, too. (Cheers and
great laughter.) Then there was

y;»

ANOTHER CASE,

that of the Baie des Chaleurs Railway Company. The Govern-
ment has given to that compaoy $620,000. The bulk of the stock
is held by half a dozen men. The largest shareholder are SENA-
TOR ROBITAILLE, MR. RIOPEL. M.P.; MR. M'GREEVY.
M.P., AND SOME OF THEIR RELATIONS AND INTIMATE
FRIENDS, all Tory politicians, holders of the bulk of the stock,
say eleven-twelfths. They receive the bulk — say eleven-twelfths
— of these enormous subventions by virtue of their relations to
the Qovemment. I believe the cash they invested was a paltry
ten thousand dollars all told in stock. Then take the >

case of the QUEBEC & LAKE ST. JOHN RAILWAY. J^.r(^ '

They had already received enormous subventions, and last ses-
sion more was given them. I asked how much the paid-up capital
was, stating that I had heard they had paid up only $10,000, and
they did not deny it. I believe that is the whole amount. They
made a construction company to which they let the contracts. Sir
AboLPHE Caron, Minister of Militia, is a member of the con-
struction company, and other Tory members of Parliament are
members of the railway company and the consti-uction company.
There is the

PONTIAC & pacific JUNCTION RAILWAY,

in which Mr. Chapleau, Secretary of State, is interested as one
of the chief directors, holding about one-eighth of the stock, and
this road also has a large subsidy. The

GATINEAU valley RAILWAY

Company is another case. Mr. Mackintosh, one of the members
for Ottawa, is chief promoter, and I believe, president. This road
also has a large subsidy. Then there is the

international railway company,

in which Mr. Pope, the Minimter of Railways, himself was in-
terested as a large proprietor. This was doubly scandalous, for it
was the case of a Minister, and of the Minister of Railways.
(Cheers.) That road has a large subsidy also, siven to it in order
to enable it to exchange its iron rails for steel. Besides that, it
was concerned in certain negotiations for the extension of the Cau-

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adian Pacific Railway to the east. I said : Those routes you are
going to decide on are routes in the choice of which the Minister
is interested. It may put money into his own pocket. How can
he be an indifferent judge ? He said that for that very reacbn he
had sustained from acting, and the First Minister had taken up
the job. Bvit the Government had to decide it, and wlioever had
to do with it, it vxi8 his road that gained. (Applause.) But more
than that ; there were negotiations going on about the same time,
which have since been consummated, with the Canadian Pacific
Railway Company for the absorption of this International Rail-
way as part of the plan, and for the payment of millions more out
of the treasury to carry out the plan.

Besides, while interested in this railway, whose shareholders
were to be helped out of the public treasurv — ^a railway in respect
of which, I believe, PRINCIPAL SHAREHOLDERS OF THE
CANADIAN PACIFIC HAD UNDERTAKEN, BY ARRANGE-
MENT WITH MR. POPE, LARGE OBLIGATIONS— Mr. Pope
was disposing, as Minister of Railways, of enomious claims and
proposals of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company with reference
to their contract, while all these other negotiations were going on,
and these delicate relations subsisted between the Canadian Pacific
Railway Company and the International line. How could he be
a fair judge for the public ? I say it is » wholly indefensible.
(Cheers.) Then there was the ^ r-

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NORTHERN PACIFIC JUNCTION RAILWAY,

to which $12,000 a mile was granted, while two corporations offered
to build it for a bonus of $6,000 a mile. The Government said,
We are going to have an independent line. They asked from
Parliament, and were given, authority to grant this great subsidy
to whichever company seemed to them most in the public interest,
the object being an independent line. They gave it to a company
promoted by a gentleman whose name I am particulary sorry td
mention in thi/ connection — a gentleman of high position at the
bar and in public life —

:v..i fvx>

MR. DALTON M CARTHT.

'':/'

He had been the promoter of a Bill to incorporate the Sault Ste.
Marie and North- West Railway, and was the holder of stock in
that original company. He promoted the Bill to change the name
to the Northern Pacific Junction Railway Company. Then came
the question, to whom this subsidy should be given. It was set-
tled in favour of Mr. McCarthy's line, in conection with a proposed
lease to be made to certain other railway corporations, and upon
that arrangement M.-. McCarthy, with the ether original shar«-

(2)

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holders, received a very larg'^ consideration in excess of anything
paid, an cnonnous profit upon the original soock which ho had
subscribed, which stock owed its whole value io the subsidy. Mr.
McCarthy also received tJie presidency of tJie subsidized, line at a
salary, according to diferent statements, of from $3,000 to $3,500
a year. And last session Mr. McCarthy obtained legislation under
which this company was authorized to issue, and in case of the
assumption of the road by the Government under its reserved
rights, the country became bound to pay $12,000 a mile more in
bonds than the existing obligations ; though the whole amount of
cost was thus raised to $32,000 a mile, a sum far in excess of the
estimated, and, so far as we could ascertain, of the proper cost.
Grave statements were made on this head, and an effort was made
to obtain an inquiry, but it was rejected, and the bill was forced
through. '

The relations I have described are i

tf-

UNFORTUNATE AND INDEFENSIBLE RELATIONS

as between members of Parliament and railway companies depend-
ing for their fortune on the good-will and favour of the Executive
which controls the grants and legislation of the day.

There are many other cases which I could mention, for example,
Dr. Hickey's company, Dr. Beroin's company, and other com-
panies. To cap the climax, the wholesome legislation of Mr. Mac-
kenzie, which precluded shareholders of the Canadian Pacific Rail-
ivay from, being members of Parliament, was in effect repealed
kust session, so that you may soon expect to have shareholders in
the Canadian Pacific Railway Company who have, and will for
years to come have, the most important business relations with
the Government and with the country, sitting in Parliament and
legislating and voting on your concerns. (Cheers.) Then you
have

THE blind share BUSINESS,

in which a member of the House, trafficking in colonization com-
panies, got an Order-in-Council for a block of land, aiTanging with
the company that he should have an interest in the profits with-
out risking anything ; in which a member of the Government ap-
proved the transaction ; and in which the whole Oovemment noio
see everything to approve, nothing to condemn. Then you have

the grants of TIMBER LIMITS, COAL LANDS, R.VNCHING LANDh,

GOLD LANDS.

Many hundreds of applications were put in, and several hun-
dreds of Orders-in-Council for licenses were passed, some to mera-

:- .-..-. .,:...- (2)

•»x

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83 •

hers of Parliament themselves, but mainly to others through the
intervention of members. All this is said to be no harm, it is said
to be commendable that members of Parliament, as well as others,
should take this interest in the development of the country. Talk
about the N.P. and what it has done to develop industries, it is not
to be compared for rapidity of development to that of

THE TIMBER LIMIT INDUSTRY.

(Cheers and laughter.) Order after order was passed in Council
<,'ranting to almost every Tory who chose to apply and who had
the necessary " influence," timber limits in different parts of the
countiy. Th^M orders v)ere not to lumbermen, or to those who
iyitcnded to go into that business, but to Tory lawyers, Tory
doctors, Tory storekeepers, Tory hacks, Tory wirepullers, Tory
politicians, and To^'y members of Parliament. (Cheers.) These
did not go into the business, of course they never thought of it ;
they intended to make a profit by selling out to those who were
to work the limits. I rejoice that a great many of these apples
turned out

APPLES OF SODOM.

(Applause.) The business had been " promoted " too largely.
There were moi-e orders granted than the real demand justified,
and there were a great many limits granted on which there was
much leas timber than the plunderers expected. But some made
a very handsome thing, and all expected to do it, and that expect-
ation is what has created this wholsale regime of personal and
pecuniary relations between the members of Parliament and the
Treasury. It is amusing now to hear some defend themselves on
the ground that after all they made nothing out of it ! What has
that to do with it ? They

WENT IN FOR A BIG PROFIT,

and you might as well acquit the thief because the spoons were
only brass instead of silver, as discharge these men because they
did not realize all their expected gains.

They say there are a few Grits among the many Tories who ap-
plied and received Orders-in-Council. Take the lists of applica,n' .
and I think you will find there were about 99 Tories to one Grit
They say that the fact that one Grit was included proves that it
was all right. But it was, I believe you will agree, a scheme for
carving up tli£ timber limits and ranching land» and other land^
of the North- West largely amongst Tory ha^ks, and patisatis and
members of Parliament, a .scheme which has developed to such
an alarming extent and has led to such unhappy results. Mr.

(2)

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White, Minister of the Interior, when he speaks of this matter in
fond of saying that very few licenses were issued. But that sim-
ply shows the plot did not fully succeed. It does not show that
there was no plot. (Cheers.) They were not able to sell their
Orders-in-Council, and it was only the bona fide lumberers who
would take out the licenses ; but the orders were issued, the chances
^ were given, the expectations were raised, and the party hacks were
^ saved, or thought they were saved. All this is demonstrated, and
this it is that you are asked to condemn. (Cheers.) And you
rttust remember that the public jta-pevs show all that I have spoken
, of. If that is so, what may be covered by the secret interests in
these and other transactions of which we know nothing ? (Hear,
hear.) The documents in the case of Messrs Macdonald and
Tupper,

LUCKY YOUNG MEN,

fortunate sons of fortunate fathers, who have got all the best
solicitorships in Wintiipey, the Canadian Pacific, the Hudson's
Bay, the Merchants' Bank, all corporations having dealivfjs wHh
the Government, show that in these timber limits and other grants
of the public domain, there were secret interests ; in many of those
promoted f jr their clients Messrs. Macdonald and Tupper had a
very large secret interest themselves. In one Lieutenant-Governor
Dewdney had an interest He valued this affair alone at $50,000,
and their shares in these various grants were estimated at many
thousands, for which they gave no consideration, except that they
pressed forward the claims of those who wished to secure the
grants. What happened with them very likely happened with
the others. Then some actually did make great sums, for example,
Mr. Rykert, M.P., who realized an enormotui sum for his services
- or share in one of these grants. The price paid was $200,000,
of which I believe Mr. Rykert realized $90,000, invested in his
wife's name. Then there are the printing jobs and the appoint-
ments of sons and near relative of Ministers and members to fat
offices ; and other matters there are, all of which I would develop
if there were tiie, but I must close. The whole thing is a scand?**
and an offence.

People, friends of mine, sometimes say to me, " This is a strange
state of affairs, you address to these men in Parliament arguments
which we think are reasonable and unanswerable. Thev make
little or no attempt to answer them. But you don't get their
votes. How is that ?" My answer is : How can you expect me
' to touch tliem, by arymnmts'^ I can't reach their ears. The
blindness of party, the bigotry of faction, is a very difficult thing
to penetrate, but if you add

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IX-

A GOLDEN EAR-LAP, .

if you deafen their ears with a golden plate, how is the voice of
argument, reason, or truth to penetrate those layers, (Loud and
prolonged applause.) It can't be done. Take niy friend, Mr.
Burns, the niemb*of Gloucester, for instance. It is at the end of
the session that the railway grants and otht-r favours are brought
down. Of what are he and tho.se like him thinking in the mean-
time ? Where are their eyes fixed while we arc engui/cd ilebatuty the
public questions of the dayl They are watrhiinj the Trtaonui
benches, wonderivcf whethe't' their appropriution will coiivf dowit.
And if the impression exists, as, alas ! it does exist, that the

PRICE OF AN APPROPRIATION

is an unwavering support, and that an independent vote may ad-
versely affect their chances, who will carry the day ? (Oheei-s.)
The side on which the appropriation is will always carry the
day, you may be sure. Of course these men are watching for the
sop at the end of the session, and they vote accordingly. (Aj)-
plause and laughter.) I have said

THESE THINGS ARE A DISGfUCE TO THE GOVERNMENT, A DISGRACE
TO THE MAJORITY IN PARLIAMENT.

Whether they shall be a disgrace to the Conservative party, a.s a
whole, it now remains for that party to say. If the Conservative
]>arty choose not to become responsible for these things, if they
prefer to disclaim them, if they refuse to be connected with these
abuses, they may escape a staggering load now impending on their
boulders, and they may be the savioui-s of their country. (Cheer.s.)
But if tJie party, as a whole, declare these things to be honest,
upright, and commendable, or even if they say, Though lue
would not touch this pitch ourselves, though we are ashamed of it,
though ive dislike it, still party union, party zeal, leads us to en-
dorse, or not to condemn, tlui system, tliey rvill not, thrg cannot,
escape disgrace and degradation for themselves. (Cheers.) They
are

BOUND TO PERFORM THEIR PUBLIC DUTY,

however painful ; they are bound to tell their leaders, and the
members whom they elect, to tell them plainly, that they will
have neither part nor lot in this matter, that they will not sutler
such things to be done in their name. So they will purify their
party, and save their country. But if they choose otherwise, they
become accomplices in the public disgrace. (Cheers.)

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As I was about to leave Ottawa, at the end of the HesHioti just
closed, a member on the other side of the House — an old personal
friend of mine — spoke to me. He i.^ an honest and upright man,
and I am glad to say there arc many such on that side whom 1
respect, though I do not share their views. He said, " Well,
Blake, you must be glad that the session is closing ; you must be

flad to get away." " Yes," I said, " I shall be glad to get away,
'his is not a pleasant atmasphere for me to breathe, and I don't
think it is pleasant for you either." " Well," he said, " whatever
may be said of what I have condoned in others, no man can say
I have done anything myself that I ought to be ashamed of."
" No," I said, " I believe you ; I believe you' would rather have
died than have done yourself the things you have condoned in
others." And so I do. " The fact is," he said, " it is all this party
spirit." But I don't agree that party spirit justifies condonation
of such acts. I say. Let that great party which has within its
ranks many honest men, declare they will rise above that so-called
party spirit, which is the degradation and abuse of party — that
they will not become accomplices in the ruin of their country.
But whatever they may decide, let us, at any rate, here and now
determine that we shall henceforth not palter with or wink at
these abuses ; but fight them from day to day, from hour to hour,
expose them in the cases, comparatively rare though they be, in
which we can drag them out from the concealments which are
practised, and sa do our very best to achieve the restoration of the
independence of the Parliament of Canada. (Loud and prolonged
-heers.) /^.(2)

..^

X. .

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THE PUBLIC FINANCES.

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Tory Promises, and how they have been kept.

ENO.^MOUS TAXATION AND ENORMOUS DEFICIT.

Hats Taxation helped Farmers ?

TheDPrice of "W^lieat.

WHAT CAN BE DONE FOR FARMERS? '

At Chesley, after referring to his old relations with the locality,
congratulating his audience upon improvements in the County
of Bruce within his memory, and paying an eloquent tribute to
the old settlers, Mr. Blake proceeded: — " They were engaged as
the pioneers in the settlement of the country, in increasing
the wealth of the Province and of themselves, in converting
the fprest into the mixed settlement of town and country
which we see with such pride to-day. There are now many
railways in your county, due very largely, as I am proud to
remember, to the large, liberal and practical railway policy which
was brought into operation by myself during my brief tenure of
office in , the Legislature of Ontario. (Great cheering.) Some-
times I see it said, ' Oh, Blake is an old fossil ; he doesn't believe
in railway schemes at all ' — because I have opposed some mad,
inconsiderate plans in which the only object to be gained was a
political object. But you will find, if you look at the statute book
where the law to which I refer is inscribed, that that law pro-
vided the means without which the great practical results which
we see in Bruce, in a large part of Huron and Grey, and in many
others which might be called the outlying portions of the coun-
try, never could have been attained as they have since that day
been attained. (Loud and prolonged applause.) You were en-
gaged in political struggles then as now. Then, as now, you had
before you different parties asserting different views, but the
difference between the parties was not exactly such as it
is to-day. , • j

TORY ALIASES. /

?s.

*' The Tory party in t}ie Old World and in Canada has from
time to time chosen to adopt cUiaaes, it has chosen to adopt new
names, it has designated itself by a variety of epithets wnich it
thought from time to time would conceal its identity, and would

■* .

i':

(3)

enable it to mislead under a new and more attractive guise.
(Cheers and laughter.) It was not the Tory party at all I had to
oppose when I first came to the County of Bruce. It was
the Coalition Parit — the 'party of union and progress.'
(Laughter.) They were quite insulted if you called them Tories.
(Loud laughter.) Then there was a no-party party. Then there
was a patent combination party. Then it became the Na-
tional Policy party. As Liberal principles grew strong they
have from time to time called themselves ' Liberal-Conserva-
tives,* in order that they might get weak-kneed Reformers to
join them because of the name Liberal. (Cheers.) Some of them
call themselves Conservative-Liberals, and so on, so that it is
pretty hard to find them out. ^n.

LIBERALISM ALWAYS THE SAME.

" We have stuck pretty well to the names we have given our-
selves of Liberals and Reformers, and those names represent our
principles of that day as they represent our principles now, both
in the Old World and in that portion of God's earth which we
are called upon to govern and develop. (Loud applause.) Then,
as now, the other partv^ under whatever name it for the time
miffht please to call itself, acted on principles opposed to those
which we believe to be right and in the best interest of the coun-
try. Then, as now, the struggle between the executive authority
and the popular rule went on. There was then, as now, an
attempt to grasp for the Executive larger powers than are neces"
sary for the administration of the affairs of the country, and the
rule I ventured to lay down to you as a young man, after reading
what I could of the political history of other nations, after study^
ing, as well as I could, the principles of popular government, is
the rule which, I am thankful to say, I hdd more firmly to-day
than ever before, that we ougM to give to the Executive and
remove from the people*8 representatives jvst so mv>ch poiuer, and
no more than is necessary for the effiAent management of the
hvMness of administration. (Loud applause.) Keep to your-
selves through your representatives in Parliament, whom you
elect and whom you can reject, whose proceedings take place in
the light of day, whose speeches and votes you have the oppor-
tunity of judging, all the power which it is not clear that the in-
terests of the country absolutely require should be handed over
to the Executive, which is really only a committee of your rep-
resentatives. (Renewed applause.)"

Proceeding, Mr. Blake instanced the Franchise and bther Acts
as cases in point, and discussed the principles involved briefly.
He reviewed briefly some salient points concerning the Gerry-

(3)

I '

MANDER Act, Constitution op the Senate, Independence of
Parliament as aftected by recent disclosures, Provincial
rights, the inadequate discussion of affairs in Parliament
due to the delay in Qovernment measures and in bringing
down information, the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Gov-
ernment's North-West policy, the Senate, and the North-
west REBELLION. He then proceeded : — " Each of these subjects
would require, for anything like a discussion of them, nearly the
whole of the time which I feel it would be right for me to
occupy, and I ha,ve merely touched upon them in order that I
might speak at greater length upon another very important
subject —

The Finances of the Country.

" Our friend Mr. Gillies adverted to the question of the expen-
diture, and Mr. Pardee spoke of the accusations (unjust, as I
agree) made against the Local Government simply because under
their rule the expenditure has been increased. There is a very
serious difference between the position of the Local Government
and that of the Federal Government with reference to the increase
of expenditure. The Local Government has certain resources
vMch are not derived by its taxing yon. It does not tax you
a dollar. Il gets its revenues — except some income from
licenses, which I suppose you would not call an objectionable tax
in that sense — from the subsidy given by the Federal Qovern-
ment, the amount of which it cannot control and which it does
not collect, from investments and from the timber dues. So long
as it can make both ends meet, so long is it better to judiciously
expend the bulk of the money it receives rather than put it in a
napkin and lay it up drawing three per cent, interest. You would
not pay a dollar the less for any diminution in the expenditure.
I do not mean to say Government should be extravagant or prof-
ligate in their dealings with the money placed in their charge,
but they have a right to say that they are not burdening you by
the expenditure. But the

FEDERAL EXPENDITURE COMES OUT OF THE TAXES.

Some part, of course, is repaid, as in the case of the Post-office
expenditure, from which department some revenue is received ;
but, generally speaking, the bulk of the expenditure is made from
the taxation. In 1868 the Federal expenditure was about thirteen
and one-half millions. In 1874, when tiie Mackenzie Qovernment
wasjirst in power, it was about $23,300,000, showing an increase
o/ 89,800,000. In 1878, the last year of the Mackenzie Govern-
ment, the expenditure was about $23,500,000. It rose a little in

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the interval ; Diit at the close of their terin they had brought it
down so as to show an increaf^e of otily $200,000, as compared
with thttt of their initial year of office. In 1883 the fxpendi-

TURE HAD GROWN TO ABOUT $29,000 000, IN 1884 IT WAS $31,-

100,000, IN 1885 IT WAS $35,000,000, of which $1,700,000 was
FOR WAR EXPENSES. They .say you i)Ught not to charge the war
expenses against them. I suppose that 's because you got so
much good of it, Viccause you got ^^uch a fine return for th«
investment. If you take that view, of course you may strike it
off" but you'll have to pay it all the same. (Cheers and laughter.)
We will suppose you will take that view of it and strike ofl'the
$1,700,000. In that case the expenditure was $33,300,000. In
1886 the expenditure if> estimated at $38,100,000, and allowing
off, if you choose to allow, $3,400,000 paid out as war expenses,
the expenditure for the year would be 34,700,000, showing an
increase 0/ $11,200,000. In the nineteen years since Confedera-
tion there has therefore been an increase of about $21,200,000, of
which

$21,000,000 UNDER TORY RULE \ND $200,000 UNDER LIBERAL

RULE.

I do not tell you that that increase is all unjustifiable. I do not
act with these men as they acted with Mr. Mackenzie. They -r^-
clared that had they been in power they would have governed the
country Jor twenty-two artd a half millions a year, and that he
was extravagant because he had spent more. They claimed that
you ought to return them to power to reduce his expenditure.
They tell you now that the increase under their rule was neces-
sary because of the development of the country and the increase
of the population. But the men who, in 1878 and for a few
years preceding, told you that the insignificant increase under Mr.
Mackenzie was of itself sufficient evidence of extravagance and
unjustifiable expenditure, and who secured power on the pretence
and pledge of reducing it, are not the men who should claim the
benefit of such a plea as this, when they have increa^sed the
expenditure by eleven millions of dollars a year. I do tell you
that while a large part of this increase is justifiable, a large part
is quite unjustifiable. (Cheers.) You would not expect me to
analyze the expenditure of eleven millions, but I will give you a
sample or two. Take the

- EXPENDITURE ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. '

In 1878 every Conservative platform in the country echoed with
cries against the extravagance of Mr. Mackenzie as to the Civil

-W

Service and their salaries. The orators of tliat party declared
that he had filled all the departments from garret to cellar with
political hacks, whom ho put in not hecauso the country wanted
officers, but because the hacks wanted offices. They said that
when he had filled all the buildings from garret to cellar until he
could find no more room, he put up another large building, at a
cost of a quarter of a million dollars, ami tilled it also with politi-
cal hacks. They, the stern economists, called upon you to return
them to power, that they might have an opportunity of showing
how you could be governed more economically. What was the
result ? In 1878 the salaries paid to the Civil Service amounted
to $823,000. That is a large sum. They said it was a great deal
too much, and they promised a speedy reduction. In the very
first year of their term of office they reduced the expenditure
under this head to $986,000. (Great laughter and cheering.) We
were so much pleased with their economy that they felt encour-
aged, and the next year tJcey succeeded in reducing it in the sarnie
direction to $1,084',000. (Renewed laughter.) And la.st year by
the exercise of their own peculiar system of economy they kept it
down to $1,139,000. (Applause.) So that you find that since
taking office they have increased or reduced the expenditure
under this head — for, I suppose, though the Liberals will call it
an increase, the Conservatives will say it is a reduction — to the
extent of $316,000, or forty per cent. (Cheers.) Part of that in-
crease is necessary and proper. But part of it is not. Take an
example : —

THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT,

up to the time the Tories came into power, comprised all the
public works, including railways and canals. It was managed by
one Minister, Mr. Mackenzie himself, who had also the Premier-
ship — (cheers) — and by one staff. In 1878 the expenditure for
salaries' and contingencies was $59,850. But the Tories cut the
Department in two, one the Department of Public Works, and the
other the Department of Railways and Canals, each with a Minis-
ter and a separate staff. The expenditure for last year was $100,-
500, as against $59,850 in 1878, an increase of over $40,000 on
$00,000. The ordinary

CONTROLLABLE EXPENDITURE

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in 1878 was $6,542,000. In 1883 it was about $9,500,000 ; in
1884, $11,000,000 ; in 1885, $12,600,000, or nearly double what it
was in 1878. A great portion of that increase was justifiable and
proper; but part of it was needless and improper. Take the

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SUPERANNUATION EXPENDITURE.

Vou know that besides paying our civil servants very fair salar-
ies for the work they do, considering the security of their tenure
of office, the shortness of their hours of work, and the regularity
of their pay, wf^ have a system of paying them pensions after
they are no longer able to serve us. This system, whatever may
be said for or against it in principle, is liable to abuse in practice.
The Tories said in 1878 that Mr. Mackenzie had abused it, and
to prove their statement they quoted the figures to show that
unoer his Government the superannuation .allowances had in-
creased from $64,000 a year to $106,000 a year. This, they said,
was of itself proof of extravagance and corruption. The expend-
iture is now up to $203,600, very nearly double the amount
which they said was itself proof of the most scandalous jobbery
under a Liberal Administration. (Cheers.) Take the

EXPENDITURE UPON INDUNS. <

In 1878 the amount was $4*21,000. For the last three years it
has been more than $1,100,000 a year. I don't say the increase
was unjust — an increase may have been quite necessary. The
circumstances had changed since 1 878 ; the Indians had lost the
butfalo and it was necessary to do something, even much more
than was done in 1878. But the accounts show, the public docu-
ments show, the speeches made in Parliament, and the statements
therein quoted, as^et unrefuted (and I do not see how they can
l)e refuted as a whole), show that there has been scandalous abuse
in the management. (Hear, hear.) Enormous sums, quite ade-
quate, with their own exertions, to keep the number of Indians
for whose benefit the money is voted in reasonable comfort, have

BEEN GIVEN WITH LIBERALITY BY PARLIAMENT, YET THE INDIANS
HAVE BEEN IN MANY CASES STARVED, AND IN SOME CASES

STARVED TO DEATH, IN THE MEANTIME. I say that a more humili-
ating and deplorable exhibition than that given by the reports of
public officials respecting the treatment of some of the Indian
tribes before the rebellion, it would be impossible to conceive of.
It is not that the money has not been given to the Oovernment
for this service. There is one set of accounts showing an expen-
diture of $4'6,000 for agricultural implements, enormous sums for
garden seeds, and so on. And yet the papers show improper or
inadequate food to have been supplied to the Indians, under which
they and their little ones have in many cases died. Other in-
stances of immorality and misconduct are also, I fear, established.
Let me turn to another subject.

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THE SURPLUS aUBSTION.

These gentlemen, when Mr. Mackenzie was in power, were con-
vulsed with indignation on one occasion because Sir Richard
Cartwright, the Finance Minister, in bringing down his budget,
stated that he estimated that the balance of receipts over ex-
penditures would be about half a million dollars. He said
that half a million was a pretty narrow margin to leave in case
the estimate should not be correct. Dr. Tupper — I heard him
myself — declared that the Government had no right to have, or
to propose to have, even this small surplus. Your business, he
said, is not to take from the people half a million more than you
expect to spend, but to reduce the burdens of the people by
throwing off taxation. Shortly after that they were in power
and they got into the era of surpluses. They were indignant be-
cause Sir Richard Cartwright estimated for a surplus of half a
million, which, as a matter of fact, he never got, because the con-
tingencies occurred which he had feared, and the revenue did not
come in. They had surpluses in 1881 of $41,130,000, in 1882 of
$6,310,000, in 1883 of $7,050,000, and in 1884 of $750,000. When
they found fault with Sir Richard Cartwright, we told them in
reply that Dr. Tupper was quite right in his principle, that it was
not proper to propose to take out of the pockets of the people
more than, with reasonable caution, the Government might expect
to need, but we believed the margin was i-easonable, and when
these surpluses of theirs came we called upon them to act upon
the principle which both parties had declared to be the right one,
and reduce taxation. (Hear, hear.) But, no ; they refused. Sir
John Macdonald, you remember, said that his opinion about sur-
pluses was the same as that of the old squaw about whiskey — a
little too much was just enough. (Loud laughter.)

THEY SWALLOWED THEIR PROFESSIONS,

and took out of you in one year fourteen times as mu ;;h as they
said Sir Richard Cartwright was almost criminal in even propos-
ing to take out of you. (Loud cheers.) We said more. If you
will apply the principles of human nature, the principles which
actuate yourselves in your own Affairs, to the affairs of the Gov-
ernment, you will find many things, which are stated to you as
great secrets of statecraft, are not so very difficult to wnderstand
after all. (Loud applause and laughter.) Now, it is human na-
ture that men, as a rule, are more liberal with other people's
money than they are with their own. (" Hear, hear," and renewed
laughter.) When the question of subscribing to a church, or a

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charity, is being discussed, we are often rather disposed to criticise
others for being niggardly and to subscribe a large sura for our
neighbour. Public men, when they are considering how much
money they shall expend, are not likely to forget that it is public
money and net their own. There is no percentage taken off their
salaries, no tax imposed upon them, and they are naturally liberal.
(Laughter.) The spending of it makes friends. There was a
steward a long while ago, you remember, who sought to make
friends in this way at his master's expense. As long as the peo-
ple, as a whole, will allow them to go on, it is a very good thing
for them to make local appropriations, and to create new offices;
and so your best security for the appropriations being economical

is to AFFIRM THE PRINCIPLE THAT NO MORE MONEY THAN IS NE-
CESSARY SnALL BE TAKEN OUT OF YODR POCKETS, because yOU

may be sure that if they take many millions more than they re-
quire, they will spend those millions, I have shown you how the
expenditure has increased. I have shown you that the taxes are
high, not so high as they were at one time, but after all only a tax
or two has been taken off", and the taxes are very high indeed.
But the era of deficits has come again, and \^

WE NOW HAVE ENORMOUS DEFICITS,

not because we have reduced taxation, but because we have in-
creased expenditure, through the people of the country having
allowed the Tories to tax us more than they could show was
necessary. In 1878 the total taxes were $17,700,000 ; in 1883
(the boom year) $29,500,000 ; in 1885, $25,400,000 ; the estimate
for 1886 is $26,000,000, and for 1887 $27,200,000. So that the
taxes you will be called upon to pay next year ivill he over a dol-
lar and a half for everg dollar near the end of Mr. Mackenzie's
term of office. (Cheers.) They will tell you that it is because we
are importing more than we did before. Partly so ; but not mainly.
In 1877 the rate of duty per hundred dollars of all goods you im-
ported, fine or coarse, free or dutiable, high priced or low priced,
was $13.03. In 1885 the rate was $18.61. That is an increase
of $5.58 on $13.03, or about 43 per cent., so that for the same
amount of goods you pay 48 per cent, more taxes. The amount
of estimated taxation, as I make it out, for the year 1887, is
about $30 for every head of a family. That is your burden as it
appears, but -* v

YOU DO NOT KNOW EXAC?TLT WHAT TOVR BURDEN IS, V , ,

for you have not the tax gatherer coming to your door with a
bill of so much for the Canadian Pacific Railway, so much for

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this, that, and the other item. It is the retail merchant who col-
lects your taxes for the Dominion Government, and he does not
thus make out his bills. I wish he did, because then you would
see how much you are paying, and you would be more inquisitive
as to the way the money was goinjij. The wholesale importer
brings in the goods. They come to Montreal or Toronto and he
must get them out of the Customs. He takes them out and pays
the duty. He must then find out at what prices to sell them, and
to do that he must compute the cost of them. Part of the cost
was the duty, he put^ an advance upon the whole cost to cover
interest, risk, expenses of all kinds, services, and his own profit.
He adds, we will say, fifteen per cent, upon the whole, part being,
as you see, the duty he has paid. He sells them to the retail
merchant, and the retail merchant goes through the same upera-
tion. He says : I have to distribute these goods ; I have a bale of
cloth, a barrel of sugar, and a box of tea, and I have to sell these
in a hundred parcels to ray customers. What am I to charge ?
The cost is so much, including the duty, and the importer's ad-
vance upon it. He puts an advance of twenty-five per cent, or so
upon the whole, so that by the time you and 1 'pay the tax includ-
ed in our bill there is between forty and fifty per cent, added to
the amount of the duty as part of the coft to us of the goods. We
pay it all, though the treasury doesn't get it all. I have pointed
out how the money has gone, to some extent. There is also

THE ITEM OF IMMIGRATION.

In 1878 <;herewas spent on this service the sum of $180,000, in
1883 $437,000, in 1884 $575,000, and in 1^85 $506,000; and this
notwith.p>tanding that we were promised, when the Canadian
Pacific charter was given, that the railway would do the great
work of immigration as the American railway companies did, and
Bave our treasury the expense. This expenditure has been waste-
ful, corrupt, little useful, and often hurtful. I hope I have made
it clear that the burden of taxation deserves your best attention.

ANOTHER PHASE OF TAXATION.

I have pointed out one phase of this question of taxation, and
have shown how it affects manufacturers and merchants in their
dealings with their customers, and the burden it imposes on con-
sumers. I desire to say further, that the Government have im-
posed the burden of taxation upon a principle which has proved
fallacious. They declared that the farmers needed legislative
assistance, and that they were going to legislate the farmers into
comparative wealth and easy circumstances. They were going

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to make the times better by increasing the price of their pro-
ducts and giving them a home market. They were to do this
mainly by establishing factories, the hands in which would pay
high prices for eggs, chickens, and garden stufi. (Laughter.)
Everywhere THE PRICE OF grain was to be made better We
said that in all those articles of which you have a surplus the
foreign market will rule the prices. Suppose you are hurt by the
American duty on barley, how are you going to help yourself ?
Put on a similar duty ? Eow will that help you ? There was no
answer. We said : There is no American (barley coming in ; what
then will be the practical effect of putting on a duty to prevent
it from coming in ? And yet there were a great many men, in-
telligent in the ordinary affairs of life, who were gulled by this
trick. There are people going about the country — there are some
you have heard to-day in this village — with musical voices and
pleasant tales, selling you articles w^,rranted to cure every disease
from which you suffer — enchanted oils and other magic cures.
They do not tell you what the composition of the medicine is or
how it is going to act. But they depend upon your saying : Well,
we may as well try it ; it maj'" do us good ; and it can't very
well do us harm. A great many theorists who claimed to
have the medicine to cure the ills of the body-politic
went about with their seductive tales and wizard oils be-
FORE 1878. All of us would much rather be legislated into wealth
and ease than win them by our own labour. You were deceived
into agreeing, to try them. You gave these men a trial. How did
that trial aucceed ? What about wheat ? (Cheers and laughter.)
What about potatoes, the price of which a former speaker quoted ?
I held a meeting in the rear of my own riding of West Durham
the other day. I asked the people the price of wheat. One man
said : I bought wheat to-day at 55c. a bushel.^ I said : That
seems to be very low. I hope you got a good bargain. He didn't
iieem to think he had got a very good bargain. (Laughter and
applause ) It was goose wheat perhaps ; there surely must have
been something wrong when the buyer wasn't satisfied with that
price. (Loud laughter.) Compare this with the condition of
things when the tariff policy had the benefit of a short period of
general prosperity. At that time Mr. Stephenson, who was then
a member of Parliament, though he has since been promoted by
the Premier to be Inspector of Colonization Companies at a salary
of $5,000 a year and travelling expenses, said at a meeting in
south-western Ontario : " I'm going to support the Government
that has raised the price of wheat from 79 cents to $1.40 a
bushel." And so they boasted of their policy. But now, when
the price is low, they say it is the foreign market that controls
the price. And when we oak them why they don't keep up the

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prices, aa they promised, they say : " What is the use of talking
that way ? What sensible man would suppose we could raise the
price of wheat ? The price here is controlled by the price abroad"
(Great applause and laughter.) Did they believe they could raise
prices when they made the promise in 1878 ? If they did, they
were fools ; if they did not, they were knaves. Either way they
are unworthy of your confidence. (Tremendous cheering.)

THEY PROMISED YOU A HOME MARKET

for the product of your farms. In 1873 you had to find a market
abroad for five millions of dozens of eggs. In 1885 you had to
find a foreign market not only for that five millions, but for about
six and one-half millions besides, or in all 11,540,000 dozens. I
must admit I have heard a member of Parliament for a not very
remote county, Mr. Farrow, of Huron, declare in the House of
Commons that it was a fact that the N. P. had done great good
in the egg business. For, he said, even the hens had been stimu-
lated and laid more and larger eg^ than they formerly did, and
we got the benefit in that way. (Loud laughter.) In 1888, the
value of the export of eggs alone was two and a quarter millions
of dollars, and in 1885 it was $1,830,000. Yet the export of manu-
factured articles in 1883 was only $3,181,000. So that in the ex-
port trade eggs alone were worth m>ore than one-half as much as
all the manufactures. These men said they were going to make
you happy and rich in the way I have indicated. We declared
that the wealth of this country, as of all countries similarly cir-
cumstanced, rested upon a foundation of plain and obvious prin-
ciples.

THE TRUE FOUNDATION OF ALL WEALTH.

It rested upon the energy, the activity, the economy, and the
prudence with which each of ub in his own walk of life tried to
make the best of his situation and opportunities. (Cheers.) To
these and not to Acts passed by Parliament at Ottawa is the
prosperity of the country mainly due. Having a fertile soil, if
Providence favours us with good crops and we get fair prices, we
will do well just in proportion as we each of us exhibit the quali-
ties to which I have referred. The manufacturing interest is an
important interest. I unsh it well. I believe our policy is ' best
for it I have no desire to injure it. But it is absurd to talk as
these men do, about the farmer being dependent upon the manu-
facturing interest. But it is well that you should see what the
real foundations of prosperity are.

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COMPARATIVE VALUES OF FARMS AND MANUFAC-
TURES.

A few figures will tell you. In 1884 the CAPITAL INVEST-
ED IN FARMING IN ONTARIO, including the value of your
farms (depreciated as they have been of late years in many places,
not, of course, on account of, but in spite of the N. P.), and includ-
ing buildings, stock, agricultural implements, etc., and capital in
hand or in bank, WAS ABOUT $1,100,000,000. The interest
upon that for one year at 5 per cent, is $55,000,000. THE IN-
VESTMENT IN MANUFACTURING INTERESTS IN THE
YEAR 1881 WAS $81,000,000. That included a large number
of domestic industries, such as the baker, the blacksmith, the
local builder, and a large number of our industries that could not
be benefited by the N.r., as the flour miller, whose industry is
almost dead oiuce the N.P., and the saw-miller, who has not been
benefited, but injured. Strike off for these $30,000,000. I be-
lieve we ought to strike off even more, but I can afford a few
millions in this calculation. (Laughter). We have then $50,000,000
left. It is a disputed point as to what the effects, temporary or
permanent, of protection are upon these industries. I do not
touch that to-day. I may do so elsewhere. Assume, for the sake
of argument, that the effect is somewhat beneficial. Yet ii is rea-
sonable to tell a community composed < f farmers, distrihuiors,
labourers, and manufacturers, that the prosperity of the farmer
depends upon the mxinufacturer ? (Cheers.) You might as well
take a pyramid with a broad base and tapering to a point at the
other end, and after considering how it can best be made to stand
firmly and solidly on the earth, turn it with the point down, and
expect to accomplish your object. (Great cheering.) The eleven
hundred millions is that upon which depends the prosperity of the
fifty millions. IF YOU ARE FAVOURED, IF YOU THRIVE,
IF YOU ARE EXERTING YOURSELVES, YOU WILL HAVE
MONEY IN YOUR POCKETS, AND THEN THE MANUFAC-
TURERS WILL DO WELL ALSO. The money does not stay
with you. After paying debts and paying for some improvements,
the greater part of which is a direct benefit to the manufacturer,
the remainder goes out to manufacturers and others, and is dis-
tributed. Unless you prosper the manufacturer cannot prosper,
tariff or no tariff, and when you prosper the manufacturer of any
article which can be reasonably made here will thrive under any
readjustment of the tariff that has been talked or thought of.
(Cheers.) Well, we are asked : What can you do for the farmer ?
We are not like these people who said, with high-sounding words,
that they could send 211 men to Parliament to draw up Bills and

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pass them, to prepare resolutions and carry them, and so make
the farmer happy. By listening to these men you simply appointed
for yourselves rulers who injure you, and who availed themselves
of a temporary spurt of prosperity to renew their lease of power.
You have tried the sellers of these magic articles. What has been
the result ? It seems to me it has been a dismal failure. I say,

K.I

WHAT CAN be! DONE FOR THE FARMER AS IT IS?

Take care, first of all, that his burden is kept as light as possi-
ble. (Cheers.) Talce care that his burden is not only as light as
possible, but tJiat its distribution upon the whole community t«
made as just as possible, not as now when not merely is there no
attempt even to approximate that rude justice which is tne best
that we can, with our imperfect system, attain, but when by means
of specific duties the charges upon goods, coarse and cheap, which
the poorest have to buy, are heavier far, proportionably, than those
upon the fine and dear goods which the rich can a^ord to buy,
(Cheers.) In the second place see to an

ECONOMICAL EXPENDITURE OF THE REVENUE

from this reduced and fairly distributed taxation. In the third
place make an honest effort to increase the means of CHEAP
TRANSPORT of the commodities which you have to sell and of
the commodities which you want to buy, and to open the
avenues of foreign trade. In the fourth place secure FAIR AND
HONEST ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE and of the affairs
of the couiitry. This is what the Legislature can do. (Loud
cheers.) To tell you that we can by passing Acts of Parliament
make you rich, is what I cannot honestly do. I do not believe it
can be done. I did not believe it in 1878 or in 1882. Our task,
limited as I have stated it, is yet a very difficult one. The ex-
travagant system adopted, the high permanent charges which
have been incurred, the interests which have been created, make
it difficult to do what might have been done in 1878 had we con-
tinued in power, and even in 1882 had we been successful in win-
ning a verdict from the people. But because it is difficult it be-
comes all the more necessary that it should be attempted and that
an end should thus be put to the present course of extravagance,
incompetence, and maladministration. You have a country com-
paratively embarrassed, a country whose future has been impaired
by the maladministration and incompetency of the men in whom
you trusted. You have a countiy whose moral standing is not
what it ought to have been, by reason of the scandals to which I

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have referred, which have disgraced the Legislature and, by reflex
action, have disgraced the people.

But you have ▲ country with qbeat capabiutibs, with
considerable recupekatiye fobces, whose condition may be
impboved, whose standing may be restored, if its people
will but recognize and perform their plain and obvious
DUTY. Gentlemen, with you I leave it. (Loud and pro-
longed cheering.) (3) .

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FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL RIGHTS.

Attitude Of Sir Jolin'i AdminlitrHtion.

TELE XjIOEIsTSE L^^VT".

QUESTION OF ESCHEATS.

Ontario Bonndaries.

STREAMS BILL.

THE FOURTEEN ARBITRARY ANGELS.

Re-arrangement of Financial Basis of Confederation.

TTIE nsrO'V^-A. SOO-XI-A. CiTJESTIOIsT-

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At Simcoe, after alluding to the shameful gerrymandering of
the Norfolk ridings, Mr. Blake proceeded ; — I turn now to the
subject which it was my especial desire to touch to-day.

THE GENERAL ATTITUDE OF THE CONSERVATIVE
PARTY OF THE DOMINION TOWARDS PROVINCIAL
RIGHTS, AND THE C0N8E:;iUENC£;^ OF THEIR AD-
MINISTRATION OF THE CONFEDERATION AS A
WHOLE. •

I say that the attitude of the Tory party ever since Con-
federation towards the Provinces and towards the Confederation,
has been inimical to the federal principle upon which our
Constitution is based, and upon which only it can be properly
worked. (Applause). Sir John Macdonald was before Confedera-
tion an avowed legislative unionist; he was opposed to the
federal system, and was determined that the union should be
legislative if he could manage it. He was a legislative unionist
on principle, hut finding his principle unpopular, he became
nominally, for interest and for ofjice, a federalist ; and he has
since that time systematically carried out his principles as a
legislative unionist just so far as interest and office would permit.
He has striven, as far as he thought safe, to impart to our Consti-

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tntion the features of legislative union and to minimize its
federal elements. This has tended, of course, to impair and
disparage the federal character of the union. The Liberal party,
as I underetand its policy, is in favour of the federal principle.
(Cheers.) It believes in a system of

LOCAL LIBERTIES AND LOCAL POPULAR RIGHTS

of a large and extensive character for all the Provinces of the
Dominion. We believe that in a country so wide in its area as
Canada, so sparsely settled as Canada, divided a« Canada has
been into Provinces, inhabited as these Provinces are, notably in
the case of Quebec, by populations mainly of one race, and of one
system of laws, different from and isolating them from the other
Provinces, and dividing those Provinces from each other, inhabited
by populations holding different views upon many subjects, and
unaccustomed to have their local affairs treated otherwise than
locally ; we believe, I say, that the true and the only method of
establishing a union of heart and feeling between the diferent
parts of our great country, from, the Atlantic to the Pacijic, is
frankly to recognize these circumstances, and to meet them by the
establishment, upon a firm and substantial basis; of a large measure
of provincial and local liberties ; to give us, in fact, Home Rule for
each Province ol' the Dominion. We believe that here was found
the main difficulty under which we laboured in the old union
between the Canadas, where the two Provinces had pint control
of local affairs, concerning which Ontario did not well understand
the wants and wishes, the habits and customs, the passions and
prejudices, of the sister Province, and so with Quebec as to
Ontario. It was largely in order to remove such difficulties that
the Confederation was proposed, and we desire to avoid them still
by continuing and, if need be, confirming the federative spirit of
our constitution. (Cheers.) But there are other obvious reasons
for this view.
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EFFECTn OF THE CENTRALIZATION POLICY.

Centralization at Ottawa, the management by one authority of
local affairs in a country spreading for four thousand miles, Irom
ocean to ocean, would inevitably be the fruitful parent, not merely
of discord, but also of federal jobbery, delay, favouritism, blunders,
and mal- ad ministration. If you want an example of the dangers,
the difficulties, and the failures of on attempt to administer from
a great distance the local affairs of a vast territory, read the

LAMENTABLE STORY OF THE MANAGEMENT OF NORTH-WEST AFFAIRS

BY THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION. It is in order to obviate these

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difficulties, to promote the real and cordial union of the country
in matters common to us as a whole, to secure good fjovernmont
for the Provinces, and jjood fjovernmont for tlie Dominion too,
that wo Liberals insist so strenuously upon local manai^ement of
locid attairs. Local management will be quick and rospcmsive to
local ))ublic opinion. It is not troubled by a consideration of the
views, objections, prejudices, and ignorance of those not concerned
in such affairs and belonging to other Provinces. Besides,

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LOCAL INSTITUTIONS HAVK EVKll BKEN, UNDKUTIIK liRITISH SYSTEM,
THE GRKAT NURSERIES OF FREKDOM.

They are the trainers of the people at large, and especially of
those who are to be the people's leaders in the larger arena; nnd
80 highly are these local liberties valued, that they are held by
the wisest men to be flie real root of the British constitutional
system. We, therefore, hold that their true dignity and importance
ought to be conceded to the local authorities, and that the wide
sphere of Provincial action under the constitution should be fully,
frankly, and ungrudgingly recognized by all concerned. We
desire that those important matters of common concern, by the
wise regulation of which we may foster and increase our com-
munity of thought, feeling, interest, and affection throughout
Canada, and so become one people, should be dealt with, and that
these alone should be dealt with, at Ottawa, In these we are
partners ; the regulation of these so as to pi-oduce harmony and
good feeling is itself difficult. To that task we should address
ourselves ; and to turn to other and local matters, to attempt to
enlarge our sphere, to increase the number of, I do not say the
links of love, but the coercive bonds of connection, is not really
to promote our union. It is to produck discord and difficulty,

AND TO sow THE SEEDS OF SEPARATION. But, sir, the Very
opposite of these notions has prevailed at Ottawa for years past.
Centralization has been the dn^am of the powers there. Every
effort has been made to curtail the just Provincial rights, and
there has consequently existed a constant struggle on the part of
the Provinces, and notably of Ontario, not to obtain more than
their constitutional rights, but to hold their own under the
con.stitution. (Cheers.) Take for example > ,;■

the license LAWS.

Every Province had always passed license laws, and for many

, years those laws had remained unchallenged. For years it was

generally believed that the Provinces alone had power to pass

sucb laws. At length it seemed to Sir John Macdonald that a

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favourable opportunity had occurred to attack that right. He
declared the license laws of the Provincei were waste paper ; that
the power to pass such laws was not with the Provinces, but
rested with the Dominion alone. Makivg a bid for the support
of the licensed victuallers and the municipalities, ho j)romised them
tnat if returned to power he would pass satisfactory laws at Ot-
tawa. Accordingly, when returned, he nmdo proposals to which
the Liberals objected on the ground that there was no right or
necessity to interfere, and they proposed first that there should be
at least delay until the Privy Council should decide whether Sir
John's construction of the law was right or wrong; and secondly,
that even if his reading of the B.N. A. Act were assumed, contrary
to the common understanding, to be correct, the proper step would
be to seek such an amendment of the letter of the Act as would
make it accord with that common understanding, and secure the
right to the Provinces instead of wresting it from them. (Cheers.)
But we were refused delay, we were refused redress. We were
told that every man was at that moTnent free to sell liquor as he
pleased, that there was no law to regulate the traffic, and that the
sacred cause of tem[)erance required immediate action at Ottawa
by those well-known and puactised advocates of temper-
ance AND TOTAL ABSTINENCE, THE GOVKRNMKNT AND THEIR
SUPPORTERS. (Laughter.) Sir John Macdonald tried to entrap
us into a committee to frame a law. As we objected to his action
altogether, we declined to serve. We were told that we were re-
fusing to discharge a great public duty. But we believed we
were in truth discharging our highest duty. His committee,
composed wholly of Tories, sat for a long time, and at last
brought in a Bill.

SIR JOHN'S LIQUOR BILL.

A great many boasts were made about this Bill ; it was said to
be the best liquor law that had ever been devised ; it was a mag-
nificent law ; it was such a law that the Grits would like to have
had the credit of being parties to it. But they were to have
none of the credit, for they had refused to have anything to do
with it ; the whole credit was to belong to the Tories ! (Laugh-
ter.) We said we were quite willing they should have all the
credit. Presently

THE PRIVY COUNCIL DECIDED THAT THE PROVINCIAL LICENSE
^'^' " . -. LAWS WERE VALID, • ^.

and therefore the only ground given for pressing forward the
Dominion Tneasure — that of necessity — had never existed ; and

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tho law had been passed under /(dec pretences or mistake. We
then said : Abandon your law, do not continue this struggle with
the Provinces. You said there were not and could not bo any
license laws in force. We lind that there can be and are such
laws. Ab&ndon your law. No, Sir ^ohriHaid; ihouifh ihe Privy
Council has decided, that the Provincial laws are good, this law
IS (jood also. Not as a matter of nkckssity, hut now, as
A MATTER OF POLICY, I WILL MAINTAIN IT. (Lau;jfhter.) He went
to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decided that the law
was bad. We said, now at any rate abandon your law. Ho
refused. We said, if you will not abandon — at any rate suspend,
until the decision of the Privy Council, the operation of this vex-
atious law. He at first refused ; but we moved in the lloust and
forced him, by bringing the weight of public opinion to bear,
reluctantUj to agree to the suspension of the law. The Privy
Council heard the case, and <lecided that it was quite true that a
license law was waste paper ; but this was not the Provincial
law, which Sir John Macdonald had declared to be waste paper ;
it was the one he himself had put upon the statute book. (Loud
and prolonged applause.) And so

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THE GREAT LAW,

of which the Tories were to have all the credit, was torn to pieces,
it was thrown into the waste-paper basket, and there was an
end of it. No — not quite, because you had to pay the bill, and
besides the hundreds and thousands paid before, you paid
$150,000 last session, and I dcm't know whether that will close
the account or not. Besides the public money paid there is to l.>o
considered the turmoil and confusion, the collision of authority,
the difficulties, the inefficiency in the operation of the existing
laws, the expense to the Provinces, and to individuals, all created
by these gentlemen in their insane determination, as far as they
could, and further than the constitution wan-anted, to extend
what they call Dominion rights and to diminish your Provincial
rights, and so to accomplish their dream of centralisation at
Ottawa. In that case almost every Province was actively fighting
the Dominion. A pretty date of things, the Dominion harrassing
the Provinces, and the Provinces retaining lawyers, who are said
to be expensive people to employ — (luar, hear) — to defend their
rights against these unwarrantable attacks! yet such beca;iie the
relations of the Dominion and the Provinces owinij to the action
of the Dominion Government. The result is rather humiliating
for the man who boasted of his infallibility as a constitu-
tional LAWYER, and who, in 1882, invited the electors to trust
his assurance that the Provincial license laws were waste paper,

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and that at Ottawa alone could valid laws be passed. He called
Mr. Mowat, because that gentleman maintained and enforced the
constitutional law, a tyrant. Himself he called a constitutional
lawyer. Who is the constitutional lawyer now ? and who
IS THE TYRANT NOW ? (Cheers and laughter.) A tyrant I under-
stand to be one who rules arbitrarily and against the law. That
is what Sir John Macdonald attempted when he tried to force
this law upon us. A constitutional lawyer I understand to be one
who properly interprets the constitution and acts in support of it.
That is just what Mr. Mowat did. (Cheers.) The epithets fit
the men, but they must be differently applied. Sir John is the
tyrant, Mr. Mowat the constitutional lawyer. Then there was

THE QUESTION OF ESCHEATS.

When a person dies without heirs, his property goes to the
Crown. The question arose over such a case whether the pro-
perty should go to the Crown as represented by the Province,
or the Crown as represented by the Dominion. Sir John Mac-
donald had early adopted the Dominion view. Mr. Fournier
followed in his footsteps, and a litigation took place. The full
Court in the Province of Quebec decided in favour of the Pro-
vince. I, as Minister of Justice, gave my opinion in the same
sense, and the Government under my advice solemnly passed an
Order-in-Council recognizing that rule and agreeing to act on it.
Sir John Macdonald, however, on returning to power, declined to
abide by this view, and supported at the expense of the Dominion,
a litigation which ended by the decision of the Privy Council
that Sir John MacdonaW was wrong and that Mr. Mowat was
right in claiming escheats for the Province. Then came the

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■, QUESTION OF THE BOUNDARY.

You know that both before and after Confederation the claim was
made by Canada that the boundary of old Canada extended far
beyond Port Arthur, and even beyond the Lake of the Woods.
But after the Dominion had secured to itself the rights of the Im-
perial Government and the Hudson's Bay Company in the North-
West Territory , they raised the claim that the boundary of Ontario
extended only to a point east of Port Arthur, though they had
theretofore called on Ontario to pay Provincial expenditures in
those quarters, and though Algoma, as part of Ontario, actually in-
cluded, as they said, the same regions for Dominion electoral purpo-
ses. I was then Premier of Ontario, and I declined to accept their
boundary. They asked us to say what, in our opinion, the boundary
was. We sent a memorandum, stating that we thought we had lar-

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ger pretensions, yet we believed the real and fair boundary ran —
substantially on the same line as has since been decided — close to
the north-west angle of the Lake of the Woods, and we expressed
our willingness to agree to that, and settle the question on that basis.
But they said : — Your claim is extreme, so extreme that we cannot
even discuss it with you ; there is no use in attempting to settle the
question by discuj^sion or arrangement — we must have litigation.
We proposed arbitration, and they refused ; we then arranged an
interim conventional line for certain objects. When Mr. Mackenzie,
came into power, however, having regard to the claims made by
his predecessors, and to our old proposal to arbitrate, and tc the
convention, an arrangement was made to arbitrate, and the arbitra-
tors found the boundary substantially as I had proposed. Sir John
Macdonald said : — The arbitrators are all wrong, that boundary is
one that no court on earth will support. We must fight Ontario,
he said, and Ontario will be bound to yield. He did fight OntaHo,
but the Province did not yield. (Cheers.) Ontario stood by the
derided boundary, and it was found, not that no court in the
world would support that boundary, but that tJw opinion of the
very highest tribunal sustained our position. Had they been
right in their facts and their law they would have agreed to ray
proposal of 1872 ; but they were wrong — all wrong ; and thus
you see an attempt to trench upon the rights of the Province
obstinately carried on for a series of years though failing, as all
their efforts have failed in the end. But Sir John said : — This is
a barren victory you have won, because though Ontario may have
the jurisdiction, .

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THE DOMINION "AS THE LANDS, AND NOT A STICK OF TIMBER, NOT
A LUMP OF LEAD, IRON, SILVER, OR GOLD, SHALL BELONG TO ONTARIO

is.

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Why ? Because, he said, they had the so-called Indian title,
and that gave them the lands, and, the lands being theirs, they
proceeded to parcel the timber out, at nominal bonuses, amongst
their favourites, and political partisans ; not as a rule, among lum-
bermen, but amongst men who expected to make fortunes by selling
to those engaged in the trade. But this question is in litigation,
too. The Chancellor decided against Sir John, and the Court of
Appeal has unani^nously decided, the same luay ; and now they
propose to take the case to the Supreme Court and the Privy
Council, and last session tliey brought down a vote for ^11,500, on
account of the lawyers' fees. THIS GIVES THE PEOPLE OF
ONTARIO THE SATISFACTION OF PAYING THEIR
SHARE OF THE EXPENSES OF AN ATTEMPT TO ROB
THEM OF THEIR INHERITANCE. (Loud cheers.) Mr. Mc-

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Carthy, member for North Simcoe, arranged with the Dominion
Government to pay the costs ; he took the case ; they have paid
him so far ; and he is to have SR5000 fror)i the Government to go
over to England and argue the case for their contention, and
against that of Ontario. But I am glad to be able to tell you that
these lawyers who made up the estimate of probable cost were so
liUle confident of success that they estimated $20,000 as the
costs. '1 hey said it was well to estimate for the costs of both sides
on the assumption that it wasprobable they would lose the case, and
80 be called on to pay all the costs. (Cheers and laughter.) But
the Dominion Government decided not to ask the balance last
session — that is reserved for next session. (Laughter.) Now we
come to the case of

THE STREAMS BILL,

and this I have always considered to be, of all the controversies
between the Dominion and the Provinces, by far the most im-
portant from a constitutional point of view ; for it involves the
principle regulating the use by the Government of the power of
disallowing Provincial legislation. This is a vital question as
affecting our local liberties. (Cheers.) I maintain that under
our constitution, 'properly interpreted, the Provinces have the
uncontrollable poiuer of passing laws, valid and binding laws,
upon all those matters which are exclusively within their compe-
tence, except possibly in the rare cases in which such legislation
may be shown substantially to affect Dominion interests. If
you are to admit the view that the Dominion Cabinet may veto
and destroy your legislation on purely local questions within your
exclusive competence, you make your local legislature a
SHAM, you declare your Provincial liberties a fraud, and you had
better openly, honestly, and aboveboard, do that which the other
system aims at in a secret and still more unsatisfactory way — create
one central legislative power, and let the Parliament at Ottawa
do all the business. (Cheers.) The case to which I have referred
arose out of an Act of the Local Legislature of Ontario, known as
the Streams Bill. That measure afiiected only local streams, and
did not pretend to touch the streams in other Provinces, nor
did it affect any Dominion interest at all. It was purely
local and exclusively within the competence of the Local Legis-
lature. The Legislatui'e thought it well to interpret and de-
clare the true and intended meaning of an older statute on this
subject, and in doing so to give to the proprietor of improvements
on a stream, of which he owned the bed, compensation for the use
of those improvements, when others, under the law, availed them-
selves of the improved channel to run timber down the stream.
Sir John Macdonald declared that the Local Legislature misinter-

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preted the older law ; that the timber owner had no right to use
the improved channel at all ; that the Act was not legislation, it
was robbery of the proprietor of the channel ; and, moreover, he
declared, it was worse than ordinary robbery, for it was a robbery
of the Tories by the Reformers. (Laughter.) He said that the
Act was passed simply because Mr. Caldwell, a Reformer, wanted
to run his timber unlawfully over the improvements of Mr. Mc-
Laren, a prominent Tory, and he said Mr, Mowat had prostituted
the Legislature for the purpose of enabling the Reformers to rob
the Conservatives, and moved by a high sense of justice —
(laughter)— feeling that the interests of the whole country were
concerned, he disallowed this act of robbery. Well, thk Local
Legislature did not think it was robbery at all, and they
PASSKD THE BILL AGAIN. The Federal Government disalloived it
agoAn, but the Legislature — a new House, I believe — was not con-
vinced of the error of its ways, and passed a similar bill once more,
and yet once more. In the meantime the slow process of the law
was going on, and the final tribunal, the Privy Council, decided in
the end, shortly after the bill had been passed for the last time, to
the eflect that the interpretation of the Local Legislature was right,
and, therefore, that their bill (whatever might have been said
otherwise, which I need not consider) was not robbery at all, but,
on the contrary, was a protection to Mr. McLaren, the Tory, en-
abling him to get compensation for the use of his improvements,
which he might not have been able to get under the old law, and

It^'

THE RESULT IS THAT THIS LAST ACT HAS NOT BEEN DISALLOWED.

(Cheers and laughter.) For the time, therefore, the difficulty is at
rest. But the principle upon which the Federal Government acted
is general in its nature, and may be acted upon by the Government
at any time unless we restrain them. / call upon you to say
whether you will iiermit, whether you will send representatives to
Ottaiva to sustain, a courfse of action vjhich must result in ren-
dering nugatory your Provincial Legislation, In condemning
the action of the Government, I said in Parliament that I care
not whether the Act is just or unjust, whether it is right or wrong,
whether it is good or bad, whether it is robbery or not. I inquire
as to this only, is it a law passed by the Local Legislature, within
the exclusive competence of that Legislature, and not substantially
affecting Dominion interests ? If so, you have jio right to touch
it. (Cheers.) I admit and I rejoice that there is an appeal from
the power that made that law. But I will state to you where
the appeal lies. That appeal is from the Legislature which

PASSED the law TO THE PEOPLE WHO ELECTED THAT LEGISLATURE,

and who can elect anotner to their minds. (Loud cheers.) The

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appeal with reference to your own Provincial laws is to yourselves.
If a law is passed by your Legislature which is unju3t, which is
bad, which is inexpedient, which is a robbery, you have the power
to consider the conduct of the members who passed thatlaw, and
to return men to Parliament to repeal that law, to amend it, or to
mould it according to your notions of what is just, good, expedi-
ent, honest and in the public interest. Are you not satisfied to
live under the rule of your own people ? Are you not equal to
self-government ? Are you not content to rely upon the sense of
fairness and right, of honesty and expediency of your fellow-
citizens of Ontario in reference to their and your own affairs ? Do
you feel so doubtful as to your oiun knowledge of what is just, expe-
dient, honest and right, that you must alloiu governors to set them-
selves up over you to determine for you whether your laws are good
or bad? Would you say : Here is a superior body whom we respect,
whose views we prefer to the judgment of our own people ? Here
they are, fourteen men at Ottawa, of whom only four or live be-
long to your Province, the rest coming from the other Provinces,
not knowing your ways or customs or affairs, not mainly, hardly
at all effectively, responsible to you, whose duties ought to be con-
fined to the common concerns of Canada, and who have nothing
to do with your local affairs. Here they are, fourteen men who,
when they deliberate upon a fairs of State, retire into a room, lock
the door, post a sentry luithout, to prevent the too near approach
of the common herd, who swear an oath that they will not reveal
their secret counsels, and who, wiiii these precautions, and after
these methods, assume to decide jor you, ivhether your laws are
good or bad, Hght or wrong, just or unjust, expedient or inexpe-
dient. Even if they were angels from Heaven, infallible and
all-wise personages, I would prefer, for m}' part, that we should our-
selves, with all the risk of sometimes making mistakes, engage in
the inspiring and ennobling task of self-government, in that task
which, involving the existence of a free choice and free decision,
involves too, of course, the possibility of error or even of wrong,
but which embraces also the glorious right and duty of repairing
error and redressing wrong. I would prefer it, with all its troubles,
outweighed as they are by its meiits and by its' elevating charac-
teristics, to being governed by fourteen angels or infallible men, who
might indeed decide for us rightly, but who would deprive us of the
right, the duty, the responsibility, and the educating and glorious
attributes which* belong to self-government, to a government of
the people, by the people, for the people. (Cheers.) But tJiese
are not fourteen angels. (Laughter.) Their wings, at any rate,
have not grown yet. (Loud laughter.) They are not infallible
men. Their judgments ma}'^ be wrong, ^r 1 have already given

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you many lamentable instances of mistake on their part. In all
these matters in tvhich we have taken issue luith them, they were
proven wrong and we were proven right. We are bound, it seems
to me, to insist that this question of disallowance shall be
settled upon a firmer and more stable and more constitutional
basis than that on which under the Tory doctrine it now rests.
There are

SEVERAL OTHER INSTANCES

of a similar tendency towards centralization. For example, three
or four sessions ago the Dominion Parliament passed a law which
practically assumed control of all those Provincial railways which
had been chartered by the Provinces, and subsidized by the
Provinces, and which had been up to that time under Provincial
control. By one Act, under a tyrannical and abusive misinter-
pretation of the constitution, these roads were declared, however
short and local in character, to be, within the meaning of the
constitution, roads for the general advantr^^d of Canada, as dis-
tinguished from the Province to which they belonged, and were
so seized. Then came also a plan of largely subsidizing merely
local roads, and about the same time the Province of Quebec was
assisted to the amount of millions in reference to some of its past
Provincial railway expenditures. I said : If you are going to pay
one Province for past railway expenditure, you should pay all.
Deal with all on equal terms. They have all expended large
sums on railways, all of 'which you are assuming Then make a
general fe-arrangement. As to future subsidies for local rail-
ways, I said : — It is better, if local raihvay enterprises are
to be fostered, that they should he fostered and promoted
hy the Local Governments luithin luhose jiirisdAction the con-
stitution has placed them, and if the means of the Local Gov-
ernments are inadequate, better re-arrange the financial rela-
tions of the Dominion xuith the Local Governments, so that
the latter may discharge their legitimate constitutio7ial func-
tions, than for us at Ottawa to arrogate to ourselves these
functions under the pretence that the Local Governments are too
poor to discharge them. (Cheers.) But if not, then revise the
constitution, and let us re-arrange its provisions. But the system
of centralization prevailed then, and has prevailed in this regard
with accelerated force. Other considerations there are, general
and local, to some of which I shall advert later, some of which I
must omit for brevity ; but you must see that THL " UNION "
GOVERNMENT, THE GOVERNMENT WHICH MADE ITS
PROUD BOAST THAT IT HAD CREATED, AND FOSTER-
ED, AND WAS PROMOTING AND STRENGTHENING
THE UNION SPIRIT, HAS BEEN AT WAR WITH ALL

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THE PROVINCES, that there are grievances and complaints
everywhere. We have had two rebellions in the North- West under
the rule of these men, tronble with British Columbia, trouble with
Manitoba, trouble with Quebec, trouble with Prince Edward Is-
land, and trouble with J\ ova Scotia, about which I wish to speak
more fully, and in the end, in almost all of tliese matt rs, the
Government has yielded, so admitting they were wrong to resist,
but not yielding in time, not being wise in time, and thus at
once provoking irritation and discord by their delays and neg-
lects, and yet by their final action producing the impression that
pressure would in all cases result at last in concession.
I now come to

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THE GRAVE SITUATION IN NOVA SCOTIA.

It is lamentable to think that in the twentieth year of Confedera-
tion there should be an appeal to the people on such a ground and
with such a result as has just taken place in Nova Scotia, and I
feel bound to point out., in the interest of the Confederation and of
our future as a country some of the causes which, as I conceive,
have led to that unhappy and humiliating event. To do so satis-
factorily would require me to discuss fully the questions of the
tariff, the debt, the taxation, the expenditure, the question of re-
ciprocity, the fisheries, and other subjects, which, in view of the
historical sketch which I am obliged to give, there is no time
to touch. I must turn back to ,

THE EVENTS WHICH PRECEDED CONFEDERATION,

and recall your attention to this fact, that we are reaping to-day
some of the evils of old violations of constitutional principle, of
old mistakes of policy, as well as of later acts of misgovernment
breach of faith and neglect. When Confederation was mooted in Old
Canada the Maritime Provinces were in actual conference at Char-
lottetown with a view to establishing a legislative union. The
Canadian delegates proposed to that conference to give up the
idea of a legislative union of the Maritime Provinces, and to go,
each Province by itself, into a federal .union with the two Cana-
das. I always thought that a mistaken plan I thought, and
think still, that a

LEGISLATIVE UNION OF THE MARITIME PROVINCES

^.' 'ltd have been the best precursor of a federal union between

i-i.-c OP e Maritime State so formed, the Provinces of Quebec and

"i io, and the great Provinces formed and to be formed in the

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I believe that the proximity of the countries, the similarity
of the characteristics ot the people, the size and shape of the ter-
ritory, the numbers of the population, the close community of in-
terests, and the identity of the principal industries, all pointed to
the fact that they together would form one strong, powerful Pro- ~
vince by the sea, which might be constructed with all due regard
to the efficient management of local affairs, to which I have re-
ferred, and which would have been better for them and for the
other parties to the federal union than their entry into that re-
lation as three comparatively small Provinces, each retaining its
local identity, and each having a distinct federal relation to the
others of them and to the Central and Western Provinces. But
in this and other matters everything else was subordinated to the
one idea of consummating some scheme of confederation quickly '
— itself an error ; for the gestation of a nation, as has well been
said, is not like the breeding of a rabbit ; and, besides, time was on
our side. This was a grave error, yet it was only an error of
policy. But worse followed. There followed a mos^ serious

^ BREACH OF CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE.

Nova Scotia was forced into the Confederation under a resolution
passed by a House not elected with any reference to that most
important and fundamental change. That Legislature, unhappily,
grossly misinterpreted the feelings of the people upon the sub-
ject, and the people believed they were betrayed by their repre-
sentatives, in being resolved into confederation without being
given an opportunity to express their opinion at the polls. I am '
afraid this course was pursued, not because an election was thought
unnecessary, which was the allegation as to old Canada, but be-
cause it was feared that an election would result in a popular con-
demnation of the plan. And, if that be so, / say that those who
forced the Province into a constitutional change like Gonfedera- '
tion without an election, because they feared an election would
result in an adverse popular vote, ivere guilty of a great public
crime against the liberties of a free people. (Loud cheers) Not
only was it a great crime, but it was also an enormous blunder,
because the feelings which that step necessarily aroused, the pas-
sions it excited, and the prejudices it evoked were calculated to .
greatly impair the chances of succe-s of the union itself. It created '
a bitter feeling in Nova Scotia, a sense of wrong, a sense of injus-
tice, a sense of coercion, a feeling strongly hostile to Canada, a
feeling which caused every proposal emanating from Canada to be
suspected and disliked, just because it came from those who were
supposed to have forced the Province into the union. Better far
to have followed the constitutional course of an appeal to the

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people, and, if unsuccessful, of a repeated appeal after an inter-
val, as

WAS DONE IN NEW BRUNSWICK. " } _ /i

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The result in that Province is that, whatever grievances the
people may think they have to complain of, they have not this
at any rate — they cannot ^ay they did not enter the union by the
will of the majority of their people expressed at the polls. You
can see, therefore, that the experiment of Confederation has had
in Nova Scotia no fair chance. This feeling has never died out.
The sense of injustice and wrong lingers for many years, and it
was sure to impede our progress toward a real union. Now,
when eighteen out of nineteen men came from Nova Scotia to
Ottawa opposed to Confederation, an eflbrt was made to arrange
for an alteration of the financial terms of the union with Nova
Scotia, and so to conciliate the Province, through the intervention,
as the other parties to the bargain, of some of these same msm-
bers at Ottawa, instead of trying to come to an agreement with
the Local Government and Legislature, which was the real repre-
sentative of the Provincial as distinguished from the Dominion
interest. Thi.>, again, was a harmful blunder; the Provincial
Government should havd been respected and treated with as the
lawful and constitutional representative of the Provincial interests.
As to these financial terms, you perhaps know that 1 never ad-
mired the plan of the Provincial subsidies. It would have been
preferable, as I have always thought, that the Provinces should
have some sources of revenue of their own, so that they might
have the power and responsibility of settling the scale of both
income and expenditure. There is a good old rule which would
have applied in this case —

"WHO SPENDS SHOULD PAY."

If one man spends and another pays it is extremely likely the
expenditure will be on an extravagant scale. But it was thought
quite impossible to overcome the difficulties existing at the time
of Confederation, and the system of grants to the Provinces was
adopted simply as the only practicable plan. This arrangement
was said to be a finality ; it was said that the local Governments
would have to supply any deficiencies by local taxation them-
selves. But this notion was entirely destroyed and all chance of
finality done away with when, without the consent of the other
Provinces, an alteration was made in the financial terms of union.
I foresaw this result and objected strongly to any alteration in the
financial terms without the consent of the Provinces. I said : —
" All the Provinces are parties to the bargain ; one of the terms

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of the bargain is that relating to the division of so much of the
general revenues to each of the Provinces. If this is to be altered,
all the parties to the bargain ought in some form to be consulted.
It cannot be altered at Ottawa without discontent and possible
injustice, and certainly, if it is altered for one, the time will come
when therfe will be a call which you will not be able to resist for
alterations for others, and so the element of finality will be taken
away by what you propose." No, they said, it will be all right.
Rut the results of their course have become manifest since, and
they have been very serious. Many of the Provinces have since
been looking to Ottawa for increases of their grants, and large
expenditures and

DEPENDENCE UPON OTTAWA

have been the issue. I should be very glad if I were able to pre-
sent to you a plan for the reorganization of our system ; removing
this radical weakness, but the difficulties which were thought to
be insuperable at Confederation have become gi'eater still since
that event ; and I see no clear solution. But I believe, not the
less, that a rearrangement' ought to take place, and in connection
therewith a constitutional provision ought to be obtained requir-
ing the assent of the Provinces to any further disturbance of the
compact. So -only can you reach that finality which was pro-
mised to us, but which, it is too clear, we cannot now expect under
the existing system. I never proposed to abolish the Provincial
subsidies, as has been untruly represented. I have been unable
to propose a substitutionary scheme ; and I am not in the habit
of proposing in opposition, measures which I do not see my way
to carrying out wore I to be entrusted with the reins of power.
In the first session of Parliament, the members from Nova Scotia
asked for a repeal of the union. The Liberal proposal at that
time was that a committee should be formed to consider the
gi-ievances of Nova Scotia, but that proposal was rejected. I, in
my place in Parliament, asked the people and representatives of
Nova Scotia to wait for the term of that Parliament, and to try
for that length of time the experiment of the union ; but I de-
clared, speaking, of course, as a young member and for myself
alone, that if the next appeal to the people of the Province should
result in an unequivocal declaration against the Province remain-
ing in Confederation, I did not see my way to holding in bonds
to which they had

,: , . ;.j . L : NEVER CONSTITUTIONALLY CONSENTED, :•,

a free people. But I asked them honestly and fairly to try the
experiment for the term of that Parliament, and to give the

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union that chance. I believe I was almost alono in the view
I held, but I thought then that I was right, and 1 think so
still. (Loud cheers.) Time went on. Several of tlie Nova Scotia
leaders were won over by tlie Government. Mr. Howe, the leader
of the secession party, Mr. McLelan, the present Minister of
Finance, and Mr. K. M. Macdonald obtained offices. The elections
came on, and the Nova Scotians returned a majority for Sir
Charles Tupper and Sir John Macdonald, the men who had forced
them into the union. I assumed on this return that the effort to
secede had been abandoned. I believe that Nova Scotia, which
has since, e^icept at one election, sustained, and is now sustain-
ing, the policy of the Tories by sending large majorities to support
them, has by that course of action, at any rate, greatly weakened,
if she has not entirely lost, any claim to relief which she might
have had on the ground of the original constitutional wrong in-
flicted on her. But, for all that, the feeling is there, and it is at
this moment an important factor in the situation, and you as
freemen and fellow-citizens of Canada, and we as statesmen deal-
ing with the future of the Confederation, must take account of
its existence, and do what we can to mitigate its effects. That
feeling has kept us apart and has marred the chances of a real
union. Nor can I acquit those who are responsible for it of a
grave crime against the State. (Cheers.) Now .the union was
said by the Conservative Government themselves to be at first

■^ M ,: 1 '' ONLY A UNION ON PAPER, '> , •

which was to be made real in course of time by its practical
working, by the practical benefits the people .would derive from
it. So, they said, it would become a union of hearts and souls,
not a union in name or on paper only. What were the pxomises
and pledges these men made at that time, particularly in the
Maritime Provinces ? They promised low taxation, a low scale of
debt, strict economy in the public expenditure, no high or protec-
tive tariffs, reciprocal trade, great prosperity, an enormous and
profitable trade with the Western Provinces, and that Halifax
should be the great ocean port for the whole Dominion. It was
of great consequence not to make extravagant promises at such
a time. It was of still greater consequence that the promises
which were made should, as far as possible, be fully performed.
(Cheers.) But it was of the very last consequence that no pro-
mises so made should be wilfully broken. By acting on these
views I believje it might have been proved that the interests of
Nova Scotia could be guarded and maintained under Confedera-
tion, and so a better feeling might have been engendered. But
that was not done. The contrary was done. These Views of mine

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are not being first stated at a late day, now that a crisis has arrived.
They havoboen stated before. I have often warned these men of
the difficulties which would attend the course they were pursuing.
I want to prove this to you, and to state the case just as I did at
the time. In the spring of 1880, in my place in Parliament, I
used this language : —

Sir, — We must consider the circumstances of this whole Confederation.
We must not forget the mode in which it was formed. Hon. gantlomen op-
posite aftirmed with groat warmth in 1807, and for } eurs afterwards, that it
was but a union on paper, and that the

REALITY AND PERMANENCE OV THE CONNECTION

were yet to be established and secured by a cra'eful policy, and by a practi-
cal experience on the part of the people of its benefits. A cynic indeed has
said that aa between Ontario and Quebec it was u divorce rather than a
union ; that Nova Scotia was coerced into it, and compensated by damages
for the loss of her honour ; that New Brunswick was frightened into it and
compensted as well ; that Manitoba was forced and purchased into it, too ;
that Prince Edward Island and British Columbia were — shall I say ] — seduced
into it by pledges and promises, some impossible, all extravagant — at any
rate by settlements of the most lavish character. But whether this descrip-
tion be true or not, at any rate hon. gentlemen admit that it was at first a union
only on paper, I want to know what has been done to cement it, to make
it real and permanent, to make it a union of hearts and interests, to give it
vitality and strength. Look at the various Provinces. Almost every one,
after all your better terms, is in deep financial difficulties, and is knocking
at your door for further aid. Imitating your extravagance, they have out-
run their resources, and they have come to look upon you as the great tax-
gatherer for the Provinces, believing that they may go as far as they please,
and that Canada must fill the void out of the Federal revenues. You have
seen the distribution of your revenues, and your expenditure. You remem-
ber all the promises, at the time of union, of low taxes and cheap govern-
ment. All, all are broken.

' "; THE VAST SUMS YOU COLLECT

from the smaller Provinces, heavier per capita than you collect from Old
Canada, and a grievous burthen on their people, are yet, as I have shown
you, quite inadequate to meet their share of the cost of Confederation.

I must here observe that this view of the effect of the burdens
of Customs and Excise upon the smaller Provinces was imperfect.
It was based solely on figures from the Customs and Excise ; but
these did not represent, as I afterwards perceived, the real burden,
even then ; still less do they da so now, because a large part of the
duties on goods' used in Nova Scotia is paid in the ports of entry
in other Provinces ; and because also there is a considerable con-
■ sumption of home-made goods at higher relative prices through
the operation of the tariff". From which considerations it follows
that the burden of taxation was, and is, heavier in the Maritime
Provinces than I then thought it to be. The imperfect view which

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I advanced had been, before then, put forward by Sir Leonard
Tilley, the B^inance Minister, and others. Its imperfection having
been pointed out, I publicly stated the truth of the case not long
after, though I see it still (juotod as a complete representation. In
the same

SPEECH IN THE SPRING OF 1880,

I went on to say : —

It is not by the forced oonneotion of a reatrictivo tarifT, compelling each of
us to trade with somo other of us, to our Iohb and against our will ; it is not
by the fatal loud of an enormous debt, lowering the value of our labours, and
lessening the comfort of our livos ; it is not by flinging, with a lavish hand,
into the mountr.ins and rivers of Columbia all you can collect or borrow, while
,v<>u starve all public works at home, that you will accomplish a real success,
that you will consolidate and harmonise the union. You are making our load
heavier than that of the United States. You are making it heavier than we
can bear. You are paving the way to that very annexation whiuu you pro-
fess to dread, because you are bringing us into a plight in which we may be
forced to do as a people, what we lieard described the other day as the sad
end of many an imprudent individual borrower, to sell our poor equity of re-
demption to the only available purchaser. You pxofess unbounded faith in
the permanence of your restrictive tariff ; you blame us for eveu discussing
its operation, for throwing

DOUBTS ON ITS DURABILITY,

and at the same instant you send a High Commissioner to England, who asks
her to close her ports against the grain of the world, in order that your farm-
ers and hers may obtain from her millions of poor a higher price for the staff
of life ; and who proposes in return that you should open your ports to her
manufactures, thus destroying your revenue, and at the same time, under
the fierce and unchecked competition of the cheapest producers in the worl4,
blasting at once every one of your home industries, which is said to be depen-
dent on a duty for its existence. Such is your reckless, your inconsistent,
vour vacillating, your unpractical policy ! Do you ask for mine ? I will tell
it. Set free the springs of legitimate revenue, by removing the obstacles de-
signed to choke them. Open the avenues of legitimate trade, by lowering the
legislative bars designed to close them. Free the people as soon as may be,
from the extortionate taxation by which you oppress them. Return to a
moderate revenue tariff, the only practicable plan in our circumstances, and
a necessary incident in whose operation is to give some of the so-called ad-
vantages of protection to some of your native industries. By an earnest and
searching plnn of economy and retrenchment, directed to every branch of the
public service, help to redress the balance between revenue and expenditure,
while you lighten the people's burdens.

In the same year, 1880, on the 10th December, I said : —

Will the hou. gentleman invite, I do not say upon the floor of this House,
byt to a private conference, such of his colleagues as come from Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and discuss with them the effect
and operation of this tariff, and find what they have got to &ny about it, about
the feeling of their people, its effect upon their Provinces, and its proximate

, . ■{'• - (4)

etteot upon thU whole Confederation, if some of its ini(iuitieB be not removed 7
After the upportunitieB of this Beasiun 1 venture to sny ho will not tind hiiu-
self able to revel any longer in his dream of universal happiness and content- .
ment, produced, from one end of the country to the other, by the tariff Ite
adores

f
On many other occasions have T called attention to tlie necessity
of considering the

REAL INTKUESTS OF THE MARITIME PROVINCES

in the framing of our policy, and the failure of the Tory Govern-
ment to give tliat consideration. In Nova Scotia for a large part
of their staple products, as coal, potatoes, fish and other articles,
the natural market is in the neighbouring country. For stating
that I have been denounced in the House of Commons and throuirh-
out Ontario ; I have been called a traitor. But I tell you now
that what I said was absolutely true, ((cheers.) A wise man
has said that he lights a difficult })attle who fij^hts against geo-
graphy, and if you will look at the map you will see that Nova
Scotia's natural trade, ibr many of her staj)les, is with the neigh-
bouring country, and that the attempt to force them up into the
Western Provinces is a fight against geography which has failed,
The proximity of the people, the facility of sea transport, the
numerous harbours, the opportunities for small vessels taking
Nova Scotian products to the neighbouring State.4 and bringing
back cargoes of ilour and other articles, gave rise to a

NATURAL, AND THEREFORE A HIGHLY PROFITABLE TRADE;

and Reciprocity, important as it is to all of us, was most import-
ant to them. But our fiscal policy was not really directed to the
promotion of this end. The Tories said it was. They said, in
1878, that within two years they would procure Reciprocity.
They were going to take means that had not been attempted
before. Great Canada was to crush out the little United States.
(Laughter.) We were to bring the pressure of our tarriff to bear
upon them and impair their industries, injure their commerce, and
bring them to our terms. You have had eight years of the policy,
and how muck nearer have they brought you to Reciprocity than
you were before ? (Loud Applause.) You may indeed have ex-
cited the somewhat unduly sensitive spirit of the United States.
You may have created there in some quarters a disposition, how-
ever unreasonable, to refuse what otherwise, in their own interest,
they might have been more disposed to concede. You may have
supplied the .. ^.,^,.>.^..,. ..... ,. , ...,,.;

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■ !• OPPONENTS OF RECIPROCITY •

and the advocates of restriction in the United States with fresh
arguments, both in the appeal to passion and prejudice, and also
by your precepts and example — for you have told them in effect :
it is better not to reciprocate, better to restrict, better that each
country should keep its markets to itself. And you declare still
that this is so. Well, gentlemen, the time has not yet arrived —
great, powerful, important though we are, comparing favourably
though we do in wealth, population, and industries with the Unit-
ed States — we have not yet succeeded in putting our foot upon
their necks and coercing them into Reciprocity, as the Tories said
they would do in two years in 1878. So far as our tariff policy
has operated, we are further from it than ever. We have aban-
doned the notions which would help it forward ; we put indeed a
clause in our statute book giving authority to lower duties, and
this the Government calb. c. standing offer to the States ; but
when in one or two cases they lowered some duties, the Govern-
ment did not respond, but have actually raised our duties on some-
of the same goods. And the Mail, their organ in Ontario, has
more than once said that we do not want Reciprocity. In truth
they are hostile to it ; and say so as loudly as they dare. Can you
wonder that in this respect Nova Scotia is discontented ? Then
Nova Scotia complains of want of means for its local services, and
of injustice in this respect. When a large part of the

RAILWAY DEBT OF QUEBEC , ,

was assumed by the Dominion, I proposed, as I have told you that
the same course should be taken with Nova Scotia, Ontario and
all the other Provinces, but that was refused. And yet the pre-
sent financial distress of Nova Scotia is largely due to her railway
expenditure. I proposed, also, that there should be a revision of
the financial terms of Confederation in view of the existing diffi-
culties, and of the proposals of the Dominion Government to under-
take local expenditure. Listen to what I said in 1884 : —

Now, Sir, I think that the position of the Province of Quebec, as I have
pointed out, has demanded for some time past, and is now'demanding the
attention of this Parliament ; and for my part, I have always been prepared
to deal fairly by that, or any other of the Provinces, but on the condition of
equal and fair justice to all. And I do not suppose my hon. friends from
the Province of Quebec will ask more ; or those sitting on the other side,
though they might view my proposition differently from what I view it, I do
not think they will dissent from the spirit in which I now address myself to
them ; namely, that it iE fair and reasonable, under these circumstances, when
ft new policy of this kind is^being proposed, to consider what

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ITS REAL BASIS IS,

to consider what the real condition of the other Provinces is relative to that
basis and otherwise, and to see whether what is being proposed as it stands,
and without applying proper remedies for the application generally of the new
pinciple you propose, can be called just. I say, Sir, that for my part I should
desire, and it is one of the things which is most important for us to consider
next to the constitutional question — I should desire that we should addresB
ourselves very early and very earnestly to the solution of the question, by
the adoption of some plan whereby, once for all, the question of the Provin-
cial subsidies should be placed on a permanent and lasting basis. I believe
it to be destructive of the independence and autonomy of the Provinces that
they should be looking to Ottawa for favours, that they should be dependent
on the Central Government for carrying on their affairs. I believe it to be
destructive to Confederation itself, that a system should continue under which
it might be said : — *' Oh, we will go on ; we will expend more, we will go into
debt, and when we get to a pass that we cannot carrj- on any longer, the Ot-
tawa Parliament must relieve us." Any sentiment of that kind, any feeling
of that kind, any notion on the part of Provincial Ministers, or politicians,
or the citizens or electors of the Provinces, of that kind, must be destructive,
in the first place of good

' ECONOMICAL GOVKUNMKNT IN THE PROVINCES,

and, in the second place, in its influence, moral and financial, on the Confed-
eration — destructive ultimately of the Confederation itself. Therefore I
think it is a pressing and incumbent duty upon us to endeavour, if we can,
to devise a plan which will set these matters permanently upon a basis dif-
ferent from that upon which they now unhappily stand.

I also said in the same speech : —

When the late member for West Middlesex (Mr. Ross) declared last year
that the grant of railway aid was an interference with the Provinces, the Min-
ister of Railways stated that the Provincial revenue were exhausted, and he
though the Provincial Legislatures and Governments would be obliged to the
Dominion Parliament for the aid granted. This is not the only case in which
suggestions of the same dangerous character have Been brought forward.
We have had a suggestion that the administration of justice, which belongs
to the Provinces, should be

. iVM

PAID FOR BY THE CENTRAL aOVBRNMENT

and if that course were adopted it would, of course, follow that those func-
tionaries whom the Central Government pay, should also be appointed by
them, that that administration which they pay for they should also control.
And so, I will not say by slow, but by rapid degrees, the hon. gentleman,
instead of invading Provincial rights, they buy them from the Provinces one
by one — he may acquire them under the guise of being a benefactor. Such
is far from being the principle on which the Confederation of Canada was
framed ; it is far ' from being the principle on which the Confederation of
Canada can last. If it be the fact that the Provincial Govemments and
Legislatures, after an experience of seventeen years, are not in a position
financially to discharge those functions which belong to them, the whole sub-
ject ought to be reconsidered. If, in consequence of their impecunioaity,
they are unable effectually to discharge their own functions, you may do one

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of two things. You may say : We propose to alter the Constitution so that
the Central Government shall take this, that, and the other, and so relieve
you both of your importance, dignity, power, and Provincial autonomy, and
of expense at the same time ; or you may propose a new adjustment of the
financial question, which will enable you efficiently to continue the discharge
of those functions which for seventeen years you have been discharging. But
the proposal ot the hon. gentleman is neither of these propositions, it is a

Eroposal. I do not use the word otfensively, under the guise of a bribe. The
on. gentleman says the Provincial Governments will be very much obliged
to us if we give railway aid here and there, but this is a proposal calculated
to sap the

,v INDBPJSNDENCE OF THE LOCAL I.EOISLATUEBS

and Governments ; calculated tu lead them to look to this House for pecu-
niary favours not based on some general principle, not under the lines of the
constitution, and so to lead towards the hon. gentleman's great goal. Now,
I consider, therefore, that we ought to deal with this question after a full
development of the tendencies and principles of the policy, and deal with it,
as indeed I think the time is ripe for us to deal with several other questions,
upon a revision of the federal constitution. I think it is not at all unreason-
able to say that even if the constitution had been framed in a very different
manner from that in which it was framed, which was a manner not very
likely to produce a perfect instrument — I say, even if it were framed in a
different manner, it would not be unreasonable to say that seventeen years'
working and experience would have developed difficulties and defects ; and
I believe all true Canadians, without distinction of party or political creeds,
ought, if they want Confederation really to prosper, to address themselves
without further delay to the questions : In what respects does our constitu-
tion at present work well ? what frictions and difficulties have been discov-
ered in the workings of it ? what alterations should take place ? and endeavour
to arrange it so that it may do the work it ought to do, smoothly, and to the
advantage both of the Provinces and of the Confederation of Canada as a
whole. But I do not think that is any reason why we should proceed upon a
false policy — a policy which is leading us with rapid steps in a direction which,
1 think, if presented plainly to the majority of this House, they would effec-
tually disavow and repudiate. Now, sir, I decline to agree to the proposal
that we should undertake any of the proper functions of a Local Legisla-
ture by our vote. If we are going to undertake any of the functions of the
Local Legislatures it should be on an alteration of the constitution, which
may place any part of those functions within our grasp, and leave to them
their diminished functions.

And referring to Nova Scotia particularly, I used these words :

Quebec is in a condition which demands the serious consideration of the
Confederation. But she is not alone in that condition. You will find state-
ments made from the Province of Nova Scotia, for example, and those who
have endeavoured to analyze — I know, with difficulty, with very great apti-
tude to err for want of information — those who have attempted to analyze
the expenses of that Province will, I think, find that there has not been a
very great deal to complain of in the way of extravagance^ At least that was
the result of such cursory investigation, as from time to time, I have been
able to make into the expenditures of that Province, and I am not singling
out any one Government from another — there has been alteration of Govern-
ments — I do not find that there has been much extravagance, or that the
expenditures have been in excess, to a large amount, if at all, of the demands

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of that Province. We know, however, that its resources are cramped ; that
it is more or less in a state of distress locally.

It is unf6rtunate, I think, that none of the Provinces seem dis-
posed to adopt in its fulness our municipal system, with it^ large
measure of local government and direct taxation. But they will
not do it. They are ,

NOT so PATIENT OF THE TAX-GATHERER

as we in Ontario. (Laughter and applause.) And the question is,
What is to be done ? I have shown, at any rate, that we were not
blind to the situation, and that, so far as our position admitted, we
suggested measures of relief. On the general relation of the Domi-
nion to the Provinces, and the dangers in which we stood, I spoke
in January, 1885, and I ask you in the face of the present situa-
tion in Nova Scotia, to listen to the words I then used : —

If I could hope that my words'would have any weight I would pray the
House to recognize, though it may be late, our true position, to apprehend
the fact that we are, and have been for some time, rather weakening than
strengthening the true bonds of union, that our centralizing policy, our policy
of high and sectional taxation, our policy of extravagant expenditure, has
been and is alienating important elements in Canada from symyathy with the
union itself ; that'it is our duty to recall the promises that were made to the
various Provinces which were induced to enter into this union, the promises
of economical government and of low taxation, the promises with respect to
trade, the promises with respact to a fiscal policy, the promises with respect to
expenditure, which were made particularly by the leaders in the Maritime
Provinces at the time the union measure was brought before them ; and that
we ought to set about the initiation of a true Federal policy, involving to-
gether with the practical recognition of the Federal principle, a reduction of
expenditure, and such a reduction of taxation as past extravagance permits,
a policy suitable to our actual circumstances, instead of one based on hollow
dreams already proved untrue, and but too likely, if persisted in, to end in a
disastrous waking. -

We are waking up now, and we find the men who for twenty
years promised you smooth things, who proclaimed themselves
the makers of the union, the only persons who could create and
strengthen a national spirit in Canada, face to face with the
lamentable spectacle of a divided country, with a large part of
its people protesting that the Canadian policy is treacherous and
ruinous, and, in despair of all other relief, asking for separation as
a remedy. Now, in January last, in London, I touched again on
this subject. I said : —

Look, I pray you, everywhere and at everything. Contrast predictions
and promises with events and results, and say whether our rulers are to be
trusted more. Alas ! their removal will not undo all the evil they have
wrought. Their works will live after them. They have brought the country
into such a state that we must abandon for years to come the hope of dis-

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pensing with very burdensome taxation, though I believe our condition may
be greatly bettered by wise readjustments and judicious relaxations, and by
honesty, economy, and retrenchment in government. They promised to
create a mutually beneficial inter-provincial trade. They have, indeed,
forced some of our western products and trade upon the East : but they have
failed to give the East a western market, and they have produced in the
Maritime Provinces a condition of irritation and ill-feeling, so marked a
sense of injustice at the violation of pre-Confederation promises, so great
^ that it is my belief that thd sentiment as to Oonfederation is less strong to-
day than it was ten years ago. I regret that many in the East blame Con-
federation rather than misgovernment for the unhappy results. ^

And again I said : —

As to the money relations, theirs has been a hand-to-mouth policy — not
based on general principles, bad for all the Provinces, productive of l<»cal
operations, demnnds, and expectations of the most serious character. They
have brought the question at test one of great difficulty and touching a grave,
I hope not a fatal, defect in the Confederation scheme, into still greater diffi-
culties. At this moment the situation of Nova Scotia is serious. That
Province has made representations to Ottawa which have perhaps got into
the North- West pigeon-holes, and discontent and irritation are aroused.
The settlement with Quebec did not take into account the claims of the other
Provinces, and is said not to be final for Quebec itself, which is claimed to
be still in a distressed financial condition. Other Provinces are coming
forward, and the question has reached an acute condition.

At the opening of our last session I lifted once more a warning
voice. But T spoke then, as before, to deaf ears. At length re-
sults have followed from the policy of the Government.

^ AFTER NEARLY TWENTY YEARS,

not being satisfied with the treatment accorded them, or with the
results of Confederation, a majority of the Nova Scotians have
declared for repeal. Not that 1 believe all those who voted for,
or were elected as supporters of the Government, agree in the
repeal policy. As far as I can judge that is not so ; though the
bulk do. What all were agreed on is that the policy of the
Dominion Government is most injurious to Nova Scotia ; and that
this should be declared in the most solemn way. At that declara-
tion of dissatisfaction with the policy of the Government I am
not surprised. I have already referred to the physical character-
istics of the Province, and its capabilities for trade, and have
shown you the effect in these respects of the Federal policy.
But if you turn to the great industries which it was said the
tariff would especially favour in Nova Scotia — the cotton in-
dustry, the sugar industry, the coal industry, the iron industry,
bonussed and bountied at the expense of the general taxpayer,
f -you find depression and embarrassment everywhere, and bank-
ruptcy and liquidation general. There has been an immense loss

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125

of money, and the trades are unprofitable. Some other industries
which have done better have lived, not because of the tariff, but
in spite of it.

THE CITr OF HALIFAX

is in a deploraiile condition ; the value of land has depreciated ;
there has been a large emigration from the Province ; profitable
branches of the West India trade have been to a great extent lost ;
and you know the condition of the fisheries question. The
memorial of the Provincial Legislature to the Dominion Govern-
ment asking for relief was neglected for about two years. They
might have been Half-breeds from the way the Government
treated them. (Applause and laughter.) At length last session
the Nova Scotia Assembly passed a resolution looking to repeal.
And that you may see how far I am accurate in saying that their
grounds were largely based on the financial and fiscal policy of
the Tory Dominion Government, I will read you an extract. It
is this: —

That Nova Scotia, previous to the Union, had the lowest tariff, was not-
withstanding, in the best financial condition of any of the Provinces entering
the union.- That the commercial as well as the financial condition of Nova
Scotia is in an unsatisfactory and depressed condition . That it seems evident
that the terms of the British North America Act, combined with the high
tariff and fiscal laws of the Dominion, are largely the cause of this unsatisfac-
tory state of the finances and trade of Nova Scotia.

I think I have shown you that the evils of the Government
policy, as affecting Nova Scotia and the interests of Confederation
generally, were from time to time noticed by us, and that we
warned the Government against the results which would attend
their course.

WE CALLED FOR A CHANGE

that would bring about a better state of things, but they would
not heed. And now they have brought us to this pass. Yet I
cannot acquit the people of Nova Scotia themselves of a very con-
siderable share of the responsibility for all this. They have sent
powerful Ministers and large majorities to Ottawa to initiate and
support the very policy of which they now complain as so injuri-
ous and distasteful to themselves. Some responsibility for what
has been done Nova Scotia must therefore assume ; and, alas !
much that has been done is now irreparable. But though much
be taken, much remains. There is still some opportunity for im-
proving our condition as a people, or at any rate arresting the
disintegrating and deteriorating and weakening elements of the
policy of *the Government. And to this end the Nova Scotians
should address themselves. You may ask me how it was that

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126

Nova Scotia in the House of Commons sustained the Government
policy. I believe

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THE REAL SENTIMENTS OP THE PEOPLE

were not voiced by the returns to Parliament. How was the
voice of the people checked 7 In part by the directly corrupting
influences used by the Government party ; in part by the influ-
ence of some of the large employers of labour ; in part by a sys-
tem of local grants based mainly on party interests, and not on
public considerations ; in part by the hardly disguised but dis-
graceful practice of dealing with local claims according to the po-
litical complexion of the election returns, making a local grant the
price of sending a supporter to Ottawa. It was checked also by
the belief of the people, assiduously cultivated by the Govern-
ment's friends, that no matter how many Reformers they should
send to Ottawa from the Maritime Provinces, the Conservative
Government would, on the whole count all over Canada, be in the
majority, pv ' % tlie evil suggestion that it was of no use sending
a man > ?: • -^o Opposition. And so it has been that a majority
has voted i. -^.jid sustained the Government, whose policy the
greater part of the people disliked. Had there been a fair vote,
freely ex| .-sing t) •> f^ntiments of the people, instead of our op-
ponents having ^«, ]a?v: F)- Jority, I believe we would have had

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THREE VOTES OUT OF FOUR

in the Maritime Provinces. (Cheers.) To these circumstances
was due the divergence between the sentiments of the people and
their vote, the contradiction between the local and the Federal
returns. I do not greatly admire this result. Yet I am proud to
say there has always been a large and faithful body of men who
have stuck to the cause in its darkest days, and their spirit will
be even higher to-day. The influences which have helped the
Government will be less potent. There is a great and growing
feeling among friends and foes that we shall win at the next elec-
tion — (cheers) — and this faith in the improving fortunes of the
Liberal party should animate our friends, depress our opponents,
influence the neutrals, and largely weaken some of the influences
which have kept us heretofore in a minority in the East. We
have had our days of gloom and darkness, of difficulty and distress.
It is but an hour ago since those who compose this meeting were
, but a wet and disorganized mob in the grove. Now we are dry,
compact, and warm. I know one of us at any rate who is pretty
warm. (Laughter.) We are organized again, and we are engaged
in discussing public affairs under somewhat disadvantageous cir-
cumstances, but with ,. I,,, . . .,,Tr ...,,.(, r>.,,vu ,. .if^

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A ZEAL, AN INTEREST, AND ATTENTION ' ^

which overcome those drawbacks, and which forebode the best
results. Your tone and temper reflect the general feeling. We
have, indeed, before us an arduous, a tremendous conflict, but,
bracing ourselves for that conflict, we stand to win. (Cheers.)
It is certainly my opinion that Nova Scotia owes it to the union,
and owes it to the Liberal party, which has been the staunch friend
and steadfast advocate of that fiscal and financial policy which it
approves, and the earnest opponent of those measures which it
condemns, to itself endeavour, and to afford to us an opportunity,
within the union, within the limits of the constitution, to repair
what may yet be reparable of the wrongs of the past, and to show
that Confederation, worked upon a better basis, affords a better
prospect of success. (Loud and prolonged cheering.) The situa-
tion is doubtless extremely grave. Its gravity is due to the To-
ries, but if we succeed, the consequences of their conduct will
largely fall upon us. 'We must face those consequences, we must
face the difficult task, determined to achieve, so far as the evil
policy which has been followed makes it possible, the redress of
what is wrong and the maintenance of what is right, and so to
bring about a better state of things throughout Canada at large.
(Cheers.) It would be a great calamity, a dreadful humiliation,
to see the break-up of Confederation. To diminish, and if possi-
ble avert, that dang r, requires a change of policy at Ottawa. It
requires

A RECOGNITION OF SHE DANGER. ^

It requires a recognition of the true conditions of Federal success.
And the men who through all these years have misgoverned us,
who have been deaf to our warnings, who have been blind to the
signs of the times, who have produced, and who now boast of the
state of things which has given rise to this result — are these the
men we can trust to-day ? (Cries of " No ! 'i " No ! " and cheers.)
How sad a commentary it all is upon the boasts of the " party
of union and progress." Rebellion in Manitoba in 1870, rebellion
in the North- West in 1885, discontent in Manitoba almost al-
ways, discontent in Prince Edward Island and appeals to England ;
constant claims of the Provinces long denied, at length yielded ;.
fights for centralization by Ottawa, fights for the preservation of
their rights by the Provinces, litigations with the Provinces, and
humiliating defeats in every one — (cheers) — fights for boundaries,
fights for lands, fights for mines, fights for timber, fights for
escheats, fights for licenses, fights for railways, fights for the local
right to make local laws ; efforts to coerce trade, to restrict com-

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merce ; enormous debt, high taxation, gigantic expenditure, dis- '
tress in trade, hard times among the people at large, corruption
rampant, and

FORTUNES MADE AT OTTAWA ;

and now, following all this, a serious movement on the part of an
important Province for repeal. Is this a condition of things call-
ing for commendation ? (" No," " no," and cheers.) Is this what
should induce you to trust the Tory party with a longer lease of
power? No ! The condition is humiliating to that party, and it
involves humiliation to the country at large. The consequences
do not fall upon their own party only. For the evils which they
have done we all suffer, and the whole country should avenge
them. (Cheers.) There should be a determination of the whole
country to stand by those who have stood by them so long, and
an earnest effort by a disappointed, humiliated, and justly in-
censed community to restore the public fortunes. (Cheers.) Let
us awake to the real situation ;

LET us DWELL NO LONGER IN A FOOL's PARADISE !

Let us realize that that which was said by these men in 1807, as
to the union being still to make, has been proved by the events
of the last few weeks to be unhappily true to-day; and that its
truth to-day is due to the misconduct of themselves, who have,
during three-fourths of the interval directed our policy, and have
yet to learn the first elements of Federal success. These are not,
in my opinion, the men to whom we can safely entrust the diffi-
cult task of repairing their great errors, of undoing their great
wrongs, of rescuing you from the consequences of their evil deeds,
and of giving you what measure of peace, union, and prosperity
they have left possible for Canada. (Cheers.) I shall not longer
detain you. There are many topics which I would like to have
discussed, but I have addressed you at length, as fellow-Canadians,
as men interested in the preservation of the union, and the grant-
ing of the just demands of every member of the Confederation,
I have addressed you on one of the most important topics now
before the country. I see that you feel its consequence.

THOUGH THERE MAY BK A NARROW SENSE IN WHICH THESE MATTERS
Do NOT CONCERN US SO DIRECTLY AS OUR LOCAL INTERESTS, YET
I SHOULD UNDERVALUE YOUR PUBLIC SPIRIT AS CITIZENS OF CAN-
ADA AND YOUR DESIRE FOR THE MAINTAINANCE OF THE CHARACTER,
STANDING, AND INTEGRITY OF YOUR COUNTRY, DID I HESITATE TO
BELIEVE THAT YOU HOLD IN THE FIRST ESTIMATION THE SUBJECT
I HAVE SET BEFORE YOU OF THE RELATIONS OF THE DOMINION TO
THE PROVINCES AT LARGE, AND THE MEANS TO BE ADOPTED FOR
THE MAINTAINANCE AND PRESERVATION OF THE UNION. (Loud and

prolonged cheering.) ,- . , . (4)

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CONSTlTrTIONALISM,

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ELECTIONS NEAR AT HAND — TORY BALLOONS — THE NOVA SCOTIA

DIFFICULTY.

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At Guelph, after returning thanks for the addresses, Mr. Blake
said : — I must urge upon you to close up your ranks for the
coming contest. (Applause.) I would appeal to the Young
Liberals of Wellington to show themselves equal to the occasion.
All through the Province of Ontario my heart has been cheered
and my spirits have been raised, in the meetings I have been
attending in the east and the west, and the north and the south,
to find flocking round me so many of the young men of the
country, exhibiting such fresh and active zeal in public afluirs. I
trust that your organization will be perfected, that new accessions
may be made to the club Irom this night, and that you will prove
yourselves an important factor, prove your zeal by your works,
leave the impress of your convictions upon the constituency, and
swell to much larger proportions than in the last election the
majority of your standard-bearer, Mr. Innes. (Cheers.) I say I
am glad to be able to say these things to you to-night, because it
is full time, in my opinion, that we should begin to act here and
elsewhere.

THE TIME IS SHORT, INDEED.

When it was proposed in Parliament very greatly to enlarge the
franchise, I stated the opinion that constitutional principles
required that the extension should be followed by an early
election. I have called for that election. Some seven or eight
weeks ago, at Stayner, I pointed out this view again, and
suggested that we should have that dissolution to which I believe
the constitution entitled us. There is no other ground upon
which what would otherwise be a premature dissolution could
properly take place. The term of Parliament is but five years,
and under ordinary circumstances it is not expedient that the
country should be plunged more frequently than at these intervals
into the turmoil of a general election. But it is expedient when
the .

: PARLIAMENT HAS CONDEMNED ITSELF • *\

f . ■ ?*•. = >.

as being the product of a constituency altoge^iher too narrow,
when it has enormously increased that constituency, that, being
self-condemned, it should be also speedily executed, and a new

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Parliament elected by the broader constituency which has been
establislied as the true exponent of the views of the people.
However, wlien I stated these opinions thfe Conservatives were
dumb. You have not heard from any member of Parliament,
even of the rank and file ; still less liave you heard from any
Conservative leader ; still less have you seen in any Conservative
journal (not even in the Mail, with its new born " independence "),
a word u|)on the constitutional propriety of dissolution. Why?
Because they have not settled upon the expediency of dissolution.
They are considering simply, as they c(msidered in 1882, whether
a dissolution will be to their paity profit or not. If it is to their
profit to have a dissolution, or if a dissolution will expose them
to less disadvantage now than they might dread in the near
future, you will find them dissolve. Otherwise you will find them
not dissolve. But

THE CONSTITUTIONAL PREROGATIVE WITH WHICH THEY ARE IN-
TRUSTED — THE POWER OF DISSOLUTION — IS NOT VESTED
IN THEM TO BE USED ARBITRARILY

for party purposes. It is intended to be used according to the
principles of the Constitution for the public good. You recollect
how they abused, I will not say their power, but the duties with
which thev were clothed in the cases of the bye-elections. They
informed Pailiament that they proposed not to issue the writ for
Haldiraand, because it was expected that in a few months the
electorate would be greatly enlarged, and it would be an insult to
the new electorate to hold the election bofore the new voters
could vote. , In this view there was a general acquiescence of both
sides of the House. I knew how the lists had been prepared in
Haldimand. A large Indian vote had been added, and the Tories
had otherwise strengthened themselves in the county under th> >
new lists, and I suspected it was not a regard for the constitutional
principle so much as the hope that they might carry the county
that induced them to be so scrupulous. But I thought there was
justice and reason in the postponement of the election, and I did
not object, though it was to my disadvantage to delay. After-
wards it was thought expedient to test the feeling.

"^ ' IN THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC, ' ' '

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and so within a few weeks of the time when the r»ew voters
would have the right to vote, Chambly was vacated voluntarily
by the appointment of the sittiqg member to an ofiice which had
been long kept vacant for him. Immediately the writ was issued
for Chambly with the electorate unchanged, and this was done

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131

because the Government knew that the new electorate would
have been unfavourable to them, and so Chanibly was actually
fought before Haldimand. It is quite true these plans failed.
You know that

"THE BEST LAID PLANS O' MICE AND MEN GANG AFT AGLEE,"

and so it was found in Chambly, and so it was found in Haldi-
mand. But none the less was there a flagrant prostitution by the
Tory party of those powers and duties with which they are
entrusted in the general interest — a prostitution which not their
leaders, not their organs, not their followers, have yet been found
bold enough to defend. They submit in silence to the attack. So
will it be in reference to the dissolution. I desire to say to you
that I believe the Conservative leadei's have been in great doubt
what to do. 2 hey have not known tvhich way to turn. They
have been watching the signs of the times. They have been looking
at the svecial elections. They have besn looking at the general Pro-
vincial elections. They have been sendina up trial balloons. They
have been uttering race cries. They have been uttering creed cries.
2 hey have been waving Orange flags. They have been lifting up
green flags a little. They have been trying, in an independent
sort ot a way, and through the wholly unconnected agency of the
Mail newspaper, to float the

WHITE BANNER OF PROHIBITION ALSO,

(laughter) — while, on the other side, you see Mr. Frank Smith and
Mr. John Carling waving the blue Licensed Victuallers' flags as
boldly as ever. All these efforts they have been making to see
which way the wind was blowing, and sometimes they thought it
would be well to hold on a bit, and sometimes that it would be bet-
ter to face the music now. I believe they have about decided thai
they had better face the music now. I believe they have decided
that the general election ought to take place very soon ; not that
they think the times are veiy good for them, or very prosperous
just now, but because they are afraid they may become even worse.
They are afraid of time — afraid of discussion — afraid of Parlia-
ment — afraid of the removal of those mists of passion and preju-
dice which, I rejoice to say, with very partial success, they have
been attempting to raise. They are hoping to spring the election
upon you before you are ready, and to press it through before the
great and numerous issues upon which your judgment ought to be^
formed, and on which your votes ought to be cast, shall have been
thoroughly ventilated. I believe, as I have told you, from informa-
tion which I have received within the last twenty-four hours, that
they are making secret preparations, and that

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132

THE ELECTION WILL BE SPKUNQ UPON US

within a very short period. It matters not that the First Minister
has more than once, in recent public assemblatjes, spoken of the
appeal to the people to be taken ijoxt year — that one of his
Ministers, Mr. White, has more than once referred to the appeal to
the people to be ttkon after next session. 1 am afraid they won't
be so scrupulous about chanj^intr their minds in tliis regard. I am
afraid they won't be very sorry if you should be disposed, until
thoy speak the new word, to take them at their word, as expressed
in their meetings, and to rest upon your oars. It will not do. ^^^«i
must vigorously prepare from this night onward ; and while ]
joice at the view that we are to have a constitutional dissolution —
while I am glad to believe that wo are very early to met t the
people — I claim, on behalf of my fellow-countrymen, that there
should be a reasonable announcement of the intentions of Ministers
to dissolve, and a reasonable interval between the dissolution and
the day of the election, in order that these grave, these enormous,
these vital questions to which I have refeired may be fully, tem-
perately, and calmly discussed and adeqiiately decided by the
people at the polls. While I make that claim, I have but little
expectation that it will be granted ; and, therefore, I have to call
upon you in this South Riding of Wellington, and through you
and through the press

I HAVE TO CALL UPON OUR FRIENDS IN EVERY COUNTY,

to take heed, to be warned, to make preparations, without an
instp,nt's delay, to perfect their organization, to choose their
candidates, to close up their ranks, and to prepare for the light
forthwith. Now is the time, Mr. Chairman, to save your country,
for, if you do not save it now .there is a risk that five years hence
you may have no country to save.

,- THE SITUATION OF OUR COUNTRY

is such as calls for an earnest struggle. This Is the time at which
the people exercise in act their power of self-government. This is
the time at which they are enabled to decide what shall be their
policy, and who shall be their rulers for the long term of tiv^yeara ;
and there is much for which to struggle. Look at the situation of
our country — weighed down with an enormous debt ; loaded with
a grinding and unjust taxation ; groaning under an appalling ex-
penditure ; staggering beneath a tremendous deficit ; saddled with
railway monopolies, with land monopolies, with manufacturing
monopolies ; misrepresented through an infamous gerrymandered

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Act, a vicious Franchise Act, and a cornn»t disposal of the |)ublie
resources ; niisjjjoverned by an effete and irresponsible Senate.a cor-
rii|)t and dependent Commons, and a false, incompetent, neglectful,
and inadequate administration ; all the bright promises and glow-
ing predictions with which they gulled us broken and faded ;
the pledged term often years' unexanipled prosperity hardly opened
before its evanescent glory faded into gloom, its expansion beeame
contracted, its exaltation depression; the promise that t)ur policy
and the pressure of our tariff would open the avenues of foreign
trade and bring

UEIPROCITY WITHIN TWO YEARS,

broken too, and now coolly proposed to be replaced by a fresh due
bill payable at ten years instead of two — anything to get them over
the next general election ; the great fishery question neglected and
postponed at first, and bungled at the last ; the North-West not
tilled with hundreds of thousands of industrioua, thriving, con-
tented settlers, as promised and declared, but still almost empty ;
progress stayed there by misgovernment, land monopolies, railway
monopolies, by sales to speculators, by the closing of large areas to
settlement, by want of railway accommodation, by want of sur-
veys, by want of titles, by bad appointments, and by other causes
graver still ; the most cherished infants and the chief glories of the
National Policy spindling, icrvous, and depressed; wool and cot-
ton, sugar and iron, aye, even coal and wheat, all down lately, and
some seeking by combination to compel the public to make up
their wasted capital; the promises of the construction of the Cana-
dian Pacific Railway without increased taxation, and of the repay-
ment of its cost and interest out of the North-West lands as the
work progressed, all violated ; great public gifts, equal to $98,-
000,000, capitalized, with 14,000,000 acres of land, dissipated, while
large further obligations have been sanctioned, and enormous
nominal cajjitals have been created, pressing heavily on the trade
of the country in tolls and tariffs; the federal pact in constant
peril through efforts at centralization and encroachment ; legiti-
mate provincial jurisdictions repudiated ; license laws passed at
Ottawa ; provincial railways seized at Ottawa ; escheats claimed
at Ottawa ; a provincial law on a matter within our exclusive
, competence, and in no wise affecting the general interests of the
Dominion, wantonly,

REPEATEDLY AND ERRONEOUSLY DISALLOWED

at Ottawa ; efforts made for long years at Ottawa wrongfully to-
contract the limits of Ontario ; the boundary question still left

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134

unsettled, and justice denied ; the lands seized on and despoiled,
and still threatened to-day ; the provinces alarmed, and fighting
the Dominion in the courts and at the polls for their existence.
The fact that

NOVA SCOTIA

•l\i

was brought into the Confederation by the vote of a Legislature
not elected on the question has not been forgotten ; it has marred
the future of the Dominion in that Province, and it is bearing bitter
fruit to-day. The chances which have since offered to heal the wrong
and create a better feeling have not been utilized. The promises
made of light taxes, frugal expenditure, general prosperity, and freer
trade relations w^th our neighbours have all failed. The East is
depressed and soured, and a declaration in favour of repeal of the
union has been made by Nova Scotia ; while in the West, twice
within fifteen years, revolt has raised its head, and millions have
been lavished in war ; valued lives have been lost ; pain and
suffering have been inflicted ; antipathies have been created ; , our
national honour has been tarnished ; our ; ;

NATIONAL PROGKESS HAS BEEN CHECKED ;

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all by the grossest, the most incredible folly, neglect, incapacity,
and mismanagement of our rulers. (Loud and prolonged applause.)
And now how is it proposed to escape the indignation and avoid
the condemnation of an outraged people ? First, by a steady and
persistent effort — / am sorry to say hut too successful — to degrade
the tone of public morality in and out of Parliament ; and, lat-
terly, by tendering the issue of the sea fold of Regina, by offering
the head of Riel in satisfaction and discharge of all other debts ;
and by an efort to divide Canadians, to set a gulf between our
populations through cries of raee OMd religious prejudice, and so
to obtain a brief term of inglorious power at the cost of the last
hope of Canadian nationality. (Loud cheers.) Such is' the
situation of Canada to-day,

A SITUATION PRESENTING DIFFICULTIES APPALLING

to the view of those who may be called upon to succeed your
present rulers, but aftbrding a prospect more alarming still, should
power be again entrusted to their unworthy hands, f Loud cheers.)
Did I not say well, then, when I warned you a moment ago, that
now was the time to labour, when I told you that if 3'^ou do not
labour now to save your country, in five years you may have

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• -'■ ; NO COUNTRY TO SAVE ? , '

I have referred to the Province of Nova Scotia, and a word or
two more I wish to say about that Province, although at Simcoe
a while ago I spoke my mind, and must refer you to what I then
said for the story at length. 7 am, by conviction and feeling, a
Federalist. (Loud cheers.) I think Confederation in Canada
fairly begun and fairly carried out had in it the elements of suc-
cess. (Renewed cheering.) I deplore the small measure of real
success which has been attained under the rule of the so-called
" party of union and progress." I have warned them often, but
in vain. I have warned them often of the fatal mistake they
were making. They have refused to listen, they have been blind
to the true principles of the Federal pact. They have broken
the pledges made at the union. They have not yet created
true and real bonds of union. But, as J showed at Simcoe,
Nova Scotia, in my judgment, is not herself free from blame. She
has sustained, by a large majority of her representatives, the bulk
of that of which she now bitterly complains. T have constantly
pointed out the misgovernment that was going on, and the
mistakes that were being made, and have implored a change. I
am bound to admit — my own record precludes me from denying
— that the Nova Scotians have, in common with other sections,
cause of complaint, but I contend now, as heretofore, that

•

HER CAUSE FOR COMPLAINT

is not merely against the present Government, but is largely against
her own people, who return members to support, and against
those members who, through mud and mire, have sustained
that Government in the accomplishment of the things she now
bewails. I am constrained to add that much — alas, too much —
of the evil of what she complains is irreparable ; and I declare
that in my opinion Nova Scotia should in fair play give the Con-
federation a fair trial under Liberal rule, and should assist in that
eaigiest effort which must be made to undo what may be yet un-
done of the evils which she has helped to inHict on herself and
us. Mr. Fielding, the Prime Minister of that Province, lias frankly
stated that he had no more to hope from me than from Sir John
Macdonald in the direction of repeal, but, he added, that in the
way of redress, so far as that was possible under the Constitution,
in the way of good government at Ottawa, Nova Scotia had much
more to hope for from me than from those who had perpetrated
the acts of the folly and injustice of which she complains ; he is
right. (Loud cheers.) We must make an earnest effort to re-

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dress these evils under and within the limits of the Canadian
Constitution. (Loud applause.) We must strive to remove all
well-founded grievances, to cultivate true friendship, to create

> ^■" NOT FORCED BUT GENUINE RELATIONS,

and so to provide for the maintenance — not by force, but by love ;
not by arms, but through reason ; not by coercion, but of choice ;
not of necessity, but from conviction — to provide, I say, for the
maintenance and preservation of that union to which I have de-
voted twenty years, and for whose welfare I would willincrly sur-
render A/hat brief space of life may yet remain to me. (Tumul-
tuous applause.) Difficult though the task may be, I do not
despair of its accomplishment. 1 cannot regard without dismay
the prospect of the disruption of Confederation ; nor am I can-
didly able to perceive how Nova Scotia, seceding under the
obligations she has helped to contract, and standing alone, could
nDw better her position to the degree by which she could im-
prove it by honest government at Ottawa. I may be wrong;
I am willing to learn; but such is the view I take. At any rate,
the effort must be made. I hope much from an honest effort ta
do justice. Should that effort unhappily fail, then, and not till
then — though I trust that day may never come — it will be time
to put Joseph Howe's famous question — " What next ? " (Loud
and prolonged applause.)

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SPEECH TO YOUNG LIBERALS,

Owen Sound.

OL^SS DISTIIsrOT IONS,

Changes, ImproTements and Reforms— Reform of the
Senate - Assisted Immigration— Manhood Sufflraf e.

TJHEE TEJ:M:E»ER.A.3SrOE3 GiTJESTIOIT-

THE DUTY OF THE LEADER.

When Mr. Blake's health was proposed by the Chairman, his
name was greeted by the Young Liberals with enthusiastic cheers,
after which they sang " For he's a jolly good fallow', which no •
body can deny."

Hon. Edward Blake rose to respond, his rising being a signal
for a prolonged renewal of the cheering.

He said : — Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, you may say
" He's a jolly good fellow," but to say that nobody can deny it,
shows that you don't read the Tory newspapers — (cheers and
laughter) — because you will tind it denied by them constantly, so
often, in fact, that I am obliged to bslieve they must be right in
that particular myself. (Cries of no, no, laughter and applause.)
I am very grateful to you for the honour you have done me on
this the first vi^^it it has been my happiness to make to this local-
ity, in inviting me to a demonstration so important as the present,
the largest I have ever seen in any of the outlying portions of our
Province. (Loud applause.) I am grateful, also, for the marks of
kindness, confidence and affection which have been showered upon
me since I came amongst you. We public men, among the diffi-
culties, embarrassments, and discouragements we must encounter
in the course of our careers, are glad to feel, as we often are per-
mitted to feel in the midst of the conflict, that Reformers here
and Reformers elsewhere hold up our hands in the fight for the
right, the fight for the advancement of the ruling and underlying
principles of Liberalism. We are glad to know, as occasions of
this kind from timo to time demonstrate to us, that there are many
of our fellow-citizens to all appearance quite engrossed in the ordi-

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• nary vocations of life, who yet regard with an anxious eye, and

* follow with an attentive ear, the proceedings of the public men in

.. ;- / whom they confide, who feel a genuine interest in the struggle, and

, • who are resolved to stand by their leaders, although the contest

. may sometimes seem long and arduous, and the period of success

'.♦'; remote. It is not so, I trust, with us, to- day. (Cheerp)

\ We have had a time of severe and arduous struggle; we have

'^ , had a season of gloom and darkness; but I trust the DAT is

< BREAKING AND THE SOUNDS of an aroused public spirit are be-

i'.*' COMING AUDIBLE NOT MERELY IN THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO, BUT

' IN THE OTHER PROVINCES OF THE DOMINION. (Renewed Cheers.)
,r ' I hope for it, not for the sake of the Reform party, but for the

'■\. sake of those principles of which the Reform party is at this mo-

il ment the standard-bearer and exponent, and whose early success

tv is essential to the restoration^ and the improvement of the material

' condition of our country ; and to the recovery and maintenance of
y ' its moral standing, of its respectability, its purity, its integrity.
(Loud applause.) Ours is

'■' . A DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY

in an age of Democracy. We here, if any people, enjoy, at least
in theory, what is called the reign of the common people. But
the reign of the common people, that is to say, the right of the
masses of mankind to govern themselves, requires on the part of
those who govern, an earnest discharge of those duties, which are
necessarily involved in the privileges which they enjoy. As I
have said to other audiences, so I say to you : in politics as in
other things, power and privilege bring with them an inevitable
', load of responsibility and duty, and we cannot hope to succeed in
,, . the noble task of self-government, unless each one of us, realizing
this, shall do his duty in the situation which he occupies, and
shall, within the spher*^ of his powers and influence, labour to pro-
mote the accomplishment of sound reforms in their due season.
Now, in this Democratic country we have but few, and I WISH WE

HAD NO EXAMPLES OF THE CLASS DISTINCTIONS OF THE OlD WoRLD.

I think they ought not to have been introduced. They are foreign
to our soil ; they are unsuited to our habits ; they are relics of old
times now past; they are not given under the advice of our own lead-
ers of opinion; and I wish it might become part of our unwritten code,
that these exotic distinctions should not be by us received. (Cheers.)
Yet, sir, I am a believer in a certain, and in a real sense, in the prin-
ciple of aristocracy. I believe in the true aristocracy of energy,
leaiiiing, ability, and integrity ; an aristocracy whose marks and
titles are found in the earnest efforts of a man to do his duty
and to excel in its discharge ; and whose distinctions are such as
a free people themselves confer by the expression of their confi-

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139

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dence, by mandates to the great council of the country, by selec-
tion for high offices of public trust, by the commission to regulate
the affairs, to guide the high destinies of the people among whom
they live. (Applause.) That is the aristocracy and the only

ARISTOCRACY WHICH IS SUITED TO OUR DAY AND COUNTRY. NoW,

Mr. Chairman, you will find it, I think, not unreasonable upon
an occasion like this, promoted by the Young Men's Liberal Club,
that I should make some reference to the more especial

FUNCTIONS DEVOLVING ON THE YOUNG LIBERALS

in the promotion of the Liberal interests. I am not myself a be-
liever in any class distinctions between a young and an old Liberal.
I hope there are senses in which the longer a man is a Liberal the
better Liberal he is. (Hear, hear.) But I know there is a tend-
ency, a natural tendency, on the part of Liberals who have lived
so long and been so fortunate in their career as to have seen the
accomplishment of what was in early days the ultimate limit of
their nopes, to believe that the accomplishment of those hopes has
for them pretty well settled the question of Liberalism and Reform,
there is a disposition to rest content with the realization of the aims
for which they have laboured so long and looked so earnestly. But,
Sir, this will not do. We must keep our eyes lifted up ; we must
remember that we are climbing the hill-tops of time ; we must per-
ceive that, as we mount higher, fresh horizons and new prospects are
opening before us ; we must realize that " new occasions bring new
duties ; " we must strive to help forward that which, unattainable
before, may yet be now attained. In this effort we may be helped by
the Young Liberals, who have not yet seen the realization Or even
the near approach of their paliiotic hopes, but who in the freshness
of life look to and brace themselves for further conquests. Let me
remind them, however, that many of these problems are of a diffi-
cult character; that they require deep study of the past; substan-
tial acquisition of the principles underlying the course of human
affairs, as evidenced by that past ; and thorough sifting and full
discussion before finally reaching conclusions. That process is the
only way to reach right conclusions. Let me remind them further
that it is only by degiees that the minds of the masses will receive
and accept new and large proposals, and that those who undertake
the work of propagandism must expect some considerable interval
between the sowing of the seed and the reaping of the harvest.
To THE Young Liberals, too, wb may look, in the spirit op

QENKROUS youth, TO TAKE ENLARGED AND ELEVATED VIEWS WITH
REFERENCE TO THE DUTIES OF THE POLITICIAN, leading them to

abhor all clandestine and unworthy intrigues, to denounce and put
down all attempts at bribery and corruption and undue and im-
proper practices, whether , at elections or in Parliament. T^hey

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have not been stimulated as yet by the undue and often criminal
zeal of party to engage in those practices which were formerly so
rife and which are not yet, I am sorry to say, extinct ; and we
may hope that, just entering upon their political career, they will
take care to conduct political contests in the spirit to which I have
referred. May I be allowed to say that I am well persuaded that
in the discharge of those political duties, which 1 rejoice to see
they are undertaking in a spirit so earnest and so active, they will
take care not to be led away by the

DEVICES OF THE ENEMY".

Those devices are palpable and transparent. The Tory party feels
" that the issues present and pressing upon us, issues which arise
very largely out of the contrast between their pledges and pro-
mises and their practices and their performances, are very danger-
ous issues for them. They would like to blink those issues. They
would like to lead us away, they constantly ask us to come away
to something else and something different. They declare that the
Reform party has no policy. The Reform party for the last

fix years during which I HAVE HAD THE HONOUR TO LEAD IT,
HAS HAD AN ALTERNATIVE POLICY WITH REFERExSCE TO ALMOST
EVERY IMPORTANT AND DISPUTABLE PROPOSITION BROUGHT FOR-
WARD BY THE Tories. With reference to the Canadian Pacific Rail-
way ; to the system of settlement and administration of the affairs
of the great North- West ; to the independence of Parliament ; to
the relations between the Dominion and the Provinces ; to the
fishery and reciprocity negotiations; to the scale of expenditure;
to the increase of our load of debt ; to the tariff system ; with refer-
ence to the plan of our taxation ; to the license legislation ; to the
Franchise legislation ; to the encroachments on Provincial Rights;
and to many other questions with which the Tories have dealt in
the last six years, we have shown from year to year, from session
to session, not only good grounds why their propositions should not
receive your assent, but also that there was a better and more ex-
cellent way to which we pointed, but in which they refused to fol-
low us. Now, when the period arrives at which we are once again
to appeal to the people, they would be very glad if the Reform
party, or any portion of that party, were to put to one side as
minor matters, as unconsidered trifles, as things not now to be
seriously discussed, their own failures, and the respective policies
of the two parties on these questions, and the melancholy contrast
between their promises, professions, and pledges, and their practice
and performance in these matters ; their lamentable blunders, and
their gross betrayals of duty; and were to say, "There is nothing
to fight about in respect of these 'things." They would be delighted
if the people of the country at large would agree with that view,.

V . ;

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'%i^'-^

141

would treat these all as " dead issues," as they call them ; would
give them a discharge in full in respect of these sins of omission
and commission, and would agree that the Tories were entitled to'
receive a renewal of the confidence of the people of the country,
unless the Reform party should produce some other and some
fresh reasons why they should be deprived of that confidence.
But this will not do ; they are to be tried on these questions, and
on these questions they are to be condemned.

But the Reform party, besides discharging the plain and obvious
duty of pointing out what was wrong in the Tory policy, and of
presenting an alternative policy on these subjects, has also indicated
certain important

CHANGES, IMPROVEMENT, AND REFORMS

which it believes to be practicable, in the public interest, and ripe
for execution. I referred to some of these in my speech to-day ;
the questions of the reform of the Senate by making it elective ;
of the right (subject to securities for the Provinces) to amend our
own constitution; of the right to make our own commercial
treaties with other nations, — (cheers) — a matter of great moment
as to our relations with the U. S. and other countries; of the
definition, maintenance, and establishment upon a firmer basis of
our local liberties and Provincial rights (renewed cheering) ; of
extradition arrangements, and of copyright; of civil service re-
form, hy the introduction of the principle of merit instead of
patronage as the key to office ; of the superannuation abuse under
which $150,000 a year net of the public moneys are being paid
every year as pensions to "civil servants, after paying them
adequate salaries during the period of their service. (Loud cheers.)
We have proposed reform also in the system of state aided AND
UNDULY forced IMMIGRATION, under which such miserable results
have been attained, under which such gross jobbery has grown and
flourished, which seems to have done some harm and little good,
and which has involved such a waste of money. We propose to
revert to the Provincial franchises and voters' lists, as more con-
sistent with the federal principle, simpler and more economical,
more likely to give due expression in Parliament to the mind of
each Province, than any Dominion franchise ; but we propose, if
there is to be a Dominion franchise, a more constitutional method
of making the lists, and a simpler franchise. I do not wish to force
my views on any other Province, but, my opinion is that

THE BEST DOMINION FRANCHISE THAT CAN BE DEVISED IS RESIDEN- '
TIAL REGISTERED MANHOOD SUFFRAGE ;

and I am for the principle, " One man, one vote." We propose
aiso to restore the independence and respectability of Parliament

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142

^ by rendering impossible the continuance of the shocking state of
' affairs partly developed last session ; a state of affairs which has
shocked th3 community and should of itself ensure the condemn!^
tion of the Government. I have not time to carry on the
■catalogue; I must pass to another point. There are important
%,-■ questions which are coming up in the near future, which are
y almost present and at our doors — some of which may become
* >- party questions, others which may be best dealt with otherwwise.
j-i'*^ Among such questions I may name

.' ' THE TEMPER A.NCE QUESTIOK,

in respect of which the Reform Government of Mr. Mackenzie did
what it believed to be its duty, and undertook, at a fitting season,
the responsibility of proposing a measure which was believed to
be the best adapted to the public opinion of ths day. At that
time those interested in the temperance question pressed, and
pressed earnestly on the Reform Government that it was their
duty, as they had the powers to legislate. The Tory party then
pressed the same view. Since that time it has appeared, as
almost always happens in the train of a great statute, that
whether by unhappy interpretations or diversity of meaning to
which the language was fairly open, or by oversight, practical
difiiculties exist in the working of that Act, and for some years
efforts, I regret to say abortive, have been made to procure a
remedy for these practical difficulties. But the Government now
in power has not undertaken the duty of introducing or even of
facilitating the amendatory legislation necessary to give effect to
the declared intentions of Parliament and the people, in the
same manner in which the Government of Mr. Mackenzie under-
took the discharge of the duty incumbent upon them when they
were in office ; nor, I must say, have I observed the same pressure
put on the Tories which was put on the Reformers in this
regard. The question, however, has advanced. It has as-
sumed still larger proportions, and in its wider phase of to-day it
now presses on our minds. I hope and believe the Young Liberals
will be formed very largely on the side of temperance. Again
there looms up, ever nearer, the great question of our nati(Hial
future. And connected with this are various other questions of
great magnitude. There is also the question of the relations
OF LABOUR TO CAPITAL, a vast subject now calling for our earnest
thought. Now, as I understand it, the formation o^ the Liberal
party here, as in Britain, is an open formation ; we march in loose
order with open ranks. , ,,

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WE ARE THE PARTY OF PROGRESS,

and we recognize that included within our ranks are many whose

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143

pace is ilifterent from the pace of othera. Some there will always
he in the party who will move at the head, the advanced guard,
who see or think they see further than the rest, who project
their niin<ls into a more distant futdre, and look, long before the
time at which it can be garnered in, for the harvest to be reape«l
some other day — who sow the seeds which are to produce that har-
vest. Then you find the main bo ly going steadily onwaid,
dealing mainly with those things whicli after due ripening have
become questions of the day— problems in practical politics. Then
you find an efficient and important part of the army in the rear
guard, composed of those who, while alive to the true principles ot
Liberalism, yet rather emphasize the importance of making haste
slowly, in whom caution is often the prominent element, who
steady us in our course, put on the brakes and prevent us from
going too fast or getting at loose ends. These, I say, form a valu-
able and important element in that composition which makes our
))arty an effective instrument for accomplishing the public go»»d,
and they must not be undervalued. A party of progress which
does not believe that the prime function of man is to stand still
until forced to move on or move out, which believes in the spread
of Libera] doctrine and the development of Liberal views, must
make up its mind to find within its ranks considerable differences
of opinion consistently wth concurrence in the general principles,
and with concurrence in the general views taken on such question*
as have reached a state in which they can be worked out in prac- -
tical legislation, or in agitation for that practical legislation. I
am sure^ then, that ive s'hall find our dm-nssions and. our aptairfi
conducted upon principles of comprehenmon and toleration^ and-
not of ostracism or excliusion. So it has been in my time, and ho
it shall he so long as I have any poiver to direct the movements of
ike party. (Loud cheers.) I have never j ustitied to myself or my
supporters a single vote upon the ground that it was the party
view. I believe our votes are to be justified to ourselves and to
our own consciences — (cheers) — and, therefore, I have never askeil
a friend or supporter of mine in Parliament to give a sirigle vote
contrary to what, after due consideration, he believed to be his
conscientious duty. (Loud applause.) I respect the man who un-
dertakes the difficult and weakening task of giving a vote opposed
to the general feeling and opinion of his party. I feel that he has
done an act which is a credit to him, and that he is none the less
a friend of the party because he may find himself occasionally con-
strained to vote some other way. (Loud cheers.) That is the
spirit in which I think electoi's should treat their representatives,
and in which we should treat our brother members of the jmrty ;
and, depend upon it, so treating them, they will not ^'orget that
they have a responsibililty to themselves and to you to be faith-
fully discharged. (5

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Now, while such is our position, I understand it is

THE DUTY OF THE LEADER

to be, as far as possible, the leader of the whole party, and not of
any section. It is a part of his duty to collect the common sense,
and to ascertain what I may call the average condition of party
opinion upon the public questions of the day ; so far as consists
with individual freedom of thought to guide, while he is himself
acted on by that opinion ; to take care that that average opinion so
settled is effectually represented, and pressed forward in Parlia-
ment, upon the platform and bv the press ; and to secure as far
as he can, that the party which he has the honour of conducting,
retains and increases iis efficiency as a powerful instrument for
promoting good Government and reform in the country which he
serves. Therefore his duty is entirely different from that of the in-
dependent member, who has the privilege, which I confess to you, as
a leader, I have envied him more than once, of indulging in specu-
lative discuasions in reference to topics as to which the leader's
duty may yet require, in the condition of party and public opinion
a judicious reticence at the moment, in order to his utterance
being made at the time and under the circumstances when it may
be most effective. It has been well said that no leader could

SUCCEED who should BE CALLED ON AT ALL TIMES TO FORMULATE

OPINIONS ON ALL POSSIBLE QUESTIONS. For him as for others there
is a time to speak and a time to be silent. It is no secret that I
had rather be freer than I am, but being as I am I accept the re-
cognized and inevitable limitations of my position, and act as best
I can within them. I believe this is the principle on which alone
the party business can be conducted. (Applause.) At the same
time I hold myself free sometimes to speak and act in my indi-
vidual capacity ; though this is a freedom to be exercised with
reserve. Now I wish to call the attention of Liberals, especially
Young Liberals, to the fact that there are before us many practical
pressing questions — among them, and chief among them, this,
whether upon the whole array of the pledges and professions, prac-
tices and performances of the men iir power as compared with each
other, and with those of the Liberal party, it is not a prime duty
of ours to set these contrasted statements before the people, and so
to ensure that diminution and loss of the public confidence on the
part of our opponents which must result from such a process. Our
business is to change the Government of this country, as the only
effective method of procuring a change in the methods of Govern-
ment and reform in the principles of Government. I have pointed
out some questions with which we have to deal ; one of the mos4^
important is the great question of the preservation of the j

ISDEPE' DENCE, INTEQlUTY, AND RESPECTABILITV OF THE COMMONS

HOUSE OF PARUAMENT.

(Cheers.) To the Young Liberals we may look for zealous, ener-
getic work to set before the public, not only before their friends
and fellow-Liberals, but before all thinking men, the true principles
which should affect a democracy like ours as to the relations be-
tween members of Parliament and the Executive and the public
treasury. It is one of the excellencies of our country that the
conditipn of our people is not one of very great extremes. There
is amongst us, speaking in the large sense, neither poverty nor
riches. You find a very few who are possessed of a great super-
abundance of this world's goods, but large mas.ses — larger in pro-
portion, I believe, than in any other country in the world>— pos-
sessed of that which through their own exertiims furnishes them
with a respectable competence for themselves and their families
while they are able to labour, and the means for a maintenance in
the period of old age and infirmity. It is imiHrrtunt to us to he able
to choode our representative men from amongst those ivJho are no^
possessed of great weaUk or an absolute independence. I would be
very sorry indeed if we were to establish a practical plutocracy.and
to say that we must look for members of Parliament only amongst
those who through their fathers or by long exertion, or through
some great good fortune and success^ ha^i become wealthy men.
(Applause.) I object to that view. But, while we object to that
view, we must not forget the failings of human nature ^ we must
»iot forget that public men so circumstanced are exposed to greater
temptations than in an old and rich country, in which you fiml
hardly a member of Parliament who is not what we would call a
very wealthy man. Therefore we must set up all the more strongly
and observe all the more rigidly

THE STANDARDS OF THE PUBLIC VIRTUE,

We must do so, because the temptations are greater and more
obvious, and it behooves the Liberal party in particular, but the
people at large also, to see that these standards are set up, and
being set up, are observed. (Cheers.) Nor is it possible that such
relations as have now been edablisfted between certain members of
the Commons and the Executive can be suffered to exist by the
general approval of the people, without breaking down such poor
guarantees for independence of thought, and for the conscientious
consideration of public questions, as at present theoretically exist.
This is one of the tasks imminently pressing upon us. But con*
sistently with all this kind of work, the Liberals who entertain
views with reference to questions not yet rii)e for action have not

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merely tlio right, tliey have tlie »luty laul U|.on them, to hnnr
forwaid those views. (Loiifl applause.) I havk cLAiMtD is

OLD DAYS FOR MYSBLF AND MY FELLOW- LinERALS THE GHKATKST
LIBERTV OF THOUGHT AND A<JT10N ill this le^jircl. I prefer to see
those who entertain new view.s, even though Jmay not share them,
bring theni forward. (Applause.) Let them come into the fresh,
free, open light of ilay, ami if they have merit they will thrive
ffcnd grow, and if they have not merit they will be set to one side,
will wither and die. (Loud cheering.) That i.s the process by
which M'e shall reach the truth, and therefore we oayht to encour-
age Tdther than diaparage the diseuss'lon of the sitggeHtiona, the
Kchemes of supposed improvement <md rffoinn, which may he
brought forward, »ven though we differ from them. Let us state
our diflierences and thresh out the questions, and so reach sound,
conclusions. That is the true method by which we shall in the
end reach unio^ upon (questions of importance which may not now
be ripe for action. (Loud cheers.) But 1 rej^eat the suggestion I
made a few moments ago — ' '

WE MUST TAKE CARE NOT TO BE LED AWAY BY THE TORfES FROM
THE PRACTICAL PRESENT QUESTIONS

which show the line of demarcation between the parties, and upon
which the election is to be fought, into some new issues which
they are always inviting us to raise, in order that there may be
some cloud of dust in which they may escape from their own re-
cord, and so, if possible, beguile the people into giving them a fresh-
verdict of approval. (Cheers.) In this sense, Mr. Chairman, and
1 believe it is no ignoble sense, I am a practical politician, because
Iwant to deal with the practiced politics before the people of thi*
country at this day, with the issues we have before us, whicli
are weighty enough, goodness knows, for the attention of a free
people, and which some even say to me are embirrassing to deal
with because they are so numerous. Let us not forget these p»ac-
tical present i.ssues. (Cheers.) Give no advantage to the enemy.
Let us, as we approach the period of the elections, close our rank.s,
advance our forces, push the enemy upon every favourable occa-
sion from the indefensible positions which they haveoconpi ^ ♦' )r
the last eight years, and press on those issues u'^on vhich tlie
])arty is agreed, on which the party, as a party, • j.i, which it-

has made its platform of present practical refon ,u,ud so acti ^
and uniting, not forgetting the future, but deau mai'.ly witb
the present, which is the important thing as far as act hi is con- •
cerned, I believe we sYrAl at no distant day march to a great, a-
o-lorious, and, I hope, a lasting, victory. (Loud and prolonged
cheering). ,

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147

A PROGRESSIVE POLIOY.

Reply to the Welland Young Liberals.

Response to their Promise of Active Worit— The Tories' Anxiety to have

their own Record Overlooked -The Parrot Cry, " Where is

Your Policy "—The Liberal Programme of Reform.

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At Welland Mr. Blake said : — I turn to the "Idress of the Young
Liberal Cluba of the county. I tliank t\ ^ loung Liberals for
their kindness, and though I have no longer a title to be enrolled
in their ranks, I yet feel a deep and earnest interest in the pro-
gress and prosperity of Young Liberalism. I am an old enough
Liberal myself to have three staunch young Liberals in my house-
hold bearing my name, and on their behalf, as well as my own, I
tender hearty greetings to their friends and colleagues, the Young
Liberals of Welland. (Cheers.) I join in their congratulations on
the condition of the Liberal party in Canada, and thank them for

THEIR PROMISE OF AID AND CO-OPERATION

to secure success in the coming contest. (Loud and prolonged
applause.) They recognize, I trust, that in order to that success
sacrifice is essential. They recognize, I trust, that the expenditure
of time, of energy, and of labour is essential in order that they
may accomplish the public good which they set before them. (Ap-
plause.) We must take care that with these new forces that
are becoming day by day more and more prominent and numer-
ous in our ranks, such an organization takes place in the Liberal
party as never took place before. (Cheers). You must take care
that all legitimate efforts are made tc sway to our side every neu-
tral man, to animate with earnestness every indifferent man, and
to convert all those on the other side of politics, who are not alto-
gether blinded to the cause pf justice and of truth. (Great cheer-
ing.) You must take care our organization is so complete that
when the time of polling comes, every available vote shall be
polled ; and, if you do these things, I share your hope and your
expectation that amongst the signal triumphs which are to be
announced at the close of polling day at the next Dominion elec-
tion will be " Welland redeemed ! " (Tremendous cheering.) Now
I wish to say a word or two to my young friends with reference
to, a Tory cry raised for a long time past, and which still ring*
throughout the land, ,^ V

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WHERE IS YOUR POLICY ?'

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We have been expounding our policy year in and year our for a
long time back. For months past I have been speaking very con-
stantly, and in every speech I have matle, I have stated one or
more important political propositions forming part of the policy of
the Liberal party. But the parrot cry is repeated still ; and it
will be repeated constantly, for ivant of a better. (Cheers and
laughter.) The Tories are very anxious to escape from criticism of
their policy and their conduct, and that is one of the reasons why
they are always raising this cry. (Cheers.) Talk to an audience
about what they, who are entrusted with the conduct of affairs
and with power to mould the policy and legislation of the country,
have done, talk to an audience about what they have failed to do,
talk to an audience about

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THEIR PROMISES, PLEDGES, AND PREDICTIONS,

and contrast them with the sad results of their rule ; the Tories
hear it all impatiently , they turn away and call out, " Where is
your policy ? " They are — and I do not blame them for it, it is
very natural — they are extremely anxious to get away from the
consideration of their own record and from the question whether
upon that record they ought to be approved or condemned.
(Cheers.) Now, let me deal with this cry for a little. First of
all let me point to you that both here and in England the tendency
has long been to confine to the Ministry of the day all the im-
portant legislation, and it has long been found almost impossible
lor a private member, no matter what his ability, zeal, or energy,
to carry any great measure affecting the ^ ^neral interests of the
country. Let me remind you that that duty has been both here
and in England thrown on the Government ; so that it is said in
England that the duty of an Opposition is confined principally to
conducting a critical examination of the affairs of the country. It
has been said by a great English statesman that this is the most
important duty devolving upon the members of Parliament under
the present system. England has had cnturies of legislation,
and there is now a large body of laws in force under which that
country might continue to flourish without any amendment being
made to the bulk of them for some time — though some important
laws of theirs, in my opinion, require early amendment. We, in
Canada, have received from England, and from France to some
extent, the advantage of the legislation of both those great coun-
tries; and our affairs could be carried on, and our material pro-
cress would not be impeded if we had, as to the main body of Our
laws, no amendatory legislation for some time ; though here, as in

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England, there are several important laws, as for example, to give
one single instance, the Temperance Act, which in my opinion re-
quire early amendment. But, however this may be, in the con-
sideration of public affairs, questions continually arise whether the
Government have been wise or unwise, careful or negligent, pru-
dent or imprudent, hone&t or dishonest, extravagant or economi-
cal, long-sighted (r short-sighted, promise-breakers or promise-
keepers ; whether they have conducted the affairs of the country
correctly or incorrectly in matters in regard to which an educated
people keej), or ought to keep, a steady eye on the action of its
representatives in Parliament. In regard to these things, ladies
and gentlemen, it is

THE DUTY OF THE OPPOSITION,

a duty which the Opposition I lead has performed without facti-
ousness but with firmness, to criticise the conduct of the Admin-
istration of the day and to strive to secure that what it dees is for
the best interests of the country. In a word, the normal function
of an Opposition of this day is mainly critical. The Administra-
tion acts or proposes, the Opposition criticises ; and on our rela-
tive attitude and performances we confidently ask your verdict.
(Cheers.) But some time ago I pointed out at Owen Sound and
elsewhere' that /o?' the last six years we had not merely criticised,
we had also suggested; that we had 'proposed an alternative policy
on each of the important questions submitted, as for instance the
Canadian Pacific Railway, the tariff, the Nor i,h- West, and other
great affairs. I*see that Mr. Thompson, the Minister of Justice,
has,

WITH GREAT PAINS AND LABOUR,

constructed something which I fancy he imagines is a joke on this
word alternative — (laughter) — and that he is making various
meetings melancholy with this elaborate performance. I won't
waste words on it. I do not think that his jokes are very laugh-
able, but I have rather enjoyed some of his so-called facts and
arguments. (Laughter.) They, indeed, are somewhat comic, and
show some perhaps unconscious sense of humour, as well as some
power of invention. So I hope he will dispense with these sad-
dening efforts at premeditated merriment, and rather amuse his
friends with what he calls his solid facts and his serious argu-
ments. (Laughter.) Now, I do not deal to-day — I have done so
often — with this alternative policy. I want to show you that we
hare not confined ourselves to criticism,* or even to the suggestion
of an alternative policy on Government questions. We have

brought before the country large

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QUESTIONS OF POLICY AND REFORM.

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Let me touch on some of these very briefly. We have advocated
a reformed Senate, small in numbers, with declared and appro-
priate functions, elected by and responsible to the people at large
— (cheers) — an independent Coniitions, free from enervating and
degrading contact with the public treasury and the public do-
main — (cheers) — an enlarged and aimplijled franchise, conform-
able in each Province to the views and circumstances of that
Province, with lists made by the local authorities, and to be exer-
cised in districts fairly divided, so as to produce a really repre-
sentative assembly — an honest and ejfflcient Executive, dealing
with the people's business iairly, justly, promptly, and on business
principles, keeping promise-^, redressing grievances, and so per-
venting rebellion in the west and discontent in the east — (cheers)
— a check to the progress of monopoly fostered by this Govern-
ment in so many aspects, in transportation, in land, in manufac-
tures — a reform in the Civil Service, embracing as far as may be
appointments by merit, promotions by merit, a fair day's work for
a fair day's pay by a re(luced and efficient staff, and the abolition
of the present superannuation s?/s^em— (applause) — the obtaining
of the constitutional right to make our own commercial arrange-
ments through our own responsible agents — (cheers) — economy
and retrenatment in the public expenditure — a check to the
alarming increase which has taken place, and a relief from the
people's growing burdens — such a reduction of taxation as
past extravagance allows — such a readjustment as shall make it
bear more equitably and less oppressively — a* reduction of sec-
tional taxes, and of taxes on prime necessaries and raw materials,
and a dimiiiution of the injustice inflicted by the specific system •
on the poor, as between them and the rich, in respect to goods of
varying qualities and values — (applause) — an earnest efort to
promote reciprocal trade — (great applause) — and to improve the
relations between us and our neighbours on the fishery as well
as on other questions — the full and 'practical recognition
of tJie federal character of our constitution — an end of disallow-
ance of local laws affecting purely local matters, and not gravely
touching Dominion interests — (cheers) — no more disallowance of *

Streams bills — (applause) — no more attempts to seize escheats — v

no more efforts to pass license laws — (renewed cheering) — no more
struggles to strip provinces of their lands and j urisdictions — ,c

KO MORE SEIZING OF PROVINCIAL RAILWAYS — , . ^

no more centralization — but a full and frank recognition of , ' '
of Provincial autonomy, home rule, and our system of large local 'tt

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liberties — (loud and prolonged applause) — an earnest effort to a4-
lust prominent grievances, and to settle on fair terms the questions
Detween the Provinces and Territories and the Dominion — justice
to all, special favours to nons — fair consideration to all in re-
epeet of past railway expenditures, and an effort to settle finally
the financial relations of the provinces to Canada — an end to job-
hery and corruption — (loud applause) — abolition of the system of
assisted immigration — (renewed applause) — and a reduction to a
small amount of the enormous expenditure under that head. Be-
yond all this, we press for a determination to put down the divisive
forces of ra^e and creed — (cheers) — for a refusal to divide upon
these fatal issues — for the cultivation of the spirit of Canadian
brotherhood, and Canadian nationality; and this by the observance
of the great rules of eternal justice and equal rights, and of the fun-
damental principles of civil and religious liberty, and by the practice,
on the part of the various majorities to be found in the several Pro-
vinces, of these principles exemplified in liberality, tolerance, and
even generosity on the part of the strong towards the weak.
(Cheers.) Again, we plead for a continuous and sustained effort
to elevate the moral condition of the people, the creation of a con-
dition of thought and feeling which shall forward all good causes.

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THE CAUSES OF HONESTY AND UPRIGHTNESS,

of morality and temperance^ and may in due time enable the
forces of law and regulation to work in new spheres hand-in-hand
with those of morality and religion for the advancement of the
race. (Loud cheers.) With these objects before us, and with the
black results of Tory misgovernment so plain on every hand, may
we not confidently appeal to all good men, to all lovers of their
country, and, above all, to the young men of Canada, to join our
forces and aid in the triumph of our cause ? (Loud and prolonged
cheering.)

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE OPPOSITION.

SIR J. MACDONALDS CRITICISMS — HIS OWN AUTHORITY.

At Oakwood Mr. Blake said : — At Welland, replying to the
Young Liberals' address, I discussed the functions of a constitu-
tional Opposition, as now developed. I showed that they were

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largely critical ; and that on the Government largely devolved the
duty of legislation. I also showed that we had presented an
alternative policy to that of the Government, and that we had
laid before the oountry a large and comprehensive programme
and policy of reform.

Since then Sir J. Maruionald and his Ministers have referred to
and misrepresented my si'itement. , , / , ,.

Sir John said at Aylmer : — . '

Mr. Blake had announced that it was not the duty of the Opposition to
have a policy ; but was it likely that the Liberal- Conservative party in
Opposition in 1878, would have been in office to-day if it had accepted a
dictum like that laid down by Mr. Blake ? No.

At Wingham he said : — '

Mr. Blake had himself announced that the Opposition ought not to have a
policy — that it was simply their duty to carp and find fault.

His subordinates have followed his lead : and are raising the
hue and cry against me, well trained as they are to the work.

Now,

I DID NOT SPEAK WITHOUT FULL CONSIDERATION,

nor without reference to the experience of late years, both in
England and Canada. I did not speak only on inferences drawn
by myself. I found my views corroborated by a high authoritj! .
In truth the views of that high authority were much stronger than
mine. I could not adopt them to the full. But I conjectured
that Sir John Macdonald and the Tory party would be likely to
find fault with my statement, and therefore I took the recorded
views of that high authority, and I made ihem the substratum of
my speech — enlarging, to suit my own opinions, the functions of
Opposition, diminishing, to suit my own opinions, the functions
of Government; but still in the main agreeing with that high
authority.

Now, refer if you please to what I said at Welland ; and com-
pare it with

THE LANGUAGE OF HIGH AUTHORITY,

; , /

to which I refer. This is that language : —

"■ Both here and in England the tendency had been to confide to the Min-
istry of the day all important legislation, and it had been found almost im-
possible for a private member, no matter what his ability might be, or what
might be his zeal or industry, to carry any great measure affecting the gen-
eral interests of the country. That duty had been both in England and in
this country, thrown upon the Government, so that it was said in England
that the duty of an Opposition waa confined principally to conducting a criti-

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oal examination into the administration of the aflfaira of the country. It had
been said by a great Libaral of that country that this was the most important
duty thrown upon the members of Parliament under the present system.
England hacl had centuries of legislation, and there was now a large body of
laws in force under which the country, without any amendment being made
to them for a series of years, could continue to flourish. So in this country :
we had received from England and from France the advantage of all the legis-
lation of both these great countries, and the affairs of Canada could be car-
ried on, and the material progress of the country not be impeded if we had
no new legislation for several years, such had been the advantage we had
gained from a long series of laws 9rell-considered and successfully operated.
But in the consideration of public affairs, questions continually arose
whether the Government had been wise or unwise, prudent or imprudent,
whether they had conducted the affairs of the country correctly or incorrect-
ly in matters in regard to which an educated country kept a steady eye upon
the action of its representatives in Parliament, and in regard to which it was
the duty of the Opposition — a duty which the Opposition in this House would
perform without factiousness, but 'with firmness — to criticise the conduct of
the Administration of the day, and see that what it did was for the best inter-
ests of the country." ,

You will see that these words cover, and far more than cover,
all I said ; that I was unable to go so far as the language of my
high authority.

But you may say to me,

WHO IS YOUR HIGH AUTHORITY?

What do we care for your authority ?

Well, I admit you Reformers may perhaps not pay very much
deference to my authority.

But I think the Tories should — at any rate, / thinh Sir John
Macdonatd should respect it — for my authority is himself. No
less, and no more !

He used these words in the House of Commons in 1877, after
three or four years of Opposition, as descriptive of the duty of an
Opposition, and of the course of the Tory Opposition to Mr. Mac-
kenzie !

It is his own authority he has despised and ridiculed ; it is his
own language he has eaten ; mine enemy hath written a book,
and out of his own lips have I condemned him ! (Cheers and
laughter.) (5)

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IRISH HOME RULE.

.'' •■;

Facts about the Home Rule Resolution.

LIBERALS ALWAYS FOR SELF GOVERNMENT.

How the Reiolution ivas defeated. Hour Home Rule Wai
, , LiOit.

Hon. Edward Blake, in the course of his speech at Guelph,
urged upon the people, as he has done upon other audiences, to
frown down the effort now being made to divide the population
upon questions of race and creed, and deprecated in strong terms
the proposal to violate the constitution by interference in the
local affairs of Quebec, with intent to modify institutions subject
to the exclusive control of the Province, because of the question-
able suggestion that they were prejudicial to the minority in the
Province. . He proceeded as follows ': —

The best way in which we can, if they need our help, benefit
that minority, with which those of us who are English and
Protestant naturally sympathize, is by setting the example of
perfect fair play, tolerance, and more, even generosity, towards
those minorities, French or German in nationality or Roman
Cathojic in religion, which subsist in our own Province. So

DOING WE CAN RAISE OUR VOICES, IF NEED SHOULD EXIST, IN
FAVOUR OF THE MINORITY IN OTHER PROVINCES WITH THE MOST
POWERFUL EFFECT AND WITH THE GREATEST lAORAL AUTHORITY. I

ask you, as I have asked other audiences, I ask you to

REMEMBER THE GOOD OLD MAXIM,

that example is better than precept. I ask you so to act in your
political, yoilr municipal, and your social relations in this regard
that if there be a grievance on the part of minorities in other
Provinces you may speak as Canadian citizens, as fiiends and
neighbours, in kindly request, with that moral force which, other-
wise acting, you could not exert. I do not deny, I maintain your
right to extend your sympathy, to exert the force of moral suasion

■y*'

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166

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in favour of any Canadian citizen of whatever Province, if circum-
stances call for the effort. But

ll?^>v

DO NOT APPEAL TO COERCIVE METHODS :

do not propose to take away the rights of the Province ; do not
suggest legislative interference against its will, because if you do
you work harm instead of good ; you raise a feeling of indignation
and resentment on the part of those whose legislative powers are
threatened — ^you lose your only real — the moral power of suasion,
without the least hope of success by the other methods you
propose. 2^ his principle of Provincial Mights is at the very
foundation of our future as a Confederation. W e must recognize
a large measure of absolute local liberties as essential, as vital to
the nation. I believe the people of Ontario do so ; I believe the
Liberal party at any rate does so ; and I believe that is one reason
why the Liberal party is in favour of the exemplification of that
principle throughout the Empire and in those islands from whose
people most of us are descended. (Cheerss.) I observe that Sir
John Macdonald and Mr. Costigan have thought fit lately to raise
the question of my conduct and to attempt a defence of their own
on /

THE QUESTION OF HOME RULE FOR IRELAND.

Sir John Macdonald said : —

' ' The difference between Mr. Costigan's resolution and Mr. Blake's was
that the Conservatives wanted to pass a resolution which would be looked
upon favourably in England and Ireland, while Mr. Blake desired to introduce
a. resolution which he knew would not pass, and then he would be able to
appeal to the Irishmen of Canada on the ground that the Conservatives
were opposed to Home Rule."

.■ • ■' ,, ■■''.{_■■ -■■-'■'

Mr. Costigan said : — - . » i " ^

" No benefit whatever could accrue to Ireland or Irishmen by the resurrect-
ing of the question. Every possible prestige which Canada could give it had
already been given. ... As far as he (Mr. Costigan) was concerned, he
did not see what benefit whatever it would be to raise the question again.
The motion, however, was moved by the leader of the Opposition, and was
again substantially carried. " ,.

NOW WHAT ARE THE FACTS ?

In 1882, Mr. Costigan proposed a motion in favour of Home Rule
for Ireland. I supported that motion to the best of my ability,
and it passed with apparent unanimity, and, at any rate by an
overwhelming majority. In 1886, the question had advanced and
a measure was proposed which embodied the true principle of

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ite by an
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167

Home Rule ; some exception was taken to certain details, but
Mr. Gladstone, who had charge of the Bill, declared that the vote
in favour of the second reading^was to be regarded as simply an
affirmation of the principle of Home Rule, and that the measure,
if read a second time, would not be further pushed that session,
but that after the prorogation it would be in some particulars re-
considered, and probably amended. It was shown that thus the
members and the people would have time to further consider the
details, and that in the fall the House might meet and debate,
with all the advantage of the intermediate time, thought, and
discussion, the amended measure. I saw that

THE MOMENT WAS CRITICAL,

that enormous forces were arrayed against the principle of the
bill, forces of passion and prejudice, of ignorance and privilege, of
party and faction. I saw, too, that the question had reached the
point so rapidly in the end, that there were honest doubts, diffi-
culties, and misconceptions which might be removed by time. I
felt that it was most important that Mr. Gladstone's hands should
be strengthened from every quarter of the civilized world. I saw
that other nationalities and other Provinces, and other peoples
were acting. I saw them passing resolutions and making repre-
sentations ; I saw that those resolutions and representations were
received and answered by Mr. Gladstone ; and in a manner which
showed how highly he valued, how important he felt, these testi-
monials of moral support, confidence, and sympathy ; and all this
strengthened my view that we, too, ought to act. Time passed
on. I waited for action on the part of Ministers, especially on the
part of him who had before raised the question. I waited in vain.
Then I saw published a cable message from Mr. Costigan to Mr.
Parnell, informing the Nationalist leader that the Irishmen in the
House of Commons who had voted for the resolution of 1882
favoured Home Rule for Ireland still ! (Laughter.) Well, I said,
this, whatever answer Mr. Parnell's politeness may lead him to
give, is

REALLY WORSL; THAN NOTHING. 7

: ■ ■•'i.t

Did Mr. Parnell want to know that the Irishmen who had favoured
Home Rule in Ireland in 1882 favoured it still ? (Great cheering.)
Surely that, at any rate, might be inferred ! But it was as much
as to say that those of other nationalities in the House of Com-
mons, if their opinions were asked again, would not speak with
the same voice in 1886. That was the inference ! (Loud applause.)
That luas ivorse than nothing. It is said now that no Parlia-
mentary action was needed ; if so, why was the cable needed ?

(6)

■ ■■'"■'s

Km:

• k

■fti

168 ■

But the cable was thought useful and proper. If so, would not a
resolution of the Commons bo useful and proper ? At length I
saw with regret an announcement that Mr. Voatigan had definitely
declared that he would not act. Then, and not till then, I acted.
Upon the eve of the second reading of the Bill

I BROUGHT FORWARD A PROPOSAL.

■ f -

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That proposal was received with the suggestion that I should de-
fer it for a few days, and in the meantime the Government would
consider whether they would accept it or suggest some amend-
ment. They said that after conference we might be able to agree
upon a resolution which we could all support. I willingly acceded
to this proposal, and expressed an earnest hope that by consulta-
tion we should be able to agree upon a unanimous resolution.
They knew my views, but they did not communicate theirs, or
offer a suggestion, or propose a conference. The time agreed upon
for resuming the question came, and I brought forward my original
motion, announcing that as nothing had been said upon the sub-
ject, I supposed that it was unobjectionable. Then they pro-
posed AN AMENDMENT, A COLOURLESS AMENDMENT, A VAPID AMEND-
MENT, A WASHED-OUT AMENDMENT, WHICH WAS DESIGNED OBVI-
OUSLY TO DO AS LITTLE GOOD TO THE CAUSE OF HOME RULE

AS POSSIBLE. (Loud cheers.) We heard the Orange Tory element
in the House say so. Col. O'Brien, the Orange Tory member
FOR MusKOKA, said : — " I don't like any of these motions or amend-
ments, but I will vote for Mr. Costigan's amendment, because it
will do the least harm " — that is, it will do least harm to the cause
he favoured, the cause opposed to Home Rule. (Cheers.) I said :
I will vote against it, because I want the motion to pass which
will do the most good to the cause of Home Rule. (Re-
newed cheering.) The Government carried their amendment
against my vote. Weak and halting as it was, when they had car-
ried it, and it was plain that it was the best I could get, I voted
for it, as better than nothing. Then I said, " This, though weak,
may have some little effect, it may show that we so far counten-
ance Home Rule, if it is sent to Mr. Gladstone, because the very
message to him will exhibit some degree of sympathy with him
and the cause he represents." That was proposed. What was the
Government's reply ? They said : — " We will agree to send it to
Mr. Gladstone if you will agree to send it to Lord Salisbury as
well." (Laughter.) But, I said, he has spoken only the other day
in the most violent terms against Home Rule, and I quoted from
some of his speeches then recently delivered. (Hear, hear, and
laughter.) The language I quoted was so strong that they drop-
ped their proposal.

- ^ (6)

• ^ V

. ■> /

169

' ■»

'HEY PRO-
ID AMEN D-

THBY REFUSED TO SEND IT TO MB. GLADSTONE;

they refused to send it to Mr. Parnell ; and in the end they de-
termined to send it — to whom do you think they determined to
«end it as a means of communicating it to the House of Commons ?
— to Sir Charles Tupper! (Derisive laughter.) Now why did
Mr. Costigan not move, and why, when I moved, did he not agree ?
For fear of the Tory Orangemen of Ontario ! He acknow-
ledged that his reason was that a few men were opposed to Home
Rule — and you know the men. Yes ; the cowardice of one or two
Conservative members calling themselves representative Irishmen,
and the bigotry of a few fanatic Tory Orange members prevented
the voice of Canada from being raised in favour of the principle
of that great measure, a measure prompted, as I believe, by the
desire for, and tending to accomplish the real unity of the Empire.
(Loud and prolonged applause.) The sense in which we were be-
lieved to speak, the way in which what we said and did was
understood, was shown by the disappointment of those who were
the friends of Home Rule and the rejoicings of those who were
its enemies. (Applause.) Those who were engaged in opposing
Home Rule said it was a very ^od thing that my motion was de-
feated and that Mr. Costigan's amendment prevailed — a good
thing it was for their cause, but

'• t

. BAD FOR HOME RULE !

Those who were in favour of Home Rule, as for example, Mr.
O'Brien, the late member for Tyrone, said tha-t it was a cause for
great regret that Mr. Costigan's amendment had carried, and that
the motion I presented was lost. Yet I find Sir John Macdonald
and Mr. Costigan declaring to the electors of the country that
their motion was as well calculated, or better calculated, to ac-
complish the object in view as mine, and I find it alleged that my
motives were all that was vile, while theirs were all that was
excellent. (Laughter.) My fears were realized ;

/, '■

THE BILL WAS LOST ;

lost by a narrow majority ; by a majority we might have helped
to turn. The election was precipitated. The people were told
Canada had refused its voice for Home Rule. The Government
was defeated. I deeply regret the circumstances which prevented
the Canadian Commons from speaking what I believe is the voice
of the vast majority of the people of Canada. (Cheers.) I regret
it in the interest of the Empire at large. I know not how soon or
in what shape may come the issue of the struggle. But I know

(6)

■ J

160

■j-

that if the second reading of the Bill had been carried, the question
had been adjourned and the details had been reconsidered, if there
had been a few months for the people to discuss and understand the
whole matter ; and if after a fall session the election had been
held, the result, in my judgment, would have been different from
that which has actually ensued. Had sufficient time been given
by that second reading, 1 believe the fortune of the question would
have been changed, and

HOME RULE WOULD HAVE BEEN ASSURED.

(Great and prolonged cheering.) I hope and trust it will come
still. (JJoua applause.) I hope and trust so in the interest of the
Empire at large, in the interest of the two islands, in the interest
of Canada, which is so deeply concerned in the quenching of the
tires of discord and alienation born out of wrong and injustice,
fires which have burned so long and so fiercely and with such de-
plorable results on this as well as on the other side of the water,
and which can be extinguished only by the establishment of a
just and reasonable control by the Irish people over their local
afiairs. I believe the best opportunity Canada ever had, the best
opportunity she ever may have, to help in the accomplishment of
that great Imperial object was the opportunity I offered to the
House of Commons, and which that House, by the advice of Mr.
Costigan and Sir John Macdonald, Mr. Bo well and Sir Hector
Langevin, unhappily declined. (Loud and prolonged cheering.)

- 1\: t

;>«

RACE AND REVENGE.

ATROCIOUS ATTEMPT TO AROUSE THE GERMANS IN CANADA —
FIREBRAND UTTERANCES OF A SUBSIDIZED TORY ORGAN
)■: — MR. BLAKE APPEALS TO UNITED AND PRO-

v ! w GRESSIVE CANADA.

■-f

k:. ^

Mr. Blake, at Berlin, referred to the effort to stir up race and
religious prejudices for the advantage of the Conservative party.
Continuing this theme, he said : —

I regret to find that here you are not exempt from other and
specit^l efforts of the same kind. While all the English are called

,. " -. <'^ • • , ' (6)

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161

question
if there
land the
tad been
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ir Hector
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tANADA —
IGAN

Irace and
re party.

Ither and
ire called

upon to unite against the French, while all the Protestants are
called upon to unite against the Catholics, while it is charged that
from an English and a Protestant point of view our institutions
are being threatened by the French and the Catholics, I find that
in the German paper called the Berlin Free Press a like course
has been adopted in

APPEALING TO THE GERMANS

of Canada. And I hold the Ministerial party to be directly re-
sponsible for its utterances, by which they profit, for this among
other reasons, because I understand that it owes the breath of its
life to the fact that the proprietor has secured from the Do-
minion Government, at the instance of the Tories of Waterloo, a
rich contract to print an immigration pamphlet — as a subsidy on
which to found the paper. That I believe to be the basis of the
F: ce I^reas. (Applause.) The Free Press, in a recent editorial
article, speaks to the Germans in their own tongue as follows : —

'^BUALIi THB OBRMANS IN CANADA ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BB SHAMBFULLY

TYRANIZBD OVER BY THB FRENCH i

"No people on the face of the earth are more ambitious, more aggreBsive,
' more overbearing, and more desirous of ruling over everybody than the French.
This is not a mere newspaper assertion, but a well-known historical fact. Even
at the present time history shudders when it relates the deeds of devastation
M hich the French perpetrated with the most refined cruelty over a hundred
years ago in the German districts of Alsace and Lorraine, yes, and in the en-
tire country watered by the Rhine. Napoleon I. wmt through all the coun-
tries of Europe, burning, plundering, and murdering everywhere, until at
last, on St. Helena's Island, his conquering spirit was subdued. In 1870
Napoleon III., with the most unheard of effrontery, declared war with Ger-
many, because that nation refused to dance while France was whistling.
These Frenchmen had forgotten how Germany wielded the sword in her wars
of freedom. In 1870 Germany was once more called upon to bring these
aggressive Frenchmen to their senses. They brought their barbarian Turks
and Zouaves from the wilds of Africa, and placed them against the honour-
able soldiers and children of Germany ; and the lesson administered to them
by Frederick the Great was repeated then. True, they were defeated, but
at what price — many thousands of Germany's noblest sons saturated the soil
of France with their blood, until these Frenchmen, humiliated to the dust,
acknowledged they were conquered, and humbly promised to remain peace-
ful. This was scarcely fifteen years ago, and again these Frenchmen are
howling for revenge and thirsting for blood. Everyone who is in any way
familiar with history knows what Germany has had to endure at the hands
of the French, who, in their aggressiveness, are ever ready to quarrel and
go to war. Everyone knows how much blood has been spilled in Germany,
and how much misery has been caused there through the French. Every
page of history shows that for centuries past France has been Germany's
greatest enemy — that the people of France bear Germany a boundless hatred,
and that their only desire is to destroy and annihilate them. Such is the
state of things across the ocean. But Germany does not fear France.

■'; -

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" A Frenchman remains the sarao all the world over. Everywhere he wants
to be master and tyrannize over others. A French'^an's ambition knows no
bounds ; he wants the whole world to be at his feet.

" Here in Canada just now they are at their old tricks. They want every-
thing to go as they desire it. They expect all other nationalities i-epresented
here to bow to their wishes. They want to be masters in Canada — Ens^lish-
men, Scotchmen, Irishmen, Germans, must be their obedient servants, and
humbly submit to all the demands of these French gentlemen,

'* Nov/, we ask you, Germans, did you leave the Fatherland and cross the
ocean to be the slaves of Quebec Frenchmen 1 We ask you, shall the Ger-
mans in Canada shamefully submit to be tyrannized over by the French in
Canada ? We say No ; with all the strength that lies within us, we say
No, and we trust that this No will find on echo in every German heart in
Canada."

A second article contains the following : —

" We would like to see the figure Parliament would cut if Mr. Kranz
were to address the House in German. Nevertheless the Frenchmen can
speak their own language in Parliament. They have acquired that right through
their sheer impudence. More than that, English-Canada annually pays
thousands of dollars to have all state papers and official documents printed
in French as well as in English. We have yet to see the first Canadian offi-
cial document printed in the German language, yet the French have every-
thing printed in their language at the expense of the country. Why ? Be-
cause they are shameless and aiygressive Frenchmen. Even their children are
educated iv the French language at the State's expense. • * • Why should
we produce more proof to show that the Quebec Frenchmen are acting as
though they were living in the heart of France ? They never give way to
anyone. They want everybody to submit to these lordly Frenchmen. "

A third article is entitled " How the Canadian Germans can
assist in checking the growing aggi'ession of the French Canadians,"
and from it I quote the following : —

•' The contest in Haldimand is being fought over Kiel. In other contests
important political or economic questions are introduced, but in Haldimand
it is Riel and nothing but Riel. The Frenchmen and their friends say the
Conservative party should not have allowed Riel to be hung ; the Conserva-
tives say, ' We could not do otherwise. The welfare of the country demand-
ed his death.' The electoru of Haldimand are now called uponi- decide
whether the Conservative party are to be defeated because they allowec Riel
to be hung, or whether the Frenchmen and their friends shall be defeated and
a check put to their aggressiveness. Since the Reformers have allied them-
selves to the Frenchmen thej' must accept the verdict which will be pronounced
upon them. Let him who approves of this French aggression, who is satisfied
to have the French rule and tyrannize over this countiy- -yes, and over us
Germans — If/t him, we sajr, vote for the Peform party. But let he who thinks
that the execution of Riel was just, he who ar^nts the French to have no
more power in Canada than tha English, Scotcli, or Germans, he who thinks
it ti me to check the overbearing ambition of the French, let him vote for the
Conservative party.

*'We write this regardless of party. But since the Reformers have allied
themselves to tne Frenchmen because that arch- scoundrel was hung, since
they both wish to make political capital out of Riel's execution, nothin;; re-

'L^r,

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A" ,-

163

mains for us Germans to do but to go with the Conservative party, to vote for
the Conservative candidates and say that Biel richly merited his death and
that we Germans will lot submit to French domination.

'*Whfcn the Reformers try to scare us Germans with Kiel's ghost and place
us under the yoke of the Quebec Frenchmen, then we must look to the Con-
servatives for help, and keep them in power in spite of these Frenchmen. If
the Frtnchmen think they can rule this land, we Germans must let them
know that we are here. The only thing to he considered is this:— If we want
to go with Kiel and the French then let us vote for the Reformers, but if we
would go against Riel and the French, then let us vote for the Conservatives.
We ask all the Canadian Germans in Haldimand, Welland, Waterloo, and
wherever they may be, to vote against Riel and the Frenchmen and for the
Conservative party. We Germans will not have French domination in
Canada. "

I want the public at large to know of these articles. I declare
that a more fiendish attempt to arouse long-buried animosities, and
to disturb the social relations of this mixed community, and

TO DESTROY THL POSSIBILITIES OF A PEACEFJL AND HARMONIOUS

PROGRESS

never has, so far as I know, occurred. (Cheers.) One of the
Grecian peoples in old days made a law and decree that the trophies
which were to be erected in memory of successful war should be
made of wood, because that was a perishable material, and that it
should be criminal for any to repair such a trophy. It was a wise
and a humane provision. But in this civilized and Christian age
the wrongs and bitterness of a contest waged near a century ago
and 4,000 miles away are to be brought across the water and re-
vived and reanimated to fill the minds of our peaceful, industrious,
law-abiding, law-loving, loyal, contented (German population with
hate against a very large proportion of the people of Canada, their
French fellow-citizens. (Cheers.) I can conceive of

NOTHING MORE NEFARIOUS

than this attempt. (Loud applause.) What have the Germans of
Ontario, many of whom are descended from the Pennsylvania
Dutch who emigrated so long ago, many of whom come from
Alsace, with its varied fortunes, many of whom come from Old
Germany, what, I say, have these in this new country to do with
the wars and losses of near a hundred years ago in Europe ?

Are they going to visit on the French of Canada, whose ances-
tors settled here ages before these lamentable events, the quarrels
in the time of the first Napoleon or of the third Napoleon between
France and Germany ?

jy ■

(6)

■f J" . If., I '

•' ■,' : '-•-'•'' ' •

It :

164

■I, /

.^'

;, HE IS A COMMON ENEMY WHO SEEKS TO DIVIDE CANADIAN

FROM CANADIAN

on such fjrounds, and to arouse by such language prejudice and
hate on the part of the Germans towards the French.

Is it Christian ? Is it in consonance with the doctrines of the
Gospel of peace, charity, and love that such an effort should be
made ? I denounce it as a public crime, and I call on all honest
men, on all Christian men, on all good citizens, on all who value
Canadian uniiy and the future of the land we love, to join in the
reprobation of these eftbrts. (Loud and long continued applause.)
And on you especially I call, inhabitants of Waterloo, whose histo-
ric name, though drawn from the scene of a great battle between
English, French, and Germans, no longer, thank God, sti's the
pulse of exultation on one side or of humiliation on ih- ' , uut
is associated with peaceful and prosperous progress hcic — on you
I call, to whom this wicked appeal has been so lately made, to
show your abhorrence of the act, and to prove to its authors tliat
you know your duty to our common country, and that, knowi g,
you will perform it to the full. (Great applause.)

- i

MALTREATMENT OF THE IISDIAiXS.

THE EFFECT OF THE STARVATION POLICY — FAMINE, DISFASE, AND
MISERY, AND DEATH — "CALLOUS AND CRUEL NEGLECT."

Mr. Blake, in his speech at Gait, said : —

" I have been amazed to see the statements made by Sir John
Macdonald and others with reference to the treatment of the In-
dians. For years the newspapers and the Parliamentary papers
have contained statements indicating the unha.ppy str.te of the In-
dians and the mismanagement of their affairs. For years we have
called attention to these. On loth April last Mr. M. C. Cameron,
M.P., brought forward in the House of Commons many of these
statements, official and otherwise, extending over a period of years
from 1879 onward, tending to show instances of cruel neglect and
mala dministration.

On lOtJi June last Sir John Macdonald declared that the evi-
dence in reply to Mr. Cameron had been obtained from the North-

I i. . i

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165

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IAN

.ce and

of the
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honest
lo value
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se histo-
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ASE, AND
ECT."

Sir John
)f the In-
jry papers
I of the In-
rs we have
. Cameron,
,y of these
0(1 of years
leglect and

tt the evi-
the North-

West, and had then been in his hands for some days, and that this
evidence, disproving the statements which he declared false, would
be printed and distributed to the members of the House and to
the electorate without delay. It has been further stated tliat a
commission would be appointed to investigate the whole question
of tiie

DEPARTMENTAL MANAGEMENT.

But there has been no publication of these exculpatory statements,
which have been in Sir John Macdonald's hands for many months,
nor has a commission issued to investigate into these affairs. And
now Sir John has made several speeches, in which he 1ms touched
upon Indian affairs. I find that at Belleville he said, as reported
in the Mail : —

*' When the buffalo became extinct the Covernment could not allow the red
men to starve, and although there was no treaty obligation, he, as Superin-
tendent-General of Indian Affairs, asked Parliament for a grant to feed them.
Sensational reporters, in the interest of t lie 0})po8ition, had gone among ihe
Indians and asked them if they were hungry — and an Indian, by the way, is
always hungry — and of course they said thtiy were starving, not meaning, as
the reporters thought, that they were in need of food, but that they were
tttarving for tobacco, or tea, or other luxuries. Grit speakers had used these
statements, and naturally he felt indignant at them. "

(Laughter.) At Winchester Springs he said : —

*' I am supposed to be rather a good -hearted old man, but if you believe
the attacks made on me by the Opposition press, I have starved out the
whole of the Indian population of the North- West. I have gone through
that country and have met the tribes, who have presented me with congratu-
latory messages, calling me their great father. I have charge of them as Sup-
erintendent-General of Indian Affairs. Every one of them would like to be
a little better than he is to-day, no doubt, but the Indians are the most
spoiled and petted people In the world. . . . Sometimes it did occur
that it «ras impossible for the contractors to supply fresh beef, and these poor
Indians had to take bacon instead. In Scotland and Ireland, and even in
England, many a poor farmer had to be satisfied with bacon or meat, not
every day, but perhaps two or three times a week, and yet the Government
was blamed because they did not provide fresh beefsteak for the Indians
every morning." (Laughter.)

At Belleville he said :— , ' ' v

' ' The Indians of that part of the Dominion (the N^orth-West), had not
only been well treated, but they had been spoiled."

Mr. Chapleau, in his speech at London, said : — '

• "Ask whether the Canadian Government has wrongly administered the
North- Wast, and they will say that the Canadian Government has treated
those territories as a good living father would treat his children. We have

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166

treated that part of the Dominion with the utmost care. If there is any
fault to be found with the Government iu that regard, it is perhaps that we
liave shown so much solicitude for its interests. "

Now, Mr. Chairman, ladies, and gentlemen, the Indian question
is a large one, with several branches. It includes the questions of
bad appointments, of official neglect, incompetency, and tyranny,
of wanton extravagance, of fraud, of unfit and inadequate sup-
plies, of breach of agreements, of gross immorality on the part of
Government officers and of starvation. I cannot deal with all
these questions to-night. I must omit reference to all but one,
to which I wish to call your attention. I wish to deal with the
question of the

■«-'•(

STARVATION OF THESE SPOILED, PETTED INDIANS,

whose only complaint was that they did not get their fresh beef-
steak every morning, and who were hungry only for tea, tobacco,
and other luxuries. (Applause.) A paper was brought down to
the House last session, comprising official correspondence, not, you
will observe, statements of missionaries or members of Council, or
others, whose evidence we are asked to ignore, but statements of
Government officials. From these reports I give you a few
extracts.

W. Anderson, Indian Agent, writes from Edmonton, April,
29th, 1882 :—

"From Victoria I shipped relief supplies to Whitefish Lake and Lac la
Biche, as Mr. Hardisty had a few days previously reported that tie Indians
at those places were starving, as the catch of fish had failed, and the early
frost of last year had ruined a part of their grain crop and caused the loss of
many potatoes by freezing them in the ground."

Commissioner Irvine writes from Fort Walsh on 23rd Sept.,
1882:—

■%f

"I have also to inform you that on my return from Qu'Appelle I found
some 2,000 Indians here. They are all in a starving and wretched condition
for want of clothing .... In the present starving conrlition of the
Indians I fear, if no food is given them, that they may hereafter commit
depredations which will bring them into collision with the force."

'* - »

Inspector Norman writes from Fort Walsh on 2nd October,

1882:—

t • .1 ' ' • / '

"There are at present three hundred lodges of Cree Indians camped here.
These lodges average about eight souls, making a total of about 2,400 souls.
They are in an utter state of destitution, and are merely existing in a semi*
state of starvation."

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167

Comptroller White telegraphs, under date of October 19tb,
1882 :—

■ ( . to. • ■ ,

" Over two thousand Indians here almost naked and on the verge of
starvation. Weather cold and snow on ground. Have been among them for
two days. Am satisfied many will perish unless early assistance rendered. "

It is contended indeed that these Indians were properly starved
because they had gone to Fort Walsh after being told that they
would not be paid there, but on their reserves.

■ti

I DO NOT AGREE THAT THIS IS A REASON FOR STARVING THEM.

It is to be remembered that starvation inflicts the penalty on the
wives and children, as well as on the man ; indeed, it is mainly
on the wives and children that it falls, and I confess it is repug-
nant to my sense of humanity to agree to a policy of starving a
tribe for such a reason.

As I stated in Parliament, I do not believe in torture by famine.

But the Indian men were not so much to blame. They had
been accustomed to resort to Fort Walsh. They were, I suppose,
told that Fort Walsh was to be abandoned, and therefore they
were to be paid elsewhere.

But Fort Walsh was not abandoned ; the purpose was changed,
and. Fort Walsh being retained, not unnaturally the Indians sup-

fosed they were to continue the custom. In support of this view,
quote Commissioner Dewdney's letter to Colonel Irvine, of 27th
October, 1882 :—

'* I think it is very unfortunate that the post at Fort Walsh had not been
abandoned this summer, as agreed upon last winter in Ottawa. The Indians
will not now believe that the post is to be abandoned, and we will have con-
siderable difficulty in inducing them to leave I trust that

you will recollect that over and over again you have been instructed to inform
the Indians that the payments would not be made, neither would the Indians
be fed, at Fort Walsh. This was done in anticipation of the post being
abandoned, as agreed upon."

Inspector Norman wrote on 1st February, 1885 : —

" I have informed Surgbon Miller that it is not in my power to increase the
quantity of food to the Indians, as my instructions from the Indian Commis-
sioner are to keep the Indiana at Fort Walsh on 'starvation allowance.' "

Dr. Edwards wrote on February 7th, 1884, and, mark you, this
was with reference to Indians on their reserve, not to those
away : — . . ?

*' In Piapot's camp I prescribed for 35 and in the Assiniboine camp for 37
Indians, in all 72, suffering from phthisis, bronchitis, hemorrhage from the

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lungs, dyseutery, etc., ote., and starvation, if the last can be recorded as a
disease. 1 find that in the last three monchs 13 deaths have taken place in
each reserve, in all 26, a very heavy death rate ; and, from all I can gather,
death has been accelerated, if nut immediately caused, by the

SCANT SUPPLY OF POOD '

served out to these Indiana. At the present time this condition of starvation
is more evident among the Crees, as the Assiniboines have lately obtained
supplies for cutting wood. I saw several children in the Assiniboiiie camp
worn and wasted, and unless properly fed must die in a few days. The old
Medicine Man asked me if I could give him some medicine to have by him
that would be helpful when the Indians fainted, as from their scanty rations
many of them suffer in that way. It may not come within ray province to
report this condition of starvation, but I am well satisfied that if they were
sufficiently fed there would bo less tendency to illness among them. I may
also add that from the way they have been allowed to starve a firm determi-
nation was expressed by both Piapot and Jack that as soon as they could
travel they would forsake the reserve and go west again. ... Of course
a fatal termination is accelerated when they are not sufliciently fed."

Agent McDonald wrote from Indian Head, 20th February,
1884 ;—

** What the chief and a few of the leading Indians said was that the cause
of their present illness was from accidents met with years bad;. The want
of fresh meat has reduced them to a semi-state of starvation ; while in
their weak state they are unable to eat bacon. • • • Little Blanket, head
man, knows he is dying. He knows it is not through starvation, but thinks
if he had a little fresh meat, tea and sugar, he would last longer.
Long Lodge informed me that it was not the want of food, in the first
place, that has laid prostrate several of our Indians ; it was sickness, bxit had
fresh meat, tea and sugar been issued to them while ill they would not be so
low. They would have been well before this, and going about. Those who
are sick are not able to eat bacon. Babbits we cannot get, as we have no am-
munition. * ' ' A young man from the chief's hut looks as if he was
starving. I got them to take off his clothes. I must confess he looked like
a skeleton, and I would have supposed the cause was the want of food, had I
not seen bacon and bannocks in the hut, and the father and mother in very
healthy condition. I had. a piece of bannock sliced and roasted in front of
the fire, and a little bacon grease spread over it. The poor lad seemed to
relish it. * * * The chief • ' * cannot say what the Indians who
have horses will do in the ^^pring, if not better fed than at present, and
particularly when spring work commences. He fears many will move off to
live on game. ' ' ' From inquiries and what I have seen I am of the
opinion that the present miserable state of some of the Indians at the In-
dian Head Reserve is, in the first place, through the neglect of relatives and
friends, their not being properly nursed when they first fell ill ; and, secondly,
from the want of more nourishing or palatable food than bacon.
While at Piapot's he told me a young man from the Assiniboine camp called
on the evening of the 14th inst. , and reported that Mr. Thompson had been
on their reserve and told his chief that he heard ' the Reader ' say : —
Never mind, there are a great many Indians yet on the earth. When spring
comes we will make it sharp for the white man." > v.

'.*'

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169

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len spring

Then there are statementa quoted by Mr. Cameron, covering,
as I said, a period of years. From these I extract a few, only
those of the officials, omitting all reference to the other important
evidence.

Commissioner Irvine says, speaking of a band : —

"For a considerable time they made no demands for aid from the Gov*
ernment, but as the cold weather came on, being very poorly clad, and in-
sufficiently supplied with food, they experienced much hardship from ex-
posure and starvation. "

Mr. Herchmer, speaking of the Sioux bands, says : —

" A great deal of sickness has visited them lately, owing to the want of fresh
meat. "

W. Pocklington, speaking of the Stoney Indians, says : —

" During last winter there was a great deal of distress among them for
want of clothing, many of them not having a blanket to cover their naked-
ness."

Commissioner McLeod says : —

" I have experi(>nced great difficulty with the distress and suffering, appli-
cations for relief being constantly made to me by the starving bands of In-
dians. "

Again the Commissioner says : —

''A Stoney Mountain Indian and his family have been without food for
many days."

Superintendent Walsh, in his report says : —

" Hunger and suffering prevailed. In some places persons became so re-
duced as to be unable to help themselves. The want of food followed by dis-
ease caused an epidemic, which marked its results by the many graves now
to be seen in Wood Mountain."

Mr. Herchmer says in his report : — . „

• ** During the winter I visited the Pas reserves a number of times, and
witnessed the actual condition of the Indians. For three months, from Janu-
ary to March — many of those in the Pas Birch River and Pas Mountains suf-
fered keenly. It was impossible to supply food as it was actually needed, for
there was no sufficient in the district."

Mr. Pocklington, in his report, says : —

JCl

" In January, while visiting the Piegan reserve, I received a letter from
Lieut.-Col. McLeod that 75 Stoneys were in Pincher Creek in a starving con-
dition. I started for their camp at once, rnd found them in reality starving,
except for assistance given them by Col. McLeod and other residents."

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Mr. Wadsworth, the Superintendent, says : —

" The flour and bacon received as supplies were bad, and the flour received
^y the Indians at«Battleford had become lumpy."

Mr. Wadsworth, speaking of the Indians of the Sekaskoots,
says : —

" I could get no account of the supplies sent in by the contractors or the
Government."

He further says : —

** The flour received by those Indians only averaged 93 pounds per sack."

Again, speaking of Poundmaker's band, he says : —

" The flour was inferior and of light weight."

Mr. Herchmer, in his report, says : —

*' A great deal of sickness has visited them lately, owing to the want of
fresh meat. The Indians under treaty received in 1884-5 $15,290.92 worth
of pork, and $1,288.45 worth of beef, although it is known that beef is life to
the Indian, while salt pork is disease and death to him."

And again he says : — ' '

*'At Oak Biver, 11 men have died out of 88 heads of families, and 17
children under three years old. This is very distressing, and is hard to ac-
count for — the change of diet, owing to the failure of hunting, and scrofula,
being probably the cause. '*

And so, gentlemen, year after year starvation shows its ghastly
face. And yet we are told by the First Minister, who is also
Superintendent- General of Indian Affairs, that the Indians have
been only too well treated ; that they have been petted and spoil-
ed ; that it was only for luxuries they craved ; and that it was
only the want of the daily fresh beefsteak for breakfast of which
they had to complain. (Loud and prolonged cheering.)

SOME EXPLANATIONS AT ORANGEVILLE.

At Orangeville Mr. Blake, after some preliminary remarks,
said : — I value the previlege of discussing public affairs before ,

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171

these great gatherings of my fellow countrymen and women;
and I recognize the attendant responsibility. It is my aim, as it
is my duty, to state to you

, THE TRUTH AS I HAVE RECEIVED IT, <

to give you what, in my judgment and conscience, are accurate
statements of fact, and just inferences from those statements ; to
lead aright, and not astray, those whom I am permitted to aftect
by my words. Now I take the very earliest opportunity of
making reference to some criticisms which I have seen to-day on
my recent speech in Gait on one branch of Sir John Macdonald's
Indian policy. I pointed out that he was declaring in Ontario
that the Indians in the North- West were spoiled and petted, that
they were " starving " only for luxuries, as tea and tobacco, and
that their complaint was that they did not get a fresh beefsteak
every day for breakfast. I declared that, laying aside for the
moment all other evidence, however weighty, the official papers
lamentably disproved this statement, and established that num-
bers of the Indians had been exposed to starvation. I proceeded
to the proof. The first and gravest and mdst detailed proof's T
gave were from original documents supplied to me, and from which
I gave, on my own responsibility, lengthy extracts. They dealt
mainly with the condition at Fort Walsh and at Indian Head. They
of themselves amply justified my declaration. I proceeded then
to give a number of brief extracts as quoted by Mr. M. C. Cam-
eron, M.P., in a speech he made in Parliament last session. These
quotations, I informed my audience, I made from that speech,
which I gave as my authority. It was ample authority. It had
been made in Parliament, and though we sat for about two months
afterwards the accuracy of the quotations which I drew from it
was not, so far as I had observed, denied. It had been made in
April la^t, and, so far as I had observed, the accuracy of these
quotations had not been up to this time denied by the press. It
had been made by ,

AN ABLE AND PAINSTAKING PUBLIC MAN

on whose care and thoroughness the Liberal party had, as we
have to-day, implicit confidence. I am glad to notice that the
Hamilton Spectator uses this language to me : —

There are few men in Canada who believe that you would intentionally
make a statement you do not believe to be true. The Spectator holds that
you would not do so ; and that if you do make an incorrect statement through
inaccurate or insufficient information, or through error of judgment, you
will, on presentation of proper evidence that you are wrong, make public

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172

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, >v

correction of the error. Yoii are a public and a busy man. You are accus-
tomed to cover a great deal of ground in your public addresses, and it is
impossible you should be able to verify for yourself every quotation you use,
and every occurrence you cite.

But 1 w it is alleged that a number of Mr. Cameron's quota-
tions ai' ^ inaccuiate and untrue ; some of them are alleged to be
very g v. /ely inaccurate; others, so far as I can judge, not mate-
rially s > I conjecture as to one or two cases that Mr. Cameron's
own re larks must have been erroneously printed in the report
of his speech as quotations. But on this, as on the rest, I am
uninformed. I leave to Mr. Cameron the task which properly
belongs to him, of answering these charges and vindicating the
propriety of his conduct ; and I believe that he will in due time
satisfactorily establish or ex[>lain his position. I have neither
the time, nor the right, nor the means, nor the inclination, to
enter into that controversy. This being so, I feel bound to ask
you to eliminate from the discussion meantime any of Mr. Cam-
eron's quotations, wliose substantial accuracy has been challenged ;
and 2 am quite content to rest my case on the extracts made on
my own responsibility, and on the unchallenged extracts of Mr.
Cameron. I grieve to say '

THEY ABUNDANTLY PROVE MY PO.SITION,

and furnish a shocking contrast between Sir John Macdonald's
Indian policy, as exemplified by the official documents, and his
policy as stated in his late speeches, between the actual starving
condition of many of these poor Indians, and the glowing picture
of their state which he lately gave to his audiences in Ontario.
(Applause.) t . .

EFFECT OF III4LADMIIVI8TR4TION AT CUT KNIFE.

USELESS MOUNTAIN GUNS.

In the course of a speech at Pembroke, dealing with North-
West maladministration and the rebellion, Mr. Bl vke said : — You
recollect the excitement into which we were all plunged by the
war, and the solicitude wit'i which we followed the movements of
our gallant Volunteers in the field. You recollect, among other
stirring incidents, the » •

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173

ATTACK UPON POUNDMAKER

at Cut Knife. That was an advance by the Volunteers upon an
Indian post, a movement in which the Indians had, in some
respects, decided advantages. 1 have always hold that the duty
laid upon us of makiny ample preparations to repress an Indian
rising — an ever-present possibility — included the obligation to
place ourselves in a predominant ])Osition, so far as arms and
munitions, and the resource of modern warfare could effect that
result ; and that we should demonstrate to the savage tribes our
power, so as to excite a wholesome dread of our resources, thus at
once doing our best to prevent a rising, and, if unhappily our
efforts should be in vain, doing our best to secure a favourable
issue to the rising. In this vietv, luhen a nicmhcr of the late
Government, I suggested that we should procure some of the light
mountain guns suitable to the country avd the conditions, so as
to be ready lor emergencies, and also that we should direct that
at the great assemblages of the tribes for tieaty ])ayments and so
forth, an opportunity should be taken by the Mounted Police to
perform drill and piactice with this artillery, so that the Indians
might see our predominance in this respect and be wholesomely
alarmed. The guns were bought and were, I believe, used in
the way proposed and with very excellent and pacific effects.
At length came the time to use them in the field. The day of
Cut Knife came. Our youn^- men were gathered together and
sent forth on their dreadful errand. In tj)at affair our main
dependence was the guns. The Indians whom we were about to
attack were on their own ground. They had the advantage of
position. Tiey were skilled in their own style of warfare, and
they wcie trained to figl.t under cover and behind trees. Our
superiority lay in the guns. We brought into action a Gatling
gun and two of these < -pounder mountain guns of the Mounted
Police ; and they rightly constituted the very centre of our attack,
the Gatling gun in the middle with a 7-pounder on either
side ; and the force was marshalled on either side and behind
these guns. Very early in the engagement onk of the

MOUNTAIN GUNS WAS DISABLKD BY THE CARRIAGE BREAKING, and

SO it was practically out of the fight. Not long afterwards the
other gun became similarly disabled. The troops thus lost their
great advantage; it became advisable to retire, and they did
retire, having been exposed, both in the fight and in the retreat,
to danger and loss, and having failed to reap the expected
advantage through the failure of the guns. Let me prove my
statement by an authority which I suppose my Tory friends will
still respect a little. Here is the account given in the Mail of the
affair : —

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" Col. Otter had intended advancing right in upon the tepees to the fronts
but one of the 7-pounder8 was disabled by the breaking of the gun carriage^
and it was not deemed advisable to push on. As a matter of fact, our small
arms were not of much use, the two guns being our principal reliance. The
Gatling did good work in clearing the groves and clumps, but the moment
the enemy dropped down into the coulees it was of little more use than our
rifles. The shrapnel of '*B" Battery did most of the damage, and the
disabling of one of the guns was, under such circumstances, a serious
misfortune."

h Again the Mail, on the 19th May, publishes the following
further account : — .,, >i, -i . .- ., -: ^ • • -•

^ :;N

if.

" At last it seemed as though the ammunition of the Indians was being
exhausted, and Col. Otter decided on makinc a rush to the tepees and burn-
ing the whole encampment. There were just two courses open to him,
namely, either to withdraw his troops or make a grand rush for their camp,
but here fate settled the question. The trail of one of the 7-pounders broke
as the gun was discharged, rendering it, of course, useless. The other was
cracked some time before, and had been strengthenec* by a piece of 2-inch
oak, which was bolted on the lower side. But the constant firing had
loosened this, and every time the gun was discharged it jumped out of the
trunnion holes. In fact, it was a race between the gun and the gunners.
The former jumped back every time it was discharged, and the latter had to
follow it and carry it back to its place again. It would have been folly to
attempt tc destroy the tepees without the guns, and so Col. Otter decided on
withdrawing."

• • f » I - 1 (

L . ' •' J* A V I

Now, gentlemen, that is the statement. I think I have proved
to you the importahce of the guns, that they were our main
dependence, that

^-^i.\

WE FAILED OF VICTORY,

were forced to retire, and ran serious risks of grave disaster bv
reason of these failures. But some Conservative may say :
" What ? Do you mean to blame the Government, the people
at Ottawa, so far away, because there was a failure in two gun
carriages ? That would be a most outrageous thing to do. If you
could show they knew of their condition, and were responsible
for it, it would be different." Perhaps it may seem so to some,
but I must say I think the Government is called, under the
circumstances, to explain how it was that the carriages were m
this condition, and to show that they were not to blame. My
Tory friend, however, may say : " Oh ! it was an inevitable mis-
fortune ; these accidents will happen even to the best regulated
guns." Well, we will see. I am not going to ask you to rest
your opinion upon inference, or upon conjecture or probability, or
upon the want of explanation, or upon anything else than the
official reports brought down by the Ministers themselves, and

176

e fronts
larriage,
tr Bniall
e. The
moment
han our
and the
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llowing

r'as being
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er had to
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ible mis-
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and

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OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS

1 will prove their culpability. On 1st February, 1882 — mark
you, this engagement took place on 6th May, 1885 — on Ist
February, 1882, Commissioner Irvine, of the Mounted Police, sent
a report to the Minister in these words: —

" The carriages and limbers for the 7-pounder guns are fast becoming un-
serviceable. These carriages were constructed at Fort Walsh some years ago,
under the direction of Inspector Neale. Considering the material at thai
officer's command, the carriases and limbers have proved most successful. 1
•would, however, recommend that new ones be purchased, of the pattern
lately aproved by the Imperial authorities."

Bo that, you see, the minister knew then that the carriages and
limbers were fast becoming unserviceable, and that they should
be renewed. The Indian population was discontented. No one
knew when they might rise ; the matter pressed, but nothing was
done ; the new material was not supplied, and the guns were left
in their deplorable condition. A year elapsed. On 1st January,
1883, Commissioner Irvine reports again : — ' 'T

" I would remind you that the carriages and limbers of the 7-pounder
mountain guns are fast becoming unserviceable. 1 recommend that new
ones be purchased, of the pattern lately approved by the Imperial author-
ities."

The reminder was inefTectual. Some inquiry seems to have
been made about cost, but nothing was done. Another year of
risk was run.

On ther 1st January, 1884, the Commissioner reported for the
third time, as follows : —

" I have previouslv reported that the carriages and limbers of the
7-pounder guns are vurtually unserviceable — "

So that it is stated now that they are virtually unserviceable,
as indeed one Aould infer from the previous language used in the
mild sense customary in speaking of a condition of a military force.

" — are virtually unserviceable, and last year I recommended that carriagns
and limbers of the Imperial patt^pi be purchased. On close inquiry it waa
ascertained that such purchase would have jntailed a very considerable ex-
pense. Carriages and limbers suitable for our purposes can be manufac-
tured in this country at much smaller cost than would ensue were a purchase
made from England. The supply officer at headquarters has now the required
material for manufacture, and I trust that next summer may find us in pos-
session of sufficient skilled labour to make carriages and limbers in this
oonntry."

, ■ # , , . „ . ""'■'■,

" ' - ' (6)

* »■

^mf

.;i'

,176 ..

Another year elapsed — ^yes, and four months of the fourth year —
but, so far as we can find, ' ^ ^

NOTHING WAR DONK. ..J .^r^tt.

For all this time the Minister had known that the carriages and
limbers for these guns were unserviceable ; he had kn )wn that
the Indians mi^ht rise at any moment, yet he had not remedied
the defects, and in the end he sent our gallant volunteers into
action with these unserviceable carriages, creating these serious re-
sults, with all the more serious possibilities which you con perceive.
On his head I place the consequences which did ensue, and the
danger of the infinitely more disastrous consequences which might
have ensued from one of the clearest cases of administrative in-
capacity and neglect it has ever been my lot to notice. That
Minister is Sir John Macdonald. (Loud and prolonged cheers.)
And, mark you, this is but a san:ple. I could proceed from one
topic to another ; I could take the North-West Militia manage-
ment ; the Indian management ; the Half-breed management, in
divers flagrant instances ; the white settlers' management. I
could go from branch to branch, from department to department,
and cull instances of glaring neglect, productive of great evils
(Cheers.)

(6)

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Business Principles Required in Pnblic Administration.

DEGRADATION OF PARLIAMENTS TO TORY REGIS-
TERING MACHINES.

-A.Ra-TJ3i.d:E13SrTS OJff* the HEEXiS-

A FEW BOODLERS.

At Kendall, Mr. Biake said : — I have often wished that the
people would learn to look upon politics with those same eyes with
which they look upon their every-day business affairs, and I think
that if they did, and if they applied to politics the same practical
common sense which they use when dealing with their private busi-
ness, they would demand of Ministers a different method of con-
ducting public affairs from that now followed, and different results
from those now obtained. There exists amongst us, in dealing
with politics, altogether too much of two things — first, a disposi-
tion to believe that politics ought to and must be handled upon
other principles and by other methods than those adopted or per-
mitted in private affairs. The next thing is — ^and I am not now con-
sidering whether one side is more blamable than the other, though
I do not^conceal from you that I think that this is so — a tendency
to look at public questions entirely through the party spectacles ;
to judge of 'proposals according to the name of the man who
makes them, instead of the merit of the proposal ; to regard poli-
tics as an instrument for the advancement of party, instead of re-
garding party as only a means for the advancement of the political
interests of the State. When shall the day come in which we ap-
proach the decision of a political question on its merits and w'^^^h
a view to reach the very truth and justice of the case ? That day
will be - ^

A BRIGHT ONE FOR THE LIBERAL PARTV. / !

Now, in a business community like ours, where few of our repre-
sentatives are able to live without engaging in some occupation,
parliamentary business will be the better done the less its man-

■...--.- '• :- ..^ - ■ • . ■.'... .,,.(7)

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178

agement conflicts with the livelihoods of the members. The ^eat
bulk of our general business is crowded into a few months of the
year; and so our Parliament ought, as we Liberals have long con-
tended, to meet very early, immediately after the New Year.
Meeting early, we should get to work at once, and make substan-
tial progress in great part of the business during the first two
months of the session, instead of idling at the beginning and leav-
ing the mass of matters to be taken up towards the close, when we
feel that we must rush through it to get back to our own concerns.
Government measures should be brought down early so that the
members may have full time to examine and consider them, and so
that you may have time to perform your part in the work of cur-
rent legislation. For I have always contended that amongst a
democratic people like ours the duty of the peo|)le at large in
politics is not confined to the excitement of an elec'Jon campaign,
or to the casting of their votes. You have

A CURRENT DUTY TO PERFORM

in the interval, of watching your representatives as they deal with
the public business, of forming opinions upon the measures pro-
posed, and of indicating to your representatives the state of public
opinion, and thus assisting to mould the legislation of the country.
But you are now practically deprived of that right, and we of that
advantage, because the measures are brought down so late, and are
pressed through so fast that oftentimes before the weekly paper
stating the proposals reaches your homes, before you have digested
the measure, before you have formed opinions, before you have had
a chance of communicating your opinions to your representatives,
the measure has passed practically beyond recall. The present me-
thods also lead to this result, that the functions and powers of inde-
pendent members are very greatly curtailed, and that Parliament
is becoming more and more what it ought not to be, a simple
register of the views of those who happen to be in the Ministry
and to have a majority for the time being. Therelbre, those who
favour popular rights, who believe that Parliament should be
really the expression of the best mind and maturest opinions of
the people, ought to regard as truly pressing and practical this
question of the conduct of the business of Parliament. If Parlia-
ment is to be a body effectually deliberating and deciding on the
propriety of measures, and not a mere

MACHINE FOR REGISTERING THE OPINIONS OF A GOVERNMENT,

some change must be made. Our rules indeed provide for certain
delays and stages in the passing of bills, but the mere observance

1.79

great
of the
igcon- .
Year,
bstan-
ii two
i leav-
tien we
ncerns.
tiat the
, and so
of cur-
)ngst a
arge in
oapaign.

eal with
res pro-
3f public
country,
e of that
I, and are
ly paper
digested
lavc had
sntatives,
isent me-
of inde-
rliament
a simple
jMinistry
lose who
ould be
inions of
Itical this
;f Parlia-
ig on the

INMENT,

)r certain
)servance

of the letter of the law in this respect is not enough. It is pro-
vided that bills shall not be passed all at one'sweep. They are
introduced and read the first time, and after that stage there ought
to be an interval for examination and discussion, and for getting the
views of those in the country who are interested. Then comes the
second reading, when the principle of the measure is either affirm-
ed or rejected ; then it is referred to Committee of the Whole
House, where, after a further interval, the details should be dis-
cussed ; and then, after a last delay, the third reading should take
place, and at 6,11 these stages it is provided that the bill shall be
open for debate and discussion. But if all these stages are taken
one after the other as fast as the letter of the rules permit, the
form, it is true, is observed, but the substance, the purpose for
which the rules were intended, is wholly disregarded. I wish you
could see the way we do your business towards the end of the
session. We begin in the morning when the Committees of the
House meet, and there we remain until one or half-past one
o'clock. Then in the afternoon at three the House meets, and
there we remain until perhaps three or four, sometimes five or six,
in the morning, and we are back again at ten to the work of the
committees, and so we go at the rate of a hunt instead of having
time to consider and discuss the great public questions which come
before us. That is not the way to reach sound conclusions, or to
learn or express the n atured opinion of the country. We pass
bills with great speed and without due consideration, and the
consequence is that we spend much time in

AMENDING AND PATCHING THE BlfXB

of previous sessions. Our mistaken are not found out until the
law comes to be practically applied, and when these mistakes are
found out we go to work in the same hurried fashion to try to
amend them, and so on from session to session. Let me give you
one very striking instance of the rate at which we vote the money
to be placed at the disposal of the Government out of the public
resources. The stage at which we get the final explanations, for-
mulate objections, move amendments, and take the sense of the
House is called concurrence. Well, last session we took concurrence
in somewhere about $33,000,000 of money in an hour and a half,
or at the rate of over $ij,000 a second. One of ray friends was
audacious enough to interpose an objection respecting some par-
ticular vote. He spoke for perhaps a minute, and he was imme-
diately met with ,. ,,. ,. r ,; ; . -
HOWLS FROM THE OTHER SIDE

of the House, and by the declaration that he was obstructing the
business and wasting the time of Parliament. That is a course of

J^I f :i

180

public business which I regaxvi as in the highest degree unsatis-
factory. If the aise were wholly exceptional I would not trouble
you with it, but the difficulty is, as I say, a growing one, and
unless the attention of the people is directed to it, and unless both
sides agree to bring pressure to bear upon the leaders of the House
to call Parliament together early, and to have the business ready
early and brought down and proceeded with in good time, these
evils will continue and grow worse, if worse be possible. (Applause.)
If you could pay us that visit which I proposed, you who sympa-
thize with the views of the Opposition would see partly how it is
that in spite of the weight of reason and the force of argument,
we are yet beaten in the vote. You would see that our arguments
are too often met with counter

> ARQUMEKTS OF THE HEELS,

and not of the head, that our voices are drowned by the scraping
of desks and other noises, and so the vote s taken. I am sure
that many of you who are opposed to us, could you see how atfairs
are conducted at Ottawa, would come away with other politics.
(Applause.)

After referring to other matters, Mr. Blake spoke briefly res-
pecting the

INDEPENDENCE OF PARLIAMENT,

as affected by grants to railways in which members of Parliament
were interested. He proceeded : —

I have already given some instances. There is another instance
which I have not detailed elsewhere, the facts of which came
to my knowledge only recently. The charter for the Ottawa,
Washington and New York Railway Company was obtained by
a gentleman (not in Parliament) named Keefer, who was the chief
promoter and mainspring of the enterprise. It is the fashion to
give value to these charters by securing public subsidies. In
order to give value to this charter a public subsidy was felt to be
necessary. Dr. Hickey, the member for Dundas, was approached.
He was ^iven some stock ; he was given a seat at the Board ; he
was made the President of the Company, so that they might
obtain the proper power to work the Governmental machine, so as
to produce a subsidy. Dr. Hickey, M.P., presenting the merits of
an enterprise which boasted of his presidency,

A BONUS WAS EASILY OBTAINED.

from the Government, and voted by Parliament. By that means
value was given to the charter ; for the charter by itself simply
gave authority to build and work the road, and if it had remained

\ ■• : -^ -■.. .■:•• ■■ , (t)

181

isatis-
•ouble
), and
3 both
House
ready
, these
ilause.)
lympa-
iw it is
ument,
uments

craping
iiu sure
V atfairs
politics.

efiy res-

without a bonus, those who promoted it would have had to find
persons who had confidence enough in tlie scheme to give money
or backing enough to build it. But when $3,200 a mile was given
as a free grant, of coui*se that at once gave vahie to the enterprise,
and was a great additional inducement to capitalists to enter upon
the scheme. They got the village of Morrisburg to take $10,000
of stock, of which $1,000 was paid up. The company did hardly
anything at all. The $1,000 given in cash by Morrisburg would
pay for all they did. Hut they did not expect to do any work
themselves, or to build the road themselves. The v simply expected
to sell out the charter and the bonus at a great profit to those wlio
would build the road. How <lo 1 show that? By stating that the
President, Dr. Hickey, the member for Dundas, prepared a pro-
posal for some New York capitalists to sell the charter in the
form of contracting for construction. The very first provision of
this proposal was that the company must have $15,000 paid to
the order of the President, Dr. Hickey, to pay for bonds and other
honourable engagements. Geneially that is not the way in which
contracts are made. It' you were letting a contract to build a
barn or a house you would expect to pay the contractor something
for the work you bound him to do, but

THESE BONUS HUNTERS AND CHARTER SELLERS '

rliament

instance
Ich came
Ottawa,
lined by
Ithe chief
jhion to
ies. lu
■elt to be
broached,
jard ; he
sy might
line, so as
Imerits of

[at means
If simply
[remained

demand that the men who are to do the work shall pay them
something, and so the very first provision is that the contractors
shall pay them $15,000. It would be rather interesting to know
what the " honourable engagements" were. Perhaps at a later
day I may communicate to you what they were, but at present I
say nothing. The fourth provision is that the existing corporators
must retain a majority of the board (which consists of seven) to
protect their interests — (hear, hear, and laughter) — they binding
themselves not to interfere with financial arrangements, or thoy
will bind themselves to ^ive the contractors a majority on all
money outlay respecting the construction of the road and bridges.
When the road is built this may lapse, if desired. Then they de-
mand that $50,000 shall be deposited in the bank as a guarantee
of good faith, which will be forfeited to the President and Board
of Directors in the name of the President, C. E. Hickey, if the
conditions of the agreement are forfeited. In the seventh clause,
they agree to give the contractors two-thirds of the entire stock
of $1,500,000, so that they would still retain $500,000 of stock,
the contractors getting $1,000,000. Then they agree to give all
the bonds and bonuses, together with any bonuses they may get
hereafter, and the balance due on the Morrisburg stock, $9,000.
Then comes the tenth, the last provision, which is like unto the

' {

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• -182 ■■ :

first. They want a liberal bonus in bonds of the first issue or cash
for the seven promoters of the road for labour expended and good
will. (Laughter.) The labour expended was

'' MAINLY IN GETTING A SUBSIDY

to be paid out of your taxes, and the good-will is in their willing-
ness to get more. So that they want $15,000 in cash, $500,000
in stock, and a liberal bonus in first mortgage bonds or cash as
the price of their position. I am not now discussing the propriety
of promoters of railway charters — though I confess I haven't much
confidence in the breed — (laughter) — trying to make the best
bargain they can. What I do object to is members of Parliament,
who are called upon to say whether it is in the public interest
that public money should be voted to certain railway companies,
who are called on to decide oh the general legislation of the
country, having private interests in those companies and personal
relations with the Government, which must conflict with their
public duty. (Applause.) This system is altogether a grand
scheme for animating with additional fervour large numbers of
Government supporters by the consideration that they are to make

f)rofit by that support through the establishment of improper re-
ations with the treasury. And as a matter of fact the result is
that what we give out of your taxes to build a road is very largely
diverted to line the pockets of members who become promoters of
the work and who build the road or sell out the charters to others.
I call on you to judge whether this sort of transaction should be
allowed. C^heers.)

1 I

CITIL SERVICE REFORM.

ABUSES OP THE TORY SYSTEM — SUPPER^NNUATION AND FRAUDS —
WHAT THE LIBERALS PROPOSE.

The following ia a report of that part of Hon. Edward Blake's
speech at Hampton, which relates to Civil Service Reform : —
Now, gentlemen, I said I would advert in detail to one or two
points, respecting which we contend for reforms. I have referred

to the '•■IK;tf/-nii :>•';■'■- y...-"i.-,, I,--:., f ' i'|'> ■■ • 'V-ijj.' ; '

' ENORMOUSLY increased EXPENDITURE \

for inside salaries and contingencies, and for superannuation for
the Civil Service, swollen from $930,000 in 1878 to $1,340,000 in
1885, but that is not the only question which presses here. The

...... ■ . . ' .■ (7)

183

FRAUDS —

outside and inside Civil Service is now composed of several
thousand persons, who are paid out of our taxes, and do our
public work ; the efficiency of the service is of great importance ;
and to tlie method of admission to that service the Reform party
object. The system involves what is called a qualifying examina-
tion. The standard is very low. The examination may very
easily be passed by a great dunce, and therefore it is no test of
efficiency, and a great many do pass it. There are now, I believe,
about two thousand who have passed the examination, but yet
linger outside the gates of Paradise waiting to obtain entrance
into the Civil Seivice. (Laughter.) These people are, after all,
dependent for their admission upon political influence and favour,
instead of merit. A vast number are waiting, from whom the
Minister may choose, and he generally selects tiie person who is
pressed most strongly upon his attention by political supporters,
and not the person best fitted for the service. (Cheers.) You
ask what I would propose. My idea is that we should adopt in
principle the Englisn system under which

COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS '

take place. The candidates, besides being required to exceed a
certain qualifying minimum, are rated according to their relative
proficiency in the subjects of examination. Certificates of charac-
ter, conduct, and health should be, of course, required, because it
is not enough that a man should pass an examination. The
person who comes out first has the first chance, and he is taken
into the office on probation for six months. That is perfectly fair
and right, for many a man will pass an excellent examination
who may be utterly unfit to till an office. (Applause.) He may
have defects of temper, conduct, habits, manner, incompatible with
the proper discharge of his duty. If, at the end of the term of
trial, he is found suitable, he is permanently appointed. If he
fails, the next man on the examination gets his trial, and so on.
Political patronage,

THE VICIOUS ELEMENT,

is thus struck out of the calculation ; each man has a fair oppoi-
tunity, and the person who proves his fitness gets the appointment.
That is a very much more satisfactory system than the one in use
with us. (Applause.) Then with reference to promotion. We
ought to apply much more fully tiian we do the principle of
'= '• '• 1 •.;

PROMOTION BY MERIT.

". »

If you want zealous, willing, able service, you should hold out
reasonable expectations that such service will secure promotions

i*>I JJ I

. . , 1 84 '

y •

to the higher places, the prizes of the service. Unfortunately the
system is growing of giving these prizes to worn-out political
hacks «vho cannot earn an honest living. This position is hold to
create a " claim " upon the best places in the service, while the
men who have been working there for years are to submit to the
interloper being thrust over their heads, and their chance of

REWARD FOR FAITHFUL SERVICE

is diminished. (Applause.) I do not say that there should not
be some discretion, in a limited class of cases, for the Government
to provide for really deserving and capable men, or for the in-
troduction of fresh blood into the headships of the service ; but
this discretion is systematically abused; and the plan as now
administered deprives you, gentlemen, of one of the most important
means of securing from the public employees good, faithful, and
zealous service. Moreover, we ought to have fewer oflficers, and
somewhat harder work for just reward. (Cheers.) I am a
believer in a

FAIR day's pay FOn A FAIR DAY's WORK.

I do not think we really economize by screwing hard-working
servants down to a point at which they cannot live or have any
encouragement in life ; but I am a believer also in getting a fair
day's work for a fair day's pay. The increase in the number of
public officers at Ottawa since 1878, has been enormous. I have
seen a calculation which states the increase, as nearly as can be
ascertained, to be from under 600 in 1878, to 1,200 last year.
Much of this increase, I believe, is unnecessary, and is due to the
pernicious pressure of political influence. Fewer men, fair pay,
and full service should be our aim. There is another thing we
ought to mend. There is a clause- under which $50 a year of
increase is authorised to those who prove deserving. But in
practice every person with hardly an exception is deemed deserv-
ing. That statutory increase covers some part, and does duty for
more, of the

GROSS AND ALARMING INCREASE IN THE SALARIES.

Now, a very great part of the work is of a kind which cannot
justify an increasing salary. It is routine or clerical work, to a
large extent merely mechanical, and in which a man may reach
the maximum of efficiency in two or three years. There is no
reason why, after his services have reached their maximum of
value, his salary should go on increasing, though he be amply
paid at the lower rate. There should be, as in other countries.

185

a division of the service into two classes — with for each its ap-
propriate system. Then the extra pay business has swollen to the
dimensions of abuse. You must know that clerks are employed
in what they call " extra hours," for what they call " extra work,"
for which they get " extra pay." The moment that system gains
ground it is not their ordinary work, but the extra work, involv-
ing the extra pay, to which the clerks are looking. And the dan-
ger is that the

REOULAR WORK WILL BE NEGLECTED,

and the regular hours invaded in order that the extra work may
be done. Besides, it is agi-eat door for favouritism, and for illicit
increases to the pay. It is astonishing how much work is called
" extra." It was stated last session that there were 81 clerks last
year who received an average salary of $1,700 a year, and who
drew altogether over $60,000 for extra services, an average of
$730 a year, making the total overage pay of each of these clerks
$2,430 a year. I am entirely opposed to that system. (Applause.)
The work should, as a rule, be done, whether it be more or less, by
the regular staff. But if, on an emergency, we want extra work
done we should employ extra men to do it. Then there is

THE SUPERANNUATION SYSTEM.

Besides the salaries which they receive while they work for us,
and which I believe are quite adequate to the work performed,
we pay our civil servants pensions after they are supposed to be
unable to continue working. You and I, while we are able to
work, are obliged to cut our coat according to our cloth, to so ar-
range our expenses with reference to our earnings that we may
assure some provision for a rainy day, for old age or infirmity
We are obliged to consider that time will end our days of earn-
ing power, and that for us no treasury door will open tlien to
supply us with an income. It is well that this should so be. It
leads to habits of prudence, economy, industry, and self-restraint.
But the Civil Service has instead the superannuation system.
Last year over $203,000 was paid in superannuation allowances,
while the payments to the fund were $52,000, so that $1.51,000
was paid out of the taxes, as against $65,000 so paid in 1878. The
increase is enormous. Let me give you an instance of the results
of the system. In the House of Commons we have . -

iVstS

TWO CLERKS AT THE TABLE.

The salary of the clerk is $3,400, and that of his assistant $2,400,
making a total of $5,800. But that is not all you pay, because

■' *

*< k III **»

•«N

imm

ttlmmmmmmk

186

H--

there is a euperannuated clerk who gets $2,370 a year, a super-
annuated assistant who ^ets $1,543 a year, and still another sup-
erannuated assistant who gets $400 a year— a small sum hardly
worth the mentioning. (Laughter.) So the total amount for the
retired clerks is $5,322, which, added to the salaries of the acting
clerks, makes a total of $11,122, or nearly twice the value of the
work done. (Laughter and applause.) And there are other ex-
amples I might give, in some aspects still more flagrant. And you
must remember there are said to be now about

?'\iff

■*■'.;.!:■

• J,

■,.f •

. - TWO THOUSAND OF THESE MEN ELIGIBLE FOR SUPERANNUATION.

I regret to say that in. the exercise of the power of superan-
nuation, great indifference to the public interest has been shown,
and the public charge has been unduly increased. The Tories
were horrified at its being about $100,000 in Mr. Mackenzie's
time. They are pleased that it is only $200,000 in their own !
(Laughter.) Now, I think that with due regard to existing inter-
ests, this system should be abolished. (Cheers.) But I wish to
submit to you my alternative, for I admit the desirability, in the
public interest, of securing some provision for the civil servants,
and I'll tell you why. It is true that you and I have to provide
for ourselves. We have no paternal government,

■'-■'* i*

NO TENDER-HEARTfiD COUNTRY,

to provide for us. But it is also true that people are more liberal
with other people's money than with their own. And it has been
found that if the civil servant spends all his income, as most of
them, I am sorry to say, do, then when they are no longer able for
work and have made no savings. Ministers are too charitable and
too humane and too ^"uerouswith your money to turn them adrift
penniless. So for a while they will do the work ill, and you will
suffer. Then as they grow more unfit, so that they cannot do the
work at all, somebody else must be appointed to do it for them ;
and so you may have two servants, one to draw his pay yearly,
and tlie other to do the work and draw his pay too. Now,

t-SX'Jj'V

HOW CAN THIS BE OBVIATED 1

t ij.

In this way. Make it the law that a certain percentage should
be deducted by the Government from the salary of each civil
servant, at a rate varying according to the salary, small when the
salary is small, and growing as the salary grows larger, because, if
a man is receiving only $(iOO a year, he can't save as much out of
each $100, as if he is receiving $1,500 a year. Place this deduc-
tion to the credit of the servant, add half-yearly interest upon it,

. . , (7)

. ^ - 1^ ' . • 187 \ « . » V

and interest upon the interest, because neither principal nor interest
is paid out ; and then when the servant resigns, or is retired, let
him have the accumulated fund ; or if he dies in the service, let it
go to his family, for whom the present plan makes no provision.
I would thus, you see, make a compulsory savings institution ; I
would insist, as a condition of public service, on that economy
which must obtain in private employments. I would do this for
the special reasons I have mentioned, and in the public interest ;
but it would also be for the advantage of the servants and their
families, it would avoid this great public charge upon the treasury,
and it would close the door to improper and needless superannua-
tions. These are the principal features of our plan of civil service
reform. I trust they commend themselves to your judgment.
(Cheers.)

THE PUBLIC DEBT.

MISREPRESENTATIONS OF " POLITICAL EXIGENCIES " WHITE — NET
DEBT $1,000,000 FOR EACH ELECTORAL DISTRICT — INTEREST
$40,000 FOR EACH RIDING — PUBLIC DEBT OF $300 FOR EACH
FAMILY — ENORMOUS TAXATION AND ENORMOUS EXTRAVA-
GANCE. . , !

At Gait, after dealing with the subjects of taxation, surpluses,
and expenditure, Mr. Blake said : —

The question of our public debt is one of the utmost gravity.
I observe that some members of the Cabinet have been remarking
on some supposed statements of mine on this head. Mr. White is
reported to have said at Winchester Springs : —

"Mr. Blake told you that the debt was $75,000,000 in 1867, and that it
was $300,000,000 to-day. He should have ^iven you the gross debt of 1867,
but if he had said it had increased from $75,000,000 to $207,000,000 he would
have been quite correct. "

Mr. Foster, evidently following the same line, though with varia-
tions, said at Belleville : —

" Mr. Blake had stated that the public debt of the country was $300,000,000,
when, as a matter of fact, the gross debt on 1st July, 1885, was $264,000,000«
quite a difference from Mr. Blake's statement. Deducting $68,000,000 of
assets, the net debt of the country was really $196,000,000."

Now, I have been either misreported by the newspapers or
misquoted by the Ministers. I have not yet found an erroneous
report. It is possible that I may have been misquoted. I am

. (7) . .

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lOUP

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188

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1* ;'■('

I ■ .

J-.

less indisposed to believe that, because I remember that the gentle-
man who charges me with having contrasted the net debt of one
year with the gross debt of another has special and peculiar notions
as to the

. „ ^ ETHICS OF POLITICAL CONTROVERSY,

under which the making of an unfounded statement may square
with his views of his duty as a politician, though if so, he perhaps
is not the fittest person to attack me were his statement true. He
is the same gentleman who, in the analogous and equally import-
ant and responsible capacity of a public journalist, was the sub-
ject of a charge some years ago. The Montreal Herald thus
charged him ; — -

" We have heard a story that before Sir John Macdonald fell in 1873, D.
A. Smith conCi^.ed his want of confidence to the editor of the Gazette, among
other gentlemen ; that after the fall, when Mr. Smith was assailed for reti-
cence as to his intentions, the worthy editor was appealed to by Mr. Smith,
and acknowledged the conversation, and stated his expectation from what he
had said that the latter gentleman would vote for Mr. Mackenzie's motion.
Later on, when the Gazette became virulent against him, Mr. Smith upbraid-
ed the editor, and the latter admitted the facts, but stated that party exigencies
urged him to the course he. was pursuing, i.e., slandering Mr. Smith."

In reply, Mr. White, in the Odzette, said : —

'* We have simply to say that there is not a word of truth in the statement^
that it is manufactured out of whole cloth. The editor of the Gazette never
had any conversation, good, bad or indifferent, with Mr. Smith in relation to
his conduct in 1873. Mr. Smith never upbraided the editor of the Gazette,
and that gentleman never made any such admissions as are referred to."

Upon that a letter was written by Mr. Smith to the editor of
the Herald, and that letter contained these passages :

" The facts of the case under dispute are, in the main, as stated in the
Herald, though I can quite understand that, in the multitude nf his political
affairs, Mr. White may have forgotten the conversations between us and the
visit of Mr. George Stephen and myself to his <^ffice (made in consequence of
reflections on my political character which appeared in the Gazette) and the
admissions he then made. He declined to make a correction, and excused
it on the ground that journalists were sometimes compelled by political
exigencies to write in disregard of those considerations by which under
ordinary circumstances they would be guided.

"Don. a. Smith.

" I entirely concur in the above.

" George Stephen. "

Mr. White dropped the subject, and has not revived it since.

Here, then, I have two great authorities i'ot saying that Mr.

White's notion as to what , - ' iv? . , ., j' ,v , , • s ••

.xs: vfl POLITICAL EXIGENCIES

'.M'Ak;v

«,^.

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may justify, and, in fact, require, is such as to make it, at any rate^
possible that I have been, not misreported by the newspapers, but

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189

t i

misquoted by the Minister; for T frankly agree that the political
exigencies of Mr. White are at this moment very serious indeed.
(Laughter.) However this may be, the fact is that I never did
contrast the net debt of one period with the gross debt of another.
That would have been an act of flagrant dishonesty. It would
have been an attempt, and a very absurd and shallow attempt, to
deceive the people ; it would have been an act which not even
Mr. White could effectually defend any more than his own con-
duct in the Smith affair ; it would have been an act which sliould
prevent its perpetrator from appearing with acceptance upon any
public platform afterwards. Now let me deal with

THE QUESTION OF THE DEBT. "

What I have done generally is to deal with the net debt, seldom
referring to the figures of the gross debt at all. You must re-
membeE, however, in dealing with the net debt that a large por-
tion of our assets is dubious, and that were we to take a
proper and strict account on the basis of the amount we may
expect to realize from the assets the actual balance of debt would
be much larger than it appeara. However, I will take the net
debt as shown by the accounts, without making any allowance for
depreciation of assets. You must remember, also, in considering
the future of the debt, that we have contracted large railway and
other engagements, rapidly maturing, which must necessarily in-
crease its volume within a brief period. Now, I begin with 1873.
It is hardly worth while to go back further to-night. I call your
attention to the fact that in 1872-73 the Government of Sir John
MacdonaM entered upon a policy of large expenditures for iv-'l-
ways, caials, and other public works, to which they committed
Parliament and the country, with respect to some of which thoy
entered into positive contracts — as, for instance, with reference to
the Canadian Pacific Railway — and for others of which they took
vooes, and began the works ; and that this policy has necessarily
<iontrolled very largely the scale of public expenditure, both on
income and on capital account, ever since.

-s-h

T •'

THE GENERAL REJULT, . :

I am afraid, you will find to be not merely serious but alarming.
Our net debt in 1873 — I give vou round numbers — was $99,900,-
000. By 1878 it had risen to $140,400,000, the increase in the
five years being thus $40,500,000, making an average yearly in-
<;rease of $8,100,000, which was expended chiefly in public works
mainly, almost exclusively, engaged for as I have stated. In the
second period, the five years from 1878 to 1883, the net

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190

DEBT ROSE FROM $140,400,000 TO $158,500,000, AN INCREASE OP

$18,100,000. At first blush that T?ould appear more satisfactory,
but I hope you have not forgotten what a few moments . ago I
told you about the enormous increase of our taxation during that
period. I will give you some figures on that point. The taxes
were, as I have shown you, increased about 50 per cent., and from
the tremendous revenue thus taken out of the people's pockets,
large amounts were practically used on capital account, that is on
account of great public works which according to our system are
to be paid for out of loans and not out of taxation. The sums ap-
plied out of income on capital account were as follows : — In 188' >,
$1,220,000; in 1881, $5,230,000; in 1882, $i),080,000 ; in 1883,
$9,370,000, in all $24,90a,000. Adding this to the increase in the
public debt, $18,100,000, j^ou find a total expenditure on capital
account of $43,000,000, or a yearly average for the second five
years of $8,600,000, somewhat in excess of the expenditure of the
first period. Taking the whole ten years, from 1873 to >683, you
find .the expenditure on capital account, out of income and loans,
were $83,000,000, or an average of $8,300,000 a year. But if you
deal with the debt alone you find the increase in the ten years to be
$58,600,000, or an average of $5,860,000 a year. These are serious
figures, but they are not the worst. It is the later years that tell.
Encouraged by the verdict they snatched in 1882, buoyed up by the
iufiation which they had themselves produced, half believing, I
dare say, what they told the people, that they had secured a ten
years period of unexampled prosperity to Canada, they went on
rashly and wantonly, and now •.• . j * >■ - u. .- r

NOT ONLY IS TAXATION ENORMOUS, BUT THE DEBT HAS SWOLLEN
IN THE MOST ALARMING MANNER.

The new debt rose from $158,500,000 in 1883 to $182,150,000 in
1884, an increase of nearly $23,700,000 in a single year. In 1885
it rose to $196,400,000, a further increase of about $14,200,000
in a single year. Thus the two years 1883 and 1884 showed an
increase of about $38,000,000, or an average of about $19,000,000
a year. Compare this with the former figures. For 1886 I can
give you an estimate only, because the results are not yet pub-
lished. During the session the Minister of Finance stated that
the net debt was $205,000,000. Since then it has been increased
by the release of $10,000,000 of the debt due by the Canadian
Pacific. I estimate the probable addition on other accounts at
$5,000,000. This would make the present net debt $220,000,000.
It may be shown apparently a little less by carrying over some of
the obligations, but that is the fairest estimate I can make of the
present net debt. That would give an increase for the year of $23,-

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■.^- V »::... '■•-.■•■. . 191 ■; , , .; v \ ■

' 600,000. The total increase for the last three years would then
be $61,500,000, an average of over $20,50J,000 for each year.
Thus the increase in the last three years has exceeded the in-
crease in the whole ten years preceding, and the average for each
year of the last three years is nearly four times the average for the
last decade. The net debt of Canada, according to these figures,
amounts to about $1,000,000 for each of the 211 electoral districts.
Interest and charges on this amount, at four per cent., would be
$4)0,000 a year. That you have to pay. Let the electors of
South Waterloo take home these figures and understand what the

' minimum and apparent burden of the net debt is. As to its real
burden, within a very brief space, if you allow for the depreciation
of assets and for the peremptory engagements I have mentioned,
the real net debt means, or will shortly mean, about

$300 FOR EVERY HEAD OF A FAMILY .. ,

throughout Canada.* 1 explained some time ago that the rich do
not contribute to the public charge in proportion to their wealth.
If, in calculating the amount of realized wealth in the country
in respect to its tax-paying power, you make allowance for this
^ fact, it would be diflSicult to find that the realized wealth of the
country averages much, if anything, more than $2,000 per head
of a family. If this be accepted, you find that about one-seventh
of the realized wealth of the family is absorbed by or pledged for
the public debt. I think these are figures which should cause us
to pause and to reflect, especially when we consider the promises
of economy and retrenchment made by the Government, and when
we remember that the longer they have been in office the more
extravagant they have become, and that the last three years are
so appalling in respect of taxation, expenditure, increase of debt,
and deficits. (Cheers.)

'-' f

THE BURDEN OF DEBT. ,,.,:;:%^;

> ________ * ; _ : I

At Orangeville Mr. Blake summarized the situation, showing
the rapid and alarming increase of the net debt, within the last
three years especially, quoting the figures'for the several periods
and comparing them. He proceeded : — Messrs. White and Foster,
two Ministers of the Crown, attacked me in Ontario not long since
in reference to my supposed statements upon the subject of the
debt. I answered them the other day. Since then they, in com-

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192

pany with Mr. Thompson, another Minister, have been holding
meetings in the Maritime Provinces, and they have dealt with
this question again. Let me quote from , . ..

:lv "{/...., ':

MR. Foster's speech at Halifax : —

Now, just five minutes on that question. I want to ask how much is that
debt. The Morning Chronicle and Recorder wowld probably say : — " The debt
>. - of the Dominion is $300,000,000." Some of them are, outer than others, and
they will say it is nearly $300,000,000, so that if you catch them in the exact
amount they will have some little ground to save themselves. I am here to
state that the gross debt of the Dominon is not anywhere near $300,000,000,
and that on the Ist of Juiy, 1885, the gross debt of the Dominion of Canada
was, in round figures, $264,000,000. Now, there is a wide.difference between
the amounts, and you would think so if the difference went into yoiir pockets
— (laughter) — and you would think so all the more if it had to come out of
^ your pockets. (Renewed laughter.) There is no need of giving your coun-

/;' ' ^17 ^ harder name than it might have naturally — there is no honest patriotism

in trying to overload the country with an imaginary debt, because it does not
help it outside. The gross debt was $264,009,000 in July, 1885. I see some
one in the audience smiling as if to say, " Yes, but that is a year ago ; you
have been piling it up since then." But I say that on the 30th day of Sep-
^ ' tember, 1885, the gross debt was greater than it was in July, 1885, by no

more than $100,000, that is to say, to-day, in round numbers the gross debt is
$264,000,000. But this is not half the truth. When you want to know the
financial standing of a man you would say he owes so much, and therefore ho
is in a bad way, but you would say he owes so much and he owns so much,
and that would show his position. Now be as honest with the country as you
would be with the man. (Cheers.) Find out how much the assets of the
country are and you will find that on 1st July, l'^85, the assets were $68,000,-
000 in round numbers. • • • • Now do he next thing, and from that
gross debt subtract our available assets, $68,000,000. from the $264,000,000,
r ' : and you have remaining $196,000,000, a long way from even nearly $300,000,-

l 000 But if you go away with the idea that the $196,000,000 has been rolled

f V by tha Dominion Government you are wrong. For of that $196,000,000 the
sum of $106,000,000 was -owing, and would to-day be owing by the Provinces
and is simply taken from the Provinces and handled at a less rate of interest
(Applause). So that if you subtract $106,000,000 from $190,000,000, you get
the real debt rolled up for the actual purposes of the Dominion $90,000,000.
And you know that the Intercolonial Railway cost us $30,000,000, the Canadian
Pacific some $57,000,000, and the canal system $30,000,000. I need not refer
to the other public works all over this Dominion which are used for the deve-
lopement of its resources, the carriage of its trade, and the building up of the
y* ' country. Do you think all this is not worth the $90,000,000 that have been
rolled up ?

, . At Truro he dealt with the debt in the same way. Now, you

see

>.<■>■>

THE EFFORT IS TO PRODUCE THE IMPRESSION THAT THE PRESENT

•UH.7.,Mi;^»Mr NET DEBT IS BUT $196,000,000. - ' m.

They give you the gross debt as of 30th June, 1885, and then
they say that the amount has not since increased, that it is but

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193

>RESENT

SI 00,000 more on 30th September last. So you are led up to the
present date. Then they say they must deduct the assets in
order to get the net debt. They go on to deduct $68,000,000,
being the assets as of IJOth June, 1885, and then they declare
that the net debt or the burden upon the country is $196,000,000;
and that, deducting Provincial debts, the increase since 1867 is
but $90,000,000, so you are designedly led to believe that the pre-
sent net debt, the existing burden, is but $196,000,000. That
this is their statement is further established by the

'1 /t

SPEECH OF MR. THOMPSON

L< I

- i..

at St. John, who says

}•

* * * The net debt which is to-day ^196,000,000, notwithstanding
statements to the contrary.

And I find in the Mail of this morning : —

The truth of the matter is we owe $196,000,000.

* ♦ * * It is not surprising that the lesser politicians should magnify
our liabilities, but it is surprising that a man o^ Mr. Blake's calibre should

do so. ,-.. . ^ , - x...^ ,,^. wv -^ .. .., . . . ' /. .. .V . , . ■■,,,.

Now T deny the accuracy of these statements. I have not the
public ledger before me as they have, but I confidently deny these
statements. I charge these gentlemen with having been

' - " ' • GUILTY OF GREAT DISINOENCOUSNESS. .

What they have done is to deduct from the gross debt of 1886 the
assets of 1885, and they have told you that the result is the net
debt of 1886. But if it be the fact that the gross debt of Sep-
tember, 1886, is only $264,000,000, how does that happen? I
will tell you. It is because within the last few months many
millions of secured debt have been paid off". So if the gross
debt, noth withstanding an enormous payment on account, remains
at the same amount as it was in 1885, it follows that

r>»i .. I .-w-.T ■;• (

j'luyi V?

MANY MILLIONS OF NEW DEBT

, \yi\'i '

\ ^

must have been contracted, else the gross debt would have been
diminished. But that new debt is not represented by assets, it i»
an addition to the net debt ; and thus while the gross debt re-
mains, the assets have diminished, and the net debt has increased.
(Applause.) Again, within the last few months $10,000,000 more
of debt, against which we held the obligation of the Canadian
Pacific Rail way Company, which was secured debt, has become
unsecured by the release of that obligation and our retention of

. ' ':' ■ . ■ - 7) . :

■■','■
>

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IU4

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public lands in lieu of it. This surrender involves a practical
increase of the vet debt. I am convinced that it is wholly incor-
rect to say our net debt is but $196,000,000. I challenge the
Ministers to give us the statement from the books of the
net debt of Canada, as of 30th June, 1886. I challenge
them to give us the statement from the books of the net debt as
of 30th September, 1886. (Loud applause.) They have given us
the gross debt of that date^ from the books, but I fear they are
trying to mislead us as to the net debt. I am convinced that
when the statement is obtained and sifted it will be found that
the net debt far exceeds the $196,000,000, which they would have
you to adopt, and is about $220,000,000 as I stated to you.
(Applause.)

i -- . ; • • ^ ■ ■ ,- :, ,.■/:.,.

' ■! ■'.'■■''<'■ - , ■

•i .= :..

OUR BURDEN OF DEBT.

r."

A Challenge to the ninigters— An Increase of ^6a,00d,000 In
y- Three Years— Forty Thousand a Year Extraeted
fVom each Constltneney.

;^.\

' Mr. Blake, speaking at Belleville, said : — I stated my belief to
be — for it is a matter of estimate until the Ministers who, at this
moment, hold closed the public ledger, shall choose to open it and
to divulge the exact figures — that the

') ..'•>■..

:.i. t

NET DEBT ON 30TH JUNE LAST

and since was $220,000,000, or thereabouts. Since that state-
ment I have seen in several speeches delivered by Ministesr who
have been travelling through the country together, enlightening
the people, statements of the public debt. I have seen statements
made by Mr. Foster, by Mr. Thompson, by Mr. White, some of
which directly announced, and others as directly led up to and
implied the proposition that the present nef debt is about $196,-
000,000 only, being the same amount as of 1st July, 1885. Some
of these statements I quoted a little while ago. I challenged their
accuracy. I challenged the Ministers to state from the public
books, which they hold closed, the net debt as at the 30th June
last, and the net debt as at the 30th September last, and I re-
peated my estimate of about $220,000,000. (Applause.) Since
that time some of th«se gentlemen have spoken, but no response

" ^1' 'f. '.

195

■1' v»

has been made to that challenge. I find them now a little more
guarded. Their utterances, with reference to the net debt of late
have more specifically confined their announcement to its con-
dition on 30th June, 1885. But what we have to deal with is not
the remote past, not even the more recent past, but the present
condition of the country as near as it can be given, and

I ' THFREFORE I REPEAT MY CHALLENGE. >

(Applause.) I repeat my call here and now before you to these
gentlemen not to lower themselves as they did a while ago by
telling the amount of the gross debt on 30th S-^r teraber last, and
inviting you to believe they were giving you also the late state-
ment of the net debt, but to give plainly from the public books
what you want to know, the present amount of the net debt. My
statement, putting it in as few words as 1 can, was this : —

(Mr. Blake here re-stated the position of the net debt as given
by him in his former speech, and proceeded as follows : —

Now, remember, that while we have been rolling up this enor-
mous debt the neighbouring country has been reducing its debt,
30 that ours now compares very unfavourably with that of the
great competitor for those whom we wish to invite here — the far-
mers of the soil. I understand that here, as well as elsewhere,
the effect of these appalling figures, for such I call them, was at-
tempted to be broken by a statement with reference to the condi-
tion of the interest account, and it was intimated that it is not of
much consequence how much the debt is — the question is

•a^.

HOW MUCH INTEREST YOU HAVE GOT TO PAY.

I am not certain many of you would adopt that view in private
life. (Applause.) ^I am not certain many of you, in estimating
your individual condition, would consider simply what interest
you had to pay. 1 hope you would remember, a little, pay day
for the principal as well ; that you would look at the amount of
the capital of the mortofage — if a mortgage there be, as in the
case of our public debt there practically is — for the capacity,
power, assets, earnings, and honour of the community are pledged
for the repayment of that debt, principal as well as interest. But
the statement made as to the interest I entirely dispute. In the
iirst place they take the interest account as of June, 1885. But
something like a million dollars a year of new interest charge has
been added in the interval, and if they would be candid enough to
give you the account as it is to day, they could not give you the
figures of interest which they are endeavouring to persuade you to
accept. Again, they give you on what they call the per capita

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196

calculation, an estimate of the population, which I dispute. I
won't waste words about it. We might dispute all evening as to
the number of people in the country. But I believe they

• OVER-ESTIMATE THE lOPULATION ,,, *

by between two and three hundred thousand, and by means of
that of course they reduce the amount which is to be paid by each
person. Again, since they came into office they have taken a
great deal of money for which they pay no interest, by appro, ^ri-
ating a large proportion of the circulation which formerly was
issued by the banks in their own notes. That may be wise or
unwise, but it reduces the apparent average of interest on the
whole, inasmuch as a certain amount of money is got without in-
terest, though the result may be far from an equivalent net gain
to the community. Again, they have very largely

KEDUCED THE GOLD RESERVE

■• >'

as compared with its standard under the more conservative man-
agement of Sir Richard Cartwright ; so largely, in fact, that at
one period we appeared to be in an almost critical condition, and
very considerable amounts of specie were, I believe, called out by
cable in order to make things straijifht. If you reduce the amount
of the gold reserve, of course your circulation costs less for inter-
est, and you thus reduce the general average rate of interest on
your whole transactions. Then, again, on their sterling loans the
discounts and charges, on a careful calculation, will be found to
amount to about four and a-half millions, and this sum is really,
though not nominally, added to the interest. If you issue at a
discount a loan at a low rate of interest, the difference between
the amount you actually receive and the nominal amount, the
amount on which you pay interest, is really , ■'■■•\>i ^

.'i4*.

^ ' i AN ADDITION TO THE INTEREST

'Vfl-s »•

you pay. Then, again, they have put to their own credit the gen-
eral reduction in the rate of interest throughout the world.
Everyone knows — it is the experience of everyone who is happy
enough to be a lender, and of everyone who is so unfortunate as
to be obliged to borrow — that there has been a general reduction
in the rate of interest all over the civilized world. This is a cir-
cumstance of which we are able to take advantage, and so the
country, having this advantage, ought to be better off; but that
benefit which we have obtained by our ability to borrow at a
lower rate of interest has been absorbed by reason of the enor-
mous additional loans we have made. For instance, we lately re-

' ■" 197

newed a large loan of about 820,000,000, which had been bearing
five per cent. It was renewed at a rate of interest after consider-
ing allowances and charges of 4 1-12 per cent. This produced a
saving of something like $200,000 a year. That is all absorbed,
it is all gone, with a great deal more, because so much more
money has been borrowed, and so that $200,000 has been used to
pay interest on the fresh loans, of which we will have to pay the
principal at a future day. I will give you

ANOTHER COMPARISON.

Ministers are extremely fond of referring to Richard Cartwright's
loans and the prices he paid for money. His loan of 1876, at 4
per cent, was issued at 91, and if you allow for charges and dis-
counts of all kinds, the money cost us nearly 4| per cent. At
that time United States 4^ per cent, bonds were retailing in Lon-
don at par, and I need hardly say that the retail price of such
securities is always in advance of what they would realize if a
. large loan were being placed on the market in a block. Thus,
you see that the prices of Canadian and of U. S. securities were
then practically the same, as evidenced by Sir Richard Cart-
wright's loan. That proves that the credit of Canada at that time
in the great money market of the world was abreast of the credit
of the United States. (Applause.) Let us contrast this with the
loan of first July, 1885. The Canadian Government sold really at
101, but allowing for certain discounts on allotments and for
charges at a slight discount. United States fours were at the same
time selling at 124, a price which would make the rate of interest
returned to the investor only 2| per cent., so that we were in
1&85 paying

,ir,'

OVER ONE-THIRD MORE THAN THE UNITED STATES

for money, while in 1876 we only paid the same rates as did the
United States. No doubt in 1885 money was somewhat cheaper,
«ven for us than in Sir Richard Cartwright's time, the general
rate of interest all over the world being much lower, but we had
fallen so far behind the United States in credit that we had to
pay one-third inore for money than that country paid, although
we were abreast of them in Sir Richard Cartwright's time.
(Loud applause.) Thus you see that though we have to some ex-
tent shared in the advantage of the general reduction, we have
not done so by any means, as far as we might have hoped under
prudent administration ; and why ? Because the United States
have been reducing, while we have been enormously increasing
the amount of our public debt. And yet these gentlemen ask you

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mmSmmSSSmSm

198

to give them credit for their mana^ment of the debt. I repudi-
ate their claim, and so, I think, will you, (Loud and prolonged
applause.)

r ' M ' .

TA Xl^A^YEKS' BUKDEISrS.

THE PINANOna OP THE DOMINION.

Economy under Liberal Rule — Deficits and Rapidly Increasing Debt
now going Hand in Hand— Some Startling Figures.

Hon. Edward Blake, at Oakwood, speaking of the Public
Debt and the deficitH, said : — I observe that Mr. Thompson the
other day said, referring to the Ministerial campaign, that " no
one had been able to point to any statement made by one of the
Ministers on the ground of its being untrue, or put before the
people as misleading." ' •

Now, I have already exposed several of the misstatements of
these gentlemen. I ain sorry to say a great many moro are sub-
ject to these imputations. You have heard of the man who said
to one boasting of his knowledge, that it would take a large book
to hold the things he did not know. (Laughter.) It would take
a much shorter time to give the correct than to give the incorrect
statements of these gentlemen. (Renewed laughter.) I am not
going this afternoon to attempt the almost interminable task.' It
would take all night, but I will take up just two or three, and on
one single branch of the subject, finance ; and by these you may

M ■

.:/ ^

SAMPLE THE BULK.

Mr. Foster, at Wingham, said that under Grit rule Canada had
to pay 6 per cent, interest on her loans, and to-day she could ob-
tain all the money she wanted in Europe at 4 per cent. That
statement is incorrect. Under Grit rule Canada had not to pay
anything like 6 per cent. — (cheers.) — and under Conservative rule
Canada has not obtained her money quite as low as 4 per cent. I
have here a list which shows the character and the actual cost of
every loan made since Confederation. Some of these were guar-
anteed loans, some mixed loans, partly guaranteed and partly un-
guaranteed, and some wholly unguaranteed. You know that loans,
the repayment of which was guaranteed by the Imperial Govern-

^ . • 199

ment, were negotiated at a lower rate of interest for tho very
same reason for which a man whose credit is not of the very
highest class, can obtain accommodation at a lower rate of interest
if he can get one or two good neighbours to endorse liis note.
When we have got tho British Oovernmer'- to endorse our bonds
we have obtained the money at about the same rate of interest
that Great Britain can, ami therefore you must make allowances in
companson.

Now, my statement, which has been prepared by an actuarv. is
on the basis of considering all the charges and allowances made

M;:

IN THE CASE OF FACH LOAN,

SO as to arrive at the real cost to the country, the true rate of in-
terest we pay on each. This is the result : — In 18C8 Sir John
Macdonald's Government issued a mixed loan, one-fourth guaran-
teed, costing 4^ per cent.

In 1873 they issued a guaranteed loan, costing 3 11-12 per
cent.

In 1874 Mr. Mackenzie's Government issued an unguaranteed
loan, costing 4| per cent.

In 1875 they issued a mixed loan, three-fifths guaranteed, cost-
ing 4^ per cent. ■ -

In 1876 they issued an unguaranteed loan, costing 4f per cent.

In 1878 they issued a mixed loan, one-half guaranteed, costing
4^ per cent.

In 1879 Sir John Macdonald's Government issued an unguaran-
teed loan, costing 4^ per cent.

In 1884 they issued a similar loan, costing 4 7-30 per cent. .

In 1885 they issued a similar loan, costing 4 1-10 per cent.

In 1885 they renewed an old loan, at a cost of 4 1-12 per cent.

Thus you will see how far from correct was the statement of
Mr. Foster. The Grits never paid anything approaching 6 per
cent, for their loans, while the real cost of the lowest loans
effected by the Tories was in truth somewhat over 4 per cent.
But I quite admit that there has been a progressive, though far
from rapid, diminution in the rate of interest on our loans. To
what is that due ? Those of you who have borrowed — nol of
course none of you have borrowed, but each of you knows a
neighbour who has borrowed — (laughter) — and from his experi-
ence — (laughter) — you know that the rate of interest is greatly
lower than it formerly was. It is lower all over the world, and
why should not Canada get the benefit of the reduction, like the
the rest of the world ? But this Government, just as they have
claimed credit for all the gifts of a kind Providence, have de-
clared that this lowering of interest was all their doing. Th»y

-. : , . ', ' (7) . ,

• ■->. ;•.- -,- , r: 200 ■• • ■ <'-:■' ^" --•■

claim credit for all those benefits which they did not give the
country.

THEY DENY llESPONSIBILITY ■- ^- .

for all the calamities which they did bring upon the country.
(Cheers.) But I am sorry to say we have not benefited from
the lowered rate, like our neighbours. We have not benefited as
we ought. I have shown elsewhere that in Sir R. Cartwright's
time our credit was abreast of that of the United States ; while Sir
Leonard Tilley's large loan was issued at a cost which showed
that, relatively, we had fallen behind, and that United States
securities were at that later date worth far more than ours. Thus
we have not had the full benefit of the general reduction. We
have ground for comj)laiDt, and not for compliment. (Cheers.)
How is it ? Do you know why ? The rjason is largely to be
found in the facts I am about to bring before you. While the
United States have been clearing ofi" their debt, we have been
rolling up ours. If you will apply the lessons of your private
life — or, rather, your neighbour's private life — (laughter) — you
will see how surely this result must follow from this course. The
more his debts roll up year after year, the worse his credit, and
the higher, compared to the general current rates, are the rates he
has to pay for money ; while, if he is forehanded, if he is reducing
his liabilities, and if he wants to borrow money to pay oflf some of
his old debts, having reduced his total, he can borrow on the best
current terms. So it has been with the United States. In 1865
the United States debt was $391 per head of a family, counting
five to a family, and for interest $21.45. In 1886 the United
States debt was $120.70 per head of a family, or less than one-
third; and for interest $4.15, or less than one-fifth of the earlier
charge. A sad contrast to our figures, even after making, as you
should, some allowance for the largeness of State as compared
with Provincial debts. Next, I wish to refer to a question partly
of fact, partly of estimate. You know we were troubled in the
days of Mr. Mackenzie with what used to cause not merely the
rage and indignation, but also the sighs and tears of the Tories
— (laughter) — they mourned over

< »

THE DEFICITS,

and would not be comforted. (Laughter.) One vrould have sup-
posed, from the long faces they drew, that they expected to have
to pay these deficits out of their own pockets. (Renewed laughter.)
But since enormous deficits have occurred under their own adminis-
tration, they bear them with admirable patience, and even with
great complacency. (Laughter.) They had a deficit in the year

, m

(..< ■»

-1 • >■ j .■.' .-/O^'

201

before last of about two and a quarter milliona. Last year the deficit
was about $5,900,000, or, in the two years, $8,100,000. Now, Mr.
White has complained that when I spoke of these deficits I forgot
to tell the people that they were wholly due to the extraordinary
expenditure caused by the rebellion. I did not forget; I ab-
stained on purpose, and for a reason which may appear tu Mr.
White trifling and inadequate. I did not say so, only because it
was not true. (Laughter.) That is all the poor excuse I have to
offer. (Renewed laughter.) There was, as I told the people, a war
expenditure in the two years of $5,100,000. This leaves a deficit
of $3,000,000 beyond the war debt. (Cheers.) But I must add
that I regard the war debt as the most scandalous and biamable
of all. (Cheers.) Again, as to the deficit of last year, Mr.
Thompson, who talks with great apparent precision, said the other
day that for the first four months of the current year there was
already a surplus in the treasury which more than half overtook
the deficit of last year ; and there was every reason to believe the
Government would have entirely paid off the deficit of last year,
and have a moderate surplus besides, instead of there being a
deficit. Now, ^his statement of Mr. Thompson's was disingenu-
ous and misleading. The bulk of the expenditures were made in
the fifth month, November, and at the close of that month the
apparent surplus was under $1,100,000 — (cheers) — only one-third
of his figure for the fourth month. Now I mark the estimate of
the Minister that during this year the deficit of last year, say
$5,900,000, is to be paid off, and a moderate further surplus
realized. This means a surplus for this year of at least seven
millions.

I STIGMATIZE THAT STATEMENT

^^^

as utterly destructive of any claim to attention of future estimates
of the Minister. I shall be well pleased if we close the year with
a surplus of one million, instead of seven millions. It is, of
course, impossible to make very close calculations ; but this of the
Minister's is absurd and ridiculous. No one who has the slightest
knowledge of our affairs, or has paid the slightest attention to the
course of revenue and expenditure, or the current of trade, will
be found to endorse his view. I advise you to reject it wholly ;
and I ask you to remember what I have said next summer and
to compare the results with our respective forecasts. Now, as to
the amount of our net debt, I have estimated it at about 220 mil-
lions, and have repeatedly challenged the statements of the Minis-
ters, which are calculated to lead the people to believe that our
net debt is only $196,000,000. I have challenged them to open
the public ledger, and declare the debt as of 1st July last, and as
of later dates. They have seen my challenges — nay, they have

- - . (7)

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mmmmmmi ^

'^' * I .:

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202

heard them ; for I gave one of them in Belleville, in presence of
Mr. Bowell, the Minister of Customs. (Applause.) But they con-
tinue their misleading statemenfjs. I repeat my challenge once
again. I. call you to note my statement, and to compare it with
the facts as they will be disclosed. (Cheers.) I will give you

THE ELEMENTS OF MY ESTIMATE.

■•0-

ili wffi

On May 1st, 1886, the Government declared the net debt to be
$205,569,203. On the same day they declared the deficit to be
$1,542,674. But on 30th June the deficit had increased by no
less than $4,322,880, involving that much addition to the net
debt. Then we added $10,18U,000 to the net debt by relieving
the Canadian Pacific Railway Company from so much of their
secured indebtedness. These additions would make the net debt
as of 1st July $220,081,143. But there remain to be dealt with
two conjectural items — conjectural, at least, for me, though these
gentlemen have the figures. These items are, first, the increase
during the last two months of the sinking fund, which tends,
while it swells the deficit, to reduce the net debt ; and, secondly,
the capital expenditure for the last two months, which tends to
increase the debt. I conjecture that the balance to be added to
the net debt on account of these two items may be $400,000 or
$500,000 ; and, if so, the net debt would be about $220,500,000,
and the addition for the year would be about $24,000,000. Keep
these figures in your minds, and compare them with the accounts.
(Cheers.) Mr. Foster alleges that I made a very inaccurate state-
ment on the subject of the burden of the debt on the heads of
families. My statement at Gait was this :—

You must remember, in dealing with the net debt, that a large portion of
our assets is dubious, and that were we to take a proper and strict account,
on the basis of the amount wo may expect to realize from the assets, the
actual balance of debt would be much larger than it appears.

• * # # ♦

You must remember also, in considering the future of the debt, that we
have contracted large railway and other engagement, rapidly maturing,
which must necessarily increase its volume within a brief period.

I then estimated, apart from these considerations, the net debt
at $220,000,000. I went on to say :—

, As to its real burden, within a very brief space, if you allow for the depre-
ciation of assets and for the peremptory engagements I have mentioned, the
real debt means, or will shortly mean, $300 for every head of a family.

Therefore I was not then dealing with $196,000,000, or even
$220,000,000. I was dealing with the latter sum

M„ Si':

t .

(71

''■f: '-llf

203

lor even

INCREASED BY THE ADDITIONS

^ had indicaled. (Applause.) Nor was I dealing, as Mr. Foster
assumes, with a popul ition of 4,700,000, or on the assumption of
five to a family. I don't reckon the Western Indians as taxpayers ;
they only are tax consumers — (laughter) — nor do I reckon the
Chinese as appreciable taxpayers. Besides, I think the population
overestimated. Again, looking at the fecundity of the French,
which alarms the Mail so much — (laughter) — I think five to a
family rather under the mark. Therefore, in this estimate, I
think myself right. But it is, of course, estimate only. Suppose
Mr. Foster right. State the debt, as it is to be soon, at only
$220,000,000 ; assume the heads of families at 940,000; and even
so you find a burden ot $234 per head, and for interest, at 4 per
cent., $9.36. This is bad enough in itself; and when compared,
with our neighbours it is worse. (Cheers.)

Now, I propose to give you a view of our financial course from
another than the usual standpoint. We spend yearly large sums.
They come from three sources, taxes, loans, and returns from pub-
lic enterprises, etc., etc. I omit the last ; and deal only with the
first two ; whai we spend out of taxes and loans ; what we pay out
of our pockets as we go, and what we mortgage our estate for, to
be re[)aid out of our pockets later, with interest meanwhile. I
have here three tables, taken from the Government statistics, save
Icr 1886, which is estimated. The first covers the five years, 1874
to 1878 inclusive, approximately Mr. Mackenzie's term ; the sec-
ond the next five years, 1879 to 1883, approximately Sir John
Macdonald's first term; the third the three years, 1884 to 1886,
approximately Sir John Macdonald's second term. Before I give
you the results, let me remind you of the obvious fact that

A FINANCIAL POLICY

requires time to develop fully its effects ; and that these will
sometimes continue active for a season after the reversal of the
policy. Thus established impulses towards, and plans for, econo-
my, or for extravagance, are each felt for some time after the ces-
sation of the active movement which they outlive. Therefore it
is useful to look at the tendency of the expenditures in each
series of years ; to observe the general way in which they com-
pare year after year, as well as the gross totals and the yearly av-
erages. Such an examination will demonstrate very clearly the
results of Mr. Mackenzie's efforts to sive and of his successor's
efforts to squander — (cheers) — each very successful, the last table
evidencing the full development of the extravagant and ruinous
' policy of the Government. My first table is from 1874 to 1878 i

(7)

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'• ./• MR. MACKENZIE S TERM. ,. , ' "^

If- .*

;'vr •v ■- '• ,>.:., •-^'^' ■, TABLE I. .?', ...■, V■••V^^ ';,
' Year. Debt Increase. ' Taxes. ' Total.

r, 1874 $8,476,500 $20,129,100 $28,605,600

1875 7,683,400 20,664,800 28,348,200

1876 8,.543,100 18,614,400 27,157,500

1877 8,683,700 27,697,900 26,361,600 .

1878 7,126,700 17,841,900 24,968,600

Totals $40,513,400 .$94,948,100 $135,461,500

. Averages 8,102,680 18,989,620 27,092,300

Now, dealing with this table, you will observe that the taxes
during Mr. Mackenzie's term were ninety-five millions, ot an
■ average of nineten millions a year, and, partly owing to dimin-
ished imports, but largely to the reduced values of merchandise,
a smaller sum was collected in the latter than in the earlier part.
The net debt created was forty and a half millions, or an average
of $8,100,000 a year ; and it was least in his last year. The sum
of taxes and debt was one hundred and thirty-five and a half
millions, or an average of $27,100,000 a year and it was steadily
reduced every year, the last being $3,700,000 less than the first.
(Cheers.) Now I take my second table dealing with

\ ' eiR JOHN MACDONa.^'S FIRST FIVE YEARS.

' "^ . TABLE IL

■ ,;■ -,, ■ r,: ■■ Debt, . ; ... ,

Increase or .

Dt crease. Taxes. . Total.

1879 Inc. $2,628,100 $18,476,600 $21,104,700

1880 Inc. 9,461,400 18,479,500 27,940,900

1881 inc. 2,944,100 23,942,100 26,886,200

1882 Dec. 1,734,100 27,549,000 2.5,814,900

1883 Inc. 4,805,000 29,269,600 34,074,600

,. ■'" '" ": Inc. 17,838,600

*;' ;, ; ■ " Dec. 1,934,100 \

■"' ' ^ Totals $18,104,500 $117,716,800 $135,821,300

Averages 3,620,900 23,543,300 27,164,000

During this term you see the taxes were $117,700,000, or an
average of $23,540,000 a year, being an increase in taxes of $22,-

r(7)

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205

5,600
3,200
r,500
1,600 .
3,600

1,500
2,300 .

;he taxes
Ls, on an
o dimin-
thandise,
lier part.
. average
The sum
id a half
steadily
the first.

tal.

)4,700
0,900

b6,200
4,900

^4,600

51,300
14,000

10, or an

of $22,-

700,000, and an average increase of $4,540,000 a year over Mr.
Mackenzie's term. This is bad enough, but the details make it
worse, for during the first two years the taxes collected were only
eighteen and a half millions yearly, and the whole increase and
more was swept out of the people's pockets in the latter three
years — 1881 showing an increase over Mr. Mackenzie's average
of 5 millions, 1882 of 8^ millions* and 1883 of 10| millions, in
all about 24 millions, or an average excess of 8 millions a ye^ar,
wrung out of your pockets by grinding taxation. (Cheers.) The
candle was thus being burned very fast at one end. I am glad
to say that during this term it was not being burned so fast at
the other end. The full development of the policy was not
equally rapid in all its parts.

THE FRUIT RIPENED MORE QUICKLY

on the tree of debt than on the tree of taxation. For a crop
from that tree we must wait for the third ter*^. During thia
second term the debt increased only $18,200,000, or an average
of $3,620,000 a year. Of this the Tories boast, but you will see
that the only difference is that a large part of the expenditure on
capital account, formerly provided out of loans, was now met by
taxes. (Applause.) This is shown by the aggregate results. They
give a total of taxes and debt of $135,800,000, or an average of
$27,160,000 a year ; a little in excess of Mr. Mackenzie's average.
But mark the sad contrast in the results year by year. Whereas
during Mr. Mackenzie's time the sum of the yearly taxes and
debts was falling, in this term a contrary result appears. (Cheers.)
The first year, 1879, was controlled by the economical impulse of
Mr. Mackenzie's policy, and the aggregate was only $21,100,000;,
but by the end of that year the impulse had been overcome, and
the impulse towards extravagance had succeeded; so that in
the last year, 1883, the sum was 34 millions, or 13 millions in
excess of Mr. Mackenzie's average. (Cheers.) And now I come to

THfi THIRD TERM,

th^ last three years, when we reach the full development of the
financial policy of the Government. The signs of what was com-
ing were not hid from all of us. We Liberals warned you in
1878, before the trees were planted, but you allowed them to be
planted. We warned you in 1882, when one had borne, rnd the
other was ripening, its bitter fruits, but you would not cut them
down. Rather, you ploughed about them and manured them,
and refreshed their vigour. My figures for 1886 are, of course,
estimates ; but I have repeatedly challenged the Government ta

;,\'

206

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state the facts and to deny my estimate of the debt if they could,
and they are dumb. This is the third table :- ■

/ - TABLE III.

Year. Debt increase. Taxes.

1884 $23,695,100 $25,483,100

1885 14,245,800 * 25,384,500

. 1886 (est.)... 24,000,000 25,217,000

Total.

$49,178,200
39,630,300
49,217,000

Totals $61,940,900 $76,084,600 $138,025,500

Averages 20.646,900 25,361,200 46,008,100

Thus you see that the taxation for the last three years has been
$76,080,000, or an average of $2.r),360,00(; a year, being in excess
of Mr. Mackenzie's average by $6,360,000 a year, or one-third.
(Applause.) There was thus an increase of $19,000,000 in three
years in the taxes, and in the last six years the increased taxa-
tion has been no less than forty-three millions. This again is bad
enough, but again it is not the worst. Now, indeed, the candle is
being burned at both ends with a vengeance. Besides paying all
these taxes the debt has increased in the three years about sixty-
two millions, making an average of $20,650,000 a year as against
$8,100,000 a year in Mr. Mackenzie's time. It has grown at a
rate 2^ times as great. Had Mr. Mackenzie increased the debt
at the same rate his account would have been 104 millions instead
of 40^ millioas.

THE YEARLY CHARGE FOR INTEREST

thus created in three years has been over 2^ millions, exclusive
of sinking fund. The debt of the last three years is larger than
the debt of the whole ten years before. So that while you have
swollen taxes you have swollen debts as well. Now, what is the
general result of this burning the candle at both ends ? Why,
this. The sum of taxes and loans for the last three years was 137
millions ; it was more than the whole five years of Mr. Macken-
zie's time. (Cheers.) It averaged $46,000,000 a year, as against
his average of $27,100,000, or an average excess of $18,900,000 a
year, and the last year is worse, as it ranges »*i/ over 49 millions,
as I estimate, for one single year. (Cheers.) These are the

RESULTS OF that POLICY OF RETRENCHMENT PROMISED IN 1878.
TviS IS THE HAPPY CONTRAST BETWEEN THE LAVISH EXTRA VA-

.NCE OF Mr. Mackenzie and the prudent economy of his
"'y iY SUCCESSORS. This is the financial policy which they
A^?f you TO approve and TO applaud. (Loud cheers.) .

(7)

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THE CANADIAN PACIFIC.

Policies of the Parties — Government Pro-
. mises Unredeemed.

jlusive

kr than

have

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Why,

fas 137

icken-

Lgainst

1,000 a

illions,

lE THE

1878.

TRAVA-

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THEY

EXPECTATIOISrS UNFULFILLED.

A Hundred Millions of Expense Which Was Not to Have Been Incurred-
Not Half the Expected Immigration— Expenditure for Immi-
gration Still Continued— Liberals Wish the Enter-
prise Well— The Government to Blame
for Shortcomings.

At Newcastle Mr. Blake said : —

I desire to-night to say something to you on the subject of the
Canadian Pacific Railway policy of the Government. That ques-
tion is at this time, in one respect, in a new condition. The road
is now open for traffic. Our controversies of the past as to the
policy adopted by the Government cannot, of course, now change
that policy. The policy has been consummated, and some of those
who are now favourably disposed to our views upon the general
questions, the living issues of the day, but who have supported

THE C. p. R. POLICY, ' •

say : Why do you discuss that question now, for the affair is set-
tled 1 Well, now, I am not foolish enough to insist that anybody
who agrees with me on the issues which remain for actual decision
should change his mind, and agree with me on the Canadian Pacific
Railway policy, in order to our acting together. There is a sense,
as I have pointed out, in which it is a dead issue — ^with regard to
which we can without difficulty agree to differ. The Liberal party,
including <jhe humble individual who now addresses you, wishes
and has always wished well to the enterprise, although we have
differed from the Government as to the methods to be adopted for
ite execution. Canada has invested too much money, and has
staked itsjuture too deeply on the enterprise, for us to entertain any
other feeling than that of anxiet^f for its success. « ^v, k

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NOR HAVE WE BLAMED THE COMPANY

for securing the most favourable conditions they could squeeze out
of the Government, or for having made the use they thought most
advantageous to themselves of the powers which from time to time,
at the request of the Government, Parliament has yielded to them.
The company was one party to the bargain,and it is not contrary to
the usual ideas of right and fairness that they should ask for as
much as they thought they could get, or perhaps a little more. But
what we have disputed is the wisdom and policy of the other party
to the bargain, of the party which acted as trustee for the people,
of the Government and the Ministerial majority, in adopting cer-
tain methods, yielding certain conditions, and conceding certain
powers. We have condemned their policy, and we have pointed
out, as their proposals were laid before us, what we believed were
its mistakes, what were the errors in their arguments and calcula-
tions, and what would be the wiser, the more prudent policy in the
interest of the country. And now, when we are shortly once more
to submit our course to the popular judgment, we must be per-
mitted to discuss before the people the alternative views of the
two great parties on this as on other questions. We must be per-
mitted — if we believe, as we do still believe, that the policy of the
Government was rash, erroneous, and blame-worthy, and that ours
was wiser, more prudent, and judicious — to present those two poli-
cies, to state the arguments on each side, and to point out how far
time and events have already

," •. ■ VERIFIED OUR VIEWS,

and falsified those of our opponents. We cannot, then, altogether
set this aside as a dead issue, in the sense of agreeing that nothing
should be said about it. It was, and is, a most important question,
both in a financial and in a national point of view. Now, one of
your guides, in determining upon the choice of those who are to
administer your 'public af airs, is a consideration of the mode in
which those whom, you have trusted have discharged their trust. It
is the account we give of our stewardship that should largely guide
you ; and, if in a great public question there has been an issue be-
tween the parties, it is not merely allowable, but it is the duty of
the people to consider which of the two parties appears to have
been the wiser- and more faithful counsellor, and to be largely-
guided in their decision as to how they will trust in the future by
the record of the past. Before the year 1878 the policy of both
parties in this country was tha^ the Pacific Railway should be
constructed after such a fashion as should not involve any further

\k>:

209

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increase in the rate of taxation. That policy was early defined as -
their own by the Conservatives, when in power, though their plans
did not consist with it ; and it was afterwards defined as theirs by
the Reformers, and, so far as the obligations

IMPOSED ON THE COUNTRY

by the Tories allowed, it was acted upon by them. A formal reso-
lution to this effect was added to the vote of money for the Cana-
dian Pacific Railway by an almost unanimous House, only eight
or ten voting the other way, and this clearly proves my assertipn
that parties were then agreed upon this policy. At this time Mr.
Mackenzie's policy was sometimes criticized, not because it was
slow, cautious, and niggai-dly, but because it was too rapid, reck-
less, and expensive. I will read an extract from a pamphlet which
did great duty for the Tories in the election of 1878 — a pamphlet
of speeches and letters by Sir David Macpherson, which was distri-
buted broadcast throughout Canada as tiie Tory platform, and to
which the Tories largely attributed their success in 1878.

. SIR DAVID MACPHERSON SAID:

But surely the whole expenditure between Lake Superior and the Red
River is premature and unwise. That section of the railway will cost not
less than twenty millions of dollars ; the interest will be one million of dol-
lars a year, and with the loss in working the road, which I shall not venture
to estimate, will amount to an enormous sum to be borne by the taxpayers
of the Dominion. I may say my own opinion has always been that we should
have been content for the time to use the United States lines for our all-rail
route to Manitoba, and begin our Paciho Railway at Pembina, thence at
Winnipeg and on through Manitoba and the North- West, combining with its
construction a coniprehensive and attractive scheme of immigration, under
which immigrants would be assured of employment and land — employment
first and land afterwards. The lands retained by the Government in the
North- West, owing to the settlement of adjoining lands, would.have been en-
hanced in value, and their sale would have provided funds to aid in extend-
ing the railway as required, without overburdening the Dominion Exchequer.
In this way the 0. P. R. east of the Rocky Mountains could have been built
as fast as required for very little money, and our prairie country would have
become quickly peopled. A similar course, as far as adaptable to British
Columbia, might have been pursued in that Province, and when the Govern-
ment decided to build the road as a public work no reasonable objection could
be urged against the policy. Had it been followed the Dominion, from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, would have been more prosperous than if- is to-day.
We should have been free from the heavy engagements that weigh upon us,
and free, also, from the financial peril that stares us in the face — imminent
if not inevitable. Our expenditure to this time upon the railway would have
been comparatively small, and would increase only as might be convenient,
for it would be subject to our control. As it is, the outlay in connection
with the Pacific Railway, to the 30th of June, 1876, (according to the public
accounts), amounts to the large sum of six million two hundred and fifty-four
' thousand, iwo hundred and eighty dollars.

r'-^Jga^'igy

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. 210 ■

There was the Tory platform of 1878. Then we come to 1880.
Up to that time no person had ever proposed a larger expenditure
in cash than $30,000,000.

VI r I ; •

IN 1880 NEW PROPOSALS WERE MADE

for enormous public expenditures and very rapid construction.
We opposed these proposals. Our plans were modest — some may
say tney were timid — 1 believe they were only prudent. Our
plans were to complete the link between Lake Superior and Red
River which Mr. Mackenzie had been pressing forward, on the
ground that we ought to have as soon as possible a through sum-
mer route for immigration and transportation purposes within
our own borders. We advocated also the building of the road
over the prairies as fast as, or even faster than, required for settle-
ment, and the building of branch lines as required. In the mean-
time we proposed to continue the exploration of the routes for
the ends of the road and to complete those ends more leisurely
than proposed by the Government. By so doing, we argued, they
could be built more cheaply, and the North-West lands being
meantime developed and enhanced in value, they might become
a more substantial assistance as a basis for the contract for the
construction of the expensive ends. The great object, as we con-
ceived, was to fonoard the settlement of the feHile parts of the
North-West tei^itoi'y so that you might have a backbone for the
Canadian Pacific Railway. (Loud applause.) To this end we
thought it very important that the road should be built upon such
a financial basis as should admit the lowest possible rates of freight
on produce coming out and goods going in, for one obvious diffi-
culty to be contended against there, is the distance from tide-
water. Therefore,

, * WE WANTED THE ROAD BUILT CHEAPLY

and the capital account kept down, so that the demand for inter-
est and dividends might be light. The changed policy of the Gov-
ernment has resulted in enormous expense, which has been greatly
increased by the haste in construction, and by enlarged operations,
not contemplated by anybody up to a late date. Our total cash
expenditure, of which almost all has been already incurred,
amounts, including the assistance granted to eastern extensions,
to the vast sum of $8<r ,000,000. We have now engaged for nearly
three times the amount contemplated. That is over $400,000 for
each electoral district, or $1,700,000 for your u/nited counties.
To meet this about $20,000,000 have been taken by enormously
increased taxation, and the public debt has been swollen to gigan^

. • . ^ ' , . * (8)

■1}

. '■'.■

( 211- • '

tic proportions. And this is irrespective of the land. But the
plan of the Qovorninont also resulted in the creation of a great
capital stock and bonded debt in addition to the subsidies. If
you issue bonds and stocks, as you know, the next thing is to see
that the tolls on traffic are high enough to pay interest and divi-
dends. Sixty-five millions of dollars of stock have been issued,
realizing only twenty-nine and one-half millions of dollars to the
company of which $21,000,000 went to pay and secure dividends,
leaving only 8,500,000 to go into the Hoad. This was because the
Government, against our protests, authorized the issue of the stock
at nominal prices and their appropriation to dividends, and so in-
troduced the

VICIOUS SYSTEM OF STOCK WATERING,

■which has done so much to enhance the cost of transportation and
impair the value of railway securities in the United States. You
know that the great effort is to force the people who use the rail-
ways to pay interest and dividends upon all these nominal securi-
ties. Besides this stock there are thirty-five millions of dollars of
bonds, making a total of one hundred millions of dollars of nom-
inal capital, apart from our subsidies. Large sums have also been
expended with the sanction of the Government, by reason of the
extra cost involved in the great rapidity of construction. I will
give you one proof of the fact that speed means cost. There is a
section in the mountains, which was estimated by the company it-
self and also by the Government engineer to cost just half as much
again if constructed at the rapid rate proposed, as if the work were
done in reasonable time. No doubt the same consideration applied
in other cases, and the Ooveimment last session admitted that the
haste of comtruction had involved large additional cost. Great
sums have also been devoted to schemes and extensions not em-
braced in the original plan or even in the plan of 1880. The action
of the Governement has ^

CREATED A MONOPOLY FOR TWENTY YEARS,

•which has caused deep dissatisfaction among the people most di-
rectly affected by it. It was of the last consequence that the
North- West should be settled by a contented community, but in-
stead of that we have a people in many respects discontented. Scf
much have they felt the weight of this monopoly, and .so anxious
have they been to mitigate it, that within a short time the old
Red River route was reopened with a view to competition, and
again the people of Manitoba are earnestly at work and are charg-
ing their revenues very heavily for so young a Province in order
to open the Hudson Bay route and so find relief from this mono-

'v*.'

212

poly. We cannot refuse them that relief, and 1 have sup-
ported their efforts to obtain it ; but you will see that the conse'
quences of their success may be seHoua to us all. If that is the way
for wheat to go, it is the way for manufactured goods to come, and
instead of trade connection between the West and the older Pro-
vinces, we establish a direct trade connection between the West and
Britain. The policy of tlie Government was based ui)on solemn
pledces and promises which they made to Parliament, and to the
people. The first pledge was that the bargain was to be a
finality. No more was to be given, no changes were to be made.
They told me when I complained of the extensive character of the
concessions that they were liberal, because

THEY WERE TO BE FINAL,

there was to be no coming back to Parliament for relief. But
since then guarantees, loans, concessions, exchanges, grants and
further powers have followed in quick succession. (Loud cheers.)
There has hardly been a session of Parliament which has not seen
a fresh proposition for the Canadian Pacific Railway. So much
lor the question of finality. Then they promised that the progress
and completion of the work should result in a

If:

• . VERY RAPID IMMIGRATION

into the North- West from the Old World. From their calcula-
tion it followed that allowing for the natural increase we should
have had, by the year 1885, 313,000 whites at least in the North-
West, and by the year 1890, 680,000. And, remember, this calcu-
lation was on the basis of ten years' time being occupied in con-
struction, but later they halved the time, declaring that this
<^|lange would result in a still more rapid flow of immigration.
These promises which Sir John Macdonald made and Sir 0. Tup-
per endorsed, are like some other political kites, with the same
names as makers and endorsers, which have been discounted from
time to time at tjie People's Bank, often renewed, but at last dis-
honoured, and which now lie under protest with no effects to meet
them. (Cheers and laughter.) But they did not confine them-
selves to promises. They told us that the promises were kept.
They gave us alleged figures of actual settlement. They said
that in the four years from 1881 to 1884, 148,000 souls had ac-
tually settled in the North- West. On the basis of their figures
we should have had in the North- West in 1885, 250,000 wtiites,
but the census of the territories and our other information indi-
cate that there were :• ' ' ' ' ' ;:.>-_. ^ ? >•

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ONLY

ABOUT

126,000.

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Of the people who are there, only 50,000, as far as we can conjec-
ture, are imraij^rants from foreign parts. The Government told
us a groat immigration would be secured by the Canadian Pacific
Railway Company itself, and we would be saved the largo expense
of settling that country. But we paid in 1884 nearly $600,000
in promoting immigration, and in 1885, over $500,000. (Cheers.)
The Government declared that this policy would result in the
return to yod of enormous sums from the sale of lands in the
North-West. In 1880 Sir John Macdonald declared that $71,-
300,000 would be paid or due upon lands by the year 1891, and
that the expenses of survey and management being deducted,
there would romain $69,000,000 either in cash or good mortgages,
and Sir Charles Tuppor said that was a most moderate calcula-
tion which nobody could doubt would be more than realized. So
late as the year 1883, only three years ago, the Government told
us that

WE WOULD RECEIVE IN CASH $58,000,000

between 1883 and 1891 from the North- West lands. As a matter
of fact we received in gross, without any deductions, in the five
years from 1880 to 1885, about $4,000,000, and the net receipts
after paying expenses of survey, administration, and head office
wore about $375,000 ! In that calculation I do not charge against
the receipts a single dollar for the Indian grants, mounted police,
immigration, local government, and other charges entailed upon
us by the North-West. And this is not the worst of it, because
the period I have just referred to included the years of the boom,
when the receipts for lands were comparatively large. Lately
the receipts have not covered the expenses. In Parliament the
other day, I asked these men if they would now venture to say
that the net return from sales of lands in the North-West would
be one-tenth part of the estimate of 1883, and they did not answer
that challenge. (Applause.) When they asked you to agree to
the expenditure upon the Canadian Pacific Railway they prom-
ised you in the most distinct, precise, and emphatic manner that
every dollar of principal and interest should be repaid to you out
of these lands.

THEUE ARE THE RECORDED PLEDGES

given originally, repeated year by year afterwards, and declared to
be even more than realized. I give you now a counter declaration,
which I made years ago. So far from these statements being true,
/ believe that not one dollar of the enormous sum, of pHncipal we

. (8)

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214

/lave 8'peni in connection with the Canadian Pacijic Railway will
ever be realized by you out of the net proceeds, after just deductions,
of the North- West lands. If we shall realize some Iraction of the
interest accrued up to the time of the completion of the road, that
is as much as we can, as reasonable men, expect to do. And these
promises, pledges, and estimates on the faith of which only you
endorsed that project have so completely failed that they do not
now pretend to you they are to be realized at all. Well, then, la-
dies and gentlemen, they said we were through this policy to de-
rive a great benefit by the wonderfully rapid settlement and
opening up of the North- West which it would produce. Sir John
Macdonald stated that the settlers would take up land at a rate
equal to 59 acres per head for all who went into the territory. I
pointed out how absurd that estimate was. In the North- West-
ern States and Territories the settlers had up to 1870 taken up
something like 10 or 12 acres per head, and cultivated 6 J acres
per head. Sir Charles gave as ' i^

; *' A WONDERFUL CALCULATION.

He declared that one hundred thousand farmers in the Norjbh-
West would produce in one year six hundred and forty millions of
bushels of wheat. (Laughter.) Oh,ihe siiid it ; I heard it my-
self. (Renewed laughter.) I see that you practical farmers real-
ize the foolishness of such talk. But that is the sort of story with
which a majority were deluded, and persuaded to entrust with
power to carry out their scheme the meu ^ho were to do such
great things for us. It was promised thc>. tL*» Canadian Pacific
Railway Company should relieve us of the charge of building
branches, for that these gentlemen said the company would do that
in order to realize the profits from thei; lands. I do not mean to
say that they have not built any Norii-West branches, but I do
mean to say that they have not done what the Government pro-
mised, and that we are now giving about ten millions acres of
land in order to help on the building of branches, and a large por-
tion of that land is going to the Canadian Pacific Railway Com-
pany, which has become , the proprietor of some of this branch
mileage, which it is thus iDuilding by the aid of further subsidies
from us. The Government agreed that they would secure a fair
arrangement as to freight rates, as between the North- West and
Ontario, and the North- West and Quebec. Montreal has a great
natural advantage over western cities in being an ocean terminus.
The wheat is likely to go down through to Montreal, where it can
be shipped across the ocean, and where the cars are emptied, there
it is likely they will be filled with goods as return freights. No-
body begi'udges that advantage to Montreal. But Toronto and

(8)

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Hamilton and other western cities have a minor natural aavan-
tage in being nearer the North-West, jind consequently being
able, other things being equal, to send goods to the North-West
more cheaply.

FROM THE COMMON POINT,

Callander it is a shorter distance to Hamilton and Toronto than
it is to Montreal, and we had a right to expect, and we were pro-
mised by the Gbvernment, that we should reap the full advantage
of that shorter distance. But we have not secured it, and the
Canadian Pacific is, it is said, about to make equal rates between
Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, and such like points, and the West.
The latest act of the Government in connection with the C. P. R.,
was to reverse their own decision reached the previous year, and
to give up $10,000,000 of our loan to the company in return for
our being allowed to retain 7,000,000 acres of our land grant,
which is now unsalable. This transaction was accomplished in
favour of a company whose stock stands at a premium of between
forty and fifty per cent, on the issue price, and whose sharehold-
ers have regularly received large dividends upon their invest-
ment. That operation at one stroke added $10,000,000 to our
public debt, and $400,000 to our interest charge, to the advantage
of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, and to the disadvan-
tage of the taxpayers of Canada. In all these things, as I told
you, I am not blaming the company. They were one party to a
bargain and the people were the othefr. The persons I blame are
the administrators of your aflfairs, who made such bargains, who
effectuated such a policy, who asked you to endorse their pro-
ceedings upon representations which have proven so entirely
fallacious. Much of what I have said^oes to show what a good
bargain, in their own interest, the company made, a consideration
which should help to raise their stocks and improve their posi-
tion. In truth,

NO COMPANY SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN EVER GOT SUCH AN

EXCELLENT BARGAIN.

, • •■ ' - ■ ..... - / .

They ha\e the advantage of $87,000,000 of cash, or its equiva-
lent. They have secured nearly $11,000,000 from lands sold,
bonuses, and town sites, and they have left about 14,000,000
acres of land. If you value this at $1 an acre, the sum of their
. public advantage is about $112,000,000, besides the great mon-
opoly and free road beds, and great exemptions. That, certainly,
is a gigantic bonus, which ought to make the company extremely
strong. But what I have shown you is that the Government,
which«gave these immense, unprecedented concessions, has not

(8)

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216

fulfilled its pledges or realised its promises. And you must re-
member that all the development which has taken place in the
North- West, and more, Would have taken place under our policy ;
while the enormous debt which burdens us all, and which has
done so much to alienate Nova Scotia, would, under that policy,
have been very largely avoided.

As to the future, that will speak for itself. About both past
and future there were, during construction, many disputable
points on which I have not touched; some of the greatest gravity.
Many positions were taken, many criticisms were urged, many
controversies were waged, as to details of the policy, as to me-
thods, as to results, on which I have not touched. Some I omit
for brevity. Some remain yet in the region of dispute ; while
the policy is consummated and argument cannot affect it now.
While I am ready, should my views be challenged, to give my
reasons, and prepared, if shown to be wrong, to acknowledge my
error, I must say that I have not yet seen ground on any sub-
stantial question involved to change my opinions. But on any
of these points, the agitation of which might be supposed by
susceptible friends to bear injuriously on the prospects of the
company, 1 am very

'.f . r,\

WILLING TO BIDE MY TIME,

and let the future decide. I have never wished, even when it
was a duty to discuss the policy, still less do I wish to-day, to
say one avoidable word which might, if any words of mine could,
injure the prospects of the company. I believe no one has done
more than myself to show how magnificent are their subventions.
It has been my duty, however, in the past, and it may be my
duty again to criticise thttir methods, and to discuss their rela-
tions with the public. That duty I shall continue to discharge
firmly and freely when occasion calls. But this is not such an
occasion. I am concerned to-day to show, as I think I have
shown, by some though not all the proofs, that the G. P. R. policy
of the Government has not been wise, has not been justified by
events, has not realised their promises, has not effectuated their
pledges, and should rather weaken than strengthen their hold on
the intelligent electorate of Canada. (Loud and prolonged
cheering.) (8)

4 ,

;. ''u i^:- ..un vyn l^••«■ u. ■. _\,

/•i •,

217

THE CANADIAN I^ACIFIC RAILWAY,

IT WAS NOT TO COST THE COUNTRY A CENT — WHAT THE EXPENSE

HAS BEEN. 1 • ■ " ' " '

•>> •

Speaking at Gait, Mr. Blakk said : The Government promised
most emphatically, when they were persuading Parliament and the
people to agree to their policy of enormous obligations and rapid
construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, that the cash re-
ceipts from the land would suffice to p^ as the work went on all
the obligations and interest without increasing the taxation. , .

In 1880,

THE FIRST MINISTER USED THESE WORDS

•■ t i^nn''

For the purpose of relieving the people of Canada from the burden of tax<
ation, which the work would otherwise entail, we have ofiered every second
lot at an upset price, so that the road may be eventtuilly built without costing the
peoplt one single farthing which will not be recouped. I believe that land can
be made productive under the terms of the resolution to complete the whole
of that road, to open that immense country, and give us a magnificent rail-
way from sea to sea, without adding to the burdens of the people, or without
causing any necessity for an increase of taxation. We can do it all by the sale
of the lands which we hold as a sacred trust for the purpose of defraying the
whole expense of the construction of the Canadian Paci&c Railway. v '

Again he said: — . .1 -

As the road progresses the annual sale of lands will be more than suffi^iient
to meet all possible cost of the raUway. > • ,■ :- <• . - -. f ft^ » ■

Again ; —

',-l>

The proceeds of the sale of the lands will meet our engagements as the
work progresses, including claims for interest. ,^

Mr. White, in amendment to a motion by Mr. Charlton in the
same session, moved, and the House resolved : — ^ /-.^

That the policy of the Government for the disposal of the public land in
Manitoba and the North- West is calculated to promote the rapid settlement
of that region, and to raise the moneys requirdd for the csnstructioa of the
Canadian Pacific Railway without further burdening the people, and that it
deserves the support and approval of this House. .^;,

In the same year, 1830, the First Minister estimated the cash pro-
ceeds of the lands actually to be received from that year to 1890,
inclusive, to be $38j600,000. The amount which would be then
due but not payable, but still a mortgage on the lands, and as
good as cash, bearing interest, he estimated at $32,700,000, or an

(8)

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aggregate received and due of $71,300,000. He estimated the cost
of survey and adm' aistration of the lands at $2,400,000, and he
brought down a handsome balance of net results of $68,900,000
before the year 1890.
On 10th February, 1882,

THE FIRST MINISTER MADE THIS STATEMENT :— ,

We hare not forgotten the promise m&de by the Government, that they
would make the land in that country recoup to the Dominion the ^25,000,000
that we have promised the Syndicate, and what the Dominion has already
spent, or is spending on the Canadian Pacific Railway. There is no reason in
the world f asl have urged again and again^ why the people of the older Provinces
should put their hands in their pockets and setUe that country, and imj:rove it,
a/nd buiM railways at their expense. That country, which is going to reap the
advantages of thoue railways, should provide the cost of the improvements,
and the North- West, I am happy to say, is so rich, and will be so sought for,
that what was a reasonable proposition at the beginning is now a certainty,
namely, that it will be able to Bell su£Scient land that, while preserving the
homesteading right, it would be able to repay to those who have contributed
to the taxes necessary in connection with building the road, the money with
interest added.

Again : —

It is safe — it is certainly beyond the possibility of doubt — to say that every
farthing, and every cent, and every dollar, that has been or will be expended
in buUding the Canadian Pacific Railway, not one shilling of this burden will
fall on our shoulders, or the shoulders of the ge leration that will succeed us.
We will be free from the whole amount of that debt.

Again : — •

By this year, then, there will be 10,000,000 acres granted to colonization
companies under Plan No. 1, which means the eventual payment of $10,000,-
000 into the Treasury. . . . That will be $10,000,000, and with the
sales that will take place of railway lands in other portions, we will have,
either in money or in what is as good as money, solid mortgages on every one
of these colonization tracts, an amount equal to $2,500,000, so that in one
year we may fairly say we have got half of the whole $25,000,000.

On 2nd April, 1882,

THE FIRST MINISTER SAID: —

'»•■.

It was the policy of the Government that the country should pay for its
ownrailway. ..,:, , k.. .-.::.. ......,•;♦ w. t=...vj .v.' a,,

■iV.':

And again: —

Seventy-five thousand acres are to be sold — they are not to be used for
homestead purposes — for the purpose of relieving the people of the older Pro-
vinces who, on the faith of this assurance and promise — and on that promise
only, accepted the burden, and have at the polls recorded their sanction of
this policy. . . . They endorsed this policy on the understanding that
eventually that country would pay the whole of the expense.

Then, on 12th April, 1882, • , ' :- ; ;. :

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219

■v,'j* '■'•r i ■■ "v^ V '^ ,■ ft' .•'-"?

SIR CHARLES TUPPER SAID :-

The lands have so inoreased in value aa to warrant us in the statement,
and to warrant the conviction in tha mind of every intelligent man, that at an
early date we will not only have the $35,000,000 recouped to the Treasury,
but we will go on, and, if we have not wiped out our other responsibilities,
we will soon be in a condition to wipe out the engagements thrown upon as
by the late Qovemment, as well as those incurred by our own in reference to
the work.

On the 4th of May, 1883, . . .

r SIR CHARLES TUPPER, . : .*/ > • ,v,,

then Minister of Railways, read to the House the statement of the
Department of the Interior, as follows : — .

Sir, — Having given the subject my beat and fullest consideration, I esti-
mate that the receipts of this Department from the sale of agricultural and
coal lands, timber dues, rents of grazing lands, and sales of mineral lands
other than coal, with the royalties from the minerals, between 1st January,
1883, and 31st December, 1891, both days inclusive, will amount to not less
4han $58,000,000.

And • ' -'^^

SIR CHARLES TUPPER - ,

in the same speech, referring to a general estimate, said : —

This is the amount that we expect to receive from surplus revenue and the
sales of land from the commencement of this contract down to the time the
contract provides for the completion of the work. With that calculation be-
fore us — and I think all will admit that it is a safe calculation — I think we
may come to the conclusion, not only that our country will not be over-
whelmed in debt, but that we shall be in the position the Imperial Govern-
ment is in to-day. Mr. Cbilders reduced the national debt

«ight millions sterling last year, and he proposes to reduce it by eight millions
this year. So my hon. friend, the Minister of Finance, proposes to reduce
our debt, so we propose to reduce these surpluses, not for the construction
of the Canada Pacific Bailway, mark you, but for the reduction of the public
debt, that when the work is constructed from end to end, there will not only
be no increased indebtedness upon Canada, but at an early day the sales of
the land alone will recoup back to the Treasury of the country every dollar
that has been expended.

These are some and some only, of the statements made by the
Government. I told them, on the other hand, that the sales of
these lands

WOULD NOT MEET THE COST

■».','■

incurred in the local government and development of the country,
a.nd in the surveys and administration of the lands ; that they
would not pay the interest on the expenditures in respect of the
Canadian Pacific Railway, and that they would thus, of course,
produce nothing toward the principal. I told them that their cal-
ls

220

!• ^;f

> -A

culations were extravagant, wholly unwarranted by the experi-
ence of the past or by any reasonable expectations of the future,
and to-day, I am sorry to say, lam able to prove that we were right
a/nd they were wholly wrong. The results from 1880 to 1885 show
net receipts of about 3 or $400,000 over the cost of survey and local
and head office administration of the lands, allowing nothing for
the cost of Indians, Mounted Police, Local Government, immigra-
tion, and so forth. But that is not the worst. The boom years
are included, and in the latter two years the receipts do not cover
the expenses of administering the lands alone. The results of the
settlement are of the same character. And the prospects for the
future do not warrant us in believing that there will be many
early sales. I cannot give you better proof of that than by refer-
ring you to Sir John Macdonald's speech in London, in which with
singular inconsistency, while contending that he had redeemed his
pledge, that the sales of land would pay the expense of the Cana-
dian Pacific Bailway as the work proceeded, he asserted that the
free grants \\could absorb all the immigration that could reason-
ably be expoo^'eH * »• the next twenty-five years. Now, if every
immigrant r iJ^^-^vq years is to be absorbed by the lands
which are grar e- frvjj

now M^CH ARE WE GOING TO SELL ?

'i »

¥-h

m, *■ '

(Applause.) It is evideiio thau the charges will absorb all and
more than the receipts. The arrears of interest on our payments
for the Canadian Pacific Railway already reach many millions of
dollars, and will not be met if you set against the receipts the
charges ; still less will there be anything to pay current interest
or to be applied redeeming the principal. What is that principal ?
It amounts, for payments made or pledged, adding together those
under and those outside the original contract, to a grand total of
$83,000,000, apart from yearly subsidies.

yhh.'i

MR. M'LELAN, THE FINANCE MINISTER,

said last session that the money we borrowed for the last Canada
Pacific Railway loan, was costing us more than four per cent., and
thus that we made money by receiving back part of that loan in
advance. Assumed that we borrowed all the amount, and that
the interest and charges on our transcontinental railway expen-
diture cost us 4^ per cent., the annual charge would be $3,735,000.
There is also in connection with some of the eastern extensions of
the system a yearly subsidy of $250,000 for twenty years, and
another of $30,000 for fifteen years, making $280,000 a year more
for a long term of years. There is thus a yearly charge of over
, four millions ; and a principal of $83,000,000. This we have ta

... -_ (8> .

» ' ■•

'■J»

.221 ' r.

pay. (Applause.) Now, I have given you in a few figures the cash
cost of the Canadian Pacific Railway to the country apart from
lands. I have pointed out that these men told you it would

^nada
|., and
in in

that

:pen-

LOOO.

Ins of

and

iss

,* r

» COST YOU NOTHING,

that they were going to make enough out of the sale of lands to
pay for it, principal and interest, as the work went on. But I
have shown you that we have already paid many millions out of
increased taxation, and we will have to paj'' scores of millions
more in the same way ; and this story about the lands paying for
the railway is proven to be an absurd and exploded fiction. And
yet

SIR JOHN MACDONALD,

speaking at London, said : — , >.

I was laughed at in introducing the measure oris;inally when I stated
that the twenty-five millions which we were to advance, that we were to give
as a gift, as a subsidy — I do not refer to the loan now — that every farthing of
that would be repaid by selling the land, made valuable by building the rail-
way. Gentlemen, that, like all my other predictions, will be carried out.
Under our system even-numbered sections are kept for homesteading, and
these even-numbered sections cover such a large area of land that they will
absorb all the population that is likely to come into that country for the next
twenty-five years. The odd-numbered sections we keep and put into the
market at a very reasonable price, and every acre of it that is sold is funded
for the purpose of paying the cost of survey, the cost of administration, and,
finally, to pay off the twenty-five millions we were'' obliged to borrow in
England for the purpose of the grant to the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Gentlemen, we were told at the time we introduced that measure that w*
were putting a tax, not upon ourselves, but upon every farmer in the older
Provinces ; that we were taxing posterity ; that our children and children's
children would feel the burden of those twenty-five millions. I submit,
gentlemen, it is now a matter of certainty, it will not happen in a day, in a
year, or in some years, for a nation can afford to wait, but I tell you it is
certain that those lands will be sold, that the money will fdrm a fund to pay
off the twenty-five millions. Then we will have that great railway finished,
finished without putting any burden upon the people of Gaaada ; the twenty -five
million and every farthing cf it will he paid out of the produce of the
lands of the North- West, and rwt one cent of it will fall upon you, your farms,
or your children.

Now, you will obser\te. Sir John alters his prediction; he
confines it to the twenty-five millions of cash subsidy, but I have
proved to you that he and Sir C. Tupper both promised that the '
lands would pay principal and interest of the whole cost of the
Canadian Pacific Railway. If they say that only the $25,000,000
will be repaid out of the lands, there remains the trifle of
$58,000,000, the rest of the cash cost of the road, which, with
enormous arrears of interest, and the yearly subsidies, you must
make up your mind, • (I) ',

■' ■"!«

■ i.

J ' ) ' '. '

^ .

222

' T , •- » ^

/.' v^ ■'.••'

, ti '' ■}■

COMES OUT OF YOUR TAXES.

. ./

,-,1. ;. 'Jic ;,■ ; * ■/■

He says now that the cost will not be paid as the work is done,
that " it will not happen in a day, in a year, or in some years,"
but I have shown you that the promise was that the money
would be paid out of the lands, principal and interest, as the
work went on ; that six years ago they said they would make
$69,000,000 by 1891, and that three years ago they said they
would make $58,000,000 in hard cash between 1883 and 1891 ;
while in fact they will net nothing at all.

Sir John says the homesteads will absorb the immigration for
twenty-five years to come. If that is so the debt will have been
in the meantime far more than doubled by the interest. The
interest charge, even at 4 per cent., will in that time double the
debt, apart from the compound interest all together. You will
have to pay in simple interest an amount equal to the principal
before he begins the process of recoupment. The truth is — and
we may as well face it — we will have to pay these four millions
a year out of our taxes. (Applause.) We will have to redeem,
as a public obligation, this vast principal of 83 millions ; we will
have to settle the whole. The Government cannot escape

FROM the fact THAT THE DEBT AND THE TAXATION, THE PUBLIC
BURDENS, HAVE BEEN ENORMOUSLY AND PERMANENTLY INCREASED
BY THE BUILDING OF THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY, REGARD-
LESS OF THE OTHER DISADVANTAGES OF THEIR CANADIAN PACIFIC

Railway policy, which I shall not discuss to-night. They

HAVE BROKEN EVERY PLEDGE. ThEY HAVE DECEIVED THE PEOPLE.
It is FOR THE PEOPLE TO GIVE THEM IHEIR REWARD. (Loud

applause.) . - . .

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY MATTERS.

■; )!» 0'J\, •"';^; -^.iri. . M

«■* :*•■■■'

THE LAST SACRIFICE OF $10,000,000.

COLLAPSE OF THE TORY BOOM POLICY.

Hon. Edward Blake, at Listowel, said : — Some recent Minis-
terial utterances lead me to say a few words to you upon one
single point of the Canadian Pacific Railway policy of the Govern-

(8)

^:> fv.;

228

ment, that concerning the grants to the Company, and particularly
the last transaction of taking back some of our waste lands in
satisfaction of their debt. First let us try to grasp the magnitude
of these grants, the money part of which, contrary to the solemn
promise upon which the Government induced Parliament and the
country to consent to their policy, must be paid out of your taxes
instead of being, as they alleged, paid out of the proceeds of sales
of North-West lands. Now, gentlemen, the whole

EXPENDITURE OUT OF PUBLIC RESOURCES

on the transcontinental line — and by the transcontinental line I
mean the whole schemes projected from ocean to ocean, because
they have made and promised a considerable expenditure outside
of the original contracted line between Callander and Port Moody,
I say the whole of this public expenditure, made or pledged,
including the receipts by the company through its land grants
and bonuses is

NOW ABOUT $98,000,000.

This takes no account of their free road-bed and station grou nds
and other privileges, exemptions and monopolies of enormous
value. The public expenditure for the main line from Callander
to Port Moody is of course less than this, because about $17,000,000
represents to-day the capitalized value of the sums given or
pledged in cash, or by yearly payments, in connection with the
other elements of the transcontinental scheme. The distance from
Callander to Port Moody is 2,550 miles, and the grants for this part
of the scheme are these — Government works and surveys, $35,-
000,000 ; cash subsidy, $25,000,000 ; cash lent the Company and
settled last session by the resumption of waste lands, $10,000,000 ;
proceeds of the Company's land grant bonds, local bonuses, and sales
of town sites, about $11,000,000, making a total of $81,000,000;
besides about 14,000,000 of acres of land available for sale, which
they still retain. These gifts are equal in round figures to $31,750
and 5,550 acres for each mile of the road. If you reckon the un-
sold land grant to be worth $1 an acre, the grants amount to $95,-
000,000, or $37,250 for each mile ; if you reckon the unsold land at
the too high rate of $1.50 per acre, at which the Government took
part for their debt, the grants amount to $102,000,000, or $40,000
for every mile of the 2,550 miles from Callander to Port Moody. I
am convinced, taking the road all over and having regard to the
exceptional advantages for railway construction during the last few
years, when the cost of constmction has been lower than ever be-
fore, that had the road been built at moderate speed and with pro-
per economy, had not the rash, the insane policy of extreme haste,
^ with all its incidents and consequences, been adopted, the road

(8) . .

S'..

■4^
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■■■

224

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:. ^!

' /^>" COULD HAVE BEEN BUILT FOR THAT MONEY, .

and the Canadian Pacific Railway, built at the public expense,
might still be public property. These colossal grants have been
supplemented, as I have told you, by the equivalent of $17,000,000
for outside operations, making a grand total of from $112,000,000
to $119,000,000, according as you reckon the value of the unsold
land. These grants are enormous and unprecedented. They are
beyond comprehension; we, cannot grasp such figures; they are
equal to more than half our whole net public debt ; they are equal
to over half a million for each electoral district in Canada ; they
are equal to a yearly charge for interest and charges, calculating
the cost at 4 J per cent., of over $5,000,000, or for each electoral
district about $24,000 a year. They are equal to over $120 for
each head of a family in Canada. It was with this state of things
in view that the Government agreed last session to release $10,-
000,000 of the debt, and add $400,000 a year to the public charge.
This is the last transaction included in my figures. Sir John
Macdonald in various places has made statements on this subject.
At Winnipeg he said : —

" There were only, ten millions more of the debt, and the Company said *
* Take your choice : we will pay you the other ten millions, or if you wish to
free our land of any mortgage to the Government, so that we can go into the
markets of the world and get money to build branches for the purpose of
extending and i«7eloping the 0. P. B., you may take out of the land grant,
out of the most fertile part of the great North- West, enough land at $L.50 an
«ore to pay your ten millions. '

" Well, gentlemen, you all read the papers, and you know the estimates
made, especially by Mr. Blake, as to the value of the lands.

" In his celebrated speech, which has been so often quoted, he stated that
the lands, at the lowest valuation, were worth $3.75 an acre.

" I believe they are worth that, and that we made a good bargain for the
lands, at less than half their valae. In consequence of its being free of debt,
there is no railroad in the world which has such substantial credit as the
C. P. R"

. ., i

At London he said : —

\'J'

1 %.

. 1:: I . .'

*' There now remained only another ten millions to be recouped, and the
Canadian Pacific Railway Company came to us and they said, '* We have
until 1890 to pay this. We have paid you twenty millions five years before
the time. We will now do one of two things : we will pay you the money in
1890, if you wish to free us of all obligations, and get done with the incon-
▼enient relation between the Government and the Company of debtor and
creditor. We will pay you in land the whole balance of the debt at $1.60 an
acre. Now, gentlemen, that land was to be taken out of the railway belt,
that land was to be taken out of the 25 millions of acres that we had agreed
to give them, and which they had earned, that land extending 20 miles each
side of the railway ; some of the finest land that has ever laid out of doors,
to use a familiar expression. It recalls to our recollection that Mr. Blake, in
his place in the House of Parliament, has valued that land at a minimum, at

> . . (8) :'

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1.50 an

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agreed

)8 each

, . ■

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225 ,

the least value, at $3. 75 an aore. Mr. Charlton said it was worth $5 an acre,
and the Company offered us, in order to get rid of the obligation, the land at
^1.50 per aore. Well, we had to consider it, and the Government came to the
conclusion, and I think you will a^^ree with us, it was a correct conclusion, if
the land at its lowest is worth $3.75, we were making rather a good bargain
out of the Oanadian Pacific Railway Company to get the land at lestt than
half price. (Cheers.) So we took the laud at 91.50 an acre, and we have
those lands now ; we are selling those lands, and we are making a fund out
of the sales as the lands are sold, in order to redeem the bonds, to redeem
our obligation to our creditors, to apply to the payment of the ten millions.
So that, gentlemen, we are now free from the Canadian Pacific Railway, the
Oanadian Pacific Railway is free from us ; the liftini; of the mortgage on the*
railway for this ten million frees them entirely. They are the most enter-
prising body in the world ; they are extending their road in every possible
way ; they are building branch roads wherever branches can be useful to the
country and to the road as a commercial enterprise. They can now go into
the market free from all debt to issue their bonds, and with the prestige,
with the credit they have gained by the fact that the road is now completed, by
the fact that they own the road, and that the Canadian Government or Cana-
'dian Parliament cannot interefere with them — that they can go into any of
the markets of the world, and the very people that would not look at their
bonds at any price three years 9.^0 will only be too glad to get them at their
market value." •

You know how much confidence they have in me ! They
have often told you how coiTect my judgment is ! (Cheers and
laughter.) And so of course, , ,

THEY WERE QUITE SATISFIED .. >

wlien, as they allege, I, of all men in the world, valued the land
at $3.50 an acre, that they must be making an excellent bargain.
(Laughter.) Sir John is never tired of this alleged quotation of
my opinion. Everywhere he repeats it, and depends on me ! He
says, " This is Mr. Blake's estimate ; " and it is extraordinary, and
even flattering, to know how much they depend upon Mr. Blake's
alleged estimate — wiien it suits them ! (Loud applause and laugh-
ter.) Gentlemen, it was not so.

THEY MADii: THE ESTIMATE THEMSELVES.

Sir John Macdonald gave an estimate as far back as 1879
and repeated it in 1880, of the value of North- West lands within
a certain distance of the projected railway. He declared what
the land was worth in each of several belts on either side of
the railway, valuing the several belts at different prices cor-
respondent with their distance from the line. Only a few
months later in the same year they brought down a new railway
policy, under which they were to give lands along the line to
the present company, and, in dealing with this new policy, I
said : — ^A few months ago you valued these lands at such and
such prices. Now that the situation has, as you say, everyway

( ',

li h

226

improved, and that the railway is to be built through the lands
faster than was then expectea, thus increasing their estimated
market value, you surely must believe the lands to be worth at
least as much as your own estimate of a few months ago. Here
is what I said on that subject in 1880 :

" What about the lands 7 These lands are to be within 24 miles of the
railway. According to the estimate of the Government, made by them in
the recess before last session, and which they published to the world as the
' terms of sale of railway lands ; confirmed by tnem during last session, when
they brought it down and declared it to be a moderate estimate ; further
confirmed by them when they asked Parliament to sanction their going on
with the work on those regulations and principles ; and still further c *"
firmed, in a sense, when they announced, as they have repeatedly
nounoed, that the prospects of soiling land in tne North-West are infinito*^
brighter to-day, that the land is worth more to-day than it was a year ago.
According to this view, which we may take as a minimum estimate, there is
established for lands to be found within twenty-four miles of the railway^
an average price $4.04 an acre. (Hon. members, hear, hear.) Well, the
hon. member for Niagara and other hon. members think that a wholly
ridiculous estimate. ,
. " Mr. Plumb— We do.

"I did not hear that the hon. member for Niagara thought it a ridiculous
estimate when his chief and leader propounded it last year. * * *
But now the case is difierent, and the case being different alters the case^
and the hon. gentleman, the case being altered and his chief being absent^
sneers at and ridicules his chief's estimate of the value of the land.

" I may explain, sir, since there appears to be a little incredulity on thia
subject, how it is. The ten-mile range, or rather the two ranges of five
miles, near the railway, were valued at five dollars an acre, * *
the two fifteen-mile ranges near to thia, making thirty miles in de
altogether, were valued at $1 ; and eight miles of the next range the tL.
dollar range."

.1 thus showed that the average value, as estimated by the Go-
vernment themselves, of the land they were about to grant, was
$4.04 an acre. •'

, Now have I not demonstrated by the clearest proof the faot that

THIS WAS THEIR, AND NOT MY VALUATION ?

What is to be said of the candour and honesty of public men
who endeavour to persuade you that they relied on my values,
when they knew I was only quoting their own ?
. I think mine was not an unfair argument, I was applying their
own valuation to their own bargain ; and they couldn t well com-
plain of that ! (Applause and laughter.) But even if it had
been my estimate in 1880, and if I had been wrong then in my
valuation of North- West lands, I want to know whether that
would justify a bargain made for the purchase of North- West
lands in 1886? Suppose this had been my estimate, instead of
theirs, and that subsequent events had proved it was wrong, or

fsf ■

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was
that

their
corn-
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n my
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ad of
g. or

^ •/ 227 ' ■ '• '* " ; *-

suppose the value and prospects of sale had chanpjed in six
years, what sensible man would say. — " You are justified in buy-
ing those lands in 1886, because in 1880 a gentleman in whom
you had no confidence whatever valued them higher ?" Why,
when I used ray argument in 1880 they repudiated their own val-
uation and declared it ridiculous ! But not one of you but knows
that the price of land in this country fluctuates. Not one of you
but knows that there have been great rises and falls in the value
of real estate in the North-West. It is absurd to talk of lands
there having a fixed and immutable value. The value goes up
and down according to circumstances, especially in a new
country subject to such fluctuations and contingencies as the
North-West.

HAVE THERE BEEN NO BOOMS

and no collapses in the North-West ? They acknowledged that a
boom happened — they caused it. They acknowledge that a
collapse has occurred. They caused it too. They say that they
cannot even give away the land as rapidly as they desire. Sir
John Macdonald himself said at London that the immigration to
the North-West would be absorbed by the free grants and home-
steads for twenty-five years to come. What chance is there,
then, of selling farming lands mt .mwhile ? Do you want ten
million acres more to sell when you expect to give all free that
will be wanted for the next quarter of a century ? It is absurd ;
and yet they aa.y they made a most excellent bargain for the
country. They tell you they have bought land cheap for you,
and that they are going to make money out of the purchase ;
and still in the same speech, yes, and even in the same sentence,
Sir J ohn declares that the position of the Company is greatly
strengthened by this sale. It could not have been, in this aspect,
a very good sale for both the Company and the Government as
well. If the Government ^ot the land dog cheap, at half price,
surely the Company must have sold too cheap and lost money !
(Cheers.) As a matter of fact, it is correct that

THE COMPANY WAS VERY MUCH STRENGTHENED

by this transaction, for the moment it was cabled that the Gov-
ernment had agreed to buy the lands at this price, the Company's
stock rose several millions of dollars, just because the Company
had made so good a bargain and the Government sUch a bad one.
(Cheers.) Now then, I dealt in 1885 with this whole question
of North-West lands. I then dealt with their pretence that the
old valuation was mine. I repudiated it then. I gave them my
views on the general subject then ; and if they, in 1886, were re-

If'

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H '.i.

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^ 228

lying on my opinions, it was to those views of 1885 they should
have referred. Remember, this speech was made just a few
months before they made this bargain, and shortly after the Com-
pany had asked them to agree, and they had refused, as they did
in 1885, to make the purchase. This is what I said: — • . ■ -

" Now, the hon. gentleman referred to my valuation of the North- West lands,
as he called it, in ] 880-81. I pointed out what the Government valuation
had been in the preceeding year. I was not, therefore, measuring their
corn in my bushel, but in their own, and I think

THAT IS X FAIR WAY.

They have valued the lands at such and such prices, and the following
session, within a few months, with no variations of circumstances except one
of improvement having occurred, they brought up a proposal to hand over
the picked lands — nothing which was not cultivated — lands fairly fit for
settlement — that was the character of the lands ; they were proposing to
hand them over to the Canadian Pacific Railway, and I said : Now you are
bringing forward this as a bargain. You told us the lands were worth on
the average so much money last year. Are the circumstances worse now ?
No J they told us they were better. Then the lands must be worth as
much ? Yes, that could not he denied. Well, if you were giving so much
lands to this railway, and if according to your conception, they are worth
so much money, then of course you are giving thein the equivalent of so
much money. That was my argument. But I have never said that the
price of the North- West land was a fixed figure. On the contrary, 1 have
pointed out that under diflferent circumstances, in varying years, under
varying influences, the price of the lands in the North- West, as in other
new countries, would rise and fall, and that we have to deal with the facts
as they were presented to us at the time at which we were called upon
to deal. I cannot say what the North- West lauds will Jaring in the near or
the distant future, but I can refer to some tests of the value of those lands
at the present time, and that I will venture to do. I say that their value in
the future is speculative ; on the average, no doubt, in the long run, the
value will improve, the country will improve, but what you should deem
them worth to-day, or in the near future, is a question which passes my
poor head to answer although hon. gentlemen answer it in various ways
according to the exigencies of the situation. I pointed out last session that
they could not be relied on as present sources of revenue to meet the
interest on the loan, and now after the collapse which occurred during and
since last session, and after the outbreak of this session, what are we to say
is their value ? Now, I will give you some tests. "

I then proceeded to refer to the North-West Lands Co., and
went on as follows : —

" Well, then.

((

TAKE THE COLONIZATION COMPANIES.

" In the year 1884 the Minister of Railways stated that there were some
23,000,000 acres applied for by colonization companies, that ^10,000,000 were
already provided for, and that the rest would be provided for very soon, be-
cause they would go on selling an increased average an4 enlarging the price.
We do not know, of course, what the Government measure is ; they have
promised to bring one down, and they admit that they are about to bring a
proposal to relieve the colonization companies whose bargains made with them
by the Government are too hard, and cannot be performed. Take again the

; . . (8)

■f

229

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that

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and

some
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the ^

CALCULATION OF^ THE GOVBRNMEMT ITSELF.

On the 4th of May, 1883 they brought down calculations that they would
realize $58,000,000 in cash for the Innds in the North- West by the year 1891.
How many millions will they dare say they will realize now 1 Will any man
amongst them say they will realize $58,000,000 ? Will any man say thiit they
will realize one-half of ^8,000,000 1 If they will not will they say that cir-
cumstances have not changed, or that their calculations have been verified 1
Take their action in June, 1883, when they passed an Order-in-Council de-
claring that in future they would give no lands to railway companies in the
North-West at a price which would L^t the Government less than $1.50
per acre. They were afraid that the former price gave too large a margin of
profit to the railway companies which had not been fortunate enough to se-
cure land at$l per acre, were to pay at least $1.50. Now, we had this con-
dition of things, that while in June, 1883, the Government declared that
futuie sales to railways should be at a price which would net the Government
$1.50 per acre, the companies making their profit beyond, in September, 1884,
they decided upon the policy of giving lands free to the railways, and
why 1 Because they found that

THE RAILWAYS COULD NOT SELL

the lands at one dollar even and make money on them, and in order tu make
that money which they intended the railways should make, it was neces.sary
to give them free. Voes not that show a change of situation as to the lands in
the North- West. Surely there j|b but one answer to that. When you find the
Government declaring in June, 1883 that it would be sufficiently profitable
to the railway companies to get lands at $1.50, and in September, 1884, say-
ing we must give them free to the railway companies in order that they may
make some profit on them, viho will deny that there is a change— I do not
know how long it will last — with reference to the North- West lands ? And
what more 1 Why, Mr. Van Home, in September, 1884, declared that he
was not sanguine, with a gift of practically 9,600 acres a mile for 100 miles
of the Manitoba South- Western Railway, passing through the best part of
Southern Manitoba and long settled, that he would be able to build that line,
although he started out with a basis of credit of 50 miles of completed line,
for which the company charges something like $25,000 a mile. That is the
statement of a gentleman who, in his other capacity as Vice-President of the
Canadian Pacific Railway, is certainly deeply interested in not depreciating
the value of the lands of the North-West. Does not that show a change ?
Take the dealings of the Bell Farm Company with the Government, by which
their agreement is modified very materially. Take the fact that there are
only twenty-three homesteads on a 400 mile stretch of the Canadian Pacific Rail-
way through the prairies. Taking all these facts, I ask you whether there is
any immediate prospect of realizmg considerable sums from the sale of lands
in the North-West. Now, these gentlemen do not like this, because they
told us, when they asked us to assent to the Canadian Pacific Railway con-
tract in 1881, and again when they asked us to assent to the loan of 1884,
that they were going shortly to pay oflf the railway obligations which the peo-
ple of Canada were incurring out of the lands of the North-West ; they told
us they would all be recouped out of the lands ; and having told us that,
they do not like to hear these statements which convict them out of their own
mouths of gross miscalculations."

So that you see a few months before the bargain I explained
fully the past, and stated my views as to the present value of
North-West lands as established by the experience which we had

' ' (8) ■\,

■'V

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mmmm^mm'mi^W^mmmm

■^

' 230

been gaining, and with reference to the sales and prospects of sales.
Surely if it were my judgment and estimate on which they wished
to rely they would have turned to my speech of 1885, and to the
fact that in the same year I denounced the proposal as one not fit
to be entertained. But now >••• . , , .. •/ . ■•.■■..-.

;'i>

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THSY WISH TO GULL THE PEOPLE

by pretending, forsooth, that they acted on my valuations. It is
as dishonest as it is shallow to make any such pretence. (Cheers.)
There was another element to be considered in judging of the
prudence of this transaction. That.is the proved demand for public
lands in the North- West of late years. That demand had fallen
to nothing. Look at things as they were in the early years, in
Mr. Mackenzie's time, when there were yet no railways, when
these men alleged there was no North- West progress, and com-
pare the figures with their own. (Applause.) The entries for
public lands in the North- West were for 187o 1,021, covering
1(33,000 acres ; for 187G, 807, covering 153,000 acres ; for 1877,
2,283, covering 400,000 acres ; and for 1878, 4,065, covering 632,-
000 acres ; and in the last year they«were 724 sales. Then came
the present Government. ^^

THEY CREATED THE DISASTROUS BOOM,

with its thousands of nominal entries and its delusive and short-
lived prosperity. In 1882 it rose to its height; there were
16,740 nominal entries, covering 2,700,000 acres, with 3,703 sales.
In 1883 it showed signs of contraction. There were 11,217 nomi-
nal entries, covering 1,800,000 acres, with 1,034 sales. Before
1883 closed it was ended. In 1884 the bubble had already burst,
the collapse had already taken place. They now attribute that
collapse to the rebellion. Now, the rebellion was their fault, and
so they cannot thus escape. (Cheers.) But the rebellion did not
take place till 1885 ; and in 1884 there were but 661 entries, but
four per cent, of those of 1883, a reduction of 96 per cent.,
covering only 94,000 acres, and one single sale, while in 1885 it
had become worse ; there were but 129 entries, covering 21,000
acres, and one single sale. (Cheers.) If they wish to charge the
falling off" between 1884 and 1885 to that page in

i V : „ Tg^ BLACK LEDGBR OF THEIR CRIMES

which is headed " North- West Rebellions" they are welcome,
(Loud cheering.) But so it was, that the demand had fallen to
nothing, that there were but 79 homestead entries, 49 pre-
emptions, and one single sale in the year before this great bargain

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• 231

'A -''■»'

by which we bought ourselves so rich ! (Laughter and applause.^
So it was, that even compared with the progress in the " bad times
of Mr. Mackenzie their figures should have made them blush and
pause just at the period when they secured more land to sell !
Again, but 139 persons had, up to the close of 1885, taken up
homesteads on a stretch of 400 miles along the C. P. R. in the
North- West. How absurd it is to talk of this as a bargain ! How
absurd to tell you that you are to clear the ten millions and interest
out of these lands ! (Applausa) In truth, there is

NO PROSPECT ' \

of the Government netting within any reasonable time any
appreciable sum out of North- West lands. Rfemember that the
Government cannot sell in detail to as great advantage as private
persons. There will be no special prices for special farms ; and
you may as well make up your minds to the inevitable, and set
your shoulders to the wheel, for you will have to foot the bill.
(Applause.)

Now, you must remember there is another thing to be con-,
sidered also. We were promised that the Company would be our
great immigration agent. We were told that, as owners of 25,-
000,000 acres, their interest in getting the country settled, so as to
secure the advantage to them of settling up their own lands, would
make them incur the cost and save us the expense of bringing in
immigrants. But, by this bargain, to the extent of 10,000,000
acres, we have taken away the necessity laid upon the company
of bringing in immigrants. Sir John Macdonald said that the
company first made the offer that, if we preferred it, instead of
paying back in cash all that we had loaned them, they would
transfer to us 7,000,000 of acres. He indicates that the company^
didn't want it particularly, but he took the offer because ,^ ,^. '

IT WAS SUCH A GOOD THING

for the country. (Laughter.) That, I fear, is not a candid state-
ment of the case. It appears from public documents that the
company asked for the arrangement the year before. I opposed
it in the House on the rumour getting out The Government then
refused the Company's request. The Company, it is plain, pressed
it again as part of the settlement of the debt this year, and at
length succeeded. If you think this transaction took place to
benefit Canada, with its existing possessions of this and scores of
millions of acres of waste land which cannot now be sold to
immigrants, that is a fiction of which you had better disabuse
your minds. It has no existence, in fact. This was a

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FURTHER AND ENORMOUS BOON

to this great Company ; and when you consider the colossal gifts
. which had been lavishly made before, and the gigantic sums in
principal and interest which we were called to pay, when you
consider how prosperous and flourishing they reported the prese^it
condition, and how bright and glowing the immediate future of
this great corporation — the creature of our bounty, — I think you
will agree that this further concession, this cancellation of ten
millions of their debt for seven inillions of our waste and unsale-
able lands, was extravagant, needless, improper, and impolitic,
and deserves your condemnation at the polls. (Loud and pro-
longed cheering.)

NORTHWEST L4KDS.

v:.

A CORRECTION MADE BY THE LIBERAL LEADER — A DIFFERENCE
' ' IN THE FIGURES BUT NO DIFFERENCE IN THE CONCLUSION

TO BE DRAWN.

In his speech at St. Thomas Hon. Edward Blake said : — I ob-
serve that Mr. White has pointed out inaccuracies in some figures
I gave lately about North- West lands. These figures I took from
a book which I have caused to be kept up for some years, giving
particulars of the statements in the blue books. On reference to
the gentleman who did this work for me, I am informed that he
finds that for the last two years he by mistake took only one of
two sets of figures for the totals. I feel it my duty at once to
acdnowledge and correct the inaccuracy. Here is a table which I
believe gives the facts : —

north-west LANDS.

Year. Entries.

lo77 • 2,283

1878 4,065

.1882 16,740

1883 11,237

Less cancelled 375

1883 (net) 10,862

1884 7,700

, ' Less cancelled.... 2,366

, '^

1884 (net) 5,334

■* >

I %

Acres.

400,424

682,591
2,099.145
1,852 046

100,000

lomeateads.

832
1,753
7,383
6,039

375

Pre-emptions
594
1,588
5,654

• • • •

Sales
767
605

3,703

1,752,046

1,087,256

367,280

6,644
3,753
1,394

2,359

4,120

2,762

572

1,034
1,186

• • • •

719,976
>

1,790

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SaleB,

767

686

,70;i

,034 ^
,186

,185

Year. . Entries.

1885 2,317

Less cancelled 2,236

Acres. Homesteads. Pre-empteona. Sales.

481,814 1,659 690 168

356,269 1,296 940

1886 (net)

126,546

263

350

168

You will observe that during 1877 and 1878, in Mr. Mackenzie's
time, there was fair progress, and that the advance of 1878 over
1877 was considerable, the entries being nearly double. Then
coming to

THE BOOM YEAR

of 1882,you will see an utterly abnormal, and in truth an unreal and
ruinous expansion, with two and three-quarter million acres taken
up, with nearly 17,000 entries — 7,400 homesteads, 5,600 pre-emp-
tions, and 3,700 sales. Then in 1883 you find the failure of the
boom. The entries were half as much again, and the sales were
nearly four times as numerous in 1882 as in 1883. Then comes
1884, with all the signs of collapse ; the entries fell to 7,700, less
than half of the number in 1882, and the ominous entry of cancel-
lations became prominent ; they numbered 2,366, reducing the net
gain in entries for the year to 5,334«, less than one-third of those of
1882 ; the ne£ gain in lands taken up was but 720,000 acres, little
more than one-fourth of 1882; the net gain in homesteads was
but 2,359, and in pre-emptions, 1,790, while the sales numbered
1,185. Ths figures had got so low that, having regard to the
change of circumstances and the lapse of years, the progress com-
pared most unfavourably with that of 1877 and 1878. Then we
come to 1885, and reach the lowest point. The entries fell to
2,317, hardly more than half those of 1878 ; but there were no less
than 2,236 cancelled entries, so that the net gain was nominal, 81
only. The land taken was only 480,000 acres ; but 355,000 acres
were cancelled, leaving only 126,000 acres to the good, as against
680,000 acres in 1878. The net gain in homesteads was but 263, as .
against 1,753 in 1878. There was an absolute loas in pre-emptions
of 350, the cancellations exceeding by that figure the new pre-
emptions. And the .sales fell to 168, not 5 per cent, of those of
1882, and little more than one-fourth of those of 1878. These-

figures tell you plainly how completely

THE GOVERNMENT HAS FAILED

t -

to fulfil its promises. How utter has been the collapse of its
policy ! How hollow its dreams of large settlement and enormous
receipts from North West lands, wherewith to recoup Canada for ■
the uncounted millions it has lavished ! Who now dares to say,
as was said in 1883, that we shall realize fifty-eight millions out

(8)

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of North- West lands by 1891 ? You have been grossly deceived
and misled ; your future has been mortgaged and your taxes have
been squandered upon false pretences ; and you have now to pay
the heavy price of your misplaced confidence in the Tory
Government. (Cheers.)

RAILWAY POLICY.

Reimbursement of Local Expenditure.

In his speech at Orangeville Mr. Blake referred to the items of
railway expenditure made and pledged, and in the course of his
remarks, he said : —

You have heard it said, no doubt, that I have been pandering
to Quebec) and have been willing to say or do any tiding to catch
the French vote. I have not hesitated to claim justice for the var-
ious Provinces, even though it might be turned to my prejudice
in Quebec. Let me give you an example. You will remember
that some sessions ago a proposition was laid before the House
for the payment of several millions of dollars to the Province of
Quebec in part reimbursement of the «

PROVINCIAL EXPENDITURE ON CERTAIN RAILWAYS

built in Quebec ; and which it was proposed should be treated as
extensions of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

I took the ground that, adopting this policy we should give
equal justice to the other Provinces. Let me quote some extracts
from my speech, as explanatory of my views : —

Now in the Province of Ontario, in accordance with her system of local
government, which has developed to a much greater extent than in any o^
the other Provinces, minuter systems of local government, by means o^
*mimicipal institutions, municipal taxation, and municipal expenditure, tho
liooal Government has provided more largely for railways, through municipal-
ities, than that of any of the other Provinces.

The general results in the Province of Ontario are as follows : — Govern-
ment aid paid and promised $6,520,000 ; to ihia is to be added the settlement
of the claim of the Canada Central for a large specific grant of land in the
Province of Ontario, made by the Legislature before Confederation, an^ in
respect of which the courts held there was a legal claim against, not the Pro-
vince, but the lands of the Province for an indefinite amount. This waa

(8)

•^i

iwmm

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235

*. -ii >.

■ettled for $S50,000 in respect of raihray construction which took place after
Confederation. This makes a total of $7,070,000 as the Government ex-
penditure made and to be made. To this is to be added the municipal aid
— I am sorry 1 have not been able to get all the grants, but the grants I have
obtained information of are about ^,000,000, making a payment in all of
over $15,000,000 by the Province, irrespective of a very large amount of the
old Municipal Loan Fund debt, which was an asset of the Province of On-
tario, and which was remitted to the municipalities — had been expended in
the earlier railway construction. That I do not take into account at all, as
my effort has been to ascertain what has been expended in the Province on
railways since Confederation. One other observation is fit to be made, with
reference to the expenditure of over $15,000,000, and to which, I have just
alluded, in Ontario, and it is this, that no less a sum than $3,200,000 of that
expenditure has been made on lines which have been declared to be now^
practically, parts of the Canadian Pacific Railway — the Canada Central an
expenditure of $850,000 ; the Toronto, Grey & Bruce, which, it is said is to
be the main artery to the Canadian Pacific for a considerable time to come^
and which has been leased under arrangements, to which Parliament has
given its sanction, by the Canadian Pacific Railway as part of the Ontario &
Quebec— $1,450,000 ; the Credit Valley, which forms a link in the line of
through communication, which Parliament has sanctioned the acquisition of
by the Canadian Pacific Railnray, $900,000, so that, as I have said, $3,200,-
000 of provincial and municipal money has been expended in the Province
of Ontario for enterprises now practically part of the Canadian Pacific Rail-
way, and deemed to be of very great importance on the proper working and
complete realization of the benefits to be derived from that enterprise, and
under the demands made upon municipalities in respect to these liberal rail-
way grants, very considerable difficulties have arisen and very great burdens
have been imposed upon many thriving municipalities.

I then proceeded to show that in Nova Scotia $2,712,000 had
been expended in like manner, apart from lands, and in New
Brunswick $1,876,000, besides a large area of lands, and I went
on as fallows : — *

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Speaking roughly, it is very extraordinary how closely in the whole of th&
Provinces the railway expenditure approximates the basis of population. In
the Province of Manitoba over $900,000, I believe, has been given municip-
ally to various railways, either to the Canadian Pacific Railway or to railways^
which have had more or less connection with the Canadian Pacific Railway. I
have shown you an expenditure in the five Provinces of over $30,000,000, and
there is this oboervation to be made with respect to that expenditure : that
h e railways upon which it has been made are, many of them, aye, most of
hem, aye, almost all of them of infinitely greater importance, railways which
can infinitely more properly be called railways of great advantage to Canada
within the meaning of our constitution than many of those lines which the hon.
gentleman has sought to bring within our jurisdiction, and many of those
proposed railways for which he is now advocating a federal subvention. J da
not intend to go over the list, but this fact is notorious. Let each member con-
sider the lines in his own Provirce which have been built since Coufederation
and he will see with the very greatest facility that the observation I nave made
is just and correct, namely, that those lines which have been constructed are of
infinitely more importance, of infinitely greater consequence and infinitely more
national in their character than any of the lines now proposed to be aided, and
indeed more important than any line which can be projected. They are th»
main lines that were required at that time. ** * Now a third proposal is

(8)

Vf'w I ■«' M"

236

made, namely, that there ahould be /l payment to a Province, in respect of
past expenditure on certain of its Provincial railways. I maintain that this
IS a principle now brought forward for the first time, and which, if it is to be
applied at all, must have an application more extensive than that proposed
to be given to it. I maintain it is not just to apply that principle in one
Province, and not to the other Provinces. I tnamtain that the claims and
rights of the other Provinces ought to he recognized, when this new policy is in"
avgurated. We know what the truth is in this matter. We know perfectly
well, it is quite notorious to us, that the finances of the Province of Quebec
are in a distreesed condition. * * * I do not think the people of Quebec will
dissent from the spirit in which I now address myself to them, namely, that
it is fair and reasonable, under these circumstances, when a new policy of
this kind is being proposed, to consider what its real basis is, to consider what
the real condition of the other Provinces is, relatively to that basis and other-
wise, and to see whether what is being proposed, as it stands, and without
afiecting proper remedies for the application generally of the new principle
you propose can be called just. I have pointed out the railway expenditure
of the Provinces which have expended money on railways, and have shown
,you it bears an approximate relation to the population and resources of the
various Provinces. I have shown you that other Provinces stood in the same
position as Quebec with reference to this railw;ay expenditure, I have shown
you, for example, that the Province of Ontario has, through our municipali-
ties, expended $3,200,000 on railways which are now part of the Canadian
Pacific JElailway, and I say that, in dealing with these lines, dealing with the
question of railway expenditure, proposing to recoup Provinces in respect to
railway expenditure, the proper, just and equitable mode of dealing with the
case is to place all the Provinces on the same relative footing, to do justice,
not to one, but to all. I have no desire to interfere with the aid it may be
necessary to give in the interests.of Confederation at large to place on a some-
what better footing the finances of Quebec, but whether the hon. gentleman
of that Province agree with me or not, I am prepared to advocate in the
House, while I yield what I think just, the claims of justice to all ; and I be-
lieve that justice to all is not done by these resolutions. I believe that
justice to all requires a wider application and a sounder basis for the appli-
cation of the principle which the hon. gentlemnn proposes to incorporate in
our legislature, and 1 moved, seconded by Mr. Laurier, the following amend-
ment : —

'' But this House feels bound to express the opinion that Canada, when
(as proposed by the said resolution) recouping one of the Provinces for part
of the past local expenditure in railwayi*, should have regard to the past local
expenditure in other Provinces in railways, almost all of which have been
declared to be for the general advantage of Canada, and this House regrets
that the Government, while proposing; a measure of relief to one Province,
has not taken steps with a view to a fair and proportionate measure of relief
in respect of all local expenditure in the other Provinces."

That was the position of the Liberal party, and you will judge
whether that position was sound and reasonable, you will judge
how far it is fair or right that the Governments of Ontario, Nova
Scotia. New Brunswick and the other Provinces and their muni-
cipalities should ^t - ;f> ; ,^ : » % '4-/ , t , ;..

; -.'iiM-i/^Ari'l

CONTRIBUTE WITHOUT ANY RECOUPMENT

,fr*.

tij

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from Ottawa, many, many millions of dollars, to the construction
y . , (8) '

"< *

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237

h- --.j^ \

of public works, which are of enormous importance to the country
at large, and a great part of which have been absorbed by the
Canadian Pacific, while the Government of one of the Provinces
receives a large recoupment in respect of similar works constructed
within its borders. I think justice to all demanded the adoption
of my amendment, which I rejoice to say was sustained by the
solid body of the Liberal party. (Loud and prolonged applause.)

. 1

RAILWAY POLICY OF THG LIBERAL PARTY.

GUINEA-PIG DIRECTORS OF SIR JOHN's SUBSIDIZED ROADS — ASSISTED
IMMIGRATION, AND JOlilUNa FN PRINTING — CONVERSION OF
THE " MAIL."

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Hon. Edward Blake, in the course of a speech at Huntsville
said : — It is a long time, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen,
that I have promised myself the pleasure — and many a time I
have talked with your former representative, Mr. Cockburn,
about it — of visiting the district of Muskoka. I am very
glad an occasion has arisen when I am able to conjoin a visit
to yonr lovely lakes and brilliant woods, w^hich I have been
enjoying this morning, with a visit to wliat, after all, must be the
chief charm of a country to any public man or to any man
worthy of the name, the people who inhabit it. (Applause.) I
am glad to see your faces as well as the beautiful scenery in the
midst of which you live, the loveliness of which must compensate
you very largely for the trials, difficulties, and privations which
happen to the pioneers who settle up a new and somewhat rough
country. I am myself the son of an old settler, who, more
than half a century ago, went into the completely unbroken
forest and there hewed out for himself the space in which he put
up

THE log HOUSE IN WHICH I FIRST SAW THE LIGHT. / v

(Applause.) Early in my public life I was called upon to repre-
sent a new county, though not quite so new as this, the county
of Bruce. And I have just had the pleasure of speaking to two
former inhabitants of Bruce who cast their first votes for me in
1867. (Loud applause.) It has thus been ray lot both by birth
and political connections to take a deep* interest in the situation,

(8)

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-^v,:

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238

• ,V -

,■»'•

struggles, and wants of those who have been pioneers in Canada.
I was eai'ly brought face to face with one of their prime needs,
that of easier and cheaper means of transportation and communi-
cation. I knew what the condition of things was in firuce
when I first went there I know the changes which followed in
four or five years, when I was called upon to take power in
Ontario, about the close of 1871 ; I was called upon to do so at
a time when it was necessary practically to set on foot what had
been inaugurated on paper only, a large scheme of Provincial
railway aid to meet that great necessity. Under these circum-
stances, taking stock of the circumstances and the needs, as well
of some of the older portions of the Province as of the new
districts, my colleagues and myself determined that a very much '
larger appropriation of the public funds than that proposed by
our predecessors would be necessary in order to do justice to all ;
and though the House had been elected under the auspices of
my opponents, I did not hesitate to bring down a plan involving
more than

DOUBLE THE AMOUNT THEY HAD PROPOSED

for railway aid. The amount was one and a half millions a^
that time. 1 proposed to add $400,000, and also a further sum
■\ of two millions, payable in annual amounts extending over
^ twenty years — thus more than doubling the cash value of the
grant. And being called upon practically to apply the grant, so
far as the applications then before us enabled us to assist the
districts, it was my good fortune to propose, with the assent of
my colleagues, grants for almost all the new districts in
which there were then railway schemes, including Grey, Bruce,
Simcoe, Renfrew, Victoria, Addington, Hastings, and Nipissing,
and even this then very new district of Muskoka. It fell to me
to propose the grant out to Wasliago and later to Gravenhurst,
which was then the furthest point to which railways in this
quarter had been projected. The Conservatives allege that the
Reform party is not a party of practical, progressive men, that
we object to large. practical steps taken to improve the condition
of the country, but those who know the course of the Reform
party will agree with me that whether we were out of office, or
whether we were in office, our course has been entirely different.
(Cheers.)

After showing how largely the Mackenzie Governnjent aided

railways, Mr. Blake contrasted the honest manner in which

the Liberal Ministry granted subsidies with the proceedings of

' Sir John Macdonald regarding the Railway Section of the

Boodle Brigade. He proceeded: ' .

I have" never objected — on the contrary I heartily approve — of

f ' ■ . (8) /

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^ 239

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a member of Pa^'l lament who considers his district entitled to aid
on behalf of a certain railway, pressing fairly upon the Legislature
and the Government the just claims of the district. T think that
is part of his public duty as the representative of that district. I
have objected strongly, however, and I object before you, to the
combination of the assumed discharge of public duty with a pri-
vate and personal pecuniary interest in the subsidy or the enter-
prise which derives its commercial value from the subsidy,
(Cheers.) Look what happens. The Government comes down,
as it did last session, at the close of the session, with proposals
for between thirty and forty grants to different railway enter-
prises. We were called upon to swallow them all at once. It was
rather more than my digestion was capable of dealing with, but
it had to be done. (Laughter.) We find case after case in which
these applications are made by members of Parliament. Is that
in itself objectionable ? No.

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IT MAY BE THE DUTV

of the member to make the application. But we find in a great
many of the cases that the member has a double interest, not only
that of a public man and a representative, acting for his district,
but also a private interest which may cause himself to be en-
riched or impoverished, according as the grant is given or with-
held.

In this connection Mr. Blake referred to the case of Mr. Burns,
MJP., for Gloucester, N.B., who owns eleven-twelfths of the stock
in the Caraquet Railway, which has received three bonuses aggre-
gating $224,000, of which his proportion was over $200,000. This
he said was but an instance, and though one of the most readily
stated, it was not by any means worse than some others. He
proceeded : —

Now, I say to you, we must put a stop to this thing. (Cheers.)
I am very glad to notice amongst certain startling developments
on other subjects, that there is some sign of our voice on this
subject, having reached as far as — how far do you think — as far
even as the Mail newspaper. (Laughter and applause.) The
change is not all I could desire, but when a man sees a glimmer-
ing of the light I am prepared to hope for better things, (Laugh-
ter and applause.) This k what the Mail said on the 24th
September : —

" It ia of the last importance that members of the House should be free
from corrupting iuflueiices, and that their independence should be jeulously
guarded."

** But if members are to be debarred from taking part in public or private
enterprises which are likely to receive Government aid in the shape of money,
Pailiament will be weeded of some desirable men."

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240

Now, there are four or five millions of people in this Canada of
ours. I believe they are five millions of intelligent, capable, pro-
gressive people, we have plenty of moderate capitalists, of rail-
way contractors, railway engineers, railway promoters, speculative
persons, but it is gravely stated that unless the 211 men who are
chosen out of these four or five millions of people to conduct the
public business ; to legislate upon public affairs ; to decide upon
the public j)olicy ; to determine the public expenditure are allowed
to engage in these enterprises, " Parliament will be weeded of
some desirable persons." (Loud laughter.) How is this serious
difficulty to bo got over ? I believe we can best got over it by
realizing that there is no difficulty at all. I think we can find
plenty of people outsirle of our legislative halls to promote and
build these subsidized railways. But tliat does not yet suit the
Mail — the Mail says the common-sense plan would be to distin-
guish between the honajide promoter and the mere guinea pig — as
they are called in England — you will observe that the Mail, by
inference, admits that there are members of Parliament who are

MERE GUINEA PIGS.

>■«■

>.■■

How is this distinction to bo made ? The Mall says provide a
stake test, as is done in France. It seems an extraordinary thing
for the Mail just now to look to France as a guide. (Laughter
and applause.) The Mail says : — ' • .

" The coinnion-senae plan would be for the House to diatingnish between
the bona fide promoter and the mere guinea pig, whose only capital is his poli-
tical intluance or his capacity for log-rolling. This could be done, we think,
by providing a stake test, as it was termed in France — that la by compelling
the promoter or direuior 7,'ho happens to be a member of Parliament, to prove
on oath, when the scheme comes up for a Government bonus, that he has in-
vested in it a substantial amount (t j be fixed by the House) of cash actually
his own, and not lent or advanced to him by others. By this means the mere
politician who wants to turn his influence or his supposed influence with a
Government to account, would be kept out of ventures of the kind, whilst no
hindrance would be placed in the way of the member who was a le; itimate
business man."

I contend that

THIS PROPOSAL IS INADEQUATE.

No harm will result to the railway enterprises of tht untry
if you say to the members of Parliament : — "It is not coiii(/;itibl
with your public duty that you should smirch your reputation
and place yourselves in invidious positions, by working for subsi-
dies from which you are to get personal pecuniary benefit."
Acting on any other principle there is danger, great danger, of

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abuse ; and, so far as I know, not a single one of the members <5/
Parliament whom 1 have accused of acting wrongly in this con-
nection could answer the stake test. (Laughter and applause.)
The putting in of a substantial stake is the last thing they think
about in connection with these enterprises, through which they
are to acquire ^reat political influence and tens or hundreds of
thousands of dollars at the same time. Who are thoy ? Are they
railway builders, railway engineers, capitalists ? No. TJiey are
doctors, lawyers, country merchants, politicians, people of that
kind, who never thought of building a railway until they found
they could draw upon the public treasury to help thev *ut in the
business. (Loud and prolonged applause.)

Having referred to the Mail's sudden conver&iijii to the prin-
ciple of Manhood Suffrage, Mr. Blake proceeded to consider the
same paper's somersault on Assisted Immigration.

He said: The burden of immigration expenditure has been
enormously increased. Instead of being removed it has been
trebled or niore. We objected to it because it was not only

extravaofant but

AITENDED WITH JOBBERY.

''*■■.' r

We objected to it because the assisted passage system has been
perverted and used injuriously to the fair claims of labour, and
because the attempt to force immigration into the older Provin-
ces had resulted unfavourably, and we insisted that the whole
system should be modified, the expenditure cut down, and a sim-
ple eflbrt made to announce to the tenant fanners of England and
other places the capabilities of various parts of the country, so
that we might induce those to come whom we desired to secure
the advantages which we had to offer. These views have been
stated by myself and many others. Let me quote part of my
language at Hampton a few months ago : —

" We have long contended for a change in the system. The Gov-
ernment promised us, when the Canadian Pacific Railway contract
came down, that the Company would save us the bulk of our then
comparatively small expenditure, and that the immigration system
would be carried on as in the United States by the transportation
companies. But since then we have been paying much more
heavily than before. .......

" Now, the system of State-aided immigrati )n has proved an
entire failure, and worse.

MANY UNSUITABLE PERSONS

have come in ; many also who were not entitled to avail them-
selves of assistance, and many were induced to come by false re-

(8) .

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242

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presentations, I do not say made by the Government, but made
by energetic but not very careful individuals who were paid out
of the bonus a commission by the transportation companies on
each head, and who represented this as a golden land, in which
employment could be found at once at high wages. These poor,
deluded people often come to our doors in Toronto with pitiful
representations of the stories told them in the Old Country, on
the faith of which they emigrated. In our present condition there
is no use trying to force immigration into the older Provinces.
We adjoin the United States, and there is the utmost facility
of travel accommodation between that country and our own. The
condition of the labour and land markets there necessarily affect
us, and if we were, by some extraordinary means, to force a large
number of people into our older Provinces, just as water finds its
level, so would the population, and either the view comers would
flow over into the United States, or they would

DISPLACE A CERTAIN NUMBER

'h^'■^

of our own people who would have to pass across the line. The
unhappy fact is that we do not do more, if we do as much as re-
tain our natural increase. And our labour market has, so far as
relates to mechanics, been injuriously affected by the course of
the Government. . . We in Canada employ a

large immigration staff, and we pay for the publication of im-
mense numbers of pamphlets. But the publication of these
pamphlets furnishes gross instances of

THE JOBBERY WHICH FLOURISHES AT OTfAWA.

-J.

Take the case of the Montreal Gazette, for example. We
have a Government printer, who works under a regular con-
tract. He is bound to print whatever we require at certain
fixed rites. But instead of sending the work to this contrac-
tor, newspapers friendly to the Government are employed. The
principal proprietor of the Montreal Gazette until recently was
Mr. Thomas White, who is believed to be still direc*^rly or in-
directly interested in that newspaper. The transaction to which
I am about to refer took place while he was a member of Parlia-
ment, but before he became a Minister. The statement was made
in the House by Mr. Somerville, a practical printer. Amongst the
publications of the Montreal Gazette, was a pamphlet on British
Columbia, of which the Government ordered 460,520 copies. The
price charged by the Gazette was $9,211.15. Mr. Somerville esti-
mated that this was an overcharge on the basis of the contract on
ordinary rates of $5,805.82, the proper charge being $3,405.33. So

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,that is where the money goes. In this same year the Montreal
Gazette received $19,770 for work, almost all of which should
have been done by the Government contractors, and it was stated
in the House that the prices for some portions of the work were
even larger in proportion than those I have mentioned. •
The fact is plain that the money paid for printing is used as a
corruption and jobbery fund. Scores of thousands of these pam-
phlets are sent, not abroad, but to our own people to promote, not
the influx of settlers from abroad, but migration from one part of
Canada to another. The system is vicious. The assisted immi-
gration should be abolished, the expenditure largely curtailed, and
the whole Department administered honestly and on business
principles, inrtead of after the present fashion.

It is gratifying that the process of conversion has extended to
this subject as well, and that to-day we find that, though a little
while ago we were abused by the Conservative members for the
suggestion we made, though so late ago as the 12th August the
Mail itself was against us, there is now a change. The Mail, on
12th August said : —

"The few dollars each new arrival costs the Dominion, though much
complained of in some quarters, is more than repaid the first year he is here,
not alone because he brings capital with him, but because he at once becomes
a consumer, and as such, an employer of labour. At the same time the im-
migration policy discourages the importation of labour to compete with that
now in Canada. "

Mr. Blake then quoted the Mail's late article opposing the Im-
migration expenditure, and proceeded —

Gentlemen, my heart is cheered, I am greatly encouraged, when
I find that after speaking for so many years on all these topics,
not able, apparently, in all that time, to create the slightest im-
pression upon the Tory mind, without the slightest sign of any
good effect,

ALL AT ONCE THE DAY BREAKS, .-' >

and the light of conviction spreads and grows, and that on three
important questions within a space of three days we find adhesion
on tile part of the chief Conservative organ itself to many of the
views which we have been pressing forward. (Cheers.) How
important a lesson does that teacH us ! It teaches us that wc must
not despair, no matter how stolid our Tory opponents appear to
be, no matter how little they appear to realize the truth of what
we say. We do not know at what moment there may be a whole-
some impression made, and they may adii) it that they were wrong
Slid we were right all the timo, and propose to join with us in
accomplishing these good ends. (Loud laughter and applause.)

(8)

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V.'

LIBERALISM AND PROGRESS.

WHAT THK REFORM PARTY HAS DONE TO PROMOTE RAILWAY
J DEVELOPMENT.

Mr. Blake, after some introductory remarks, at Parrj Sound,
said : — I may be pardoned for saying that it is a subject of special
pleasure to me, as well as of pride, to reflect that from my lips first
proceeded the suggestion of the measure which conferred upon the
vast mass of Young Liberals of Canada the franchise at an age
and under circumstances earlier than those at which under previ-
ous laws they could be acquired. I thought it well to

' GIVE THE YOUNG MEN A STAKE IS THE COUNTRY

by allowing them the privilege of the franchise at an early age,
and so educating them up to the discbarge of the noblest duties of
citizenship. But I said also what I am glad to see is now realized,

. that it would not do that the young men of the country should
have these privileges unless they felt the accompanying responsi-
bilities, and that it was important and necessary, in order that

' the measure should do good instead of evil, that it should be
accompanied by an increased activity and interest on the part of

' ^;he young men in political affairs. Remember that in a very few
years upon you will devolve the conduct of affairs in this our
country, and that whether you are to have a country worth exert-
ing yourselves for in the future will largel}'^ depend upon your
exertions during the next few months. (Loud and prolonged
applause.) We had a very pleasant journey to Parry Sound by
road ; I hope the next time I come it may be by rail. (Cheers.)
There is nothing more inaccurate amidst the various inaccuracies
which beset the presentation of Liberal views, when they come
from Tory writers and Tory platforms, than their statement of

OUU RELATIONS TO THK PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS OF THIS COUNTRY.

To hear them sometimes you Would believe that we Reformers
were people who did not see any good in public improvements,
and were always objecting to the country going forward. I say
the very reverse of that is the case, for, regarding the Liberal
- party when in power or in Opposition, I state, and, what h more,
I can prove, its course has been just the opposite of that. (Cheers.)
It is quite true that with reference to the great work of which
Mr. Cockburn has spoken, the Canadian Pacific Railway, it was

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245

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and is our belief that the work has been carried on too rapidly,
and at an enormous expenditure, in part unneeded, of our public
resources. We have believed, and 1 have stated in Parliament
repeatedly, that a slower and more economical prosecution of the
great work in certain parts would have enabled us to complete the
enterprise with great economy of money and with a better pros-
pect of immediate and permanent results for the road, and would
have permitted us to spend in various parts of the Dominion
which were already partly settled, and whose progress required
in the general interest certain improvements of Dominion import-
ance, some of those many millions which have been unnecessarily
expended, in consequence of the extravagant bargain and of the
unnecessary speed and expense of construction of the Canadian
Pacific Railway. Public improvements of general consequence in
these portions of the country, which bear their full share of the
taxation of the country, we have always contended for, and I can
point, I think, with some measure of honest pride, to the course
which we took in the session of the Ontario Assembly in 1871. I
was called upon to assume the responsibilities of office on the defeat
of John Sandfield Macdonald's Government. At that time, as you
know, $1,500,000 of the public money had been appropriated for
the purpose of aiding local railways. I investigated the situation.
Called to office during a session of the Legislature, it was a
difficult and laborious task, in the midst of general legislation,^
and carrying on public affairs in a House elected under our
opponents and predecessors, to grasp the whole situation. I
found, after considering the whole matter, that it would be right
to

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TAKE THE BOLD STEP OF ASKING FOR A LARGE INCREASE IN THE

APPROPRIATION

already made. Having found that, it was my duty to run the
risk. I ran the risk, and proposed that $400,000 should be added
to the amount to be given in cash, and that $2,000,000 more
should be appropriated on time, thus more than doubling — con-
siderably more than doubling — the amount which the Legislature
was enabled to devote, and by my bill pledged itself to devote, to
the development of the railway facilities of the country. I wa&
immediately called upon to deal with the application of a large
portion of the fund. In some cases the materials showing the
financial ability of the companies to build the railway projected
were not forthcoming, but within a few weeks we proposed aid to
railways which benefited almost all ' :

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j-^ ■'•,■ THE NEWKR SECTIONS OF THE COUNTRY,

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thB then new counties of Bruce and Grey, the northern parts
of Simcoe, even the southern part of what was then the Muskoka
District, the counties of Victoria, Peterborough, Hastings, Ad-
dington, Frontenac, Renfrew, all obe northern parts of Ontario,
as far as there was any scheme projected at that time. We assisted
and provided the basis upon which about two thousand miles
of road have since been built, largely through these sections. I
think I give you in this the best proof that the policy of the
Liberal party v^as tlien a practical, progressive, bold, and vigorous
policy of railway construction throughout Ontario.

After referring to the grant for the Parry Sound Colonization
Railway, Mr. Blake proceeded : — The appropriation was not in
fair proportion to that gi'anted, for example, to the Baie Chaleurs
Railway. The Tories have told you that the Opposition have
been for the last few years pandering to the French. They say
we have been wanting to get hold of the French vote. There
was a railway in the Province of Quebec aided last session as
well as yours. It was this Baie Chaleurs Railway. It passes
through a country easy for railway construction, following the
valley of a great river. It is a country which has been settled
for more than a hundred years, and is now thickly inhabited. It
is a country in which, thanks to the old settlement and to the
natural conditions, labour is cheap, and where the wood supply
and food supply necessary are easily obtainable. It is a country
where the rails can be got in cheaper than they can be got in here
by a great deal. For the hundred miles of this road the Gov-
ernment gave an average of $6,200 a mile, and that they gave in
a specially advantageous way. They gave $15,000 a mile for the
first twenty miles, $6,400 a mile for the second twenty miles, and
$3,200 a mile for the last sixty miles. I thought that was un-
just. (Applause.) It was unnecessary. My belief was, from ail
I could learn, that a smaller subsidy was sufficient to secure the
construction, and I, who am said to be pandering to the French
and anxious to secure their votes, opposed so large a grant. (Ap-
plause.) I declared that in view of the circumstances and of the
grants being made to other roads, I saw

•> f

NO GROUND FOR MAKING SO LARGE A GRA. r,

but I didn't hear Mr. O'Brien say anything about it.
(Applause and laughter.) He did not seem to be affected by
the contrast between $3,200 a mile for a railway for this district

(8)

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and $6,400 a mile for the Baie Chaleurs Railway. He heai'd my
speech, but never a word did he say as to the inequality and re-
lative injustice of these grants. I gave then something of the
reason why. I will give it to you — not the reason why Mr.
O'Brien didn't speak — (laughter) — but why, in my opinion, so
large a giant was given to the other railway. I found that there
were in the directorate of that road a few influential members of
Parliament and their immediate friends and connections who had
eleven-twelfths of that railway in their own hands, so that
eleven-twelfths of the profii- out of the railway were to be reaped
by these members and their immediate connections, all strong
supporters of the Government. (Applause.) I pointed out that
fact to the House, I gave the names of the members and their
friends and showed that in fact this was

A PARLTAMENTARY RAILWAY,

owned by a few supporters of the Government, and that the Gov-
ernment were putting money not required for the interests of the
country, into the hands of their supporters, giving them enormous
profits upon the creation of the road. I congratulate you, not
with reference to the colonization railway, but with reference to
the Northern Pacific Junction Railway that, as I pointed out at
Huntsville, even if the bonded debt has been increased, if the
tolls are heavy, if you have no larger amount to pay, you have
some compensation. -

DALTON m'cARTHY's GRAB.

You have the satisfaction of knowing that a prominent member
of Parliament, and a supporter of the Government, has got an easy
berth with a salary of $3,000 or $3,500 a year as President of the
ISTorthern Pacific Junction Railway Company, practically due to
the subsidy, and has made, i i common with a few of the original
promoters a very handsome sale of the original stock which they
took up, at enormous profits, also practically paid out of the sub-
sidy, and that a few othei s have made grciit profits out of the eon-
tract. So that if you don't get all the good out of it that you
might, you know that some estimable citizens, not residents here,
it "is true, and in whose fortunes perhaps you do nob take a very
deep interest, but still some prominent members of the body
politic have got their full share of the good things of this life
through the agency of the railway. (Prolonged cheers and
laughter.)

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' ' THE KANSAS SLANDER.

'>f

ANOTHER TORY FALSEHOOD — HOW MR. BLAKE S ONE REFERENCE
TO KANSAS HAS BEEN DISTORTED. "

Mr. Blake, in the course of his speech at Bl-antford, said : —
It has been the habit, as you know, for a great many years, for
the Tory party to pay special attention to me, and in season and
out of season to attack me for something said, or something
alleged to be said, by me, and I have lately thought that at some
of these meetings I would trespass upon my audience for a little
to discuss some of these attacks. To-night I want to take a very
famous sample ; I want to trouble you with a few words upon

THE GREAT SUBJECT OF KANSAS.

(Cheers.) For six years the statement has been constantly circu-
lated by the Tory p^'ess and politicians that I was in the habit of
descanting upon the superior advantages of Kansas, the greater
charms of Kansas, its finer climate, its greater fertility, its
* superiority as a place for settlement over our own North- West,
, and that I recommended it as preferable to Canadians and Euro-
, peans alik'e. If, as they suppose, my words have hurtful weight
where they are heard, they have given them the widest circulation
and the greotest weight they could, and now every devoted Tory in
the rank and file, I believe, supposes it is part of my daily con-
versation to laud Kansas and decry the North- West, and to
recommend people to the one and away from the other ; indeed,
I dare say they believe it is my daily morning prayer that Kansas
may prosper and the North -West decay. (Cheers and langhter.)
I see the Mail says the other day, " Fond as Mr. Blake is of sound-
ing the praises of Kansas," and the Brockville Times, " Mr. Blake
has long advocated the claims of Kansas as superior to the North-
^ West for emigration," And so I might go on ad nauseam. And
not merely their organs sound this note, but

' THEIR leaders BLOW THE BELLOWS

And swell the doleful song. Sir John Macdonald said the other
day, " We were told that the people had better go to Kansas,"
and added that I " had announced that Kansas was the country for
profit, while Canada might be the country for sentiment." And
so again might go on ad nauseam. Now, I am no believer in
that kind of patriotism which adopts the functions of the anv-
bassador of old, who was " sent abroad to lie for the good of his

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249

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country. (Laughter.) I believe in the virtue of the truth, and 1^
believe that great harm has resulted to Canada, both at homaand
abroad, through the adoption of other tactics. But it is one thing,
where occasion calls for discussion, to speak the truth ; and quite
another, without cause, to give circulation to disputed and dam-
aging assertions. 1 spoke only once in my whole political career
on the subject of Kansas. (Cheers.) I spoke for cause. And if I had
said what they allege I said, I submit to you that, on the Tory

^ view of the effect ot my statement, it would have been the part
of patriotism, assuming my alleged statement true, to have let it
die, instead of needlessly giving it for these many years the widest
publicity, and so creating the greatest harm. And were my al-

' leged statement untrue, it would still more clearly have been their
duty to take the same course, and not to injure the country by
the needless cfreulation of statements at once incorrect and dam-
aging. (Cheers.) But what is to be said of

PATRIOTS WHO HAVE COINED A STATEMENT, \ i

who have distorted and misapplied my words, who have them-
selves cooked up a mess which they call injurious, and have
presented it as mine all over Canada and the world for six long
years, liowling all the while about the harm it was doing to dear
Canada ? (Cheers.) What, I say, is to be said of men who have
themselves done the harm which they impute to me ? (Renewed
cheering.) Why, it is clear, ladies and gentlemen, that their
object has been, at the expense of what they deemed the public
interest, to hurt a political opponent ! (Loud applause.) 1 leave
it to you to deal with such lovers of their country. (Renewejd
applause.) I spoke but once — and

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UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES?

In 1880 the Tory Government proposed that we should undertake
the immediate construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in
British Columbia and elsewhere. They declared that it could be
done without cost to the country. They promised enormous im-
migration to the North-West and enormous receipts from sales of
the public lands. Under their figures we ought to have had in Mani-
toba and the North-West, in 1885, about 313,000 whites ; and by
1801 about 080,000 whites. Under their figures we ought to have
received from the public lands $38,600,000 in cash by 18.90, and
to have due and secured at the same date $32,700,000 more.
Under their figures the whole population was to take up an
average of 59 acres of land per head; and Sir Charles Tupper
calculated that 100,000 North-West farmers would produce

. * - (8)

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250

040,000,000 bushels of wheat in a year. (Loud cheers and
laughter.) In support of these astounding statements, on which
they asked the House to rely in agreeing to their policy, they
themselves referred to and gave figures of the progress of the
Western States, and particularly did they refer to the progress of
the States of Kansas and Nebraska. (Cheers.) I felt that the
House was being misled, that the calculations were fantastic, that
the inferences were unsound, that the predictions would fail, and
that the country would — unless the truth were then told — be
plunged, under an entirely false impression, into enormous
engagements which must be met out of loans and taxations, and
not out of the resources they promised, or by the realization of
the hopes the held out. It was my hounden public duty, so be-
lieving, to show the truth ; and I did show it. (Cheers.) It was
under these circumstances I spoke. Now, what did I say ? They
have been repeatedly challenged to produce my words, and they
have not dared to do so. I will reproduce them now. This is
what I said : —

I hold that it is impossible to contrast the situation of the two countries —
Canada and the United States — on the general question of foreign immigra-
tion, without concluding that our future is not to be measured by the
estimate of theirs. What has happened in the West with reference to them,
cannot be expected reasonably to happen in our West, with reference to us»
so far as the result is to be obtained by any foreign emigration. I have
already stated that the foreij^n emigration to the United States for the
decade ending 1860, was 2,<5O0,O0O ; for that ending 1870, 2,500,000, and for
the present decade it is supposed it will amount to 2,700,000. These figures
are enough to convince us that the rapidity with which western lands have
been settled, so far as that rapidity is due to the direct, or indirect effects of
foreign immigration, is not a rapidity which we can hope to reach in our
North- West. Nor can I agree that the area of land in the United States
available for settlement, although it is, no doubt, being rapidly diminished,
Is as yet at all reduced to such proportions, as to force the current of emigra-
tion to our North- West. There are still large areas of land in thai country
which are available for settlement, and which for those who happen to prefer
the United States, will givo them an opportunity of settling there for some
years to come. The United States, in a sense, command the market in this
respect. The emigration to the States, as far as I can understand, has been
composed in later years to a very large extent of the Teutonic races. The
Germans have played a very large part in the settlement of the United States.
They exist there in very great numbers, and they exercise therein powerful
influence. The same opinions which led the inhabitants of that and all the
countries of Europe enjoying but partially developed constitutional Govern-
ment, when deciding to leave their native lands and seek foreign shores, to
choose the United States as their goal, have derived further strength from
the knowledge that there are settled in the great Republic millions of their
brother Germans, and the descendants of their brother Germans It is
therefore natural that we should expect, for several years to come at
any rate, that the bulk of the Teutonic emigration will go, as it has
gone hitherto, in the direction of the United States. The next important
factor in the emigration to the United States has been from the people

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of the country from which I am descended, and we know that the cir-
cumstanceB of that country are such that, unfortunately for us, and for th&
British Empire, there has been a strong impulse on the part of a very large
and important part of the population of Ireland to prefer the Republic,
In this case the sins of the fathers have been visited upon the children The
wrongs and injustice inflicted upon the majority of the Irish population ia
former days — at least the memory of those wrongs and that injustice, the
recollection of transactions which no man would at this day vindicate or
defend, has remained with those now on the soil, and obliterates, or at any
rate obscures, iu their vision, the more liberal conduct and the more Just
course which has animated British policy in this respect of late years. That
circumstance has led to a large emigration from Ireland to the United States ;
and we know what the condition of Ireland still is. But 1 hope for great
things for Irdand, and for the Empire, Jrom the events of the last few days. I
hope and trust that the advent to power of the Liberal party, supported by a
great majority, decided Liberals and Radicals, will result in fresh measures
for relief and justice to Ireland, which will tend still further to weaken her
old feelings of hostility and disaffection, and to make the Empire in this
regard a United Empire, ] hope we shall see, among other things, a
moderate measure of Home Rule for Ireland, and witness by the application
of that measure the creation and maintenance of true and real bonds of
union between Ireland and the rest of the so-called United Kingdom. But
things being as they are, and having regard also to the financial condition of
the bulk of the Irish peasantry, no wise man can expect, that within a short
time, that within the next few years, there will be any serious change in the
current of Irish immigration. So far as the Roman Catholic Irish are con-
cerned, we must expect that the tide of immigration will continue for some
time to set towards the United States. I hope the proportion may be
diminished. I should rejoice greatly to see the Irish people recqgnize the
advantages we offer them and establish themselves within our borders, but
still I believe that for some time we cannot count on a decided change. The
set of emigration has been sufhciontly shown by the figures I have given, and
naturally with the imperfect information available to those coming from
other parts of Europe, and apart from all consideration of soil and climate^
the notion of the important position and situation they would occupy under
a Republican form of Government — the idea that as citizens of the great
Republic they would have a greater and more active share in the government
of their country — has actuated a great number of emigrants from the
European Continent to choose the United States as the field where their
energies and their talents could be most fully displayed, and the advantages
of citizenship most fully exercised. Among the obvious material advantages
presented to ihe minds of such persons is this : — That the National debt of
the United States has been reduced in 14 years by $603,000,000. It has
been reduced by 30 pet cent, of the amctunt at which it now stands, and that
great reduction has been effected in the face of great diflicultieii and obstacles,
and notwithstanding a period of depressicn which they have exporien ;. d, and
which seeius likely now to be followed by a period of revived prosperity —
perhaps of inflation — T say that the contrast in this respect, upon which I
shall take occasion later further to enlarge between the conditiim of the
United States and that of the countries from which emij^ranta have come, is
a contrast calculated to allure them to the Republic. Though the statistics
for the current decade of the United States are not yet available, I am able ,
to refer to some figures showing the later progress of two Spates especially
alluded to by the hon. member for Card well a few days ago, Kansas and
Nebraska. VVe were correctly told that Kansas had increased from 360,000
in 1870 to 650,000 in 1879, thus showing]an increase in nine years of 490,000.

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i have already pointed out the elements of which the increase in the popula-
tion of the Western States is composed, and the domestic and foreign
recruiting grounds from which the country draws her increase. These
considerations alone show that the results in Kansas do not prove that our
North- West is going to have a population of 550,000 in ten year's as stated,
for none of the conditions are parallel. But apart from the fact that Kansas
had in 1870 300,000 of population to start with from which came a large
natural increase forming an important part of the 490,000, it is to be
remembered that Kansas had moreover in 1870 over 1,500 miles of railway
in operation, and during the decade her railway facilities were increased to
2,30)0 miloB. There is no doubt, I believe, that this State has shown the
most remarkable development in the history of the world. lu 1866 the State
of Kansas was the Iwenty-fourth in rank in the United States as a corn
producer, and in 1878 she had run up to the fourth. In 1866 she was
twenty-fourth in rank as a wheat producer, and she had run up in 1878 to be
almost the first in rank, producing in that year 32,000,000 bushels of wheat.
With all these advantages, with all these proofs of an unexampled progress,
with that large domestic and foreign recruiting ground to which I have
before alluded, we find her increase of population in nine years was but
490,000, and we are told thj»t the North-West, without the advantages which
were possessed by Kansas, is to have an increase through immigration of
650,000 in eleven years. Now, Sir, I will refer to Nebraska. In that State
also there has been, as the lion, member said, very rapid progress. In 1870
the population was 122,000. In 1879 it was 386,000. Th« increase in the
nine years was 244,000. There was thus, of course, a substantia] nucleus,
the natural increase from which would form an immaterial part of the total
increase. There was also a great domestic and foreign immi>.'ration. There
was also great railway facilities throughout the period. In 1870 there were
705 milesiiof railway in operation, and in 1878 1,320 miles. Yet with all
those a'l vantages there was only an increase of 244,000 in the nine years, and
even that increase was due to the circumstances to which I have referred
which give the States a greater power of settlement than we can hope for.
These are the figures for the two States which hon. gentlemen have chosen,
and I believe rightly chosen, as presenting the strongest grounds for their ex-
pectation. I do not thiiik they furnish good grounds for these expectations.
I do not think that the only experience to which we can infer, having regard
to the diflFerences between the two countries, justifies us, however sanguine
•r fervent our hopds may be, justifies us as busiuess men, and dealini,' with a
business transaction, and calculating the cash returns, we may count on from
the North- West lands in the next few years, in concluding that there will be
an emigrant population of 550,000 in that country at the end of eleven years,
and in incurring, on the faith of that result, enormous liabilities, which, if
not met out of the lands, must be met otherwise. Such a thing may happen.
I wish it would, but 1 do not think it is probable, because the experience of
no other country, making alh-wances, proves that it can happen in our case.
The statement, 1 think, is purely conjectural, is highly improbable, and
cannot be sustained by any analogous occurrence.

Well, sir, I failed to convince the House. The policy of the
Government was endorsed by the House, and afterwards by the
country. But

EVENTS HAVB VERIFIED MY VIEWS.

We had, so far as can be judged, only 125,000 whites in 1885
in the North-west, instead of 313,000. We had netted a mere

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trifle out of North- West lands, and any early pros[>octs of the real-
ization of net results from that source may be abandoned, for tlie
First Minister himself declared the other dav that the free irrant
lands will absorb the immigration for the next ([UJirtor of a cen-
tury. If so, how much are you going to get tor tho, salos of lauds ?
(Cheers.) Then the surplus of wheat for export has not yet indi-
cated the correctness of Sir Charles Tupper's calculations which
are mentioned to-day only to be ridiculed. (Laughter.) Wo will
shortly have expended on the transcontinental scheme the e(|uiva-
lent of $87,000,000 paid out of the treasuiy, and a vast sum for
interest, all payable out of taxes anrl loans. My words have
come true. I wish from my heart that I could tell you 1 had been
mistaken. But my words have come true. Now 1 have shown
you the kind of advantages 1 mentioned, as possessed by the States,
including Kansas, in calculating the rate of out- immigration from
the rate of theirs ; the initial population, the existing railways,
the home reserve for immigrants, and the European drift to the
States. I have shown you the circumstances under which I spoke,
to save you, if I could, from being misled into vast engagements,
and deceived by delusive estimates and fallacious comparisons. I
have shown you how J have ever since been belied. / made no
contrast or comparison as to soil, climate, or other physical con-
ditions or elements of growth between the North- West and Kansas,
(Cheers.) / did not declare that Kansas was in these respects or
any like respects superior to the North- West, (Cheers.) 1 express-
ed the hope that the hulk of our migratory people would go to the
North- West instead^ if to the States, and that we might in time di-
vert a substantial part of the European emigration. Sir, for
these many years I have been doing my best to promote the real
interests of the North- West, which have been checked, hampered
and imperilled by misgovernment. (Cheers.) And now, but a
little while ago, an article was published in the Mail in which
they offered substantially the very views I had propounded in
1880 as to the comparative position of the two countries.

'i " THE "mail" used THIS LANGUAGE: —

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We have repeated boom estimates and quoted boomsters' figures about
everything, until we have created in our minds the vision of a region which
does not exist anywhere on earth, and now that it ha^ been shattered by the
prosaic revelations of the census, we are weak enough to feel sorry at being
undeceived. . . . The truth is that, all things considered, the popu-
lation of Manitoba and the Territories is quite as large, placing it at 125,U00
whites, as we had any right to expect it to be. It must be remembered that
in all the new regions in the United States, the larger part of the population
is American>born — hailing from the older States. There is no exception in
tbia rule. In Dakota for instance according to the special census taken in
that Territory last June, 269,700 settlers out of a total of 415,000, 75 per

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254

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cenh. wore nativo Anjoricuna, leaving only 2r» per cent., or 145,000, to the
credit of imnii^ation. Tiie siuuu dtraiijLje othnio profess is at work in our
Turritoritm, for, hy tlio chiibus just taken, it appears, that of a white popiila*
tion of 23,000, no fewer th.m 14,200, or a little over (JO percent, areof Cana-
dian origin. But if wu niuat aasnme in accordance with this law, that the
greater part of the fiitnre population of the North- West is to consist of the
overflow from the older Provinces, then it is evident that the increase of popu-
lation is sure to he slow, as compared with the increase in the newer regions
across the line, since our reservoir of population is but one-tenth as large as
theii's. Moreover, it is well- known that those immigrants who, next to the
native-born settlors, have helped to develop Dakota and Minnesota, viz. , the
Scandinavians and Germans, are not to be procured for our North- West just
now. They avoid our territory because they do not approve of our political
institutions. This is an unpalatable truth, but there it is, and we must take
account of it. The nativity tables of the foreign-born population in Dakota
have not yet been compiled in detail, but the Swedes and Norwegians rank
first in number, and the Germans are well up. So that being practically shut
ofl'from Gernian and Scandinavian immigration, and having, as compared
with the Americans, but a small overflow from native sources, it is manifest-
ly absurd to expect any tremendous rate of development in our North- West
just at present. Our time will come when the homestead lands in the United
States are exhausted. . >-

The, article then proceeds to point out the last report of the
Commissioner at Washington, showing that these reserves have
shrunk to comparatiuely small proportions, and, after a quotation
of that kind, it proceeds : —

In the course of a few years Dakota will be out of the field. The Immi-
gration Bureau of that Territory says in one of its monthly publications (that
for February) that at the end of 1885 the area of < > ^acant Government land
rated as agricultural land and open to settlement wi^gletimaied at 20,000,000
acres, of which 18,000,000 lay in Northern Dakota. " For six months ending
31bt December, the area of land entered on or filed was 1,524,000 acres —
say 3,000,000 a year. At this rate the vacant land will be pretty well ex-
hausted in seven years, and a most formidable competitor to Manitoba and
the Territories disposed of. Canada may then surely reckon on immigration
from the continent of Europe, provided efibrts are made beforehand to make
the people acquainted with the wealth of our resources. Meanwhile we pro-
bably need not look for any miraculous development of the North- West.
There will be a steady influx of settlers from the United Kingdom, with a
sprinkling from the continent of Europe ; but the main stream of immigra-
tion will, doubtless, consist of young Canadians, who, but for our enterprise
in opening up this great region, would find their way to the United States,
where so many thousands of our people settled in the days when we had no
free prairie homesteads to offer.

»' •

You thus see that

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s';' THE "mail" HAS ADOPTED MY ARGUMENTS OF 1880. "^' ,

But I am obliged to admit that there have been some disparaging
comments on the North-West ; and from important quarters too.
A little while ago an authority of great weight used this lan-
guage:—

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Oartier believed that Manitoba and the North- West could be made a
French Province. A niulden ru«h of imniis^riinta from Ontiirio and from
England into the North- Woat iips^t that caiuiiltitiou for a while ; hiil it is
now clear that henceforth there will be no more rushes. The North'West
will doubtless receive a fair share of Rn^IiHh-apeakini; nettlers every year,
but we mav safely abandon the boomster's dream, Euro[)e transferring itaelf
bodily to the plains in order to pursue the cultivation of No. I hard. De-
velopment will be comparatively slow, for the climate is ni^ainst a miraculous
expansion, and the competition of the North- Western, Western, Pacific,
South- Western, and Southern StateB, with their infinite variety of products
and climate must, for many years to come, stand in the way of the rapid
peopling of our territory. So that, as a French speakm- in Manitoba con-
tended not long ago, Cartier's scheme is still quite feasible, since, if any one
race be better fitted than another to take permanent root under a semi- Arctic
snow, where thrift, endurance, and the faculty o. being content with little are
called for, it is the French-Canadian.

The same great authority, on a recent date, used this lan-
guage :—

It is only fair to add, however, that in all probability the Government
now in power has taken too sanguine a view of the North-West devolopnient.
It has been the habit, in making up calculations of future progress, to ignore
the fact that Minnesota and Dakota offer to the poorer class of settlers advan-
tages fully equal to those held out by Manitoba, while the Woatorn, South-
western, and Southern States present to the well-to-do immigrant, who can
afford to choose his climate, an infinite and incomparable variety of attrac-
tions. ^

Who do you think has been guilty of the .want of patriotism
involved in this language ? Some Grit, of course-f Some Grit it
must have been ! No one but a Grit would talk like that! I
do not know, in the present state of things, whether it was or
not, you shall judge for yourselves ! I can only tell you it was
the Mail newspaper! Loud and prolongetl laugliter and ap-
plause.) Can you believe it ? Here wo find the fatal competi-.
tion of the North- Western, Western, Pacific, South- Western, and
Southern States, with their infinite variety of products and cli-
mates ! Here we find the statement that Minnesota and Dakota
ofter to the poorer class of settlers advantages fully equal to those
held out by Manitoba, while the Western, South-Western and
Southern States present to the well-to- do immigrant, who can af-
ford to choose his climate, an infinite and incomparable variety of
attractions ! The language is not only positive, it is not only
comparative, it is superlative ! The writer absolutely revels in
the advantages of the States. They are infinite, they are incom-
parable, they are overwhelming.

And all are fish that come to this net I

Do we find a poor settler ? He will have in Minnesota and
Dakota advantages fully equal to those in Manitoba I

Do ive spy out a well-to-do settler ? He is pointed to the West-
ern, South-Western, and Southern States, as oflfering an infinite
and incomparable variety of attractions 1 (g)

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Do 2/0^- wa7ii a climate ? Then go there ! Do you want pro-
ducts ? Then go there !

But when the Mail turns to the North- West, which has already
been condemned as inferior to those more favoured lands, what
are the expressions of eulogy and hope, what is the attractive
description of that country ? " The climate is against a miracu-
lous expansion ; " "the competition of the States must for many
years to come stand in the way of the rapid peopling of the
North- West." "The region is under a semi- Arctic sun, where
thrift, endurance, and the faculty of being content with little are
called for."

AND LAST AND WORST OF ALL,

you have it suggested that this Siberia, with its semi-Arctic sun,
is best fitted for those deadly enemies of the Mail, that race it
fears so much, and whos'; institutions it desires to subvert, the
French-Canadians ! The French-Canadians, whom the Mail
sometimes wants to send to the North Pole, and sometimes to a
much warmer, Vmt even less agreeable climate. (Cheers and
laughter.)

Now, I am not going to discuss the accuracy of these state-
ments. They ma^ he true, even though the Mail ha.s said them.
(Laughter.)

But, if it were !• who had said them, how would the Tories
rage, and the heather imagine a vain thing ? (Loud and pro-
longed laughter.) And so I leave the subject. I TfllNK it is

WwRTH DISCUSSING AS AN EXEMPLIFICATION OF TORY TRUTHFUL-
NESS, Tory patriotism, and Tory faiu play. The truth is,

THAT while the ToRIES HAVE BKEN SPENDING THEIR TIME CIRCU-
LATING SLANDERS ABOUT ME, THE LIBERAL PARTY HAS BEEN DOING
ITS BEST TO PROMOTE THE REAL INTERESTS OF THE NoRTH-WeST,
AND TO AVERT THE ILLS OF TORY RULE. (Loud cheers.)

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257

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^ SE^ OF MOUnS^T^INS.

MB. BLAKE REPLIES TO HIS ACOUSEBS.

EleFen Yean of Calumny borne In iilence— The time for

Speech has come— A complete an§i¥er to the Stock

Tory Chargre, << Want of Patrlotlim."

Hon. Edward Blake, in the course of his speech at Listowel,
said : — It has occurred to me that it miffht be well to take a
minute to point out some of the misrepresentations and perversions
of my words ; and some of the unjust attacks made upon me by
the Tories for words said — attacks which have done them ex-
cellent service for years, in the sort of war they wage. Some-
times they peo'vert and distort an innocent phrase I may have
used ; and so make me out a wrong-doer. Sometimes,

WITHOUT ALTERING THE PHRASE,

they treat it, though true and innocent, as if it were false and
criminal. The sentence I am going to discuss to-night is a very
short one ; and I must admit I am correctly quoted, though with
an inaccurate context. Doubtless you all have heard of the high
crime and misdemeanour I committed ten or twelve years ago in
describing the mainland of British Columbia through which the
Canadian Pacific Railway was to pass, as a " sea of mountains."
I said it but once. Yet it has been constantly in the newspapers
and in the mouths of Tory orators ever since. (Laughter.) The
Tory newspapers have spoken of me here, there, and everywhere,
as having committed a most outrageous act in calling British
Columbia a sea of mountains, and I observe that both Sir John
Macdonald and Mr. White when they were at Victoria the other
day referred once and again to this outrage of mine. They have
done all they could to create prejudice and hostility against me on
the part of my fellow-countrymen in the western portion of the
Dominion because I called British Columbia a sea of mountains.
I did call it a " sea of mountains ;" that is quite true ; but I did
so in this connection and under these circumstances: I was
speaking in 1874 of the bargain made by Sir John Macdonald to
construct the railway within a limited time; I was pointing out
the difiiculties attending its construct!' n ; and discussing British
Columbia from an engineering point ot view, as a country through
which tlie railway was to be pushed, I called it a sea of mountains.
And no\v after eleven years, I repeat the phrase, and maintain its

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■^^^^■7*^*^^^*P^"Y^"

258

fitness. The phrase was not, as you all know, orisfinaj — it was
not my own invention. That was not pretenderl. But how as to
its application to British Columbia ? Weill I am afraid

v;v^

I CAN T EVEN CLAIM CREDIT FOR ORIGINALITY

in that. I am afraid I cannot honestly say I was the first person
to apply the term '* sea of mountains " to British CoVambia.
Where shall you find it earlier ? Whence was it drawn ? I will
tell you. Look at a book called " From Ocean to Ocean," the
record of Mr. Sandford Fleming's expedition as a Government
oflScer, as engineer-in-chief of the Canadian Pacific Railway under
the Tory Government in 1872, look at this book, the diary of the
secretary of that expedition, a Government officer, the Rev.
George M. Grant, now widely known as Principal Grant of
Queen's University, Kingston ; look at this book, copies of ivhich
were distributed by the Tory Government free of charge ; copies of
which were supplied to the members of Parliament at the expense
of the public, because it was thought of public consequence that it
should be widely read. Look, I say, at tliis book, and you will
find the reverend secretary declare in the preface that he tells " a
round unvarnished tale," and expresses the hope that " its truth-
fulness may compensate for its defects," and then turn to the
description of British Columbia and you will hear him state : —

" the greater part of the MAINLAND IS A SEA OF MOUNTAINS."

(Cheers and laughter.) Am I then to blame for adopting the
phrase of the Tory Government officer in describing the country,
as found on a Government expedition to spy out the land in re-
gard to its railway characteristics ? No ! Let them go crucify
Dr. Grant ! (Cheers and laugliter.) Once again let me refer you
to a very lively work. Lord J3ufft)rin's Travels in British Colum-
bia, admirably written by Mr. Molyneux St. John, of which the
title, strange to say, is, " The Sea of Mountains." (Cheers and
laughter.) The author says : —

In Victoria they have taken with bad grace Mr. Blake's perfootly justifiable
remark abont " A Sea of Mountains." But he might with perfect truth have
spoken of Bute Inlet as a sea of mountains in a gale of win(L

(Cheers and laughter.) -Again, I find in a recent issue oi' n per-
iodical of very extensive circulation an article speaking of the
Canadian Pacific Railway and its route, in the most laudatory
terms in every point of view, so laudatory that the uncharitable
might even be tempted to suppose that it was in some degree

mspn'

ed, a

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259

DESCRIPTION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.

Let me read some extracts from it : —

Into the Province of British Columbia are packed together in half a dozen
stupendous ranks, sep 'rated by narrow valleys, all the mountain ranges in
Western America. W e cross in succession the Rockies, the Selkirks, the
Gold, Okanagon, and coast ranges by a route 650 miles in length, though the
breadth measured in a straight line hardly exceeds 400 miles, and during the
whole time are in the midst of snow-crowned- monarchs

Here, then, are 650 miles of mountains heaped against, and over one
another in Titanic masses, ever present to the traveller, and ever changing
its aspect, a "great sea of mountains" that can be likened to no other on
earth. Rising more than two miles above the sea, these mountains are cleft
to the base by the passes that are followed by the railway, and their whole
dizzy height is seen at once. Far up on their shoulders, in full view from
the train, rest many glaciers, by the side of which those of the Alps wonld
be insignificant. .... . . For thirty-two hours the

traveller rolls along this great and varied mountain panorama without losing
the wonderful scene for a minute.

Lastly, in the report of the Directors of the Canadian Pacific
Railway for 1886, I find the statement that the " Company had
built 2,400 miles of railway, embracing in the Lake Superior and
Mountain sectiois " — they call the part through British Columbia
the " Moufitain section " — they had built " many hundreds of
miles of the most difficult railway work to be found on either
side of the Atlantic." Now, if it were the fact that I had been
betrayed out of my own head into the use of too strong a phrase,
of a phrase which, being exaggerated, was thought unjust and
harmful to British Columbia, would you not expect from such
patriots as the Tories, who are constantly deprecating the utter-
ance even of truth if it be disagreeable to them, on the score o
its being injurious to the country, would you not, 1 say, expeo
from these 'patriots silence as to my slip, instead of that constaw
parade of it year in and year out, that persistent keeping of i
before the public, that forcing of it into the widest circulation^
that blazoning it abroad over the world, that rolling of it as a'
sweet morsel under their tongues, which you have witnessed these
many years ? If harm could come of it, that harm was one to be
intensified a thousandfold by their action. But they did not care !
They wanted only to get a slap at me, regardless of the harm,
which, on their own showing, they were doing to the country !
But I made no slip. Least of all did I make a slip of which they
could complain. They have at last, by their attacks in Victoria,
induced me to speak again. I made no slip. I used the words
of their own oflicer, found in' the book they sent me for my in-
formation. And

(8)

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260

HIS WORDS WERE TRUE.

'•'*

If I have not shown you that according to the common usages of
speech, and on the faith of Dr. Grant's book, I was justified in
describing the mainland of British Columbia, from a railway
point of view, by the well-known phrase, " a sea of mountains,"
1 shall despair of convincing you of aught else to-night. And it"
I have felt constrained at length to bring forward my justification,
and thus, for the second time to use that well-worn phrase, I trust
you will admit that eleven years of abuse, culminating in a series
of attacks at Victoria, by the Ministers of the Crown, justify my
speaking now, and throw the dreadful consequences — if dreadful
consequences there be — on the heads of my accusers, who are, as
I have shown, themselves the persons really responsible for the
ivhole business. (Loud and prolonged applause.)

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The Calumniators of Mr. Mackenzie.

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HOW THEY VILIFIED HIM.

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FALaE AND CALUMNIOUS ATTACK

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•which has been adopted towards the Liberal leaders. A friend
of mine at the opening of the London Young Liberal Club last
night, said there was a time at which the Liberal leaders always
received a tribute of respect from the Tory leaders, and that was
when they were no longer in the forefront of the fight ; but just
80 long as they were conducting the party thtey had been and

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They accu§ed him of Dishoneity. Now ttaey laud him tor
Purity. But Gerrymandered his Constituency.

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'THANK QOD, MR. MACKENZIE'S REPUTATION DOES NOT DEPEND ON THE
COMMENDATIONS OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD."

Hon. Edward Blake in his speech at Wingham, after some pre-
liminary remarks, said : —

We public men, who from time to time have occupied the
leading positions in the Liberal party, while we are indebted to
our friends and supporters for generous expression of sympathy
and confidence such as have been accorded me to-day, have not,
I think, as a rule, while still entrusted with the discharge
of the foremost duty, received from our political opponents that
measure of fair play and just consideration which we had the
right to expect. I dare say there are here in this meeting, seeing
tl^at the riding is very equally divided — I hope there are here, a
good many Conservatives ; I always like to see them at my meet-
ings. My anxiety, in truth, is rather greater to get within reach
of those on the other side than to reach my own friends. If a man
believes he is speaking the truth, if he thinks he has a message to
give, he ought to wish to reach the ears of those opposed to him,
and through their ears to reach their minds and hearts. (Loud
cheers.) To them 1 speak, and say that the public life of our
country has been injured by the system of

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"would be exposed to unjust and unfounded, attack. (Cheers.)
Will you allow me to take the

PROMINENT AND STRIKING EXAMPLE

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of our respected friend, Mr. Mackenzie. You have not forgotten
the storm of abuse and calumny which was hurled against Mr.
Mackenzie for the many years during which he was our leader.
Not merely was he charged with incapacity ; he was charged with
dishonesty, corruption, disgraceful conduct utterly unworthy of a
public man. Let me give you some examples. Not examples
from newspapers, not examples from the rank and file, examples
from the lips of a man of no less prominence than the leader of
the Conservative party himself, the present Prime Minister of
Canada. You recollect the election of 1872, when Mr. Mackenzie
occupied the double position of Treasurer of Ontario in the Reform
Grovernment, of which I was First Minister, and of leader of the
Liberal party in the Canadian Parliament. At Lindsay Sir John
said, during that election : —

*' He did not doubt that large sums had been raised as a corruption fund
among persons interested in timber licenses under the Ontario Government,
or by other such means. Already a case had been made out against them
which would demand legislation of the most stringent kind * * *
These matters would undoubtedly come before Parliament at its next session.

There is a distinct, positive, direct charge against Mr. Macken-
zie and his colleagues in the Government of Ontario of a corrupt
use for election purposes of the public domain, and a pledge that
the matter would be brought before Parliament at the next ses-
sion. Next session came ; many other sessions have followed it

SIR JOHN HAS BEEN CHALLENGED

to bring forward his proof ; but I need not tell you he has never
redeemed his pledge.

In Toronto in the same year he said :

" Mr. Mackenzie had gone down to Nova Scotia and made a corrupt bargain
with Mr. Annand bj which he was to aid in getting $84,000 for the Provincial
Building at Halifax, on condition that the Government of Nova Scotia was
to act against the Government of the Dominion."

There is another charge of corruption. At Kingston, for which
city Sir John Macdonald was then standing, the report of the
nomination proceedings is thus : — . . ;

" Mr. Britton followed, and during his speech Sir John, who appeared to
be much excited, walked over to Mr. Carruthers and accused him of som«
discreditable oil speculation, which Mr. Carruthers denied. Sir John then
repeated the accusation and intimated that he could prore that Mr. Car-
ruthers was implicated in an oil swindle in company with the Hon. A. Mao-
kenide.

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"Mr. Oarruthera denied the charge in forcible language.
" Sir John gave him a baok-handed slap in the face, and attempted to take
him by the throat before Mr. Carruthers could retaliate."

Shortly afterwards at Sarnia, in Mr. Mackenzie's own riding,
these gentlemen met, and Mr. Mackenzie speaking before Sir John
is thus reported : —

*' He was going to call Sir John Macdonald his friend as formerly, but
until the hon. gentleman retracted a certain exprouion he had used on the
hustings at Kingston he would not do so.

" Sir J. M.— I certainly will not retract it.

" Mr. M. said he defied the hon. gentleman to prove it, and until he did
BO or withdrew it he would treat him as a slanderer.

** Sir J. M. — Everybody knows it in this part of the country."

So you see Sir John declined to retract and equally declined

THE IMPOSSIBLE TASK OF PROOF.

Shortly afterwards Sir John Macdonald spoke thus : —

" He (Mr. Mackenzie) had been tried in that capacity (i.e. as a Minister)
and he (Sir John) had no hesitation in saying that the Government to which
Mr. Mackenzie belonged was more false, more faithless and more corrupt
than any Government that ever existed in Canada. (Great cheering.)

" Some years since a Bill had been introduced in Parliament by Mr. Mac-
kenzie, who had been the exponent and touter of a ring to rob the Indians,
by which a number of old claims by tavern-keepers and others against the
poor Indians had been revived and made valid. That Bill had nearly passed
into law, but the truth had been declared by Mr. Morris, now the Chief
Justice of Manitoba. He (Sir John) bad the authority of Mr. Morris, who
was a man of honour, for stating that Mr. Mackenzie walked across the floor
of the House, and shaking his fist in Mr. Morris' face, had paid he would
never forgive him for it.

" Mr. Mackenzie (from the back of the platform) — That is a lie.

" Sir John Macdonald said he had not got through yet. That man, who
was the leader of the Opposition, and who ought to have some respect for
himself, had been the chairman of the Printing Committee and the touter
and paid servant of Messrs. Hunter, Rose & Co. It was Mr. T. R. Fergu-
son who had caught him and exposed him. Then, coming down a little fur-
ther, Mr. Mackenzie had come out as the touter of a petroleum ring in order
to raise the price of oil. The secret of the bargain between him and the oil
kings he (Sir John) did not know, but this he did know, that he had urged
upon Sir John Rose, at that time Finance Minister, the imposition of an ex-
cise duty upon petroleum, and he had sold himself deliberately for that price.
(Cheers and counter cheers. ) He (Sir John) went on to charge the Govern-
ment of the Province with using its powers corruptly by granting silver lands
in Western Canada in return for assistance at these elections. This would be
proved before a committee of the House during the next session of Parlia-
ment. (Cheers.) If it were the case, then he wotild ask whether Mr. Mac-
kenzie was a proper man to represent the constituency of Lambton ? ( Loud
cries of no and yes.)

Well, I felt bound, when charges of this nature were being hurled
against my friend and colleague from one end of the country to
the other, to express my opinions, and in South Bruce I did so. I
prefer to quote rather than to summarize my words. This is what I
said : — • ./

(9)

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* * '* I have been connected for five years in the House of Commons,
and for the last year in the Local Legislature as well, with my friend Mr,
Alexander Mackenzie — (hear, hear) — who has throughout taken a leading
part in Opposition in the House of Commons up to this time, and has as-
sumed office with me in the Local Legislature. Mr. Mackenzie has been more
intimately thrown together with me for the last five years than, perhaps,
with any other public man. Our intercourse has been most constant, cor-
dial, and unrestrained ; and there is nothing in my public life to which I
can refer as having given me pain — and there are many circumstances which
have given me pain — which does not sink into insignificance at the pain
which I have felt at the unjust observations and gross attacks which have
been made upon my friend on recent occasions. I have this to say, that when
I was called upon to form a Government, I felt it necessary in the interests
of the country that my hands should be strengthened by my friend taking
office with me, and the greatest difficulty that I found in the formation of
that Government was to persuade Mr. Mackenzie to assume the position
he now so worthily fills, of Treasurer of Ontario. Not that he was unwilling
— he had always been willing — to make any sacrifice in his power for the

' sake of his country, and of that party with which he felt the great inter-
ests of the country were identified, but that his own views of his public duty
led him to hesitate. He o£fered his support to the Government outside the
Cabinet, but he desired that I would not ask him to take office, and it was
with the utmost reluctance that he had at length consented. I have found him
the truest and most faithful of friends and colleagues. Efforts have been
made by the adversary to weaken his position in the Legislature at Ottawa,
and observations have gone abroad with reference to my relations with him,
which have given great pain to me. It has been said that I am desirous
of withdrawing from the Local Legislature, in order to obtain a leading
position in the Commons. My only desire is to go there tv assist my friend
Mr. Mackenzie, as his faithful supporter in the future, as 1 1: ast 1 have been
in the past. I have no ambition to be any other thing than a private mem-
ber of Parliament. I believe in party government. I am a party man, and
belong to a party to which I intend to stick as long as it carries out its
principles. My personal desire has always been to act in the ranks, and
along with the ranks of that party, and in no other or more prominent
capacity ; and in that position I shall find myself if returned to the House
of Commons on a future occasion ; and I have told my friends that whether
on the left hand or on the right hand of the Speaker, my place must be in
the ranks. I have to say to you and to my countrymen generally, that of
all the public men whom I have met — and I have observed, I hope, not
unfairly but closely, the men of both sides — I know no man of equal dili-
gence, of equal self-sacrifice, of greater integrity, of a nicer sense of public
and private virtue, no man more sternly devoted to the cause which he in
his conscience believed to be right, and more willingly and incessantly lend-
, ing his ever effort to the success'of that cause, than my friend Mr. Mackenzie,
whom we are all proud to acknowledge as one of the most prominent public men
in the Dominion of Canada, and for whose good and great qualities my own

, admiration has been intensified by time. "

* # ♦ ♦ * * * •

In the fall of the same year I dealt with the general subject

■ thus: — ' - ' . . ' >

** I have been subjected, like my friends, to a sort of political warfare of

the most unwarranted description. I have seen by the press that Sir John

* Macdonald has stooped to say, ' Why, look at my Government, were ever

such charges made against my Government as are made against these men ? '

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The more shame to him ! It is the boMt of the Liberal party that thev do
not make oharffes which they cannot Bubstantiate. It ia to the shame of Sir
John MaodonaJd that foundationless charges, which, if true, would have been
enough to damn the fair fame of any public man, should have been made
against my colleagues and myself, not one of which has hurt us in the slight-
est degree. ^ A general policy of slander, such as has been adopted by Sir
John Maodonala and his organs, must be repudiated by the respectable people
of this country, if they expect respectable men to remain in public life."

Not. long after, we attained power, and Mr. Mackenzie became
Prime Minister, and

THE STOBM OF CALUMNY

was raging still. The old tales were repeated and new ones in-
vented. There was the Goderich Harbour affair, with respect to
which Sir John Macdonald, having during the recess made violent
charges, in Parliament used these words : —

... * ' The Piyime Minister was informed by Mr. Stirton that Mr. Tolton
was a good, competent, and wealthy man, and that his sureties were men of
wealth. The hen. gentleman possessed that information, but he did not con-
vey it to Mr. Page, who was wandering in ignorance all the time."

. . . "The difficulty experienced by Mr. Page with regard to Mr. Tolton
would have been at once removed if the hon. the Premier had handed over
a telegram he had received from Mr. Stirton. Why were those circumstances
withheld from Mr. Page ? It was difficult to understand why Mr. Moore
«hould be favoured. The letter written by the hon. the Minister of Justice
was highly creditable to him — it was a letter which Mr. Moore had a right
to ask from him. Mr. Moore supported the hon. the Minister of Justice,
as a candidate for North Bruce, in 1 867. He was, therefore, a friend of the
hon. gentleman, and had a right to reoeive a letter stating all the hon. gen-
tleman could honestly state. The hon. the Minister of Justice was not in
any way personally responsible for the loss of those $29,000 to the country.
. . , '* The hon. the Minister of Public Works was justly chargeable with
having given a contractor $29,000 more than the sum for which another com-
petent man would have executed the work. He submitted the case to the
House as it appeared from the papers submitted, and he held that no hon.
member could honestly say that under the circumstances Mr. Tolton should
not have received .ha contract. . . . With regard to the statement he
(Sir John Macdonala) had made that the Department had acted with undue
favour towards some of his own friends, there was one instance ; it had been
shown that Mr. Moore was a political friend, and that no doubt $29,000 had
been lost to the country, and before the session closed he would feel it his duty
to submit to the House other cases of a similar character. The House and
the country could come to no other conclusion than that $29,000 of the pub-
lic money had been thrown away.

You recollect the charge with reference to the steel rails — the
charge that Mr. Mackenzie had made a bargain, not merely bad, but
with corrupt motives, to favour a relative ; you recollect the charges
of favouritism and wrong with regard to the Fort William town site
and the Neebing Hotel, and others which it would be tedious to
detail. This — this was the course pursued while Mr. Mackenzie

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was our leader ; but now that, unhappily for his party and unhap-
pily for the country, our friend is ratner laid aside by illness ; now
that the condition of his general health and the feebleness of his
voice prevents him from taking as prominent and effective a part
in the conduct of public affaira as in former days, now, forsooth,
they acknowledge that these charges were false and calumnious.
Sir John Macdonald, for example, at London the other day, de-
clared that Mr. Mackenzie was, and is an honest man, and that he
acted to the best of his judgment. So say they all now !

THANK GOD, MR. MACKENZIE'S REPUTATION DOES NOT DEPEND ON
THE COMMENDATIONS OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD.

He is gratified, no doubt, at those avowals, and doubtless he also
understands, as you do, and despises, as you do, the motive which
prompts his former slanderers to-day. The motive is palpable,
and it is as mean as it is palpable. I have had to. answer once
or twice the charges or insinuations against me which gener-
ally accompany these encomiums and retractions.

I will read you the answer I gave Sir John Macdonald in
Parliament in 1881, and which I repeat to-day : —

" I have borne in silence, from an anxiety not to trouble the House
with personal observations, from a feeling that a man who takes a leading
part must endure in silence a great many aspersions, the insinuations which
from time to time have been made by the hon. gentleman's followers on that
topic. But a sensible man — to compare great things with very small ones —
who, passing through the village streets, finds himself assailed by a pack of
village doc;s, will not, of course, turn round and heed their barking at his
heels. While he takes that attitude towards the pack, if the master of the
pack assails him he may be well entitled to answer his challenge.

" Sir, I have to say with regard to the hon. gentleman's statement that I
supplanted the hon. member for Lambton in the office of leader of the
Liberal party which I now occupy, that that statement could not within his
knowledge be true, and that it pusseses in itself not one particle of founda-
tion. I am not about to enter into lengthy details, but my views with
respect to positions of leadership or of place and power are tolerably well
known to all who are good enough to interest themselves in my public career,
and are best known to those who know me best ; and they know well that I
have never invited any position of that kind ; that on the contrary, I have
always shunned it ; that I assumed this position with the utmost reluctance,
and, if I had the wishing-cap of Fortunatus for one moment, the wish I
would use it to accomplish would be that the path of honour and duty might
lead me to retire from this position. But, sir, while that is so, and while the
only thing that abates my desire to see hon. gentlemen opposite defeated, is
the reflection that their defeat would involve my accession to office, I will
use it, so long as I am entrusted with a position of influence such as I now
occupy, with a desire to efliect some share of good for the country in which
I live. It is but the hope that I may to some extent increase the happiness
and advance the prosperity of my countrymen that nerves me to my task. "

I wish, however, that these fair words of our opponents were
accompanied by a little measure of fair deeds. Whatever they

(9)

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say, they do not ac-t in the samo way. They first <.,'orryinan(ierc'd
the riding of East York, the chosen conHtituency of Mr. Mackenzie.
They failed to win. Then they Morganized that geirymandereil
riding under the infamous Franchise Act. And now they are try-
ing to Boultbeefy the riding ! They are seeking not merely to
defeat Mr. Mackenzie, but to defeat him by Alfred Boultbee! But
for this they must have the consent of the electors, and in that
gerrymandered and Morganized constituency I l^ave every reason
to believe there is left an

AMPLK RESERVE OF PUBLIC SPIUIT

to assure us a victory. I rejoice to see that our friend han

accepted the nomination, and I read the othei' day, as I am sure \

you did, with emotion the brief but patriotic speech he made to

the Convention, The circumstances were moving. They

reminded me of the lines the poet puts in the mouth of an old

hero and statesman, speaking to his comrades in his declining

years :

Though much is taken much abiUes ; and though

We are not now that strength which in old da/a

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are we are ;

(>ne equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will,

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield ! .

(Loud cheers.) I am sure we all wish for hiui a grand success
in his coni'^est against the arbitrary, unconstitutional and im-
proper course of the Conservative party, directed to his defeat.
I am glad to observe by a western paper that the new dfparturo
of the Mail is to include a declaration in favour of Mr. Mac-
kenzie. (Laughter.) It would be a disgrace to East York and
to Canada if Alfred Boultbee should he elected over the head of
such a man. (Cheers.) I have heard from various quarters in
the riding, and I believe it to be true, that many Conservatives
have declared their intention of voting for our friend. He will
be elected ; his country will have the benefit of the important
services he can yet give without impairing further the strength
which he has already overtaxed in his country's cause. (Cheers.)
I have thought it jvell to give you this little history of the con-
duct of the Conservative party towards a leader of the Liberal
party, and I would ask you Conservatives who may be here
whether you regard this as worthy conduct ? I ask you Re-
formers who may be here to remember, in other cases and under
other circumstances, when you hear charges hurled at those whom
at the moment you have placed in the forefront of the battle, to
remember these instances I have brought before you. Remember
that for these many long years the leaders of the Liberal party

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268

for the tiino bein«r have boon met with cahnniiies, which, in this
case as in others, have after a long interval been acknowledged to
be foundationloss. Ilenieniber this, and call for proof and un-
(juestionable proof l)erore you allow your allegiance to be in the
least shaken by the false accusers who have acted in such an
unworthy way, and who have so lately confessed their shame.
(Cheers.)

I ( '

The Ciiiiueiit ^^ervices ol' Sir Richard €artwright.

At Stayner Mr. Blake said : —

I did not know that you ha<l a prophet in Stayner. (Laughter.)
Sir John Macdonald said belore tlie olection ot 1882 that there
was notliing so uncertain as an election oxcept a horse race. (Re-
newed laughter.) But your cliairman seems to know quite well
what the result of the election is going to be. He is wiser than
I am, though I believe he is right. But this much is clear — the
result of the election will depend largely upon the degree of exer-
tion put forward \.y those not merely in the lead, but in the rank
and tile of the Liberal party. You have the fate of the election
largely in your own hands, and you and I must keep that in mind
from this time until the elections are over. We have

■ I- ,■

• * ■ ■ '. . 1' •

«' .

A PLAIN DUTY TO DISCHARGE —

to do our best to win, in the hope and belief, strengthened and
encouraged by the signs of the times, that our course being just
and righteous it will be crowned with victory ; and thus believ-
ing, if we do our best we shall, even at the worst, have nothing
for which to blame ourselves ; but, I repeat, we stand to win.
(Cheers.) The chairman has alluded in terms of deserved praise
to my able colleagues. We have in the ranks of our party many
strong men, who are doing their very best, co-operating strenu-
ously with their unworthy leader in the effort to set matters in
their true light before the electorate, and to guide Caaada to a
brighter career than that which has been her fortune lately. We
have upon the platform some of these able men. We have else-
where numbers who, at a considerable sacrifice of time, ease, and
money, are devoting themselves to the public cause. (Applause.)
I shall not name these men, their names aie familiar in your

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in your

269

mouths as household words. I will refer to only one of them
particularly, an especial aversion of the Conservative party,

SIR RICHARD CARTWRIGHT —

(loud cheers) — with regard to whom they seem to have some par-
ticular grievance, because, years ago, when the Reform party were
in a minority in Parliament, with little prospect of its early con-
version into a majority, he, from motives of conviction most hon-
ourable to himself, left the Tory ranks, came over to us, and assisted
in the accomplishment of the trium])h, which, a few years later,
we realized. The Tories feel that his oxamj)le is a dangerous one,
and ever since he has been the subject of violent attack, ui)on all
possible occasions. The favourite story just now is that lie is be-
ing deserted by his friends, the Reformers, who will not offer him
a constituency. (Laughter.) Sir R. Cartwright is not a man to
whom a seat in Parliament, however honourable, is essential. He
has in the course of his public duty made many sacrifici.'S of pri-
vate, personal and family interests. He has work to do in the
world, whether he be in Parliament or not. He has more than
once suggested to me a temporary retirement as convenient to
him personally, but I have strongly opposed any such plan. I
hope and trust that the Reformers of. Ontario will consider it
their duty and privilege to provide him with a seat, and a safe
seat, too ; in one of the hives, as they are called ; not because he is
not one of our strongest combatants, but just because he is one
whose services I want throughout the constitueiicies durinir the
stress of the general election, so that instead of fighting the battle
in some one riding, he may fight at large all along the line, as I
do myself on these occasions. (Cheers.) T have this only to .say —

DO NOT BELIEVE THE STORIES

you read of there being any lack of accord between the Reform-
ers and Sir Richard Car*wright. He has done great service to
the Liberal cause, and he is capable of doing more. He has great
claims upon us. (Loud applause.) We are not ungrateful. We
recognize those services and those claims — (cheers) — and we know
that what he has done in the past will be more than equalled by
his performance in the future.

An election is going on to-day for the county of Haldimand.
The date of this election, as compared with that of Chambly, em-
phasizes what I must call the

INDECENT OF THE CONDUCT OF THE GOVERNMENT

in this regard. Many months ago, early last session, all our hearts

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.
were filled with sadness by the death of Mr. Thompson, who had
represented tialdimand for many years. The writ was moved
and the Speaker's warrant ordered. It duly issued. But the
law devolves the duty upon the Government of naming the re
turning officer and the date of election. That duty they did not
discharge, and the writ therefore could not be issued. Dr. Lan-
derkin asked the Government why the instructions had not been
given. They asked for time, once and again. After a week's
pressure Sir John Macdonald gave the answer. He said that a
lar^e number of persons had been lately accorded the right of
franchise, that the rolls w^ere being made up and would shortly
be completed, that there was no pressing necessity for an election,
as tlie member could not be retnrned before the end of the session.
and that it would be an injustice, an insult to the new electorate
who were not yet in a position to vote, the rolls not having been
made up, to press on the election. He therefore proposed to de-
lay the writ, and said that if his opinion were challenged, he
would ask the House to agree to

SUSPEND THE ISSUE OF THE WRIT.

I felt that there was reason for that view, though it was incon-
venient, and perhaps a strain on the constitution. True, the new
electors were mainly Indians, wards of Sir John Macdonald, but
yet T did not like the idea of the new electors, whatever their
views might be, being deprived of the right to vote. I therefore
did not resist the view that the election should stand, and the
House thus adopted the principle of the Government without dis-
sent. But some months later the Government appointed the

.■>•<■•-

MEMBER FOR CHAMBLT

to an office which had practically been vacant for many months,
if not for years, and iliey iminediutely issued the luritfor Cham-
hly. The new lists were just about completed ; the new elector-
ate was just about to acquire its title ; the circumstances were the
same as in Haldimand, only more glaring, because the issue of the
writ in Chambly was hurried on, while in Haldimand, where a
vacancy had existed for months, it was delayed. I ask Conserva-
tives — because I appeal to Conservatives as well as to Reformers,
believing that among them are men willing to consider these
things on the principles of fair play and even-handed justice —
what consistency is there in this ? I ask whether this is even-
handed justice and fair play ; whether it is consistent with the
declaration made in the case of Haldimand ; the pledge made in
the case of Haldimand ; the principle laid down in the case of

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Haldimand ; the line of action agreed to in the case of Haldi-
niand ; that the Gcvernment should use their power — for they
are suprenu; when Parliament is not in session — to .sprinij; an
election in another county on the old lists, postponing the election
in Haldimand for the new lists, just because they knew that the
added vote wt)uld be unfavourable to them in one case, and would
be in their favour in the other ? (Cheers.)

IS THAT FAIR PLAY ?

Is it not clear that the Government which is appointed in this
respect to act for all the people, not for one party, but for both, is
prostituting its power, and degrading its trust to base party pur-
poses ? (Cheers.) The election in Haldimand is going on to-day,
and a great factor in the election is the vote of the Indians. You
are aware that the Reformers objected to the Franchise Bill very
sti-ongly, and amongst other things, because it conferred the vote
upon the unemancipated Indians. Our position on that question
has been grossly mis-stated. We, as Reformers and liiberals could
not but be anxious that all worthj^ c^apable, and really free citizens
should have the franchise. That is a fundamental principle of ours.
Nor could we be otherwise than sympathetic with the Indian, the
original possessor of the soil, and anxious for his elevation and
advancement. Our main objection is this — that the Indian is not
yet emancipated, that the laws aro such as leave him in a state of
of tutelage, that he is not, as you voters are, a free man, but that
he is largely under the control of the Government of the day,
through the medium of the Chief Superintendent, who in this case
is the First Minister himself ; and we contend that so long as tfie
Government keep him in such an inferior position^ so long it is
notfittinj for him or for the community that he should have nom-
inally, what in many cases lie will not have really y the rights that
beL:ig to the ordinary citizen; so long it is not proper to give him,
what you call the Franchise, hut what is not really in his case a
franchise.

WHAT DOES FRANCHISE MEAN ? ' '\

It means freedom, the right to give a free and independent vote.
To enjoy that right you must be a free and independent man, you
must bo truly a citizen, and so long as you are under tutelage, and
a ward of the Government, the franchise is no boon to you. It is
something you may be able to sell, something you may be able to
barter away, something you may exchange for the hope of the
favour of your guardian and protector and controller, but it is not
a real boon to you ; it neither elevates you nor profits the communi-
ty at large. The Chief Superintendent is to the Indians their

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guide and guardian, the disponsor of bounty from the general funds
in case there be sickness or distress. He may give them money or
goods if lie finds they need them. He controls their lauds and the
•titles under which they hold them, and chani^es in title require
his consent. How free would you consider yourself if there were
an officer of the Government whom you were obliged to consult
before you could mortgage your projierty or sell it ? (Cheers.)

THK SUPKRINTENDENT-OKNERAL's CONSENT

is rec^uired to validate an Indian's will, which would be valid were
he a white. He has control of the guardianship of their children
His consent is necessary to their enfranchisement. For it is recog-
nized by the law tliat tlio In<li{in is not now enfranchised, and
there is provision in the Indian Advancement Act by whiei he
may be (mfranchised and placed in something like the positif n of
a white citizen. Aftcn- long and careful probation, after the Sup-
erintendent-General consents, and after a time of three years' trial,
if after all that he is found worthy, lie may acrju ire some, but .some
only, of those rights whicli you and I Imvo now. The Superinten-
dent-General's assent to tlio by-laws of their Council is necessary
to their validity ; he

DISQUALIFIES AND REMOVES

their councillors. If he thinks a councillor, though elected, is
not fit to occupy that position, he turns him out. What would
you think of your degree of freedom if, after you had elected a
township councillor, a member of the Government should have
the power to say, " I don't think this man a good councillor, he is
not fit to occupy the position, I turn him out " ? (Cheers and
laughter.) The Superintendent-General is the man who does all
this and much more for the Indians ; they call him in many parts
their " father." (Loud laughter.) And they consider him the re-
presentative of their " great Mother," the Queen. Of coui-se we
know that in tnith that representative is the Governor-General,
who is above and beyond jjarties, but these people are told by
some of their guides that they are to regard Sir John as their
*' father," their great chief, an<l the representative of the "great
Mother." Many of them cannot road, and foi- these the ballot is
no protection at all, because they must be assisted in marking
their ballot, and it must be known how they vote. And just re-
member the Indian agent, who is the legal representative of the
Superintendent-General, tlirough whose mouth he speaks,by whom
he communicates his will, who is the embodiment of his authority,
who is at the elbow of the Indian all the year round ; and con-
sider the influences under which the dependent and illiterate In-

273

dian will vote. (Loud utid }jrolon>ifed cheering.) In the report
of Sir Juhn Macdonald, made two or three years ago, he declared
tiiat i)(^ luul isHued circulars to all his otlicers to ascertain whether
the Indians were tit for some rudimentary form of municipal
government as a training for the full status of free men. He did
not lay the replies helore us, but he gave us a summary in a few
lines of his report. He declared emphatically that

THKY WERE NOT KIT

for even the most rudimentary form of self-government. And
these men whom he so declared unfit for the first step toward
freedom, he now makes, not independent votei^s, but largely hw
voters by the law, (Great cheering.; And this further declara-
tion he made in his report — that tluire is but one way of elevat-
ing the young Indians — and that is to undertake their entire
training, and to separate them fiom their parents and their homes.
The home and parental influence, he thinks, are fatal to advance-
ment; but if they can be taken away from their parents and homes,
and kept in the schools they will prol»abIy progress. This is not
my doctiine, mind you. No doubt the Tory papers will say it is
I who said these thinirs. This is a

STATEMENT MADE BY SIR JOHN MACDONALD

in his re[)ort, and I call upon you to judge how far those can be
qualified to exercise the franchise, the best hope of whose chil3reii
is, according to the t'irst Minister, that they should be taken from
the home and influence of the parent ? (Loud and prolonged
cheering.) I do not say that all the Indians are unfit by their
conduct to be voters. / believe there are Indians who arc fairly
advanced in education, intelligent, industrious, provident, pro-
gressive, and discharging the duties of parentage creditably. Bui
almost all are untmancipated, and ot the condition of the bulk 1
have only the Superintendent-Generrtl's report to judge from, and
I have told you what he says. It was only last night that, speak-
ing at a missionary meeting in Toronto, Sir John Macdonald, re-
ferring to the British Columbia Indians, inflicted upon those of
the East a great slur. He declared that the British Columbia In-
dians were of a superior strain, because they had in them an ad-
mixture of Mongolian blood. Thus they were superior to the In-
dians of the Territories and of the Eastei-n Provinces, But we
have declared by an Act of Parliament that the Mongolian is not
fit to vote, that, in fact, he is not fit to live in Canada at all.
(Loud laughter.) The Mongolian is good enough forsooth to im-
prove the strain of the British Columbia Indian bloo<], but the

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Eastern IikHhiis, whose blood is not so iniprovcti, are n»a<le voters,
while neither the Mongolians nor the British Ooluinbia Indians,
whose blood they have improved, are deemed tit to vote. (Loud
and prolonjifod laughter and applause.) Under these circumstances,
then, so far as the Indian is eoncerned, the pojling in Haldimand
is proceeding. But many of the Indians are

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NOT UNOBSERVANT FOLLOWERS

of those affairs which affect their own race, and their own blood,
and, besides, the Indians have seen the general demeanour and atti-
tude of local Liberals, and of the Liberal party in regard to their
concerns. The Indian doubts the boon offered to him by the
Government, and he does not i-elish the management of the North-
West, and it has hean found that the Indian vote if^ not as safe, even
in Haldimand, as the Government expected it ivoidd be. "We all ex-
pect the Government will poll a large majority of the Indian vote.
Under existing circumstances the Indians would be more than
human if thoy did not largely so vote. I cannot greatly blame the
Indians, under those circumstances, for giving the Government a
large majority of their votes. But they will not poll them all.
(Loud cheers.) The Government supporters must have come to
the conclusion that they were not going to poll them all — they
must have found that all was not going as they expected — for the
great father, chief, aud councillor, the guide and guardian, the
gr^at authority of the Indians,

THE SUPERINTENDENT-GENERAL HIMSELF,

just two days before the election goes — not into Haldimand,
indeed, that would be, perhaps, a little too indecent — but goes to
the borders of the county into the Indian reserve in tW county of
Brant, adjoining the Haldimand reserve, to hold a great pow-wow.
(Derisive cheers and laughter.) That it had something to do
with the Haldimand election I will show you upon good authori-
ty. I have here the newspa[)er report in the Mail of September
4th, headed " Sir John among the Indians," and stating that " the
Indians in Haldimand are greatly pleased at Sir John's forth-
coming visit to the Six Nations." On September 6th the visit
was paid. Sir John Macdonald went out in company with Mr.
Robert Henry, ex-Mayor of Brantford, a leading Conservative
light in that city, Mr. J. J. Hawkins, who is called " ex-M.P.P.,"
a well-known Conservative just now, and Mr. Thomas Elliott,
who is described as President of the North Brant Conservative
Association. So you see the political character of the gathering ;
that it was as a politician the [Superintendent-GeneraJ went, if

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276

we are to "judge a man by the company he keeps." (Laughter.)
The report of the World says : —

"Sir John, the chiefs, and the leading warriors, and bucks of the tribe
afterwards entered the Gooncil House, where a three hours' conference was
held with closed doors. No whites were admitted."

« A

NO WHITES WERE ADMITTED

— except Sir John. (Great laughter.) You see that the affair
was carried out in just such a way as to most impress the minds
of these people with his power, and to combine that power which
the law gives him as the head of the Indian Department, to be
used in the general interest, with his power and position as the
leader of a great party. And all this was accentuated by the
time at which he came and by the holding of a secret conference
with these people, during which he tried to influence their
feelings. (Cheers.) If I had wanted further proof of the im-
propriety of giving the vote to the Indian, while he is a dependent
of the Chief Superintendent, I care not whether the officer who
guides him be Reform or Conservative, I could not have asked
for more than this proceeding just before polling day. This
election is a desperate struggle, and the result will be to the last
moment uncertain. I am willing to believe that it was not
without some qualms of conscience, some feelings of reluctance,
that the Chief Superintendent so timed his visit as to make it
plain he was seeking the votes of his wards — of those wards
whom he declared three years ago not fit to enter even the most
rudimentary form of self-government — that the Chief Superin-
tendent did what his own officers are by law forbidden to do as
improper practices vitiating the election. It shows you, as other
things do, the desperate character of the struggle in which,
holding the Indian vote of 125 as against a majority of 12(>
gained by the Liberal candidate at the last election, together
with other influences, to some of which 1 shall allude, the
Government hopes to snatch a victory. I hope differently. I
believe against all odds we shall win. (Loud and prolonged
applause.) But I call on you Reformers to remember that a
defeat of the Opposition in a bye-election held under present
circumstances is no index of the result of a general election. The
Government has enormous advantages over the Opposition. They
can pour in unlimited forces, as they have done ; they can ply
every method of gaining votes, as thay have done ; they can
point to the complexion of the Parliament; they can promise
lavours. But

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AT THE OENERAL ELECTIONS

all will be different. Sir John Macdonald cannot be on every
reserve; the Great Chief cannot be everywhere to direct the
votes of his " children " in a general election. (Great cheering.)
We shall meet in other ways then on more even ground. It is
only under special circumstances that the efforts they have put
forth in Haldimand can be repeated, and therefore I say that,
believing as I do, that the main tide and current of popular
opinion is setting all our way, we are not to be discouraged if
/ there should happen some eddy or backfiow in an elbow of the
river. No! we are to go straight onward,' knowing that if we
fight an even battle to-day under such circumstances as attend
this contest, our ultimate victory in the struggle is assured.
(Loud and prolonged applause.) I agree with your chairman as
to the time of the election?.

WHEN THE FRANCHISE ACT WAS PROPOSED I STATED THAT AN
ELECTION SHOULD FOLLOW THE COMPLETION OF THE LISTS.

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At the opening of last session I expressed my wish for *an early
appeal to the people ; and the other day in the east I explained
that when a large addition had been made to the electorate, it
was essential that at the earliest moment that an appeal to the
people should take place so that the new electorate might have
the opportunity to speak. I cared not whether they were for or
against my views. Ihe constitutional rule is that the Parliament^
which has been elected by a constituency which has been con-
demned as too narrow, has fuijilled its functions as soon as the
incoming and enlarged electorate is in a position to vote, and
should be forthwith dismissed. But the Tories don't say so.
They are not going upon that general principle. They reserve to
themselves the power of acting as they may determine to be best
in their party interest. They think they control absolutely the
prerogative which was given for the public benefit and not for
their own; and they will use it for their own advantage. " We
won't say," they virtually tell us, "that we think that on the
general and public grounds you state there ought to be an
election." Because if they did they would be compelled to act on
a view which might be very inconvenient (Laughter.) If they
think the time is not suitable for them as a party they will hold
the election over until next year, but if they think their chances
are good now, we shall doubtless have the election and a great
deal of talk about the new electorate being represented. There
is no power of the Government which is given them except

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277

FOR THE PUBLIC ADVANTAGE,

but that with the Tories is synonymous with Tory advantage.
(Laughter.) Vve fight the battle under great disadvantages in
many ways, but we shall fight with good heart, confident in the
good cause, and in the good sense and patriotism of the people.
(Great applause.)

REPLY TO INDIAN ADDRESS.

Honour In Polltlct— Tlio Roprencntative of §outli Brant In
the Comnioni— Flttlnv Tribute to Mr. PuterMon.

The following is the introductory portion of the speech of Hon.
Edward Blakk at Brantford : —

Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, allow me in the first place
to return my thanks to the members of the Six Nations and Mis-
sissaugaa for the address with which they have honoured me. I
can assure them I have received it with great interest and gratifi-
cation, and I rejoice at the tone, the broad and generous, the calm
and ju.st tone, in which they speak of the attitude of the Liberal
party with reference to the very important step, as affecting the
various Indian nations, which was lately taken. I rejoice also to
know that there are amongst them so many who are able to ap-
preciate the general principles of action of the Liberal party, and
to recognize that its policy in the past has been, as its policy in
the future, so long as it is worthy of its name, must be that which
shall, in the judgment of the party, subserve the best and truest
interests of the Indians.

For myself, I may say I have ever felt a

GREAT INTEREST IN AND SYMPATHY FOR

those who are the representatives to-day of the original posses-
sors of the vast domain of this continent of North America. I
have ever most anxiously desired that our legislation and our
course with reference to them, and our relation towards them,
should be such as might best conduce to their welfare, security,
and prosperity, and I am glad to be assured that, being entrusted
by the Parliament of Canada with the exercise of the franchise,
there are, amongst those who may choose to avail themselves of

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278

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the right, men who, as they are capable of doing, consider the
policy of both panics, and the true interests of the country in
which they live, to which they belong, with which their fortunes
are bound up ; and who, after such consideration, are |)repared to
adopt the principles of the Liberal party. I dare say that the
expectations of the Conservatives, hinted at in this address, may
be in large measure disappointed ; and that the Liberal party may
find, as it ought to find, among the descendants of the original
possessors of the soil

MANY WARM AND EARNEST ADHERENTS,

because tlie Liberal party has for its objects, justice to, and the
advancement and elevation of, all classes of our populatlmi, no
matter what their creed, no matter what their colour, no matter
what the race to which they belong. I hope it may be my for-
tune some day to visit my friends on their reserve. (Loud and
prolonged applause ) In the midst of the series of very large
"meetings, which it has been my privilege to address, 1 had very
great pleasure in agreeing to Mr. Paterson's request that 1 should
speak in Brantfdrd. I congratulate the Reformers of South B" nt
upon this magnificent assemblage. Our meetings have been the
largest, most enthusiastic, and most satisfactory in every way,
which in nearlj'^ twenty years of political life, it has been my for-
tune to attend. (Cheers.) Not merely have our friends gathered
in great numbers, and in great enthusiasm, but we have also been
favoured with the presence of very considerable numbers of those
who do not ordinarily take as act'.ve an interest as I should do-
sire in politics, and with the presence of a large number of those
who have not heretofore seen eye to eye with us. And not merely
have these two classes been ]>resent, but I am happy to say we
have received abundant evidence that their

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EYES ARE OPENING TO THE TRUTH,

as we understand it, with reference to the interests of Canada,
that a very great change la rapidly taking place in public opinion,
that the public mind is in a highly formative condition, and that
we may hope from these demonstrations the best results for the
future of Canada, which I believe to be inextricably bound up
with the future of the Liberal party. (Loud applause.) I am
glad to note also the presence on almost every occasion of large
numbers of ladies deeply interested in those affairs which so much
concern them. (Applau.se.) And lastly, I rejoice to see so many
young men. This has been a special feature of the other meet-
ings also, and a most encouraging and cheering feature it is. I
have said elsewhere that one of the things which gives me now

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270

the greatest satisfaction is, that I was to a considernhlo extent
responsible — being the first to suggest it — for the policy which
has resulted in the young men of the country being, at a verj'
much earlier age, and under very much easier circumstances than
formerly, admitted to the franchise. T proposed this, not that
they might enjoy it as a pleasure, but that they might embrace it
as a high duty. (Cheers.) I proposed it because I was convinced
our best chance of making of them good and worthy citizens was
to interest them early in public attairs, and I accompanied the
suggestion with an expression of the hope, which I am so glad to
see so largely realized, that they woul<l recognize the responsil)il-
ity which was attendant upon the privilege ; that they would
feel it to be their duty to interest themselves actively in tlie con-
duct of public affairs, to undertake the acquisition of that know-
ledge and the perf6rmance of that labour which is cs.sontial to an
intelligent choice of their political party, and to the exercise of
their proper influence over the fortunes of that party. (Renewed
cheering.) If I may say a word or two to them, I would invite
them, in the opening of life, to lay down for themselves and rig-
idly to abide by the principles which shall guide them in the

CONDUCT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

We have seen the politics of our country degraded and abased, r
(Applause.) It is for these to purify and exalt them, not tnerely
by laying down principles of action, but by taking care that they
enforce and exemplify those principles in their own conduct.
(Loud applause.) They believe, I trust, and hope — it is natural
to their years that they should believe — in the progress, if not
the infinite. At any rate the indefinite, progress of the race. (Loud
cheers.) Let them believe also that it is of the last importance
that we should progress, not merely in the material, but also in
the moral sphere, not merely in riches, not merely in strength,
not merely in temporal prosperity, but that we should progress j
along the intellectual and moral plane as well. (Loud applause.)
Let them remember those words written so long ago, and just as
true to-day, " Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a re-
proach to any people." (Loud applause.) For my part,

I BBLIEVE WE CAN DO OUR DUTY IN POLITICS,

and yet obsen^e the rules that we shall do nothing and counsel
nothing in private which we should be ashamed to have divulged
in public ; that we shall not adopt any standard of morality or
party action in politics which we would decline to adopt in social
or in private life ; and l<hat wa shall refuse to act upon the base
maxim that all is fair in politics as in war. (Cheers.)

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ALL IS NOT FAIR IN POLITICS;

<j. the laws of truth, the ktwi ^/ honour, the laws of justice, the laws

of fair play and generosity ought to prevail in this as in other
relation's. In truth, on no other plan can we do our duty in pol-
itica. It is only by recognizing these cardinal principles, by prac-
tising them each one of us in his own sphere, and by enforcing
them upon others, that we can raise politics to their proper level,
upon which level they should be deemed the most ennobling of
the pursuits of a free citizen in a free country. (Loud applause.)
Now, I have to talk to you upon some of those many subjects
which engross public attention to-day. The field is too vast for
me to run over it all, however rapidly. And to-night I shall say
hardly a word upon many topics, each of which, for its proper
treatment, would demand a speech. I know that on all of these
you have had the advantage for many years past of being informed
in the fullest manner of the views of the Liberal party by our
friend,

i., . . MR. PATERSON, YOUR REPRESENTATIVE,

* who has no doubt done his duty in expounding Liberal views
here, as he has expounded them so powerfully in other constituen-
cies, and in the halls of Parliament. I know you have taken a
special interest in some of these measures, those mainly affecting
the representation of the people in Parliament, because you, the
Liberals of the riding and your representative have been

THE DESTINED VICTIMS OF SOME OF THESE MEASURES.

(Cheers.) But I am glad to know that as you have not yielded
heretofore, so nowvyou do not intend to yield to these acts — not
Acts of Parliament, but rather acts of force, and violence, aad
fraud. (Loud and prolonged applause.) 1 rejoice to know that
the spirit of the electors of South Brant, their sense of justice
and fair play, has been too high to permit these nefarious schemes
' — miscalled legislation in the interest of the public, but deserving
of no such name —to permit these nefarious schemes for the carv-
ing and cutting up of counties and electoral districts to the benefit
of one and the injury of the other political party to produce their
designed effect. And if there ever was a constituency which had
the right to resent such acts of injustice, it is the South Riding
of Brant, treated as you have been, represented as you hate been,
l«|d as you have been, by A standard bearer whose ability,

WH08B eloquence, WHOSE KNOWLEDGE OF AND ATTENTION TO
PUBUC AFFAIRS, WHOSE WIDE SYMPATHIES, GENEROUS NATURE, AND
HIGH SENSE OF EQUITY, WHOSE PERSONAL CHARACTER AND PRIVATE

- r\ ■. ♦ • '

r ■' 'i

281

WORTH HAVE ALL ENDEARED HIM IN THE HIGHEST DEGREE TO US
WHO HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH HIM FOR MANY YEARS AT OT-
TAWA, AND I AM SURE, MUST HAVE ENDEARED HIM IN AN EQUAL
DEGREE TO YOU AMONGST WHOM HE LIVES, AND WITH WHOM HE IS
ASSOCIATED IN THE HAPPY RELATION OF MEMBER AND CONSTITU-
ENTS. (Loud and prolonged applause.) In connection with the
address which has been presented to me I may say that I have
watched the course of Mr. Paterson since he entered Parliament
in 1872, with reference to

•f

INDIAN LEGISLATION AND AFFAIRS,

and at all times for long years before that recent period at whisb
the suggestion was first made that the franchise should extend to
the Indian population, I have found him exhibiting in their in-
terest that sympathy, that breadth of view, that kindly feelings
that deep interest which you here, I believe, know that he has
felt and shown. I have found him watching closely every meas-
ure of legislation affecting the Indians, making suggestions, in-
dicating defects, pointing out improvements, engaged in discus-
sions, showing that at all times he was influenced by the most
earnest desire that those who were his neighbours and friends,
although there was no idea that they might become electors of
the constituency, should be, (as far as the legislation and admin-
istration at Ottawa could effect it) elevated and their condition
improved. He was an active friend when there was no political
gain to be expected. Now that the time and occasion have ar-
rived, I believe those whom he sought to befriend in the earlier
days will show their gratitude. Q-ratitude is a noble trait ; and
the Indian, if I read his character aright, possesses that trait in
a marked degree. I look then with confidence, both on general
grounds and on the special circumstances, for a considerable vote
from the reserve, and a decisive majority in the riding for our
friend, William Paterson. (Loud and prolonged applause.)

(9)

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EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL.

THE RELATIONS OF THE LIBERAL PARTY TO
GREEDS AND CLASSES.

Case of W. B. O'Donoghue— New Brunswick School '^ase — Case of
Hon. John O'Dononoe — Toleration and True National Spirit

4 ' '

Hon. Edward Blake, speaking at Welland, said : —
While speaking at the meeting this morning I could not but
remember the last time I addressed a meeting in Welland. It was
nearly fifteen years ago, and we spoke from 12 at noon to 12 at
night. (Laughter.) It was the nomination foi* that election in
which Welland for the first time in many years made a break in
its Conservative record for the Dominion, and elected our lamented
friend, W. A. Thomson. (Loud cheers.) That is a long time
ago. Children of that day have become voters now ; young men
are middle-aged ; and many of the older ones have passed away.
The changes have been great in the political arena as well as in
the social world. I remember that on the side of the Conserva-
tive Government there appeared on that platform five public men.
There was M'.. Aikins, now Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba ;
Dr. Tupper. now High Commissioner for Canada ; Mr. O'Connor,
now a judge ; and Mr. William Macdougail and Mr. Peter Mitchell.
These Mve gentlemen I was called that day to meet. (Applause.)
Of tho five, the first three are no longer in active political life. I
have described their situation. But amongst the changes in po-
litical life are these-

/'•

-that the remaining two a'^'e

NO LONGER IN THE RANKS OF THE PARTY

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on whose behalf they sp6ke that day. Though, perhaps, not occu-
pying the position of absolutely enrolled members of the Liberal
party, they are of us, they are loith us, they are against the Gov-
ernment of Sir John Macdonald, they are outspoken and pro-
nounced in opposition to that Government, and they agree in the
bulk of the positions taken by the Liberal party ; they avow their
anxiety to see the Government defeated, and to see the Liberals
returned to power — (loud cheers) — and what has happened in

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these cases has happened in many other cases also. I am glad to
know that throughout the whole of Canada, and particularly
throughout Ontario, there are to be found men of mark in their
cfwn localities, faithful, intelligent, independent men who have be-
come alarmed at the condition, moral and material, of the country,
who have become satisfied that the Administration has not redeem-
ed its promises, that its conduct has not been to the public advan-
tage.and that it ought to be replaced Vj another Government acting
upon other lines Therefore, I take it as a good omen that, when I
come here, almost at the close of a very long series of great meetings,
to resume my relations with the people of Welland, I should be
able to tell them that, of the distinguished public men who ap-
peared before them fifteen years ago to support the Tory Govern-
ment, those who speak in public life to-day speak against that
Government, and range themselves in opposition to its course.
(Tremendous applause.) Amongst the issues raised on that occa-
sion was the* relation of the Liberals to one portion of our popu-
lation. I have always discouraged and discountenanced, so far
as I could, any appeal to considerations of race or creed. (Ap-
plause.) My earnest desire has ever been that we ahovXd oningte,
irrespective of our origins, irrespective of our creeds, as Canadian
brethren, as Canadian fellow-citizens, whether we be English or
French, Scotch^ Irish, or Germans, whether we be Protestant^
Catholic, or Jew, sinking all these distinctions in the political
arena, and uniting and dividing, not upon questions of origin, not
upon questions of religion (I think we might aa a rule almost as
well divide upon the number of our inches or on the colour of our
hail ), but rather upon honest difierences of opinion with reference
to the current politics of the country. (Renewed applause.) But
while that has been my view, I have been obliged, from time to
time, in the discharge of my duty, to combat appeals to race, to
combat appeals to creed, and to explain and vindicate the rela-
tions of the Liberal party and of myeelf, sometimes as a humble
member, sometimes as its unworthy leader, towards various por-
tions of our population ; and I have thought it would not be an
unfitting time, considering the circumstances of that former meet-
ing, and having regard to the attempts which have been lately
made to raise these questions and misrepresent the position of
parties, and particularly of myself, toward a class ot the com-
munity, to say a few words upon that subject before passing to
the discussion of general politics. I have come here to support
what I believe will be, though our friend declares he is not yet
absolutely in the field, the candidature of Thomas Conlon. (Loud
and prolonged applause.) He says he is ready, if no better man
be found, to step into the breach. From what I have learned, no
better man, no man as good, can be found for the place. (Great

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285 . '

cheering.) And therefore, after that declaration of our friend, I
take the liberty of announcing him as the Reform candidate for the
county of Welland for the next election. (Vociferous applause.)
Now I am come here to ask your support for him as standard-bearer
of the Liberal party. Not on account of his creed; I would demean
myself by any such appeal ; it would be an appeal nnworthy of
me, of him, and of you. I believe the principles and policy to
which he adheres, some points of which I shall have the pleasure
of laying before you presently, are the principles and policy most
for the advantage of this Dominion, I believe him to be an hon-'
est, upright man, trusted in the community in which he lives,
widely known amongst you, and respected wherever he is known,
a man who will be found true to his promises and determined to
advance, to the best of his skill and ability, the interests of the
county he seeks to represent, and the country he is proud to call
his Own. (Loud cheers.) There are my reasons for inviting you
to support him. Now a word on

MY KELATIONS TO THOSE OF MY FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN WHO HAPPEN
TO BE IRISH ROMAN CATHOLICS.

I am sorry to take up time with personal statements, but it seems
proper that I should do so now. The bulk of the Tory party sedu-
lousl3'" charge me with pandering to the Irish Roman Catholics in an
unworthy effort to curry favour with them. The charge is false.
But another wing of the Tory party, represented, for instance,
by Mr. Mackintosh and Mr. Costigan, and by some Tory pam-
phleteers and pressmen, charge me with great injustice to these
same' men, and declare me, in consequence, unworthy of their
confidence. That charge is equally false. In all cases I have done
my duty according to my lights ; and that duty has been to be

TRUE TO LIBERAL PRINCIPLES,

irrespective of creed or race. The questions upon which these
discussions have turned are not numerous. I will touch them
briefly. I opposed the incorporation of the Orange order, for
reasons which were fully declared in Parliament, and which have
never been answered to this day. Sir John Macdonald and Mr.
Mackenzie Bowell, the Orange Ministers, were there. They had
promised their support to the Bill ; but they sat dumb. They
dared not speak, they could not answer the reasons which I ad-
duced. I supported the cause of Home Rule for Ireland, for
reasons which I fully declared in Parliament, and which were
never answered there. I believe those reasons to be unanswer-
able. (Cheers.) I knew perfectly well that in both cases I was

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Opposing myself to the passions and prejudrcea of a large body
01 my fellow-countrymen, and that I was, which I more regretted,
running counter to the apprehensions of a considerable number
of men, honest, although, I think, misguided in their judgment.
But I believed both these causes to be just, and, so believing, I
advanced, regardless of what I knew would happen, and what has
since happened, the vilifications, the attacks, the insults, the im-
putations, and the misconceptions to which I have been constantly
exposed. (Cheers.) These matters I am not going to discuss to-
night, because they have come fully before you already. They
are large and general questions on which I trust you are informed.
I would like to say something of them, but there are questions
•of another kind with which 1 wish to deal. So much, then, for
the causes of offence which are paraded before my Protestant
fellow-countrymen as reasons why I am unworthy of their con-
fidence. Now, allow me to pass to the attacks, 1 may say the
petty attacks, made to injure me in the eyes of my Catholic fel-
low-countrymen. They require me to spend some time in recall-
ing details which have been grievously distorted. There is .

THE CASE OF W. B. o'dONOGHUE.

When Mr. Mackenzie proposed resolutions for an amnesty to
certain persons implicated in the North- West troubles, I was not
a member of the Government, but 1 quite agj eed in and I accept
my full share of responsibility for those resolutions. They gava
the reason for the action which Parliament was invited to take.
O'Donoghue, who, like Riel, was then out of the country, was not
included in the amnesty. Mr. Costigan, one of my present accu-
sers, voted for those resolutions ; he did not propose any amend-
ment for a more extensive amnesty, and he actually voted against
an amendment moved for a general amnesty embracing O'Dono-
ghue. I may say, therefore, that the course proposed then met
with general assent. When, in 1870, Mr. Costigan tirst proposed
to reconsider the case of O'Donoghue, the reasons for not acting
at that time were fully explained by me in a s[)eeeh, which satis-
fied the bulk of the House, for only about thirty men voted for
Mr. Costigan, and the whole of the rest, Tories and Liberals, voted
against his motion. I quote a brief extract from my speech : —

The reasons why partial amnesty was granted to Riel were mentioned in
the resolutions of last session, and the address based on them. They showed
that after the termination of the North- West troubles, and the establishment
of a constitutional government in Manitoba, an incursion into that Province
was set on foot, the principal actor, if not the leader, of which was W. B.
O'Donoghue. It was necessary lo the preservation of that order which had
been restored that there should be a union of all the inhabitants of that
country. Such results were obtained upon pledges made to some of the act-

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))

' ^ 287

'• 1

on in the olJ Nort'h-Wc'fet \tity>iibles, and the attittide there assumed by them
was one of the principal oansen for the lenity extended to those individuals.
It was unnt'cessary to dn more than state these facts to show why, when it
was proposed to deal mercifully and leniently with the actors in tlie North-
West truubles, the same lenity was not extended to O'Donoghne. A state-
ment of the facts showed that a different line must be taken with him.
What was the attitude of these three chief actors of that time 1 On the one
hand they found O'Dono^hue leading an insurrection against Her Majesty's
snbjectfl, whil« the others were found on the other side. The acts of ()'Don-
os^hue on that occasion were such as precluded the House from taking a fn'
vourable view of his case. The letter of O'Donoghue, which the hon. gentle-
man had read, showed that O'Donoghue did not dread anything that might
be alleged against him in reference to these North-West troubles. The lion,
gentleman had complained in respect of this particular person an amnesty
in reference to the North-West troubles in 1869-70 had not been granted, and
that O'Donoghue was not permitted to re-enter the Province of Manitoba
free of danger in respect to these transactions. Now, 0'Donot,!hue's lettef,
which had been read, expressly states that

HE WAS ENTIRRLY INNOCENT

of the blood of Scott, that he was under no apprehension of standing his
trial on that subject, and that but for his part in the so-called Fenian raid,
he would have gone to Manitoba lung since, and demanded his trial. He
did not want mercy in regard to the North-West troubles, and was prepared
to face justice on that charge. W^hat nQw was the difficulty ? It was not
that he had not been pardoned for his connection with these troubles, becAUse
he did not want his amnesty for that. His difficulty was that his action in
1871, whatever it was, had not been pardoned. , j • .

I want you to remember that Louis Letendre, a French-Cana-
dian, was under the ban of the law at this very time for this
raid. They say it was not the raid which was in question, but
the attitude of the actors in the raid was, as I have shown, an
important element in deciding on the question of clemency. At
the time Mr. Costigan himself repudiated the idea of nationality
influencing the Q^jvernment

Ho used these words : —

The hon. member for Hastings had then stated that if W. B. 0'D>noghue
had not been an Irishman but a member of the same nationality as the ottier
two persons to whom he had referred, he, like them, would have been p ir-
doned. Perhaps this argument did not possess much force, and he (Mr.
Costigan) for his part had not then considered, and did not n(nv think, that
this was the reason that influenced the Government to do as they had done.

The next proposal was made in 1877. Then it was seen that
an effort was about to be made to make political capital and excite
race feeling. The Government was of opinion that it was not yet
time to act in the matter. I, as Minister of Justice, stated that
fact and declined to take up the question on the ground that it
was premature. I explained the distinctions which existed in
the cases, and repudiated the attempt to create race feeling. '!
.Let me quote some extracts from the report of my speech : —

00)

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The member described the people who inhabited this country m French'
men who stood shoulder to shoulder, Scotchmen who stood shoulder to shoul-
der, Englishmen who stocd shoulder to shoulder, and Irishmen who did not
stand shoulder to shoulder. As a Canadian of Irish descent, when he heard
these sentiments he looked arotmd the House to see where there was a place
for a Canadian. The hon. (gentleman did not think there was any such thing
as Canadian sentiment or nationality. Was this the way such questions were
to be met here ? Was this the way in which patriotic sentiment was to be
made to glow ? It was utterly impossible. * * * The hon. gentle-
man said that Mr. O'Donoghue was sacrificed, that he was treated unjdstly,
that his properly had suffered, and that he ought to be permitted to retnm to
attend to a large tract of land in the North- West, which he claimed. But
what the hon. gentleman asked was, that O'Donoghue should be placed in
the same position as Biel and Lepine, in that, by the proclamation issued in
pursuance of an address by this House, they were amnestied. As to Riel,'
he was condemned by a process of outlawry, the proclamation amnestying
him after five years' banishment. * * * * Even were O'Donoghue
placed in the same position as Biel he could not return to Manitoba as an
amnestied man, because that privilege was not accorded to Riel himself, his
term of banishment not having expired. So that this question of property
would remain in the same position as it now was were O'Donbghue treated
like Biel, for he could not return to Manitoba till after five years had elapsed.
The hon. gentleman had spoken as if Biel, and those placed in the same cate-
gory with him, were enjoying present rights and privileges not accorded to
O'Donoghue. But this wits fallacious, because were an amnesty given to
O'Donoghue to-morrow, on the same terms as it had been given to Biel, he
oould not enter Manitoba, and his property would have to be attended to and
his residence fixed by the same considerations by which they were governed
to-day. The hon. gentleman said that an injustice was done to O'Donoghue,
because he mi^ht return at any rate at the end of five years if he were am-
nestied. He (Mr. Blake) undertook to show by the most conclusive evidence
to which the hon. gentleman had given the attestation of recording it on the
journals of this House, that it waa not the want of an amnesty that prevent-
ed his returning to Manitoba. He would refer the House to the hon. gen-
tleman's motion of last year, moved on the 23rd March. In that motion was
recited a letter from O'Dont^hue to the Speaker of this House, in which he
declared that he was entirely ignorant of, and had nothing to do with, and
was quite irresponsible for the death of Scott, and that if it was not for the
so-called Fenian raid he would long since have demanded a trial as to his
action in the North- West. It would be seen by this that he did not want an
amnesty for his participation in the North- West troubles, but for his action,
in the Fenian raid. That was what prevented his coming to his adopted
country. ' . ". - .,

Mr. White (East Hastings) — That is correct.

Mr. Blake said they knew now what was desired ; that under cover of a
motion to grant a like amnesty to that granted to Riel and Lepine in
connection with the North- West troubles of 1869-70, the House whs asked
to amnesty O'Donoghue for his participation in the Fenian raid. One maa
was arrested by reason of his connection with that raid. He was a British
^subject, and had it not been for the present painful discussion, he would not
mention his nationality, but he was a Frenchman. His name was Louis
Letendre. He was arrested, charged, tried, convicted of high treason and
sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to 20 years' impriaoument,
and subsequently to 20 years' banishment. There had been no appeal — no
Englishman, Irishman, or Scotchman had asked for the remission of his
sentence; so he waa not embraced in the motion of hia hon. friend.

(10)

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289

O'Donoghue, in a letter formally addressed to Mr. Speaker as the or^^an of
this House, had told him in the strongest and plainest terms, by his own
statement, that he did not care for amnesty, that he was not prevented from
entering Manitoba by reason of the North- West troubles, out it was the
Fenian trouble that prevented him from going there. ... It was the
opinion of the Government that without naming a time or declaring any
decision, the time had not arrived for taking any action on the matter, and
that no real injustice — according to the sense in which the hon. member
used that term in which he did not agree with him — was done O'Donoghue
at the present moment. Even if the motion were granted O'Donoghue
would not be for years in a position to return to Manitoba ; and therefore no
injustice — in the hon. gentleman's sense — was done by not gi ruling it at
this time.

Now all this time, as you will see, both Riel and O'Donoshue
were in the United States, and neither could, without risk of
being apprehended, come into Canada ; but a five years' term had
been set, at the end of which Riel was to be free from all further
risk, as his amnesty would then take effect. No time had been
set for the commencement of an amnesty to O'Donoghue, and

-^ BOTH WERE EXILES. < . .

Meanwhile, when half the five years had expired, the Government
came to the conclusion that the time had arrived to deal with
O'Donoghue's case, and he was then placed on exactly the same
footing as Riel. It was provided that he should be free from the
risk 01 apprehension on the same terms, and at the same hour
that Riel was to be free. The amnesty was granted on the same
conditions. He, therefore, suffered nothing in the end more than
Riel. Now, I say that if there was an ea-ror, it was rather on the
side of leniency, than on the side of severity. I approved of the
act, because my leaning in these cases always is, rather towards
leniency than towards severity. But such is my judgment.
During the whole transaction I absolutely declined to consider
any question of race or creed, and I tell my Irish Catholic fellow-
countrymen, some of whom may still on account of this matter
entertain views unfavourable to me, that I will ever act upon the
same principle. (Loud applause.) I will not act one instant
later or sooner, or one whit more or less leniently because of race
or creed. In each case I will act upon the justice of that case
irrespective of race or creed. T hold that the administration of
justice and the action of Government must depend solely on tHi
circumstances of the case, and in no degree upon considerations of
origin or faith. Now, there is the case of W. B. O'Donoghue.
(Loud applause.) The next matter of attack is - -i' j.

,'■« -

THE NEW BRUNSWICK SCHOOL QUESTION.

The point was whether the Provincial JjCgislature of New Bruns-

(10)

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wick had oveisteppod its powers in dealinjjf \vitl« education }>y a
law which moditied certain customs and practices which had iong"
existed in the Province with reference to Roman Catholic educa-
tion. The ([Uosti(»n was doubtful. The Liberals thought that
even if the Legislature had the power, the act waH regrettable.
But the Liberals could not agree to what a few persons proposed,
namely, that we should ask that the rights of the Local Legisla-
ture should be curtailed ; and in this. Sir John Macdonald took
the same view that wo did. The Liberals, however, proposed and
obtained facilities for the decision of the doubtful constitutional
question. They went further, and, against the earnest protests
of Sir John Macdonald and the Conservative party, they ad-
dressed the Governor- General with a view to an ad interim
disallowance of some tax Acts, whose validity depended upon
that of the main Act, and which they tliought ought to be held in
abeyance until the decision of the question on the main Act.
That was going a long way ; possibly it was going too far. I was
not in my place at the time. Had I been there, I could have
voted for that proposal only upon the ground, which I understand
the Liberals took, that it was a temporary disallowance under the
special circumstances, disclaiming all intention of overriding any
ascertained rights of the Local Legislature. But the step went
to the extreme verge. The House passed the address. Sir John
Macdonald opposed it and refused to advise compliance with it;
and the Acts were not disallowed ; and now Mr. Costigan says it
was the Libeials and not the Tories that were lo blame ! (Loud
applause and laughter.) The question was ultimately decided in
favour of the right of the Local Legislature by the Privy Council,
and then it was proposed to take steps towards overriding the
valid Acts of the Local Legislature by altering its powers. To
this neither Liberals nor honest Tories could agree. The principle
of Home Rule was in question. (A]iplause.) We did what we
could. We sent an addrtec to the foot of the Throne, praying
Her Most Gracious Majesty to use her influence with the Local
Legislature for an amendment of the law and the redress of the
complaint. That motion I prepared and seconded in Parliament.
Once again it was going to the very verge. But it is we, forsooth,
who are charged with injustice, and hostiUty; and the people are
Asked by Mr. Costigan to support the Tories who did nothing, and
to condemn us, who did as much as we could and, as the Tories
said, more than we ought ! Tl>ere is the New Brunswick school
question ! (Applause.) The third and last question, is " the
tempest in the teapot," of ' " • • r ^

(10)

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\\y a
I long .
sduca-
\j that
btable.
posed,
Hi'islft-
l^took
ed and
jtional
TO tests
ey ad-

d upon
held in
in Act.
I was
Id have
lerstand
iider the
ing any
ep went
ir John
with it ;
says it
(Loud
cided in
Council,
T the
ers. To
principle
what we
praying
liie Local
59 of the
•liament.
Iforsooth,
iople are
|iing, and
le Tories
>k school
is "the

MY ALLEGED IMPR0PRIET7 TOWARDS MR. JOHN o'dDNODOE.

I am charged with showing prejudice and hostility against Roman
Catholics because, it is said; J refused to apeak for Mr. O'Donohoe
when he was Reform candidate for Kast Toronto, and this on the
ground that I was not a voter in the district. I can call this
nothing but an absurd and ridiculous misstatement. I had
spoken a hundred times for Reform candidates in ridings where
I had no vote. 1 hope to speak a hundred times more as I am
doing to-night. ( Applau <e.) I hope to do it as long as health
and strength allow. (Renewed applause.) In Mr. O'Donohoe's
candidature in January, 1.884, I had, being then a member of the
Government, done everything I could for nim. On this occasion
Mr. O'Donohv-e was not the candidate. A convention had been
called to choose a candidate. I being then only a private
member of Parliament, having no authority to speak for the
Government or for the party at large, and not having a vote in
the riding, was asked to attend this convention, and speak so as
to intiuenee the delegates in favour of Mr. O'Donohoe that he
might be chosen as the Reform candidate. I acted on my general
views. I said it was my opinion that the choice of the standard-
bearer should, as much as possible, be left in the hands of the
Reform electors of the riding who had to fight the battle.
(Cheers.) I said that I had no title to interfere in that choice ;
that outside interference generally did more harm tlian good ; and
that I thought it better for these reasons not to attend the
convention ; but I added that Mr. O'Donohoe had my best wishes
for his success, and to all who came to me I expressed these
wishes. I believe my course helped him ; at any rate he got the
nomination. (Applause.) Then, and not till then, he became the
Reform candidate. A great public meeting was soon after held in
his interest ; I attended that meeting and spoke as warmly and as
strongly as I could for him. (Cheers.) So much for the O'Dono-
hoe story. (Loud laughter and applause.) It has pained me to
see these false statements made. Whatever I am,

I STICK BY MY FRIENDS,

and that, too, even after they have left me. (Applause.) Mr.'^"
O'Donohoe had been a well-tried and hard-working Reformer. I
did what I could in his interest, as I did also for Dr. Bergin in
1874'. Afterwards both these gentlemen changed their views, and
both of them have attacked me very bitterly, with great frequency,
and, as I thought, with great injustice. 1 have never replied to
them or retorted on them. I have preferred to remember the old

(10)

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times wlieu wc woiIcimI togetlier. I liave preferred to renienibor,
too, that they wore my fellow-countrymen; and I have borne in
silence their unju.st attuckH rather than retaliate. I have chosen
to recollect their acts of friendHhip and co-operation rather than
those of hostility and animosity. I have hoped that the day
might come when they, or, if not they, at any rate my fellow-
countrymen of their race and creed, would do mo justice — (Ap-
plause) — and I wished to put no obstacle whatever in the way of
a reconciliation in which I have nothin;^ to withdraw, nothing to
apologize for, nothing to excuse. (Renewed applause.) 1 frankly
say to you, ladies and gentlemen, that I have never forgotten the
days of my boyhood in 1848, when my father was a leader in
public life, and spoke for justice and liberality towards those in-
volved in the rebellion of 1837. I have never forgotten that
there was then in the ranks of the Liberal party a great phalanx
of Irish and French Roman Catholic Liberals. (Cheers.) I have
always regretted the circumstances which led to the withdrawal
of many of those waim friends. I have deemed them still the
natural allies of the Liberals and Reformers. (Great cheering.)
I have hoped that the clouds of prejudice and distru.st would roll
away ; that the hostile feelings engendered by misconception and
misrepresentation on one side, as well as by errors on the other,
would disappear, and that we should find ourselves once more in
accord with our former friends. (Cheers.) I have hoped it, not
for the sake of my party only, but for the sake of my country
too. I have felt that it was not well that there should be an enor-
mous preponderance of one nationality or of one faith upon one
side of the political field, marshalled there not on living issues, or
on questions of principle, but

• ' UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ANCIENT PREJUDICES,

misconceptions and mistakes. (Loud cheers.) I have felt that it
would be for our country's good that we should be divided upon
intelligible issues and current differences of opinion, and not by
old quarrels or by lines of nationality or religion. To this end
have I striven, not by pandering to cries of origin or faith, not by
exciting passions or prejudices, but by discountenancing such
efforts, and doing my humble best to remove all grounds for mis-
conception or alienation ; by acting justly as between all races
and all creeds, and by conducting the Liberal party on true liberal
lines. (Renewed cheering). I described our course in the last
session of Parliament in the presence of my assembled fellow-
countrymen. Let me read it, so that you may know what I
said in that great arena before the representatives of Canada at
large : —

(10)

. ■< ■

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203

omber,
rue in
chosen
jr than
he (lay
fellow-
,-(Ap-
way of
hing to
t'lunkly
bten the
sader in
tiose in-
Len that
phalanx

I have
;hdrawal
still the
heering.)
ould roll
)tion and
,he other,
I more in
Bd it, not

country
5 an enor-
upon one
issues, or

t that it
ded upon
d not by
this end
th, not by
ng such
s for mis-
all races
ue liberal
the last
fellow-
what I
ianada at

Then the hon. member for Qloitoester (Mr. Biirni) said that I was trying
to oatoh the Irish vote. I h%ve been in public life a good many years. The
Irish population of my Province, is, of course, composed of the Irish Protes-
tant population, and the Irich Catholic population. I have endeavoured
to do my duty and to act upon what I believe we ^ sound liberal
principles towards all classes of the population. I have found myself
opposed by a solid body, by the t^rotki majority, by the vast bulk of the
Irish Protestants of Ontario. They are my strongest, and sternest and
tieroest political opponents to-day. I have found myself opposed by the
great bulk of the Irish Catholics of Ontario. They also, with some noble
exceptions, were am(mgst my opponents when I was defeated in South
Bruce, during my absence from the country through ill-health. It was the
Irish Catholics in that riding that rejected me ; that deprived me of my seat
in Parliament and obliged me to stand for another constituency at a subse-
quent date. I have endeavoured, notwithstanding all that, to do my duty
and to act according to my lights, honestly, jnstly, and fairly towards the
Irish Catholics and towards the Irish Protestants, towards all classes. I make
no distinction whatever in consequence of class or creed, and I extend oo bid
for the support of any olass or creed. The position of the Irish Catholics and
the Irish Protestants is this : — They know that from the Liberal party they
will obtain all they can justly claim, whether they give or refuse their support
to that party. They know that the Liberal party will always act on the
principle of justice, freedom and equal rights, because that is the plank upon
which we stand. Thev know thoy have nothing whatever to }^ain in support-
ing us, because they will not gain one jot or title beyond what those principles
of justice, freedom and equal rights require. They know they have nothing
to lose by opposing us, because thev know, however strenuous their opposition
may be, it will not make us one whit less earnest or less active in the promo-
tion of their interests and of the common interests according to the same
principles of justice, liberty and equal rights. And, therefore, there is no
need for them to turn their votes one way or the other in order that they may
obtain from the Liberal party their meed of justicc^and liberty.

I say to vou then, that I have striven'to re-unite all our old
friends of whatever origin or faith. I have striven to arouse the
indifferent to their public duty. I have striven to enlist in our
forces new adherents from the ranks of the more independent and
thoughtful men of the community ; I have striven to gain recruits
amongst the young, the hope of the Canada- to- be. (Loud applause.)
Thank God !

I HAVE MEASURABLY SUCCEEDED.

And the good work goes on. / do not desire the support of any
tnan, Irish or French, Scotch, English or Gei^man, Protestant,
Catholic or Jew, on grounds of race or creed, on grounds of pre'
judice or passion, on grounds of ancient quarrels, or long-dead
issues. But I do desire, and 1 believe I will receive, a fair share
of support from all origins and all religions among my fellow-
•countrymen, based on their belief in the policy I set forth, the
principles 1 hold, the political faith in which 1 hope to live and
die. (Loud and prolonged applause.)

(10)

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294

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PARTIES AND NEWSPAPERS.

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" Qlobe " compared — Independence of " Globe"—
" The ' Globe ' beats it hollow."

At Orillia Mr. Blake said : — Before I pass to the discussion of
general politics, I wish to say a word or two with reference to some
of Sir John Macdonald's recent utterances in the course of the pub-
lic discussion which has been taking place throughout the Province.
I see that you yourselves have very lately been visited by the grand
combination. (Loud applause and laughter.) I have read with
interest the accounts of their proceedings everywhere. The troupe
is large, the scenery is fair, the play is well put on, and there is
some good acting talent on the stage. (Laughter.) But somehow
the parts don't seem to suit the actors, nor the play the audience.
(Laughter.) It does not take. And I am not surprised. I incline
to agree with the correspondent of, I believe, Mr. White's paper,
the Montreal Gazette, who wrote :

At Markdale, Sir John went through the train and shook hands with every
one, lifted his hat to the ladies and chucked a score or more of the babies
under the chin. Sir John probably made more votes by this one act than did
the speeches of himself and colleagues. (Laughter.)

I don't know how mtmy votes Sir John gained by shaking hands
with the ladies and chucking the babies under their chins — ( laugh-
ter ) — but I quite agree that he was likely to gain more that way
than by such speeches of himself and his colleagues as I have read.
(Great laughter.) At first each meeting was declared better than
the last. Mr. Thompson said at Hamilton : —

The Owen Sound meeting was certainly the greatest demonstration he had
ever seen ; but it was excelled at Walkerton ; Walkerton was excelled in
West Huron (which he called ** one of the strongholds of the enemy") ; and
now Hamilton is the largest yet !

(Laughter.) But this couldn't go on forever, you know— (laugh-
ter) — things have rather palled ; the meetings have somewhat lost
interest ; and the actors seem to have realized this and rather
lost their temper, too~(laughter) — and they have latterly in-
dulged in even more than the usual large Tory allowance of vitu-
peration, scolding, and abuse. Perhaps they thought it necessary
to fire the party heart. (Laughter.) Some of us are called linrs ;,
another Ananias ; and the last flowers of polite eloquence were
added to the bouquet by Mr. Chapleau last night when he called

(10) .

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295

Mr. Cameron a skunk and Mr. Laurier a free-thinker. (Hisses.)
I have not been spared, but I do not intend to retort in kind ; I
acknowledge my inferiority in and my dislike for Billingsgate ;
yet, though I had rather spend a whole night in public than one
single instant in personal discussion, I am moved to say a few
words to you on some of

THE HUMOURS OF THIS TRAVELLING SHOW.

Personal appeals are being extensively used; among them the
cry of rallying to the old man who is so soon to quit the scene.
(Laughter.) This is a very ancient dodge. I remember it in
1872, and at every general election since it has come out, with
the weevil, the potato-bug, the Hessiafi fly, and the other old sto-
ries. (Loud laughter.) Lately, I see these appeals are constant,
and you are being told daily of an early departure from the stage.
But you know how often great actors have made their very last
appearances. (Laughter.) I am heartily glad to be able to quiet
your apprehensions, and to tell you that it is very good acting,
but that you need not be alarmed ; he is not half as ill as they
think. (Laughter.) You all remember how poorly the wolf
made out to be when he was luring innocent Red Riding Hood to
her doom. But his appetite was good, as she found to her cost ;
and as you will find to yours if you allow yourselves to be lured
in like fashion. (Loud laughter.) He wants you to bend over
him in sympathy,. to catch his last pious words, \>o reverence him
as we do the dying saint, who cries, as he has cried, " Now lettest
thou thy servant depart in peace." But don't be alarmed, don't
be over sympathetic, spare your sighs and tears. (Laughter.)
When the occasion serves, he sings in a quite different and truer
key. Listen to him a few weeks ago at Brantford, in exuberant
spirits, and with a great flow of language of the choicest order.
Thus he descanted then : —

. .' *■

The Government is patriotic and generovis, and they are satisfied, so long
as Canadian industries thrive, no matter if they are in the hands of the old
boy himiidlf. (Laughter.) You may have noticed in the Qlohe, — that tnith-
ful paper — it always tells the truth if you r«ad it backward — well, it told you
that I was in a very bad state of health ; they said I was fading away, and,
as everything depended on me, that as soon as I went down away went the
Conservative party, and in cauie the party of purity and retrenchment. If
there is any Griif in the crowd who has been afraid I would die immediately,
let him look at me now. [f the Grit stock is dependent on my living I am
afraidMt will drop considerably.

Last winter I had a very painful attack of sciatica — what the Irishman
'Called toothache in his leg — and blisters and other sweetmeats were applied
to it ; and one of my friends, a rather amusing party, said : " It is too bad
that the whole interests of Canada and the Conservative party should depend
on a fly-blister." But, gentlemen, I have got rid of the fly- blister, and I am

(10)

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M good as new, and God willing 1 am going to l^ad the party to victory at
the polls next year.

It is true this was on the afternoon of and next door to Haldi-
mand, when he thought he was going to win. (Laughter.)

It is just possible that the result there may not have been
tonic, it may nave produced a little nervous depression, a little
debility, in the political part of the organization. (Laughter.)

But only there, we may be thankful to believe, for I see he said
the other day here at Orillia : —

But I never give up a thing, ladies ; when I take up a case I generally
carry it through. I won't allow myself to be contented. Only give me the
chance. 1 am going to retire from the Government some day, and I will be
an independent member, and then carry it through. (Applause.) And if I
am not too old I will ask the ^ung ladies in return to give me a kiss.

So you see all will be well. We shall have him in the flesh for
a long time yet ;

, ,,, WE SHALL BEAT HIM AT THE POLLS

— (cheers^ — but he will remain in Parliament, and so obtain the
opportumty he craves to ingratiate himself with the young ladies,
and to receive from their hands, or rather from their lips, the
longed-for reward of his gallantry. (Loud laughter.) So may it
be ! I have told him before now that I heartily wished him a
long day, for I knew of no man who needed more time for repen-
tance, and I would feel happier if I were only sure he would use
that time wisely ! (Laughter.) . - \ : <r ,

But, gentlemen, joking aside, this has a serious aspect, for more
than once have Reformers been charged with cherishing a wish
or hope based on the demise of their opponents, and I have been
obliged, as I now do, to repudiate with scorn and indignation the
imputation of such barbarous and inhuman wishes. (Cheers.)
We do, indeed, ^

IN OUR country's INTEREST,

' .' .. ..,.,., . . ■.....,1; ,

desire the removal from power of the Tory chief ; but for himself
we wish health, wealth, and prosperity ; and are glad to think all
these are well within his grasp. (Loud cheers.)

But other appeals are being used, and enforced by scriptural
illustrations. •

Now, we have all heard of somebody quoting Scripture ; and I

do not object, therefore, to Sir John's doing it ; but I object to hi&

following the rejected method of the earlier quotfer. He said at

^Stratford: — . .,

.... ■ J

Mr. Blake was a very able man ; but he was consumed with ambition, ..^t. , ^

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victory at

Haldi-

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bve been

i, a little

hter.)

se he said

; generally
Ive me the
id I will be
i And if I
kiM.

e flesh for

obtain the
ing ladies »
r lips, the
So may it
hed him a
:or repen-
would use

, for more

ng a wish

lave been

nation the

(Cheers.)

'or himself
think all

scriptural

re ; and I
mot to his
He said at

tbition. .1. X '

So long as Mordecai sat at the king's gate, so long would Haman envy
him.

He hoped Mr. Blake would raver meet Haman's fate and hang on a^
gallows forty feet high.

He believed that the people would stand by him, and keep Mordeoai
sitting at the king's gate, notwithstanding all the calumnies, all the
unfounded charges made against him. . , ^ >

So I a'm consumed by ambition and envy ! Little he knows me !
If there is one thing I personally wish above another, it is to be
once more in the ranks, instead of at the head of the Liberal
party. If there is one thing I personally dislike more than
another, it is the possibility of acceding to office. I am bound in
my country's interest to labour for success in this contest ; but, if
the people decline it, I shall be personally grateful, and cheerfully
accept their decision. But

sill JOHN INDULGES IN BIBLE READINGS.

(Laughter.) Sometimes he makes Sir Richard Cartwright Haman ;
and him he hangs. (Laughter.)

Then he makes me Haman ; and is kind enough to hope I may
not hang, or at any rate not on so tall a gallows. (Laughter.)

I will pay Sir Richard Cartwright the compliment of saying^
that if Sir John were offered his choice he would condemn him
rather than me to the last penalty, not that he loves me more, but
that he hates me less. (Laughter.)

But whoever is his Haman, his Mordecai is always the same.
(Laughter.) There is always one Mordecai, the virtuous, humble,
modest adapter of the story, (Laughter.) The version does not
seem to me accurate ; it should be a revised version.

Mordecai, as I read the story, was, when he sat in the king's
gate, which was not at all the place Sir John fancies,

ONLY A POOR HONEST FELLOW, IN OPPOSITION,

without power, place, or patronage, but doing the best he could
for king and country, and able to render conspicuous, though, for
a long time, forgotten and unrewarded service. (Cheers.)

Mordecai was an independent fellow, too, and refused to bow
the knee and pay extraordinary deference to Haman, as his camp
followers did ; in fact, he opposed Haman, and this roused Haman'a
wrath. Such was Mordecai.

Haman, on the other hand, was the First Minister of the
Crown. (Laughter.) He wtEis probably President of the Council
— (laughter) — and as the kingdom stretched from India to Ethio-
pia, he was doubtless Superintendent-Genera' of Indian Affairs.
(Loud laughter.) He was the ruler of the State; he was en-

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-trusted with the power of the Crown ; he had the ear of tlie court ;
he went about in all the pomp and trappings of a great lord.

There were no railways then ; else, no doubt, he would have
had his own private special palace car "Assyria" — (laughter) — with
its proper attendants, and fittings for repose, and collations, and
pleasures ; all provided, together with gifts of " barbaric pearl and
gold,' as marks of the attention of the highly subsidizad, and
deeply grateful, and earnestly expectant Indo-Ethiopian Railway
Company, at a cost of many thousands of shekels, practically
supplied out of the Treasury. (Loud laughter.) Else, no doubt,
Haman would thus have made his progresses through the land he
ruled, with his attendant and humble satellites, or to use a very
reoent metaphor of another and very different personage, like " a
tjomet with its tail." (Laughter.) No great public meetings were
then in vogue, garnished with mottoes and decorations expressive
of devotion and loyalty <o the King's Minister; else doubtless
Haman would have had the meetings and the decorations and
mottoes too, with ■ ^ >.i

A BIG DRUM TO MARK THE TIME TO CHEER.

t i

, • .• • ■-•■,.. ■ 1 i

(Laughter.) You remember that in a great progress made by a
Russian ruler through the waste places of the Empire, ready-made
villages, all provided with smiling inhabitants and triumphal
arches, were set up to greet the m^»T"arch as she passed, and were
moved on at night to be ready to welcome next day the royal
train. So perhaps might Haman, too, have carried along with
him the evidences of spontaneous enthusiasm, destined to be flung
to the winds at each stage, and to rouse the people's zeal.
(Laughter.) No ! poor Haman had not all these luxuries and
marks of greatness and contrivances for stage effect ; they were
reserved for later ages and more modern Ministers. (Laughter.)
But doubtless he had a store of fine Arabian horses, or perhaps a
special elephant^ with a palace howdah — (laughter) — and a body-
guard of ancient — I dare say not difiering much from modern —
dependents ; and all the wives and concubines that his laxer age
allowed to kings and great men. (Laughter.) But Haman was
not satisfied v»rith place and power, office and emoluments, pomp
and grandeur, wives and concubines ; he wanted to destroy poor
Mordecai, who was out in the cold as it was. (Laughter.)

And Haman was guilty of treason to his trust ; he used his
official power to harrass his royal master's people over whom he
was set. (Cheers.) He procured by false pretences, authority to
destroy a large number of industrious subjects in the King's
name, and he had gone far towards the accomplishment of his
plot, when the people at last found it out. (Cheers.)

(10)

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ord.

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ions, and
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izod, and
L Railway
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lie land he
ise a very
re. like "a
tings were
expressive
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ations and

made by a
-eady-made
triumphal
1, and were
y the royal
along with
to be tlung
jople's zeal,
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kis laxer age
Haman was
nents, pomp
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iter.)

he used his
er whom he
authority to
the King's
iment of his

(10)

." 299

Just then Mordecai's long services were also remembered and
recognized. (Loud cheers.)
And so it happened that Haman was turned out of his

OFFICE, stripped OF HIS POWER, AND ACCORDING TO THE STERN
FASHION OF THAT DAY, HANGED. (Laughter.) '

And, Haman thus disposed of, Mordecai was promoted to his -
vacant place and office. (Cheers.) He became Prime Minister in
his room, and showed a delightful contrast to Haman, earnestly
advancing the peace and welfare of the people whom Haman had
sought to destroy. (Cheers and laughter.) I am far from making
any personal application of this story. I do not say it tits present
men, or current events. (Laughter.) But I think the application
lately made is hardly more consistent with accuracy than it is
with modesty or justice. (Cheers and laughter.) There remains
yet another question partly pei'sonal, but involving also grave
public considerations,. to which I feel bound to allude. I observe
that at this place, Sir John Macdonald referred to our respective <,
relations to

TWO GREAT JOURNALS,

and to their course. He used these words : —

While in Opposition his party never struck below the belt, and in that
respect they differed from the Liberal party of to-day. That odoriferous
journal, the Olobe — (laughter) — was the paid organ and slave of Mr. Blake
and the Opposition, not like the Conservative paper, the Mail, which is quite
independent of the present Government, which is owned hy rich men, who do
not receive their impulse or their instructions from the Conservative Govern-
ment. We are glad to have an able Conservative paper like the Mail sup-
pv ting us, but it is quite independent of us, as you may know, and in som&
respects does not accord with the principles and practices of the Government
which we maintain, and which we desire to maintain. But the Qlobe is the
paid servant of the Liberal party. It is in the hands of Mr. Edgar, th&
henchman, the whipper-in, the lieutenant of Mr. Blake. Every word ap-
pearing in that ])aper emanates from the Opposition. They are responsible
for every attack on myself or on my colleagues ; and if the insinuations are-
cowardly and the conduct is ungentlemanly, upon the leader of the Opposi-
tion, and not upon the miserable tools who print and publish it, the stigma,
must rest.

And at Suaderland, Sir John Macdonald said : —

What cared he for his miserable traducers, so long as he had his fellow-
countrymen standing by Jiim . Not satisfied, however, with reviling him in
every respect, his opponents had not husitated to attack his family. (Cries
of "Shame.'') He held Mr. Blake responsible for all the attacks made on.
him. The Globe was the serf of Mr. Blake in every respect. It was other- ' -> ■

wise with that great Conservative paper, the Mail. That paper stood in' >

quite a different position from the Olobe. It was owned by independent and
wealthy men, and its Conductors were as independent of him (Sir John) aa
anyone could be.

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THE AUDACITY OF THESE UTTERANCES.

He says his party never struck below tho belt. Why, I do not
need to go to his assistants or colleagues or principal supporters.

I do not even need to go to his newspapers. I go to the foun-
tain head. I charge himself with striking, and constantly striking,
below the belt. (Cheers.) I will not complicate matters by re-
ferring to attacks upon myself at all. Nor will I enlarge upon
the cases. It would take all night. Just look at his attacks upon
that pure, upright, and universally respected statesnan, Alex-
ander Mackenzie. (Loud applause.)

He charged him at Lindsay with being concerned as a member
of the Ontario Government in raising large sums as a corruption
fund from Government timber licensees.

He charged him in Toronto with making a corrupt bargain
with the Nova Scotia Minister to secure from Canada for Nova
Scotia $S4,000, on condition that the Nova Scotia Government
should act against the Dominion Government.

He charged him at Kingston with being implicated in a great
oil swindle.

At Sarnia, in Mr. Mackenzie's own county, he charged him with
almost ail the crimes in the calendar.

He charged that the Provincial Government, of which Mr. Mac-
kenzie was a principal member, was more false, more faithless,
more corrupt, than any Government that had ever been known in
Canada.

He charged Mr. Mackenzie with having, as the touter of a ring
to rob the Indians, introduced a Bill to make good old claims
Against the poor Indians.

He charged him with being, when chairman of the Parliament-
ary Printing Committee, the touter and paid servant of the Par-
liamentary contractors for printing.

He charged him with being the touter in Parliament of a petro-
leum ring, to get an excise duty imposed, and with having delibe-
rately sold himself for a price.

He charged him as a member of the Provincial Government
with having used its power corruptly by granting silver lands in
1 for election funds.

b • 'itclared that these charges would be proven at the next
?>;;^;:i... of Parliament, and he declared that Mr. Mackenzie, by
I -:.:; -Vl . these offences, Was unfit to be a representative of the
people.

In Parliament he charged Mr. Mackenzie with granting undue
favours to contractors, at the loss of many thousands to the
country. '; i■■•^•■'^•;• >' ■• ■ ?' ■• ■■ •'■■ '*-. s^'^<.,i\;'i: ^t^u '

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301

You remember the charges about the steel rails, about the Fort
'William plot, and about the Neebing hotel. Why, only the other
day he endorsed the charge about the steel rails, saying " there was
a !-teal there." Now, these charges, each and all of them, were false
and calumnious. (Loud applause.) I do not think that Sir John
Macdonald believed they were true at any time ; I am sure he
never had the slightest grounds for so believing. (Renewed
applause.) No man believes them now. Yet they were made by
the gentleman who says his party never struck below the belt.
(Great cheering.) If so, the party must be

A GREAT DEAL BETTER THAN THEIR LEADER.

But I will do them the justice to say that in this respect they
follow him close at heel ! and sometimes even better his instruc-
tion. (Loud and prolonged applause.) And so I answer this
bold pretension ! But I do not at all aver that his conduct is a
justification for others being also calumnious. 1 only say that he
who so belies his opponents cannot complain when they speak the
truth, however disagreeable it may be, about himself. Arid I will
add that no public man I know of has owed so much to the
indulgence and forbearance of his opponents in Parliament as Sir
John Macdonald, (Cheers.) Now I come to his account of the
relations of the leaders to

' THE CHIEF NEWSPAPERS. '

Sir John Macdonald holds me responsible for personal attacks, he
says, in the Globe. Well, I have been deliberately slandered and
vilely abused, and grossly and unjustifiably attacked in the Mail
newspaper for many years. The subject of personal attacks in
these papers once, or more than once, came up in Parliament, but
I declared that I did not hold the Conservative leaders or members
responsible for this abuse, unless they should personally endorse
it. I declared that I held only one member of the House respon-
sible, Mr. Bunting, the editor of the paper, then member for
Welland. (Applause.) I accept for myself no greater responoibi-
lity than I impose on others. I do not know, nor do I care to
inquire, to what particular language in the Globe Sir John Mac-
donald alludes. He seems to study his Globe more carefully than
I do, but it is quite possible that other and severer language may
have been used than I have employed or wish to be employed. I
have more than once in Parliament and elsewhere expressed my
regret at the violence sometimes shown by Canadian journals on .
both sides of politics, and I regret it now. I wish it could be
moderated ; that rests largely with their readers. But I do not
propose to take on myself the office of censor, or to pass a judgment,

(10)

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^ THE "globe" can TAKE CARE OF ITSELF;

it is responsible for what it says. I am responsible for what I
say, and I have, though with regret and reluctance, felt constrained
by public duty to state my views on some phases of Sir John
Macdonald's career. I have done so plainly, but moderately ; 1
have not gloated over these topics. Touching them but rarely
and with regret, I have quitted them gladly ; and I will only say
to-night that I have nothing to retract for myself. The Olobe
will speak for itself, no doubt. Sir John Macdonald, however,
draws an amusing distinction between the relations of the two
leaders to the two papers. There is, perhaps, a di.«-;tinction ; but
it is altogether the other way ; it is altogether against himself.

THE "GLOBb:" WAS FOUNDED

by Mr. Brown upon the basio of his own energy and resources ; it
was so maintained. A long time since it passed into the hands
and is now the property of a numerous and wealthy proprietary.
It has never owed anything to GoA^ernmenii or Opposition, to
leaders or to jtatronage. It used for many years to be called my
master. (Laughter.) Sir John Macdonald now calls it my slave,
my serf, my paid organ. (Renewed laughter.) I see he is very
fond of giving me slaves. He made me a present at Sunderland
yesterday of Mr. Cockburn, now here on the platform, whom he
then declared another slave of mine. (Great laughter.) I think
we Liberals must turn our attention to passing an Emancipation
Bill to free all these slaves (laughter) ; but I hope care will be
taken to give proper compensation to the fortunate owner of the
slaves for his loss of the valuable chattels of which he is to be
deprived. (Applause and laughter.) No, Mr. Chairman,

THE " GLOBE " NEVER WAS EITHER MY MASTER OR MY SLAVE.

(Tremendous cheering.) I call no man master, nor would I allow
any others to call roe master. (Renewed cheering.) The Globe
newspaper has never had any relations of money or of business
or of dependency with me. I never owned a share of its stock ;
1 was always decided not to be in any way mixed up in its affairs.
I am glad to know that its proprietary are in general accordance
with the Liberal party, and that it ably maintains in its general
course Liberal principles. We value the independent support it
gives to those principles ; the support it gives to the party because
it agrees with the party ; not in spite of its disagreeing on cardi-
nal and pressing and vital questions with the paHy. Support

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which should be given under those circumstances, like tliat given
by the Mail to-day to tlie Tories, would savour of dependence and
dishonesty, of secret undi.Tstandings and tortuous dealing, and
would be in my eyes not valuable, but despicable. (Cheers.) That
is all I have to say as to the Globe, save that I happened to hear
yesterday, with a pleasure which I am sure you will share, that

IN THE HISTORY OF THAT GREAT JOURNAL THERE HAS NEVER BEEN
A TIME WHEN ITS CIRCULATION WAS SO LARGE, ITS ADVERTISING SO
EXTENSIVE, OR ITS FINANCIAL PROSPERITY SO GREAT AS NOW.

(Loud and prolonged applause.) Long may it endure as an ,

INDEPENDENT EXPONENT OF LIBEHAL VIEWS.

(Renewed applause.) Never may it present the humiliating spec-
tacle of an endeavour to support its party by taking, on a base
calculation of results, one side, and pressing forward one set of
views, while the party leaders mildly profess to differ, but take
•the advantage all the same ! (Cheers.) Never may it be seen
running with the hare while the party leaders hunt with the
hounds, on a secret understanding that the whole business is on
shapes, and that the political profits are to be duly divided when
the game is found and caught ! (Shouts of applause.) But while
the Globe is " my slave," and " my serf," and my " paid organ,"
and I am " responsible for every word it says," Sir John coolly
disowns all responsibility for the Mail, not merely for its personal
attacks or occasional articles or casual correspondence, but for its
settled and long-continued and daily enunciated policy. He takes
a11 the benefit of that policy ; he proposed to repudiate all the
risks and loss ! It won't do. (Cheers and laughter.) For more
than a year the Mail has steadily kept up an anti-Quebec and an
anti-Catholic howl. It has roused the bigotry of its Orange friends,
the backbone of the Tory party in Ontario. It has excited to the
best of its power the susceptibilities, the apprehensions, and the
jealousies which we know remain in the minds of some well-
meaning but too nervous Protestants, who, not so confident as I
am in the power of the truth, the strength of evangelical religion,
and the progress of the age, still dread that a Roman Catholic
minority may overbear and dominate a Protestant majority in
Ontario and in Canada. (Cheers.) It has agitated in a deceitful
and cruel manner, on a line upon which it can do no good to them,
whatever harm it may inflict, the English Protestant minority of
Quebec. It has provoked the race prejudices of the English-
speaking Canadians against their French brethren, and has so
done its best to arouse like feelings on the other side.

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IT HAS PREACHED A HOLY WAR

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it has preached a French war; it has proposed revolutionary
changes in the constitution, in order to help the Quebec English
against the Quebec French : and forsooth to help the Quebec
French against themselves. Ii has sought to raise the spectre of
Roman Catholic aggression and French domination. It has called
aloud to all the Protestants and all the English-speaking races to
band themselves together against the French and the Catholics.
It has invoked the aid of the Liberals as well as others in this
new departure. And all

TO WHAT PRACTIC/L END,

I ask you to-night ? Why, just to lielp Sir John Macdonald and
the Tory party ! That is the be-all and the end-all of the new
policy ! (Great applause.) Vou know the old proverb, " All
roads lead to Rome. ' The Mail evidently has for some time un-
derstood that proverb as applying, not to the locality of the Im-
perial city, but to the religion of which Rome is the centre.
(Laughter.) But the Mail has also been diligently acting upon
the spirit of the proverb, and reflecting that it may be read to
mean "All roads lead to the bdtot box — you go one way, I'll go
the other way ; you wear one colour, I'll wear the other ; you go
by day, I'll go by night ; you take one password, Til take the
other ; it's all right ; we will meet at the polls and bring our sheaves
with us. (Tremendous applause and laughter.) But, saj's Sir
John, " for form's sake you must allow me to say one deprecatory
word. It shall be mild and apologetic, it shall he accompanied by,
nay, it shall be overshadowed by, praise and acknowledgments ;
it shall, on the whole, help you and not hurt you — but one little

word I must say, you know, else ." " Certainly," says Mr.

Bunting, " and I must have the same license, and I will use it in
the same way. It's all right. Even hard words break no bones,
but we don't do each other any harm :

WE UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER THOROUGHLY."

And so the comedy is played, so the actors make their bow, and
so you are all to believe that he is not responsible — he will take
the profit, but will not share the loss. (Laughter.) But what is
the reason which he gives for the distinction between us ? His
reason, as he declares, is because the proprietor of the Mail is
wealthy and independent. It may be so ; but I believe that in
wealth and ^umbers and independence that of

(10)

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But what is
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(10)

THE "OLOBE"

306

BEATS IT HOLLOW.

(Loud applause.) Why, wholbunded the Mail ? Sir John Mac-
donald. (Great cheering and laughter.) Ho, then First Minister,
promoted the subscriptions to its stock, took stock liimself, and
got his contracting and expectant friends and hangei*s-on to take
more.

The Northern Railway, a bankrupt concern, indebted in inillions,
which it could not pay, to the public treasury, yet found some
money out of its poverty to pay for stock to establish the Minis-
ter's favourite paper and party organ ! (Applause.) It was ouv
money. But it went, not to pay me debt to us, but to found Sir
J. Macdonald's organ. I believe, on the whole, a hundred thous-
and dollars was spent in the enterprise. But, as you know, the
earlier expenditure in founding a great paper is sunk. It is not
lost in one sen.se, but it is sunk in the eflTort. The paper got into
trouble. It was mortgaged to its paper merchant, and the equity
of redemption was, 1 believe, bought by Mr. T. C. Patteson, the
editor, and he managed and edited it for a time, stabbing the
Grits, as he said, under the fifth rib every morning. (Laughter.)
Still the interest of the Government was shown in its fortunes.
They forced the superannuation of Mr. Leslie, and made Mr.
Patteson postmaster of Toronto, one of the best places in the
service. That valiant rib-stabber thus received his reward. Then,
I believe, the paper fell into the hands of its mortgagee and paper
merchant, and is now controlled by his estate. A subsequent
editor was furnished, I am told, through a member of the Xjovern-
ment. That editor was Mr. Griffin ; and, when the party interest
required a change in the daily mud-slinger, a new office was
created for Mr. Griffin, and a fat one too, a joint librarianship of
Parliament at $3,000 a year. Mr. Griffin so reaped his reward
for the vile slanders which from day to day he poured forth for
years on the Liberals of Canada ; and the paper was so relieved,
at the puV)lic expense, from his further connection with its columns.
For some years, as you know, Mr. Bunting has had control ; and
you are all a Ware of his close relations with Sir John Macdonald.
You know them in Parliament and elsewhere. You know that
he got him elected for Welland, and tried to get him elected for
West Durham. You are perfectly familiar with the obviously
close, intimate and confidential relations of the paper to the party
leader, the party conventions, the party members, the party
interest. Why the relation of the " Alail " to Sir John Macdon-
ald is that of the child to the father, the creature to the creator ; to
hint it owts its being ; and unless it he unnatural it must regard
and reverence' its parent (Loud applause and laughter.) I re-
do)

*--' >r.

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306

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tort his charge upon him. I say that tlie distinction is altogether
in my favour and against him, and I s>iy that if in either case it
be fair to hold the leader responsible for the general conduct of
the paper it is quite obviously ratner the case of the Mail and
Sir John Macdonald than of the Olohe and me. (Loud cheers.)
Do you remember a single letter -which appeared in the Globe
just before the election of 1882, in which were given the opinions
of a Montreal manufacturer on the subject uf a certain class of
factory operatives ? Those remarks were given as coming from
the manufacturer, and from him only, and were duly enclosed
between quotation marks. Do you remember that the Tories
made the whole Reform party responsible for that letter ? Meet-
ings were held to denounce it, and to denounce us, and the Tories
carried several ridingp just because they made the party respon-
sible for that letter. It was not just. Even if you are to impute
responsibility, there is, aa I have indicated,

A WIDE DIFFERENCE "

between a single letter, and a casual or occasional utterance, and
a long continued, systematic policy. But I have no idea that
these men are to be allowed to play the double game. What is
sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. (Loud applause.)
They shall drink of their own draught ! (Cheers.) They shall
learn that they cannot lay down one set of rules for their oppon-
ents and another for themselves. But these are not all or even
the main considerations which call for your attention. / aay that
the settl'ed policy of the " Mail " newspaper for over a year de-
rives, after all, its chief importance from the fact that it is the
expression of the deepest seated feelinf/s and the strongest wishes
of the backbone of Sir John Macdonald' s party in Ontario. At
last these feelings are no longer suppressed ; at last they are ex-
pressed. At last you have a

DAILY "ORANGE SENTINEL"

in the shape of the Mail. At last what they so long thought they
are saying. Sir John Macdonald has at last found that he can
no longer carry on in i)recisely the same way the game he has
played for so many years and by which he has so often triumphed.
(Cheers.)

You remember Sir John Macdonald's difficulties in later years
— difficulties which became obvious in 1882. You remember
that he arranged to take Mr. John O'Donohoe into the Government.
But the Orangemen rebelled. Mr. O'Donohoe was too Irish to be
an Irish representative. (Laughter.) And then Sir John made
one of his usual shifts, and several of his usual proriiises. And he

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(10)

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lo idea that
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/ say that
>r a year de-
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igest tvishes
Ontario. At
they are ex-

Ithought they

that he can

rame he has

triumphed.

fn later years
ou remember
I Government.
)o Irish to be
ir John made
ises. And he

(10)

307

found Hii Irishman who was little enough of an Irishman for the
place. And him he made hi.s Minister, by the grace of the Orange
Tories. (Cheers.) And then ho wioto

HIS LETTER TU TIIF. lilSHOI'S

Here

— that precious letter which saw the li<dit la.st se.s.sion.
it 13 : —

(Private and Coutidontial.)

'J'oKoNTO, .luno 5, 1»8'J.
My Dear Lokd,— Mr. U'Donohoe wilj toll you of the tkmi'Kst that has

BEEN RAISED HERE IN ToRONTO Oil acCoUIlt of tho Supposition th.l' HIS VIEWS

are EXTREME AS TO THE Irisii (juESTioN. This might deatroy hia fiituro,
and it has, therefore, been arranged hotwoen tho Hon. F. Smith and O'Don-
ohoe that the former is to represent the Irish Catholics in the Cabinet, while
O'D. will get a seat in tho Senate.

Frank Smith is to make way for O'Donohoe in the Ministry when
TUEV THINK TUB TIME IS OPPORTUNE. TIioso two gontlomon are acting in
perfect accord, and desire that I should explain to your Lordship tho nature
of their arrangement, which, of course, must ua kept a profound secret at

PRESENT. ' ,

Believe me, my dear Lord, faithfully yours, *

(Signed), JouN A. Maodonald.

* ' • ' .

(Loud cheers.) Yes, after four years we were allowed a peep
into the closet, and saw tho skeleton in the corner. (Reuewed
cheers and laughter.) You know how I dealt with the peculiar
relations of two of the wings of Sir John Macdonald's following
in my speech on the Orange Bill in 1884!. I showed the condition
of things as it then stood ; and I am going to trouble you with
some extracts from my speech, as they bear very markedly on
current events. I said :

Our religious opinions should be held entirely separate from nnr political lean-
ings. xVo greater calamity can befall a com) i\ unity than when the cleavage of po-
litical parties is coincident with the cleavag'; of religious bodies. That is a great
calamity and misfortune. I am anxious that, whatever our creeds or religious
opinions may be, we should feel that they have nothing whatever to do with
our political opinions, and that we should agree or dirt'er on political (jnes-
tions entirely irrespective of the faith we may happen to hold on religious
questions. The more you set up, as a combination, a great Protestant so-
ciety, which is also a great political association, the more you make coinci-
dent, or strive to make coincident, tho lines of division for the religious and
the political convictions of the people, and act directly in the teeth of what I
beliove to be for the benefit of the State. Our political differences are bitter
enough without introducing into them religious diffA'cnces, and if the odium iheo-
logicum, which is known to be so bitter, is to be ctccentuated by political differ-
ences, it will become intolerable. Let us endeavour then not to make coincident
the lines of division for political and religious opinions. Yet this society,
which under the guise of religion and benevolence, is in Ontario largely and
chiefly political in its power and efficacy, is doing this very thing, which I
believe to be for the public evil and not for the public good.

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308

.+,.?■

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_: Then I showed that while at first the promoters of tlie measure

^ blamed the Roman Catholic Conservatives rather than the Pro-

', testant Reformers, they soon changed their ground in their zeal

\:. , - for their party. I said : —

i'.,

There, you see, Mr. Speaker, the disposition to which I refer, to blam&
those Bom^in Catholic members who voted against the Bill, and to deal rather
lightly, as the hon. gentleman did at Ottawa, with Protestant Reformers.
Then Major White said at Winnipeg : " The Association has not the influ-
ence it ought to have, because the members were not true to each other. The
' brethren should see to it that in a)l municipal and legislative bodies they had
men who would truly represent them. In the past they had taken the broad
vicsr that a man's religion should %iot be a bar to his political preferment ;.
but the conduct of the Roman Catholic members of the House demonstrated
that they could not represent Protestants, much less Orangemen." There
again, you see the same disposition — a disposition to blame the Roman Catho-
lic Conservative members for not voting for the Bill, to declare that it was a
measure that they should have supported, and to threaten them with general
ostracism in parliamentary and municipal matters.

Mr. White — We will grant them absolution before next election.
Mr. Blake — I am glad the hon. gentleman has the frankness and manliness
to avow it. The official organ of the Orange body says : — " The bigotry dis-
played on Monday by every French and Irish Roman Catholic member of
' the House of Commons has, however, opened our eyes, and in future we shall
know how to act. As we said, although the Reformers acted foolishly and
illiberally, still we think, under the present state of Canadian politics, an ex-
cuse may be found for their action ; but none whatever can be oflered for the
course pursued by the ^Roman Catholic Conservatives, and upon their shoul-
ders, in the greatest measure, must rest the onup of our defei«.t." Thera
5'*. again, you see the first line taken by the promoter^ of the Pill — they were

■r'^. , prepared to charge the Roman Catholics, whether C'onse.. atives or Reform-
I ; . ers, and particularly Conservatives, with the onus cf the defeat of the Bill.

The Sentinel says : — " For years past the Orangemen of the Dominion have,
"* . ^ under various political pretexts, and to meet the exigencies of political par-
«i ^ ties, been induced to support Roman Catholics at the polls ; but the measure

I *.. of bigoted intolerance with which our liberality was met in the vote upon our

Bill, precludes any possibility of this mistake i^in occurring."

The ISentinel goes on to say, with respact to the leader of the Conservative
party:—

'' ~ " The leader of the Conservative party has been charged with insincerity

in his efforts to have the Bill passed, and while we believe that personally

. '\ he haa acted with the greatest sincerity towards us, and has used all his influ-

,«$''' ence to obtain for us the redress we sought, still we c>innot close our eyes to

^~'''- the fact that it is the first measure introduced since 1878, with his approval

, ., and sympathy, which has received such a weak support."

Now, Sir, that was the first start. Th"t was the way the promoters of this
Bill began to conduct the political campaign towards procuring a second read-
ing this session of the Orange Bill.

'• AFTER THB DEFEAT

V they were honest enough to say that they had not much to expect from the
■ \ Reformers. They did say that they had a right to expect from the Conser-
vative Roman Catholics their support of the Bill, and they showed the true
. principles of their leading men, in the observations I have just now read,.

»..— — (_ .

(10)

measure
the Pro-
iheir zeaV

', to blame^
deal rather
ReformetB.
t the influ-
jther. The
BB they had
n the broad
)referment ^
imonatrated
)n." There
man Catho-
hat it waB a
with general

>n.

id manlinesB
bigotry diB-
c member of
ture we shall
foolishly and
(liticB, an ex-
lered for the
their shoul-
M." There
|1— they were
or Beform-
of the Bill,
union have,
political par-
the measure
ote upon our

Vnaervative

insincerity
It personally
lail his influ-
] our eyes to
his approval

Lotera of this
[seoond read-

set from the
1 the Conser-
ved the true
It now read,.

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"^^^t

309

as to the ostracism they proposed to pronounce on ^oman Catholics generally,
In consequence of the course of the Roman Catholic Conservatives with refer-
ence to the Bill. I have said that in Ontario the Orange Society ia mainly a
political organization ; and I say that it subordinates all other considerations
— its leaders cause it to subordinate all other considerations — to the political
and party consideration. That is .proved by the course which was pursued
shortly afterwards. Their tactics were changed, and they seemed to think it
would not do to continue blaming the Roman Catholic Tories for opposing
the Bill, that this might disturb the political alliances ; and that they must
throw the odium on the Protestant Liberals, and on me particularly, as what
they call an Ultramontane Protestant. It would not do to go on saying that
the Roman Catholic Conservatives had done wrong, and that they must not
return Roman Catholics to Parliament, and the hon. gentleman did not wait
until the next election .to grant absolution. Ha granted absolution at once,
and he turned the condemnation upon us, from whom, for a little space of
time, he was just enough to say he had no right to expect much. And why
was this done ?

Mr. White (Hastings) — Read what I said.

Mr. Blake — I have read what the hon. gentleman said -is he not satisfied ?
I cannot read all his speeches, but I shall gratify him. There was a meeting
to which 1 have already referred, held in Ottawa immediately after the defeat
of the Bill, at which an address was presented to him, and the address con-
tained the following paragraph : — " From the proceedings in Parliament on
the Orange Incorporation Bill, we have learned a bitter, but salutary lesson,
and one that will bear fruit in due season. While we disclaim an intolerant
spirit, we declare that henceforth the Roman Catholics must be prepared to
reap as they have sown, and that if we are such disturbers of the peace as
they declare us to be, we will for the future abstain from voting for them, and
so deprive them of the power to mortify us by refusing to grant to us the
same rights that we have always cheerfully accorded to them." The hon. gen-
tleman's answer was as follows : — *' Many Conservative memi^rs had asked
and begged of him not to rtin them, but he told them that he would stand
by the Order first. Another mistake was that of assisting to elect a French-
man in Russell, and an Irish Roman Catholic (Mr. Baskerville) ia Ottawa
Ckty, and he said he was now ashamed of his actions ; he hoped the Orange-
men would forgive him for asking them to vote for Baskerville. There are
very few Hawkinses. One Roman Catholic member of the House, whose
name he did not like to mention, said to him privately : — * How can we vote
for this Qill when the priest says he has power from the Pope to damn those
of his constituents #ho dare vote for a candidates for parliamentary honours,
who would support such a measure.' If the Conservatives would not stand
true to us, then let us be Reformers. He likened them, at the present day,
as being between the devil and the deep sea — the Roman Catholics and the
Reformers. "

Mr. White (Renfrew) — One word ; I believe the hon. gentleman is reading
from the Ottawa Frtt Press.

Mr. Blake — I am reading from Hansard. I do not know where the report
was taken from, but it was rtad in the House, and hon. gentleman did not
repudiate it. ** He kindly praised the Reformers who supported the Bill. He
believed Mr. Blake had made a mistake in voting against the second reading.
It was, at that time, within his grasp to have the united Orange vote of
Ontatio." Now, sir, as I have said, the Tory politicians who lead and direct,
. nd control the bulk of the Orangemen of Ontario, believed it would not do to
continue the battle with their own allies, and, as politics are the main ingre-
dient in their view of the Order, as it is for the propagation of their own party
politics that they work the Order, they decided on taking another course :

(10)

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310

and the fight which existed against the Roman Catholic Conservatives was
put to one side, and the guns were turned against us. Sir, it reminds me of
the story of the Irish dueli The First Minister with the hon. Mifiister of
Customs on one side, and the hon. Minister of Public Works, with the hon.
Minister of Inland Revenue on the other, met in a cotfee-room with hostile
intent.

THEY MET TO FWiHT '; - . •

the battle to the bitter end ; and the poor innocent fellow who was taking
his breakfast upstairs, away by himself, was astonished by a bullet coming
through the floor and striking him in the leg. He asks the waiter what is
going on, and he replies: — " 8ure it is enly Mr. Moriarty and Captain
O'Toole fighting a dual, but thanks be to God they both fired in the air."
The gentleman upstairs with the bullet in his leg did not thank Providence
' at all. This duel between the First Minister and the Minister of Customs on
the one hand, and the Minister of Public Works and the Minister of Inland
Revenue on the other ; this great demonstration uf hostility, of voting squarely
against one another ; all this fire and fury and blood and thunder ; all this
threatening of slaughter ended by both combatants firing in the air, and hit-
ting the poor fellow up-stairs who had nothing to do with the row. Now, Sir,
I do not propose to be hit without protest. As I have said, they have changed
their grounds. They have determined that they will not fight with one
another, but will attack us ; and what is the present argument ? The present
argument is that the contest over this Bill is a contest between the Roman
Catholics and the Protestants, and that all true Protestants must unite in
supporting the Bill against the Roman Catholics. That is th^ argument ;
that is the proposition. You cannot get out of it. And if we do not agree
to that proposition, we are to be told — in our religious associations, among
those with whom we confer and co-operate in religious work — that we are not
true Protestants, because we have not gone against the Roman Catholics by
voting for carrying this measure. I have made that statement ; and with
reference to that statement, as with reference to the others, I shall produce
the proof. But, before doing so, let me give you two short extracts from
recent utterances evidencing the same spirit. In November, 1882, a lodge
meeting was held at Clover Hall, and an address was delivered by a great
man in the Order, the late local member for South Simcoe (Mr. Parkhill).
He spoke as follows : — " If he observed the signs of the times correctly, there
is as much need of Orangeism, both in Irela.id and Canada, at the present
moment, as there ever was. True, we may not have to fight, as our fore-
fathers fought, but we must all, whether Grits or Tories, bury our political
feeling, and go united to the polls in defence of our Protestant principles."
What is the proposition ? I am to be told, being a Reformer, that I must
bury my political feelings and join with my friend, Mr. Parkhill, whom I
have the pleasure of knowing, and whom I should not suspect, from his ap-
pearance, of holding such bloodthirsty principles — that we are to unite against
the Roman Catholics. At Rosemont, the hon. member for South Simcoe
spoke at a lodge meeting. We are told that "Col. Tyrwhitt, M. P., was
warmly received, and made a good practical Protestant speech, in the course
of which he referred to the utter want of political principle in the Roman
Catholic electorate. The only principle that they held was allegiance to their j
Church, and to, its interests. On such matters Roman Catholic representa-
tives were a unit in the House of Commons. They even had an Irish (Jatholicl
party in the House of Commons last session, who met daily to consider their
interests. While all this was going on, he was sorry to admit that Orangel
and Protestant representatives were divided. He counselled organization!
and unity on the part of aU Protestants, irrespective of politics, in order to|

(10)

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311

rvatives was
ininda me of

Muiister of
irith the hon.

with hostile

waa taking
bullet coming
vaiter what ia
and Captain
d in the air.'
ik Providence
of Customs on
8T,er of Inland
oting squarely
nder ; all tl^is
le air, and hit-
row. Now, Sir,
f have changed
fight with one
■A The present
een the Roman
; must unite in
th^ argument ;
«re do not agree
ciations, among
■that we are not
lan Catholics by
aent; and with
II shall produce
ft extracts from
., 1882, a lodge
sred by a great
(Mr. Parkhill).
correctly, there
, at the present
^ht, as our fore-
[iry our political
ant principles."
Ler, that I must
trkhill, whom I
,ct, from his ap-
, to unite against
)r South Simcoe
■hitt, M.P., was
5h, in the course
ie in the Roman
ilegiance to their
■lolic representa-
an Irish Catholic
to consider theitl
mit that Orange
[led organization
litics, in order to

(10)

stem the aggreBsive march of the Papacy in this our beloved Dominion. '^
Now this is not old. I am not reviving the buried fires of old days. This is-
reported on the 4th of January, 1883, and the speech was delivered on the
29th of December, 1882. Then, in the Sentinel of 12th July, 1883, these
remarks are made : —

"Mr. Blake is the most prominent man in the House who voted against
the Bill. He is, at least by profession, the Protestant of Protestants, from
whom such a vote was not expected. *■**■**

He is, above all, by virtue of his leadership of the Opposition, the member of
the Federal Parliament whose vote against incorporation influenced the
largest number of his colleagues to vote as they did, in violation of the just
rights of large numbers of their constituents. # ' * * *

" But Mr. Blake by his vote, threw his great influence in the House against
the Bill, and udoubtedly thereby secured its defeat. He stultified his advo-
cacy of Ontario's rights, and he made plain the hollow insincerity of his Pro-
testant ppnciples. His position in the House, his professions ot Protestant-
ism, his advocacy of Ontario's rights, made him a prominent target for the-
censure of Orangemen, because of a vote which, if he were true to his princi-
ples and professions he would certainly have never given. " Once again you>
see the assertion that this is a question between Protestant and Catholic, and
that a man who professes Protestant principles is insincere if he votes against
this Bill. There was also

A LODOB RESOLUTION

reported in the Sentinel — " We are not surprised at Roman Catholic members
who put religion before party : but we strongly condemn those Protestant
members who preferred party before religion." There again this is made a
religious question. We are told that we voted for our political party and
against our religious principles. * * * Then, Sir, the hon.
mbmber for Brockville (Mr. Wood; is reported to have said : — "No doubt
there is danger in the air, and the Orangemen of Ontario should become the
Ultramontane Protestant party in Ontario, in contradiction to the Roman
Catholic Ultramontanes of Quebec." Then the hon. member for East
Hastings (Mr. White) himself, at Woodstock, said : — " The day was not far
distant, if we did not show more pluck and courage in opposing the growing
influence of the Papacy in this Province, when we should be obliged to fight
not as Conservatives or Reformers, but as Protestants, to free ourselves from
the trammels which Rome's agents sought to place on us and our institutions."
Mr. Marshall, at Winnipeg, said : — " The Bill of Incorporation was not de-
feated by Roman Catholics, but by Protestants, who were pandering to the
Roman Catholic vote. He hoped Brother White would never ask a Catholic
member to support the Bill, as he could expect no support from them ; and
if be did, he gave them credit for more honesty than politicians generally
possessed." And I perceive that, only the other day, on the 1 Ith of March,
a special meeting of the Middlesex County Lodge was held, at wcich it was
resolved : — " That the County Lodge of the County of Middlesex, of the Loyal
Orange Association, is of opinion that, while those who last year voted for
our incorporation did but their duty in having ahown their willingness to
accord us those rights which, we as Orangemen are ever ready to extend to
all sections of Her Majesty's loyal subjects, we have nu words to sufficiently
express our strong condemnation of the course of those Protestant repipsen-
tatives, especially from Protestant Ontario, who, from political spleen, voted
to deny us (their Protestant fellow-citizens) those rights which ihey are always
willing sycophantly to grant to Roman Catholics. Resolved further, that we,
the representatives of the Orangemen of the County of Middlesex, will not bo
satisfied until our full rights in the matter of incorporation are ])roperly ac-

. " ' • (10)

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312

corded to us, our motto being " No surrender and no compromise," and that
a copy of this resolution be sent to the public press." Now, Sir,. I think I
have shown to you that, as I have said, the line of attack was altered — that
the line of attack upon their party friends, and their religious opponents,
who, they at first said ought to support the measure, and who should be
ostracised for not supporting it, they were obliged to abandon — in order to
strike at their opponents by representing this as a case in which all Protest-
ants ought to combine, and in which no man of true Protestant principles
oould have given, or could repeat a vote against the second reading of this
Bill. Well, that may be true ; but if it be true, I ask this House, without
distinction of creed or party, if it be not a serious state of things ; I ask if it
be not a serious state of things that a religious war is to be raised in this
country ; because that is what it is. If it be the case that, as a matter of fact,
this is an issue raised betwaen us, in which all Protestants are to be on one
side, and all Roman Catholics on the other, and in which I, a firm Protest-
ant, am to be told that I am untrue to my profession of religion, to my
Protestant principles, if I do not vote with the Orangemen and against the
Catholics for that Bill, is not that a serious state of things ? If this be true,
I say that every true lover of this country must deplore such a circumstance,
and must forebode the greatest evil to this country from its existence.

Mr. White (Hastings) — You are drawing it pretty strong ; you are draw-
ing on your imat^ination.

Mr. Blake — I have given the text, and I will guarantee that the comments
are justified by the text. Now, sir, I deny entirely that there is any such
necessity. I deny that there ought to exist such an issue ; and I tell the
hon. gentleman opposite that no matter what his threats may be, no matter
whether he may say that my speech does me harm or gcod, he will neither
seduce, nor threaten, nor drive me on any such issue, into any such line or
any such professions. In furtherance of this same plan, this attempt to pro-
duce a religious prejudice against those who oppose this bill, the hou. gentle-
man and others are declaring that I am controlled by the Archbishop of
Toronto.

Mr. White (Hastings) — So you are.

Mr. Blake — I tell the hon. gentleman that he states that which is not the
^xct. Notwithstanding that I am relieved from the necessity of proving my
case as to his statement by his own declaration in this House,

I PROCEED TO GIVE THE EVIDENCE

of that as I have given the evidence of other things. He said : '' Mr.
Mowat was controlled by Archbishop Lynch, and they must come to the
conclusion that he, too, controlled Mr. Blake. No doubt orders went from
the Palace at Toronto, and the great Reform statesman had to obey." I de-
termined, as soon as I saw this statement of the hon. gentleman, that I would
meet him here, face to face, and have this out with him, and have it out with
him I will. This is not all. The Rev. Brother Wright, at a meeting in
Leeds, said : " They (the Orangemen) were not defeated in Parliament
solely by the Roman Catholics, but through the inbtriimentality of Ontario
politicians, who considered the smiles of Route of greater value than the
approbation of their fellow-Protestants. The bill was defeateil because Arch-
bisnop Lynch said no, Christopher Fraser repeated no, and Edward B.ake
bowed his head and whispered no." He voted ''no " the last tiuie ; but I
trust that the hon. gentleman will admit that his negative this night is not
given in a whisper.
Mr. White (Hastings) — I drove you to it. *

Mr. Blake — The hon. gentleman drove me to it ! Let him manage his
own drove. At Winnipeg, again, the hon. gentleman said : '* Unfortunately

(10)

^. ^

V^..(.

f^'*, ■;'', "■;■>,., ■■>'u*>yvif;;.

topic of any descrTp on wh^/'"' Archbishop Lvnc o^ ' '" ^"^ ^^^ had

of any description.^ ForInl7?'r""* *^^« «"« only but a,'^ ''']',. P^^tic^
*o the contrary thof ,1 ^"*^ ^ ^"ow, unless li« k/' • ^^^ Political tonio

the Oran.e S'ai 1 ol'^"'" "V*^ ^'^terlaii/the ^^ f-^""" P"^^^^ "iterance

bishop Tach6 does namll"'^.,;^^" ^«"- 'ne'nber f'^"^^ T'^^' ^^Jh reference to

hat in this, as7n aU o^^ ^^"^ ^" ^« ^» f^vot'r o its hnt"^' ^"« ^^^^ Arch-

J"dgment, and whollv fr« 'J P'^^^^c'^'ars, I have acted en?^ P,"''"''' «"* ^say

but atten.pt at dictation o? cSroT.'^T^ "^" "'t sa^ d" Sn ^^^ '"^ °-«
t^^n as to whaf th^ "" ur control, hint or aiir/,roc+- J^ "^^''ation or control

tary or person '^\h^lT 'l'^^' Prelate, StTot\"'^^^^f^ or informZ

the Orange soJtyithn^^^^^ hos!

says, a Protestanf and ? -^ "^^^^^^'^^ *^»e that I am J fi?^ \°'^*''P«ration of
phrase ultramoSe -that'?''" ^T~^ «"PPose tlat s ^h ^^""^ ^^"tleman
posed to what I be ieve fo beTh^^*^** ''^^^^ ^^ tho^ht thM '•""^' "^ ^»«
That IS perfectly true I nr . ^® '^osrniatic errors of th. r!^^\'^ '"«»t op.

also -. I protest against wlut I del tertS'^M'r'

^N EARNEST AT^xr^ ' "^"tlam

offend some of those ^hV? */*" "^^'^^ this evening ^^f '^'''"g,^»th the same
have hitherto s^d?'%taril''''? i^^!f««^^ ^itrapVovalt^ "^^^ Perhaps
"ght of standard-bearer? of p. T*.^"*^ *^"« Pretensbn ?o hAT^ *^^"°g8 I '
measure, with which unles^.nP*"!**"* Principles, tT?at dot ''^ exclusive
true to their princio U f!! T ^ ''otestants coninlv tL f"^ "^^ * '"le and
by its leaders iL Ontario r', ^ P^'^P^^ attribuTe^ 5 thiL^'^ *« bo held un?
there have been, for a/o;. . '^^' 'P"^«" «*• Quebec Nn '''•''*f^^"' i"^ged
to say-who ha^ striven ir'/^T P'^^on^-^^Ze persons'" *^* ^^^^ince
party, who have iusistid nr. f^^ ^^^^ ^^e'ical regiZfJf °"^^' ^ ^m glad • -
to use their influenei i^ «« extreme pretensions as o i ^•''''."^ ""^ their twn
political arena wh. h ^^^""^'^^^ '> who have souahf l. ?^ "?^*« ^^ the cler^v
wasused b^the at^C^tiLTthe r^^r' o^S/^t?^^^^^^^^^

-unt Of their votesf^^-^her.^^ "

. ,., . . *^ as to undue influ.

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314

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ix-'--',

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ence, as far as it affected the clerf,'y ; and there can be no doubt that these
efforts on the part of some persona in Quebec met in the past with a measure
of success. Pressure was used in several counties against the candidates of
one political party, as Liberal Catholics ; and the struggle was severe, and
resulted in a great weakening of that party, from which it has not even yet
recovered. The members of that party appealed, under these circumstances,
to three tribunals ; they appealed to public opinion, to the highest courts of
the land, and to the highest authorities in their own Church. They fought a
long and arduous tight, which reached its climax, perhaps, in the period from
1875 to 1881. Public opinion, one of the tribunals to which they appealed,
was aroused to -a considerable degree in the Province of Quebec ; and many
Protestants there even changed their political views, and left the party with
which they had usually acted, because they felt this pressure was a pressure
foreign to the proper sphere of religion and the proper sphere of the Church.
The members of that party appealed also to the law ; and the law was vindi-
cated in several cases. They appealed also to the highest authorities in the
Church, and those authorities also interfered. We know well, for it is public
to us what was done.

, ii the proofs, the course of that long con-
A'- triumph of the right. I added : —

oil

I then pointet
' troversy, and the a]

As I have said, ther^- -.vs a Ion'? and bitter controversy in the Province of
Quebec with some who -tr.. . > to ■ ' -2 the power of the Church in the way
to which I have referred. Th«.t loup- .\r. ' '^tter controversy was a controversy
in which my friends, the Liberals of Lower Canada, were the oppressed party,
the party which was being overborne in it, which was suffering from it, in
the constituencies ; and, though they have received justice at last in the par-
ticular to which I have referred, it is useless to disguise the fact that so long
a conflict, waged in that manner and with those weapons, has had a perma-
nently weakening effect. But I want to know where, in all that time, were the
Orange Tory leaders of Ontario ? I want to know whether they were helping
in the cause which has thus been vindicated in the end ? I want to know
whether they were expressing and actively manifesting their sympathy with
those who were struggling for the rights which have at length been accorded
them ? It is not so ; it is known not to be so. It is true that many of the
Protestants of Quebec came to the assistance of the Liberals of Quebec in that
struggle, but the Orange Tory leaders of Ontario were unflinching in their
support of, and in their consort with, the very members who were waging
that controversy against the Quebec Liberals. Why ? Because they were
united in political bonds with those members ; because they rejoiced in their
success at the polls, although that success was achieved against those with
whom they professed to be in sympathy. They were kept in place and
power by means of that partnership ; and therefore

THEY WERE UNTRUE TO THE PRINCIPLES

which they professed, and in order to promote which they are now saying
they wish to be incorporated. I have declared my views on this subject, and
I have nothing to recall in regard to them. I have shown where I am to be
found in case any conflict may arise in which any Church — whether Roman
Catholic, or Episcopalian, or Presbyterian, or what you will — shall strive to
encroach on what I believe to be the just domain of the State. I believe that
if you commit to any Church absolute power and control over faith and
morals, and if at the same time you commit to that Church absolute and un-
limited power to determine what is comprised within faith and morals, you

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lat these
k measure
lidates of
vere, and
i even yet
lustances,
courts of
^ fought a
jriod from
appealed,
and many
jarty with
a pressure
le Church,
was vindi-
ities in the
it is public

long con-
id:—

Province of
I in the way
controversy
•essed party,
; from it, in
it in the par-
that so long
ad a perma-
le, were the
ere helping
^nt to know
npathy with
■en accorded
many of the
jiebec in that
ling in their
ere waging
i„ they were
kced in their
[t those Anth
place and

I now saying
subject, and
Je 1 am to be
Ither Roman
lall strive to
[believe that
\t faith and
lute and un-
[)orals, you

)

315

'i;.

concede necessarily to that Church absolute power aliogothev ; and I belio/ij,
therefore, that it is quite necessary to rcnunnber that therts may be a point
at which we may be called on to considor what the tenets of the Church, ir
that {..irticular point of view, are. I have shown that the struu'gle was fought
out within the Roman Catholic Church ; that those rights on which the
Liberals of Lower Canada insisted have been vindicated, and that the elect-
tors have a right to vote as free men. But should such a struggle recur —
which God forbid ! — could I, judging from the past, hope for any assistance,
could the Liberal party look with hope for any assistance, from the Orange
Tory leaders of Ontario ? No, because we have not leceivcd it in the past;
and, whatever the views of these leaders, they subordinated them altogether
to party politics.

I went on to say: —

These Ontario Orange leaders claim that their object is to advance Pro-
testantism, and they claim to advance it by assertions with reference to the
Roman Catholic Church which I believe to be baseless. And here, again, I do
not propose to deal with assertions as to dogma. I do not propose to deal
with assertions with respect to religion, as to whether certain views are right
or wrong, for we have nothing to do with them. But we have to do with tlinir
views as to the tenets of that (Jhurch, so far as these aftect the political condition
and social order of the country. These things are of material interest to us ;
and it is well that we should know what is advanced in the name of Protes-
tantism, or with a view of promoting it, by the leaders of the Orange Society
in Ontario. In the Hentinel of December 21st, 1882, there is the following,
which is headed, " Allejfiance to Rome Only ' :— "We have always contended
that the Romish Church teaches its followers to be disloyal to every State
wherein it exists, to recognize the authority of no temporal Crovernment, and
to own allegiance only to the Papacy." On April 2Gth, lS8iJ, the same paper
said : — " It is hardly necessary to say that every true member of «the Church
must yield to the Pope, the infallible head of the Church, ancpaestiening
obedience in morals, dogmatic faith or belief, and also conduct of civil affairs.
No member of the Church can dispute the right of the head of it to decide
infallibly and dogmatically all questions affecting temporal power in Govern-
ments any more than he can that of the faith and the belief put forth in her
teachings. . . . The people in America are governed by constitutions
which leave to themselves the power of determining the character and struc-
ture of Government. These constitutions are, therefore, inimical to the
Church of Rome, in her opinion, and are only tolerated because they cannot
be destroyed. As she is at war with every form of Government not pre-
scribed by herself, it would be her duty to destroy these constitutions if she '
could ; nay, she would be guilty under her teachings, if she had the power
and did not destroy them. . . . Is it not a humiliation that in a country
like this a loyal association has been refused the same privileges that are daily
granted to those who proclaim the prerogative of a foreign Prince Bishop to
be superior to those of Her Majesty and Her Government — privileges daily
granted to those whose civil allegiance is firstly to the Pope, and secoudiy
wherever he might direct it,' though that should lead to the destruction of the
dignities and prerogatives of the Imperial Crown now largely directed by the
responsible Ministers of the Government, who hold office at the will of the
people ? " Again in the Sentinel of the 8th of November, 1883, the folowing
language is used : — " It is necessary to keep constantly before the minds of
the Orange and Protestant public of the Dominion that Rome is still true to
her motto, semper eadem. She is the same to-day that she was a hundred years
ago, planning, scheming, and contriving to subvert the best liberties and

(10)

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316

freest institutions of »:vcry State in Chrisientloia." Those are the statements
repeated over and over again as to the pohtical attitude of the Church of
Rome ; and all true Protestants are called upon to occupy an inimical posi-
tion towards uieniberH of that Church on the ground, first of all, that the ad-
herents of that Church do not owe civil allegiance to tlie Queen of this Do-
minion and the constitution cf tliia country ; second, that they owe civil al-
legiance to a foreign power ; and third, that that power is inimical to freefn-
stitutioiis, and that its efforts a are directed to subvert them as far as possible
That is their attitude with respect to the Church of Rome and its adherents in
Canada to-day. Again, so late as the 19th of February, 1884, at a meeting
of the Grand Lodge of Ontario West, the Grand Master — while this Parlia-
ment was in session, while this Bill was ou the Order papei- — referring to the
unfortunate affair in Newfoundland, said : — "Brethren, it is the old story.
It has been told in Ireland a thousand times. It has been told in Fort Garry,
Montreal, and Newfoundland, and shows to us as plainly as the sunat noon-
day that wlien Romanism has the nscendency Protestants have no rights, and
are only tolerated, and that the teachings of Rome are the same to-day as
they were in '98— that to break faith with heretics is no sin, and that killing
is no murder." Then, sir, in the same speech, he quotes approvingly from a
weekly journal these words ■ — "It (/. c. , the Orange body in Ireland) is act-
ing strictly in self-defence, for evorybody who has read Irish history, or who
listens to Fenian harangues, must know that from the moment when power
passed into the hands of Irish Catholics no man of British blood or Protes-
tant religion would ever dwell in safety on the soil of Ireland." Commenting
on that statement he says ; — '* This statement, coming from a gentleman who
on more than one occasion has spoken in no friendly terms concerning our
Order, shows that the thinking Protestants of this conntry are becoming alive
to the necessity of having a Protestant secret society to counteract the in-
fluence of the gigantic secret society of Romanism."
Now, these are statements with which we have to deal to-day.

• IF THESE VIEWS BE CORRECT,

if these be accurate statements of the tenets of that Church, then it does not
merely hold erroneous views in matters of dogma. The hon. member for
Hochelaga (Mr. Desjardins) and myself do not agree in our religious views,
and unfortunately we do not agree in politics ; but our difference in religion
does not mark the difference in our political allegiance. Our differences in
religion are questions between us and our consciences, between us and our
God, to be disposed of individually by each of us. But these other views,
which I have just now read, are of an entirely different character ; they go
far beyond divergencies of religiotis opinion. We have here statements of
views hostile to the Throne, hostile to free institutions, hostile to the consti-
tution, hostile to social order and safety ; views which are destructive of
everything which we, in Canada — and I do not place the Catholic below the
Protestant — which we as a united people in Canada hold most dear. I say
that if you tell me truly that in civil matters the adherents of the Roman
Catholic faith do not owe allegiance to the Crown and the constitution, but
owe it to a foreign power, then they are not true subjects to the Queen, they
are aliens in the midst of our land. If this be so I say that you cannot trust
them, and I agree with those gentlemen who sometimes, as was mentioned this
evening, say harsh things until " they grant absolution before the elections ; "
I agree with them that if these are the tenets of that Church, I can well un-
derstand iiheir hoBtility, from a political point of view, to the Roman Catholic
religion. If they believe that that Church is hostile to and desires the sub-
version of ova free institutions, of our constitution, I can understand their

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iteinents
xurch of
cal posi-
t the ad-
thiB Do-
civil al-
() free fn-
3 pousible
lerenta in
meetiuy
3 Parlia-
ing to the
)ld story.
>rt Garry,
rat noon-
ights, and
to-day as
lat killing
»ly from a
id) is act-
ry, or who
len power
or Protes-
immenting
leman who
jrning our
iming alive
ct the in-

t does not
ember for
ous views,
n religion
erences in
and our
ler views,
they go
[ements of
le consti-
[ructive of
lelow the
it. I say
[e Roman
ition, but
een, they
mot trust
oned this
ictions ; "
well un-
Catholic
the sub-
id their

hostility going far beyond diU'trouoes as to dogmas of religion ; F cati under-
stand that the inatitiition ia one with whose adherents no alliance is to be
maintained: Once again, if it is their opinion, and if it be the case, that
Roman Catholics believe that no faith need be kept with a lioretic, that the
killing of a heretic is no murder, then social order and safety are at risk, and
we cannot possibly remain at e.vae if snch doctrinod as theao are theirs. All
those who honestly believe tht ho opinions to be true of the Roman Catholic
faith or of the adherents of that faith, cannot possibly, if they are l(»verR
of our constitution and our institutions, honestly co-operate with them in
politics. It is impossible, air, that an honest belief in these things, as the
actual tenets of that Church, can consist with political co-operation, on the

f>art of those who so believe, with Roman Catholics. On the other hand, all
overs of free institutions shi.uld combine again.st the evil which would be
wrought, the pressing evil and danger to our institutions which would exist,
if such indeed were the tenets held by such a large proportion of the citizens
of this country. The question, then, is a serious one. We have it here ;
we have had it within the last few months : we have had it stated as a doc-
trine of to-<lay, and the hon. gentleman even now nods assent to it, as the
feeling a Tory Orangeman holds with reference to his Roman Catholic fellow-
citizens. But

AKE THESE STATf:»lKNTS TUUK (

Sir, 1 believe them to be untrue. 1 believe that the Church of Rome holds
many religious doctrines and dogmas most gravely erroneous ; to these 1 am
entirely opposed.

Mr. White (Hastings) — You believe too much ; that is the trouble.

Mr. Blake — Well, perhaps I believe too much. I cannot state that the
hon. gentleman believes all he says ; I hope he does. I have endeavoured,
in my own poor way, and to the best of my humble ability, to promote the
spread of those Protestant principles of dogmatic religion, those views of the
Gospel and the Bible, which I hold. I am doing what I can in that direction,
and have been for years ; it is not much, but 1 have done what I could* 1
believe that a most potent factor in that direction is a greater union among
the Protestant denominations, and I have always been desirous of seeing
such a union accomplished for the better advancement of the Gospel, accord-
ing to our views of it. 1 rejoice to see the evidences of a tendency towards
that union, in the existence of those organizations in which ministers and
people of various denominations mingle, forget their dilferences, and learn
what is best in each other, and in what pointd ihey agree. I rejoice to see
Evangelical Alliances, Young Men's Christian Associations, Sunday-school
Associations, and Ministerial Associations, such as the one that exists in my
own city. 1 have worked with Orangemen in the Synod of my Church and
elsewhere; they have sympathised with me, and I have sympathised with them.
I cared u6t for our differences in politics ; they have never made the shake'of
our hands less warm, or our co-operation in the work of our Church less ear-
nest ; and it pains me that hon. gentlemen opposite should seek an occasion
of this kind to raise a wall of division, even among those engaged to<jetherin
Church work, by uttering and circulating these calumnies against me, and by
declaring that my Protestant principles are abandoned because I cannot in my^
conscience support a Bill for the incorporation of a society which propagates
opinions like those which I have read. I know that 1 shall be misrepresented
and misunderstood, and that men will be misled, in my Province and else-
where, as to #hat I have said to-night. I cannot help it ; I felt it borne in
upon me as a duty to say it ; I had to say it. I know that men will be misled
by designing politicians who are using the cloak of religion and the cloak
of charity to promote party politics. If we could forgot our differences, and
agree to mingle in all charitable works, irrespective of our faith — aa^ God be

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thanked, ivlthoiif^h wo ditier in religion, we may agree in works of charity —
it wotild bo a bJeafled achievement. But to-day what arc you doing? You
are promoting these calumnies in reference to another Church ; you are com-
ing forward and declaring, untruly, as 1 believe, fhatthe tenets of that Church,
from which you differ, are in theae respects detestable, and that every true
Protestant must take the same position. It is a course of which I hope you
will repent before 3 ou are many years older. Nov.', I am anxioiis for a Pro-
testant ascendency of one kind — for the spread or those opinions which I be-
lieve to be true ; but I am anxious that there should be no Protestant ascend-
ency of the material kind to which the leaders of the Orange Tory party refer,
when they speak of that Protestant ascendency which existed in the past in
Ireland, and to which they look backward with such longing eyes. 1 am
not anxious for that kind of Protestant ascendency, and in my desire to pro-
mote my dogmatic faith

I DO WOT yoUNTKNANOK SUCH WEAPONS

as the hon. gentleman and other Tory Orange leaders use. My belief is that
my Catholic fellow-subjects do acknowledge allegiance and feel a loyalty to
the Crown and the free institutions of this country. My belief is that they do
not think that to break faith with a heretic is no sin, and that to kill him is
no murder. I have not forgotten the declaration made against such calumnies
as these by the Irish prelateg, as long ago as the 25th of January, 1825, in a
document which contains many statements of faith and doctrine, as to which
Protestants and Roman Catholics are as wide as the poles asunder. But it
contains two statempi'^s which touch our social and political system, and our
relations to eash othei, cts citiaens of one common country, as follows : —
" The Irish Catholics swear that the Catholics of Ireland do not believe that
the Pope of Rome, vr any other foreign prince, prelate, state or potentate,
hath, or ought to have any teniporal or civil jurisdiction, power, superiority
or pre-eminence, directly or indirectly, within this realm ; and this without
any.mental reservation or disi>en8ation. " The prelates goon to say : "After
this full, explicit and sworn declaration, we are utterly at a loss to conceive
on what possible ground we could be justly charged with bearing towards our
Most Gracious Sovereign only a divided allegiance." And with reference to
the other insulting charge they say this : "The Catholics of Ireland not only
do not believe, but they declare on oath that they detest as unchristian and
impious the belief that it is lawful to murder or destroy any person or persons
whatever under the pretence of their being heretics ; and also the principle
that no faith is to be kept with heretics. " There you find distinct statements
which contradict allegations which ought not to have been made, and which
there ought not therefore to have been necessity for contradicting ; and yet,
Sir, we find, not ten years ago, not five years ago, not one year ago, but
within the past few days, the most offensive of these allegations repeated ;
allegations which I have shown would, if true, indicate a condition subversive
of the free institutions of our country. Now I am not prepared to mark as
murderous, as treacherous and disloyal, nearly one-half of my fellow-citis^ens.
I do not believe that the cause of Protestantism, of true religion, the
advancement of the Gospel, the peace and prosperity, the welfare and the
good government of this Dominion, w ill be promoted by the State recognition
of this secret society, organized and led as it is in Ontario, and devoted to t^ho
propagation of views such as* those which I have exposed. I do not myself
attach, in the discordant dissolution of parties with respect to thia Bill, any
political significance to the question. I have viewed it from another aspect
altogether ; I have been anxious that we should understand what the real
merits of the controversy are ; and in my statement of my objections I hove
endeavoured to sustain them, not by stale and juusty authorities, bat by

(10)

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sharity —
g ? You
are com-
t Church,
/ory truo
dope you
or a Pro-
lich I be-
t ascend-
rty refer,
le past in
B. 1 am
re to pro-

ief is that
loyalty to
\t they do
:ill him is
calumnies
1825, in a
J to which
p. But it
1, and our
'oUows : —
lieve that
potentate,
uperiority
without
"After
conceive
wards our
erence to
not only
istian and
ar persons
principle
atements
nd which
and yet,
ago, but
repeated ;
ubversive
mark as
ir-citisrens.
_^ion, the
and the
icognition
ted to!^ho
)t myself
J Bill, any
|er aspect
the real
18 I have
p, but by

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recent and authentic utterances. But, perhaps, T am wron<,' ; T daro say
that I shall be more bitterly misrepresented than ever before by the Oranye
Tory lenders ; and a j to the Tory Roman Catliolic leadtTs, thoy, too, tlie
temporary strugcfle between them and their Oraiij^e allies beinj,' ended and
the alliance revived, will refjard me all tlie more diatnatoliilly becauan I liiive
necessarily shown, either how sham their battle is, or how false and un-
natnral is their conjunction.

THE TRUE rOIilCV DKPINEr).

But T have this satisfaction, that I have told plainly the truth as 1 believe it ;
ami it win be to me an ;uuple reward, if I have succeeded in expliiinint( to
njoderato men (m both sides the vie\v.s I hold, anrl in pointint; out the true
path of duty in a community of divtM-so rncos and creeds like ours ; wluive we
must combine tirmness in the assertion of our own riiifhts, with fulness in
the recognition of the rights of others ; wo must cultivate xnodenition and
forbearance ; we must avoid misrepresentation, calumny, and abuse ; we
must hold to the ample acknowled^jment of each man's individual ri[^ht8 of
conscience in religious matters, and of the common citizenshiip of all in civil
aflairs, if we would make of Canada a groat and free country, inhabited by
a happy and united people.

Now I have given you these exti'acts l)ecaii.se they throw light
on the situation of to-day. They show the truth of what T said
a while ago, that the Mail has become

A DAILY " ORANGE SENTINEL."

They show that the very things which the Orange Tories were
averring in their lodges in 1884 are the things which the Mail
now avers ; and that its platform is the Orange Tory 'platform.
They show the character of that platform. And here you have
the real significance of the position. The Orange Tories of On-
tario, without whom Sir John Macdonald cannot stand for one
instant, have so far taken the bit in their teeth that they are
determined not to be absolutely controlled by Sir John. They
will speak now. But they are Tories still. They are Tories above
all ; and they are willing to use even their explosions of wrath
to help him. In truth they have exploded only whpin they saw
that they could no longer control the almost undivided Roman
Catholic vote. Then it was that their Protestant virtue overcame
their political prudence. But they are still anxious that Sir John
should win. And they hope for his triumph by the division of
the Liberal Protestants, and through his retention of a large part
of his Catholic support. And so there is to be an apparent sep-
aration. Sir John, too, has seen that he can no longer himself,
ride all the horses ; so he has to appoint deputies and assistants.
The political performers are to separate. They are to take differ-
ent paths. Mr. Bowell and Mr. Bunting take the Orange horse
and are passed through tlie Orange toll-har ; Sir Hector Lange-

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v'ln and Mr. Frank Smith rule doithh on the Gatholio sfrp.d and
travel dovm the (jreen lane, with its bright blue JloiverH ; while
Sir John remcins on a pirJxiUl ayiimal and is affemplin;j the,
journey bi; flic old road. (Lnu^litor.) liut thts {^oal is the same
for all of thorn — a Tory triinnph nt the polls. (Cheers.) There
they will meet an<l poll their votes together, and lan^Mi in their
sleeves at the fobls they have been gulling. (Cheers.) This shoivft
you the real reason of these explosions of the Mail. This shows
you the real reason why Sir John Macdonald does not denounce
the Mail, wliy he is only too mildly dopiecatory and apolf)getic,
why his words of apology are covered with words of jiraise and
thanks. It is because the move is more than the fr'tik of a paper.
It is the voice of the backbone of the Ontaiio Tory party licen-
sed V>y its eh inf. (Loud cheers.)

IT IS A PARTY MOVE.

Here then is the issue that we are called to meet, and if we meet
it boldly, ready to suffer if need be, for the right ; preferring to
suffer for the right rather than to triumjjh in the wrong— (cheers) —
but hoping and believing that the day is pas-<ed in this Province
of Ontario, when the fires of religious bigotry and race prejudice
can be kindled so easily as in the years gone by — (tremendous
cheering) — hoping and eelieving that the Canadian people

HAVE learned TO BE MORE LIBERAL, TO BE MORE JUST, TO BE MORE
tolerant than once THEY WERK; HOPING AND BELIEVING THAT
THEY ARK MORE CONSCIOUS THAN ONCE THEY WERE OF THE CLAIMS
OF EQUITY AND FAIR PLAY ; THAT THEY ARE STRONG ENOUGH TO DO
RIGHT; THAT THEY CAN DARE TO BE JUST; HOPING AND BELIEVING
THAT THIS LAST AND WORST ATTEMPT OF THE MEN WHO HAVE SO
LONG DECEIVED THE PEOPLE WILL MEET WITH A REBUKE STILL
MORE STERN, AND A DEFEAT STILL MORE DECISIVE, THAN IF THEV
HAD MET THEIR FATE WITHOUT AITEMl'TING TO AVEitT IT BY THE
DESTRUCTION OF THEIR SACRED CHARGE. (Loud and prolonged

applause.)

.(10)

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PnOHIlUTTON AND I'OIJTICS.

)n<jfe(l

Hon. Edward Blake, after somo preliminary remarks, at Ayl-
mer, said : —

I desire, l)efore enterintj upon a discussion ot party political
questions, to trouble you witli a few won Is with reference to a
question upon which I have been anxious for some time to say
something, but that no favourable occasion arose. I do not say that
this is a specially favourable opportunity for the purpose, because
whatl was anxious to find was an occasion upon which no topic
of party controversy would arise. But I see such an opportunity is
not likely to be found in view of the nearness of the Provincial el-
ection, and of the season of the year, and having seen that to be
the case, and having found also that the Dominion A.lliance had a
few days ago stated what its programme md platform are, and
recommended them for the adoption of thcjse who are enrolled in
its ranks, I have thought I would not lose the chance of speaking to
my first audience after that time, and saying a few w^ords to them
upon

THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION.

(Loud applause.) But I have to talk upon other topics, and that
compels me to compress my remarks. There is no time to enlarge
upon reasons or arguments. 1 must almost confine myself to stating
facts and conclusions. This is not Y^ry satisfactory to me; perhaps
will not be so to you. It may seem dogmatic ; it may tend to
some misconceptions ; but it is inevitable under the circumstances.
Why is it that I had desired to discuss this subject unconnected
altogether with any discussion at that time of party political to-
pics ? It is in the interest of the cause itself on which I am about
now to touch. This is

NOT AT THIS TIME A PARTY QUESTION.

How do the political parties of Canada stand upon it ? The Lib-
eral party embraces, I have no doubt, the majority of the Temper-
ance Reformers and Prohibitionists, and for that I refer you not
merely to the strong and active temperance Reformers throughout
the land, but to the Parliamentary record of the Liberal represen-
tatives at Ottawa. (Cheers.) I shall not go over the votes ; I
suppose they are familiar to you all. But although that is the
position of the Liberal party in that regard, it still includes many

(U)

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sober, virtuous, temperate, Cliristian men who have not yet seen
it their duty to become total abstainers themselves or to support
laws to force either themselves or their neighbours to abstain.
The Tory party embraces the majority of the anti-temperance
workers and anti-prohibitionists, and it embraces the great bulk
of the liquor interest. (Applause.) For that I refer you to what
you know in your own locality, and also once again to the parlia-
mentary record. I

REFER YOU TO THE RECORD OF THE VOTES

in Parliament in both branches of the Legislature. In the House
of Commons, springing from the people, trace the votes of the Con-
servatives and those of the Reformers ; and in the Senate, where
you see the result of eight years of Tory rule with reference to a
body in which they have had the opportunity of making some
sixty or seventy appointments, if I am rightly informed, and have
made it a most decidedly and emphatically anti-temperance and
anti- prohibitionist assembly. That has been their own work ; it
is their own child, their oft'spring, and it speaks for itself. (Great
applause.) Now, amongst the Ministry itself — those who lead the
Tory party of to-day — you find one of the greatest of the brewers
of Canada, and one of the greatest of the spirit sellers of Canatla,
and some very liberal consumers of the commodities which are made
and dispensed by their colleagues. (Loud laughter and applause.)
And so it is with the rank and file. But that party contains a
certain number — a considerable number, though a minority — of
the strong temperance men and prohibitionists as well. Now, the
Conservative Government, through the various Ministers, from the
First Minister down, down, down to Mr. Foster — (loud laughter) —
has declared that this is not and '

, CANNOT BE MADE A PARTY QUESTION.

Tha't is their attitude, and I admit that it seems absolutely impos-
sible for them. I believe it would be the greatest example — the
most gigantic example — of organized hypocrisy this world has
ever seen or known. (Applause.) So much for that. Now, with
reference to the Liberal party. Would it be possible for us to
make it a party question at this time ? I believe not. (Applause.)
And this for several reasons, some affecting the cause and some
affecting the party, and affecting the party in the sense, in which
we may honestly and properly declare that we desire to consider
the interests of the party, regarding the party not as an end but as
a means, as a great instrument for effecting the public good ..'^d
promoting good government through the land ; as an instrument
whose efficiency and capacity for these great objects we are bound

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323

to preserve, and ii' possible to advance. Now, fir.stof all, it would
drive out of our ranks many good and sober men who, as I have
said, do not yet see eye to eye with others of us on this particular
question. I hope that time

MAY SOON INDUCE A CHANGE OF VIEW

with many of them. I believe our present attitude favours such a
change, and I am quite sure that expulsion would not tend to pro-
duce such a change at .all, but the reverse. Then it would not bring
to our ranks the honest temperance Tories. They believe in Sir John
Macdonald, Mr. John Carling, and Mr. Frank Smith. They believe
in the general policy of the Government. They are opposed to us on
all the general questions of the day. If honest men they cannot sac-
crifice theii* convictions on all these questions, and, therefore,
they cannot co-operate with us upon them. If dishonest men, we
don't want them. (Loud and prolonged apj>lause.) Then again, it
would render impossible the conduct of the business of the country
under the system of party organization, without providing any
substitute for that system whatever. Then as to the cause. I
conscientiously believe it would not advance the cause; on the
contrary, in my belief it would retard it. (Applause.) The cause
would be weaker now and would be weaker later, and by intro-
ducing the litterness and nearly equal divisions of party into this
special contr^jversy, the chance of passing and alterwards of main-
taining a law, which more than any other law I know of requires
a very general assent, would be indeiinitely postponed. But any-
way, whatever may be desirable, it is not now a party question.
It is a question

ON WHICH REFORMERS AGREE TO DIFFER,

on which each one acts on his own judgmout. I speak for myself
and for myself alone. I express the view of no othej' man.

I DECLINE POSITIVELY

from my notions of public duty to assist in any way at this time
to makve this a party question. / havp. endeavoured, and shall
continue to endeavour, to win every man. Reformer or Toi'y, to
mn/y temperance opinions by argument and by exa'niple. But I
shall neither drive away from my side of general politics Reform-
ers who* do not think with me on temperance and prohibition
questions, nor shall I refuse on temperance and prohibition ques-
tions to co-operate with Tories wlio oppose me on general politics.
(Cheers.) I will act witli all, I will do my best for the promotion

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of my views, ostracising' no man because he differs from me on
this question, and refusing no man's help because he differs from
me on all the others. (Cheers.)

NOW FOR MY INDIVIDUAL VIEWS.

Always strictly temperate, thirteen years ago I came to see
the evils to Canada of the diinking habit so strongly that I
felt it my duty to do all I could to end that habit. And I
thought the first step was to become a total abstainer myself,
and I did so. (Loud cheers.) I claim no merit at all for that act.
It happened to be a very trifling sacrifice to me. Since that time,
by precept and example, by voice and by vote, I have always sup-
ported what I thought to be the true interests of temperance.
(Cheers.) I have long believed that the greatest boon to the peo-
ple of Canada would be that we should become a nation of total
abstainers. (Renewed applause.) To achieye that result I would
gladly, even were I as anxious to retain as I am to quit the posi-
tion I occupy, surrender it to-morrow. Bui now as to the means.
I believe the main factor must be the formation of an enlightened,
a very widely diffused, and a very strong public opinion, under
which many more of our good men, our sober, virtuous, and God-
fearing citizens, not now total abstainers, shall be made to see so
clearly the evils of drink to the community, and their personal
duty in the matter, that they shall, in the general interest, become
themselves total abstainers, and having so become, shall endeavour
to persuade others to follow their example and thus very largely
reinforce the ranks of the voluntary abstainers. In this respect
great progress has been made — I recognize it thankfully — but
much more remains to be done, and if we slacken in this work
and hope to save trouble to ourselves by other and wholesale an^
involuntary methods, we shall make the greatest mistake conceiv-
able. (Applause.) I think no repressive legislation can be profit-
able or permanent unless there exists a widely-diffused and very
strongly- felt and

VERT EARNEST PUBLIC OPINION

at its back. The tone and quality of this opinion are of as much
or more consequence than its quantity. It is not from fear of the
criminal law that the bulKof the community abstains from crime.
The bulk would abstain if there were no criminal law. The con-
science of the community would be its law. Laws generally de-
rive their binding effect from this conisideration. But for that,
even though directed against a few only, they would be of little use.
This view has very special application to legislation upon the sub-
ject of the general social customs of the people. It foll(ows, then,

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that it is Only this widely-diffused and strongly-felt public opinion
which can be properly crystallized into law, and that premature
attempts will be abortive failures. Thus conditions of opinion may
exist at various epochs of progress under which, usefully, licenses
may be required to sell, under which high license may replace low
license, under which restricted license may replace freer license,
under which local and partial prohibition may replace higl) and
restricted license, and under which general prohibition may re-

{)lace local and partial prohibition. , But in deciding on the legis-
ation to be at any particular time adopted, we must determine
whether the country is at that tinte •

RIPE FOR THE LEGISLATION ;

whether it is reasonable to conclude that it will be enforced and
maintained, else we hurt instead of helping the cause. Now, as to
legislative and executive action, I am against the emasculation of
the Temperance Act, which I believe to be in contemplation at this
hour. (Cheers.) I am for the amendment of that Act in those
details in which experience has shown defects, preventing a fair
test of its principles. I believe it is the duty of the Government
of the day, finding this law upon the Statute Book, to determine
whether it shall be repealed or made effective ; I believe that if
they do not choose to repeal it they are bound to make it effective,
and if they neglect dealing with the case they neglect their plain
and obvious duty. (Loud cheers.) I am for

A FAIR AND FULL TRIAL OF THE ACT

in the localities in which it is in force, with all the aid that exe-
cutive action can properly afford. And here I may point out that
the case Mr. Mowat states with reference to the Dominion func-
tions is much stronger than he put it, because, if I rightly under-
stand it, the Temperance Act itself contains a clause providing
that the Collector of Inland Revenue, a Dominion officer, may
bring prosecutions, and that it shall be the duty of the Collector of
Inland Revenue to act on informations and bring these prosecu-
tions. (Loud applause.) I am for putting down with a stern hand
the dynamite and other outrages, and the terrorism which has
disgraced some places in this connection. (Great cheering.) I am
for or against the submission of the Act in new localities, accord-
ing as there is or is not a fair prospect in the condition of local
opmion that it will be reasonably efficacious. (Applause.) It is
on this consideration that I myself would vote m case it were
submitted in a county in which I had a vote. I am against the
submission of the Act as a mere tost of public opinion, oy a vote

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in the nature of a plebiscite on prohibition, without a firm de- . ,
termination to work it thoroughly if passed. I consider the

■ '; \ TEMPEX?,ANCE ACT ITSELF IS ON ITS TRIAL.

I have been anxiously watching its operation in that view, as also
to use it as one test, whether there yet exists in Canada such a
tone and (juality of public opinion as would render further legis-
lation efficacious and permanent. This I regard as a much better
test than the mere vote at tbe polls. I cannot say I think the
test as yet justifies the proposed legislation. I am glad to say that
in many places the Scott ^ct is working fairly, while in some
cases the results are hardly known, and in some the results are not
fjavourable. But I notice that large numbers of our citizens, good,
sober, virtuous, and exemplary, are as yet unconvinced as to the
duty of total abstinence themselves, and therefore unfit to enforce
it upon others, I find many supporters of temperance legislation
who do not look upon drinking, even in Scott Act counties, as a
crime, and who refuse that moral support, and help to the enforce-
ment of that law which they give to the general criminal law.

■ •»'■!;

JUST COMPAEE THINGS.

Suppose one of us in walking along the street behind a neighbour,
a friend, or a stranger, and see his pocket being picked. He
makes himself a special police constable at once, tries to pre-
vent the crime, and, if he is big enough, arrests the criminal.
But supposing, in a Scott Act county, we pass an unlicensed
house — for they are all unlicensed, no licenses being granted
— and see some one going in and getting drink, we turn to
the other side ; we say nothing about that ; we do not propose
to enforce the law ; we do not give the same support, the same
sympathy, the same active investigation in the case of this law as
is given in the other case. Now if that be the condition of the
more advanced localities, what is the condition in the other pai'ts
of Canada ? I have no sjanpathy whatever with the abuse some-
times poured out on those honest men, who, not themselves in any
sense slaves to drink, are not yet convinced of the duty of total
abstinence. There are amongst these many better men than somfe
of those who abuse them. (Cheers.)

1 .

..« .. INTEMPERANCE IN DRINK IS NOT THE ONLY VICE, . '^

and there are things much worse at any rate than moderate drink-
ing. Unfortunate as I believe the habit, there are many better
men than myself who honestly differ from me, who have not seen
what I think the light in this matter, and their eyes will not be en-

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327

lightened or their ears be opened by abuse; they will be only closed
and darkened. I am ready to try and persuade, but I am not
ready to abuse them. Lei us endeavour in all loving kindness to '
win them to our views. This is our most important and most
pressing work. Until progress is made in that, 1 am not of the ,.
opinion that Canada is ripe for prohiljition. (Cheers.) 7 (/o not
believe that the lanj, if carried, would, in the present condition, he
useful or permanent. T remembei' very well the speech made by
Sir Leonard Tille}'', that veteran champion of temperance — made
not very long before he retired from Parliament — in which he
declared as the result of his long experience, his experience in his
own Province, confirmed by all that he hail learned elsewhere — an
opinion which pointed out the absolute necessity, in order that
there might be an efficacious and permanent law, for that

STRONG AND WIDELY-DIFFUSED PUBLIC OPINION

to which I refer, and I observe that even the Mail newspaper, in the
article in which it declared its new confession of faith — (cheers and
laughter) — when, with all tlie fervour of the neophyte, with all the
zeal of the convert, you might have expected it would out-Herod
Herod, or, as people sometimes say, meaning the same thing, been
more Catholic than the Pope — declared itself in these words : —
" So vast and momentous a change is not to be accomplished in a
hurry. Public opinion has to be moulded and hardened, and more
than a majority of the people brought to the conviction that drink
is a direct outrage and irredeemable curse which ought to be out-
lawed from among rnen. This is a formidable task." Therefore I
cannot honestly vote for prohibition now. I can give no pledge
for such a vote at any definite time. Should the time arrive when
I think the law would be useful and permanent instead of hurtful,
I will vote for it, whatever the political results to myself. Until
that time comes

I SHALL VOTE AGAINST IT,

whatever those results may be. (Loud cheers). Let me point out
to you here that there is a large constitutional question involved
in prohibition ; there is the question of the reform of the Senate,
for just so long as you maintain the Senate as at present consti-
tuted and composed, just so long there is an absolute and insepar-
able barrier to your obtaining prohibitory legislation. (Loud ap-
plause.) There are also two financial questions which, though sub-
ordinate, are each important enough to refer to, First is the ques-
tion of revenue. I think the prosperity resultant from the disuse
of intoxicating liquors would in time resto'^e very largely the loss
from the duties. But there would be a temporary and serious dis-
turbance to be faced, and the present condition of enormous expen-

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ditures, high taxation, and large deficits is unfavourable to im-
mediate action. Next, I think that there are certain permanent
interests existing under the protection* of the law, in respect of
which justice demands that compensation on a limited principle
should accompany their legislative extinction. But I think this
demand ought not to prevent the passing of the law, if the gener-
al good requires it. In that case the law should be passed and
the compensation provided. I dare say the views I have now
expressed will not please the extremists of either party. I can-
not help it. It is my duty to give my fellow-countrymen my
honest advice and take the consequences. That advice I have
given and those consequences I am prepared to face. (Loud and
prolonged applause.)

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LEGISLATION FOR LABOUR.

Sir John Macdonald's Pretensions Discussed.

LIBERALS AND THE TAlilFF.

RELATIONS OP LABOUR AND CAPITAL.

Ke-m e<3-±e3 a»:Q.<3. ZDToja.-Ke'm ed-ies.

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Total Abstinance Cures many Evils.

Mr. Chairman, friends and fellow-citizens, 1 have been asked
to address you to-night, not upon certain political questions of the
day, which have been specially engaging the attention of the public
at large during the last few -months, but upon topics particularly
affecting ,

THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING CLASSES

of Canada — (applause) — a subject not lending itself readily to
passion, to rhetoric, or declamation, not so easily enlivened as
some topics may be in discussion, but yet a subject which A

MUST BE PROFOUNDLY INTERESTING

•■ ' ■ .

to every man who has a brain to think, or a heart to feel.
(Renewed applause.) We would be unworthy of our place in the
world, if we did not feel the deepest concern in the condition of
the masses — the toiling masses ; and the inquiry what that condi-
tion is, what their troubles are, what remedy may be found, what
improvement may be effected, ought to enlist our best energies in
the search for its solution. Now, I had intended to discuss to-,
night a large portion of the speech lately delivered by the First
Minister especially directed to workingmen, in which he engaged
in a retrospective commentary upon transactions of some years
back, with the desire and intent of painting in very brilliant colours
the record of the Conservative party, and in correspondingly dark
colours, the record of the Li]t)eral party. He raised the question
of the printers' arrest of 1872, and his legislation in that connec-
tion; he discussed the subjects of Chinese labour, of contract

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labour in penitentiaries, and of savings bank deposits. But he
omitted some other topics of the past, such as

THE ATTEMPTED FACTORY LEGISLATION,

(applause) which would also be, in some respects, interesting.
Upon all these questions, I believe a complete answer is to be
given to the speech to which I refer, but there are upon the plat-
form to-night several speakers whom you are anxious to hear. I

. cannot encroach upon their time ; and therefore I defer for the
moment dealing with these questions of the past ; but I undertake
to dispose of them at an early day. I will simply say, with regard
to one of them, that it was an extraordinary omission on the part

'of the First Minister that, engaged as he was in a historical re-
trospect, he forgot altogether to mention that the

CRIMINAL OFFENCES ACT

'which he professed to have made right in 1872, was not made
right until 1876, when I had the honour and satisfaction of intro-
ducing legislation, in advance of the laws then enacted in England,
which eliminated the features of class legislation in Sir John
Macdonald's Act ; which removed the 'prohibition he had retained
against the workmen ivatching places of business for certain pur-
poses connected with their combinations; which gave to those
charged with o fences under the laiv the inestimable privilege of
a trial by jury, instead of before magistrates, as under his law ;

■ and which, most important of all, abrogated the application to
this class of transactions of the odious law of conspiracy, through
which things lawful for one workingman to do had been construed,
under the laiv as he left it, to be criminal ivhen done in concert
by two or more. (Applause.) He forgot also to refer to" the fact
that in the following year, when I was still Minister of Justice, I
induced Parliament to amend the laws which

MADE AN ODIOUS DISTINCTION

between different breaches of contract, which made all breaches of
contract of seivice ciiminal, while all other breaches of contract
were merely civil oflfbnces, and to incorporate in the legislation
still deemed necessary on the subject the just principle of equal
dealing with all classes of the community in like cases ofllending,
instead of the old and arbitrary plan of making one law for the
workingman and another for the rest of the world. (Loud
applause.) He likewise omitted from that retrospective history
the fact that in 1882, contrary to m.y protest, Parliament under
his guidance established the proposition that a Stipendiary Magis-

(12)

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331

trate, without a jury, should have power to try, and to condemn,
and to inflict a penalty of five years in the penitentiary upon
those charged with the apparently trivial offences dealt with by
the Seamen's Act. And he equally forgot to allude to the circum-
stance that,

CONTRARY TO THE PROTEST OF THE RKFORM PARTY,,

notwithstanding his professed anxiety ta advance the interests of
labour, he had established a sort of penal disqualification, a money
obstacle to candidatures for Parliament by requiring a deposit of
$200 as a condition of nomination for the honourable position of
a representative of the people. (Cheers.) Now, on all these?
subjects I have spoken in 18H2, and I intend to speak soon again.
But I could not approach this attempted retrospect without this
brief reference to the salient features of Liberal action and legis-
lation in the interests of labour, legislation which I believe to be
the most important recorded in our statute book. (Loud and
prolonged applause.) The First Minister claimed great credit for
Tiaving improved the condition of affairs, particularly as affecting
the workingmen, by the tariff. Now, the tariff was enacted in
1879, and in 1882 he appealed to the people. And his appeal was
based upon the need to obtain a renewed lease of power, which
he assured the people would, if obtained, render

THE TARIFF ABSOLUTELY PERMANENT

and beyond all danger of attack. lie obtained that lease. He
has enjoyed and useil it. But another election approaches.
Those who are well informed on the Conservative side say, what-
ever they may think, that it is not so very near. Those who have
some sources of information on the Liberal side believe it to be
much nearer. At any rate it approaches. As the election ap-
proaches you find, notwithstanding the pledge of 1882 as to the.
results of afresh lease of power, the cry is raised again, "The
tariff is in danger ! To save the tariff' you must once again return
the Conservatives to office."

If it be so that it is necessary to give the Conservative party a
third lease of power in ordi'r to save the tariff, all I can say is that
this is an acknowleiigiuent that the jirineipal pledge made bv the
Government at the last election has not been fulfilled, and that

'they HAVE FAILED TO ACCOMPLISH . >

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the promise on which they were returned. (Great applause.) , I ' - '^ . ,
desire to refer very briefly to the . ' • ;

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ATTITUDE OF THK LIBERAL PARTY UPON THE QUESTION OF THE

TARIFF.

It has been grossly misrepresented. In 1882 I stated ray views
upon that subject in the most formal manner, by means of the
address I issued to the electors of West Durliam as a manifesto to
the country ; by the principles then laid down I still abide. I
said : —

You know well that I do not approve of needless rostrictions on our liberty
of exchanging what we have for what we want, and do not see that any sub-
stantial application of the restrictive principle has been or can be, made in
favour of the great interests of tlie mechanic, the labourer, the farmer, the
lumberman, the ship-builder or the fisherman. But you know also that 1
have fully recognized the fact that we are obliged to raise yearly a great sum
made greater by the obligations imposed on us by this Government ; and
that we must continue to provide this yearly sum mainly by import duties,
. laid to a great extent on goods similar to those which can be manufactured
here ; and that it results as a necessary incident of our settled fiscal system
that there must be a large, and, as I believe, in the view of moderate protec-
tionists, an ample advantage to the home manufacturer.

Oxir adversaries wish to present to yon an isstie as between the present tariff
and ahsohite free trade .

Iliat is not tJie true issue.

Free trade is, as I have repeatedly explained, for us impossible ; and the iss^ie
is ichether the present tariff' is perfect, or defective and unjust.

I believe it to be, in some important respects, defective and unjust.

We expressed our views last session in four motions, which declare that
articles of such prime necessity as fuel and breadstufis should be free ; that
the sugar duties should be bo adjusted as to relieve the consumer from some
of the enormous extra price he is now liable to pay to a few refiners ; that the
exorbitant and unequal duties on the lower grades of cottons and woollens
should be so changed as to make them fairer to the masses, who now pay on
the cheapest goods taxes about twice as great in proportion as those which
the rich pay on the finest goods ; and that the duties on such materials as
iron, which is in universal use, should be reduced, so as to enable the home
manufacturer, to whom it is a raw material, to produce. a cheaper article for
the benefit of his home consumer, and the encouragement of his foreign
trade.

I believe that by changes of the character I have indicated monopoly and
extravagant prices would be checked, a greater measure of fair play and
justice to all classtss would be secured, and the burden of taxation would be
better adjusted to the capacity of the people who are to pay. Depend upon
it, a day will come when by sharp and bitter experience we shall learn the
truth ; and many who even now applaud will then condemn these particular
incidents of the tariff. \

My reference there to the fiscal and financial limitations of our
condition has increased force to-day, for since that time enormous
sums have been added to the public debt ; enormous sums have
been added to the annual charge ; and notwithstanding the great

taxation, . • . .' ,. -

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333

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A LARGER DEFICIT THAN WE HAVE EVER KNOWN

since Confederation has signalized tiie last financial year. There-
fore tfie eocecution even of those measures of reitdjubstmient which
1 suggested in that address, and which we had proposed in Par-
liament in the preceding session, would be found much more
diffiAiult to-day by reason of the changed condition oj a fail's. We
have no longer a large surplus to dispose of — we have a large de-
ficit and a greatly increased scale of expenditure to meet. And
it is clearer than ever that a very high scale of taxation must be
retained, and that manufacturers have nothing to fear.
I then declared that any readjustment shouUl be effected with
due regard to the legitimate interests of all concerned. In thr^t
phrase, " all concerned," I hope no one will object to my includ-
ing, as I do, the general public. (Cheers.) In any readjustment
I maintain that we should look especially to such redaction of
expenditure as may allow of a reduction of taxation, to the light-
ening of sectional taxes, to the lightening of taxes upon the piime
necessaries of life, and upon the raw materials of manufacture, to
a more equitable arrangement of the taxes which now

bear unfairly upon the poor

as compared with the rich, to a taxation of luxuries just so high
as will not thwart our object by greatly checking consumption,
to the curbing of monopolies of production in cases where, by
combination or otherwise, the tariff allows an undue and exorbi-
tant profit to be exacted from consumers, and to the effort — a
most important point — to promote reciprocal trade with our
neighbours to the south. (Great applause.) That is a modest
programme, you may say, but I believe it to be an extensive pro-
gramme, representing the full measure practicable of attainment,
and which can be fulfilled only by much expenditure of time and
thought, after full .mvestigation, careful inquiry, and ample con-
sideration of details and of the bearing of each proposal, with
the advantage of all those materials for forming a judgment on
details, which are available only to men in office. (Cheers.) As to

the condition of the operative,

Sir John Macdonald's declaration in his recent speecli was that,
owing to his tariff" policy, there is now employment for everybody,
and thai ohe Dominion is at this moment one of the most prosperous,
if not the most prosperous country on the face of the globe. That
condition I would be glad to admit, if I believed it. I regret to be
obliged to dispute it. But I dispute the alleged cause as well, and I
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maintain tliat t<iri(fn cannot jyervianently raUe wages. (Loud
applause.) 1 want you to compare together the conditions in old
countries, similarly circumstanced, eacli with dense populations,
with accumulated capital, with great inequalities of life. Compare
together England, without a tariff', and the continental countries
of Europe, which are higldy tariHed, and I maintain that it is
beyond the possihility of dispute tliat the English operative has
shorter hours, greater security for life, limb, and health, higher
wages, cheaper supplies, and a condition, on the whole, greatly
superior to that enjoyed by the o|>eratives in any ol the highly
tariffed countries of the continent of Europe. (Loud and pro-
longed applause.) Is it the tariff regulations that have made the
difference ? If so, then they work the wrong way, according to
the devotees of tariffs. (Renewed applause.) As to the United
States, some of the most eminent statesmen of that country have
declared that the longer hours, the severer toil, the greater intel-
ligence of the operative, and the higher prices of some of his
supplies, equalize his nominal reward with that of England. It
is certain that these considerations go very far to do so ; and the
difference, whatever it may be, is diminishing year by year.

TO WHAT IS THAT DIFFERENCE DUE ?

It is due, not to the tariff', but to diffierences of condition as be-
tween new and sparsel}' fettled countries, with vast expanses of
vacant fertile soil open to settlement, and old densely populated
countries in which there is no sucli mainspring of prosperity.
But I will describe those conditions and their results, not in my
own words, but in the authentic language of the Canadian Gov-
ernment Guide Book to immigrants for the present year, 1886.
The Government says : —

High wages are incident to the rapid development of wealth in a new
country of immense extent, and they will probably for a long time continue
to be high; at the same time it must be borne in mind that a new communit>
may be, owing to the attractions i>i higher wages, subject to a glut, as hat
fact, happened, that is, there is, of course, a limit to which any partici
branch of industry might, at a given time, call for workmen. Hut there s
practically no limit to the masses of men which the Canadian North- West can
absorb, the territory being about as large as the whole of Europe, with

ILLIMITABLE KESOURCES TO DEVELOP.

The rate of wages paid in such conditions has naturally relation to what may
be earned by a man who takes up 160 acres of immigrant lauds, for the plain
reason that if a man is sure to make as much from the ready resource which
is always open to him — of taking up laud — he will not work for wages at a
very great disadvantage. (Cheers.) ^ : , -. . - ■ ...^,.^...

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There is the statement of the Government itself, showing the ,
condition of things in a new country with an illimitable extent of
free and fertile la^Mls, as compared with the condition in the
Britisii Isles. Now, mark the reasoning. They do not tell the
English, Irish, or Scotch workingman that it is the Canadian tariff
that makes Canadian wages high, for they know ho would not
believe it. They know that he knows bett»'r, whatever they mav
think the Canadian operative

CAN BE GULLED INTO BELIEVINO,

and they tell the Islander the truth. (Cheers.) They give the
true reason, and I ask you to mark that reason — not only as de-
structive of those other reasons which they reserve for the Cana-
dian elector, but also because it gives to the operatives of the city
of Toronto a direct and intimate pecuniary connection with, and
interest in the prosperity of the North-West. North- \Vet*t miS'
government, a check to li^orth-West progress, anything luhlch may
prevent the best results accruing to the settler on its free arid fer-
tile lands will, you perceive, have a directly disadvantageous
effect upon the value of labour all over the country. (Loud cheers.)
How does the matter work in its other aspects ? As things are at
present the manufacturer takes all he can get out of the consumer,
and gives as much as he must, or as he thinks right, to the opera-
tive. If more be demanded he looks elsewhere for help. There
is no tariff against the import of labour. (Loud and prolonged
cheering.) If the employer will not pay the rate of wages in the
United States,

THE MECHANIC GOES OVER THKRE;

and under the circumstances of both countries the rate of wages
in the United States regulates the rate in Canada. Sir Leonard
Tilley stated this in terms a little while ago in the House of Com-
mons, using this language : —

The prices paid for labour in the United States muat regulate the price of
labour in Canada, because if the nrages are not about equal the opera^ves
will soon pass over the line.

Now, I have said there is no tariff on labour ; there is no pro-
tection 1 labour. But that is not all.

THERE IS A PREMIUM AGAINST LABOUR.

There i'^, out of the taxes paid by labour, an enormous expenditure
upon 1 amigration. On this vital point, in his discussion of the
interests of the working classes, Sir John Macdonald, by an ex-

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traordinary lapse of memory, forgot to speak. (Loud applause
and laughter.) We Liberals have pointed out for years that in
Old Canada, only farmers should really be encouraged to come.
As to domestic servants, the conditions of service must be modi-
fied, the relations of the race practically recognized, and

GREATER MUTUAL INTEREST AND RESPECT

shown between employer and employed ; else our people shun the
condition of domestic service. (Applause.) And the importation
of servants helps not so much, after all ; for many of them in a
short time go across the lines. As to agricultural labour, the im-
provements in agricultural machinery, specially the invention of
the self-binder, have largely checked the harvest demand, fortun-
ately for the agriculturist, because the low rates he receives for
his produce render it very important to him to save the cost of
harvest labour ; and fortunately, also, for all, because, while there
existed an enormous temporary demand for the short period of
harvest, it followed that the over-plus, after the harvest was over,
drifted into the towns and embarrassed and degraded the general
condition of the labour market throughout the country. (Cheers.)
Now, this immigration expenditure is

A SINK OF JOBBERY

— cheers — but so far as it is effective for its designed purpose, so
far as the money is not thrown away or

HANDED OVER TO PARTY NEWSPAPERS

at fourteen prices for printing — (renewed cheers) — it tends to
degrade labour. In the result Canadians are displaced by the
immigrant, or the immigrant reaches the United States via
Canada. I do not say that this is true in all cases, but it is true
in too many cases, and the figures of population, from whatever
source we draw them, sufficiently establish it The Government
system has worked in practice, whatever they may say as to their
intentions and instructions, so as to bring in not merely agricul-
tural, but also general labour. (Loud cheei s.) That is quite cer-
tain from what we know of those who come in under assisted
passages. The Government denies most strenuously that it ever
encourages or assists any other than the domestic servant or the
agricultural labourer ; but I turn again to the Government Guide
Book for 1886, and I find that in speaking of the Province of
Ontario

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THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT IS GIVEN

as to the resources of the Province and the demand for labour : —

But as well as wanting men to clear its forests and cultivate its soil, it re-
quires men to build its houses, to make furnitiu-e and household goods, and
to open up communication from one part of the country to another by the
construction of roads and railways.

It is further to be stated, in this connection, th'\t Ontario is rapidly be-
coming a manufacturing country. The leading industries are : Works for
making all kinds of agricultural implements in iron and wood, waggons,
carriages, railroad rolling stock (including locomotives), cotton factories,
woollen factories, tanneries, furniture factories, flax works, ordinary iron
and hardware works, paper factories, soap works, woodenware, etc. The
bountiful water supply in Ontario is used in these manufactures, as is also
steam, for motive power.

There is a very great demand for female labour for domestic service, both
in towns and country ; also for work in some of the factories ; also a demand ,
for dreismakers and seamstresses, all of whom obtain good wages in Ontario.

So much as to the encouragement of general and operative
labour. Now, with reference to the vexed

QUESTION OF ASSISTED PASSAGES,

I find in this same Guide Book for 1886 this statement: —

It may be here particularly pointed out, however, that the most favourable
rates of assisted passages are offered to female domestic servants and families
of agricultural labourers. ASSISTED PASSAGES ARE, HOWEVER,
AFFORDED TO OTHER LABOURERS. ,

(Cheers.) So that I find the direct statement in the Government
Guide Book, to the people whom they are seeking to induce to
come to Canada, that assisted passages are offered to others than
the agricultural labourer and the domestic servant. (Loudapplause.)
My belief is that we should confine ourselves to circulating the
facts of tiie true condition of the older Provinces, and their attrac-
tions to the farmer ; that

WE SHOULD ABOLISH THE ASSISTED PASSAGES ;

.that we should abolish the jobbery — (great cheering) — that we
should cut down vastly the whole expenditure ; and that we
should leave the rest of the work to the Canadian Pacific Railway
Company, which we were told would relieve us of this business
when the contract was let ; and we would thus follow, though
still more active than they, the methods adopted in the United
States with reference to immigration. So much with reference
to the important subject of Government expenditure on immigra-
tion, upon which Sir John Macdonald unfortanately forgot to
touch. Now, recurring to , (12)

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THE TARIFF IN ANOTHER ASPECT,

I maintain that it has produced disaster to several important in- v
dustries, and great consequent injury to the cause of labour.
Unduly high protection, while the demand exceeded the su|)ply,
gave inordinately high profits, for examj)l«s in cotton, in sugar,
and in certain descriptions of woollen goods. The public were
heavily charged, and a few individuals were greatly enriched.
(Applause.) Others wished to share the golden stream. Capital
was sunk ; mechanics were brought in from abroad ; t\ey were
brought away from other occupations at home. Production was
increased ; and then came quickly, in our country of limited de-
mand, the following stages : those of glut, of lower prices, of
short hours, of lower wages, of closed factories and discharged
hands, of general distress, and of demoralization of trade. Regu-
larity of employment — which is the most important thing for the
comfort of those who depend upon their daily work — was for the
time destroyed. (Applause.) Now there is some revival, and I
observe the First Minister has given his cause for that revival in
his speech. He says : —

There was oMy one thing to be dreaded iu indroducing that policy, namely,
that it might lead to over-production, and in consequence there would be
great depression and insolvency. This was the case with regard to the cotton
industry. The cotton manufacturers were so successful in their factories that
in all parts of Canada the people rushed into the manufacture of cotton, the
consequence being that more of the article was produced than was consumed.
A REMRJDY FOR THAT HAS BEEN FOUND, HOWEVER, IN THE
BUILDING OF THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY.

(Loud cheers and laughter.) No ! Not so !
have found has been in combination, in an

The remedy they

AGREEMENT AMONG THE MANUFACTURERS

to advance prices, and perhaps to limit production, and so we are
all called upon by a rapid rise, nay, by several rapid rises, of
prices, to contribute to pay dividends on millions of capital need-
lessly expended in order to create a power of production in excess
of the consuming power of the country. It is clear now that homa
competition in this and in other cases cannot be depended on to
keep down prices ; and the only safeguard, both for the man'ifac-
turers themselves, who have witnessed in these instances the dis-
astrous results of high protection, and for the general public, who,
in the early stage of inadequate supply, and again in the present
stage of iron-clad combination, are called upon to submit to the
full burden imposed by the tariff, is to take care that the tariff is

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339

NOT SO INORDINATELY HIGH

that the monopolist, whether he is such by virtue of there being
no other manufacturer, or by virtue of a combination, shall have
it in his power to take too much out of the general public. (Loud
applause.) A great deal we must allow him to take, but the rates
(as I have pointed out on former occasions), which this tariff in
some industries allows to be taken, are altogether excessive and
inordinate. But, it is said that the prices of commodities have
been comparatively low of late years, and that this is due to the
tariff. The prices are low all over the world. (Loud applause.)
The progress of invention, the progress of production, the pro-
gress of facilities for transportation, the increased area of cultiva-
tion are, to the great gain of humanity, yearly reducing the cost
of the articles which are in daily use ; and it is

NO J U.ST COMPARISON AT ALL ,

to contrast our prices of to-day with our prices of a few years ago.
(Jjoud applause.) If you want to know whether prices are low or
high in Canada, your only test is to compare them with the prices
of the day in the free or the lowest markets of the world, and
then you will see really whether they are comparatively high or
•comparatively low. Now, make this comparison, and j'^ou find
prices in several classes comparatively high, and that we are losing
in many commodities much of the general gain to humanity by
the general progress of the world. (Applause.) Take, for exam-
ple, sugar. They boast of the low price of suger. Sugar is low
here compared with its price, here a few years ago, but it is iTiordi-
mitely high here compared luith the price in England, in the pre-
sent year. The price of the raw material has fallen enormously.
We do not get anything approaching the full benefit of that
reduction. We pay infinitely more than they do in England, or ,
in bond at New York. A large part of the excess is paid into the ^
treasury, I frankly admit. A larger sum than I like to see levied
on sugar. But a very large part of the excess over the foreign '
prices, a part approximating on the consumption of the year to -
$2,000,000 beyond what goes into the treasury, is paid by the
people of Canada in effect to assist the refiners to carry on their
business. (Loud and prolonged applause.) Now, I pause here, I
cai^not further this evening discuss this phase of the tariff^ I call
your attention for a moment to another point, that of the

DIRECT BURDEN OF THE TAXATION.

There has been an enormous increase. I shall not give you figures
to-night ; there is no time. The rate has increased from forty to

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fifty per cent. The volume of the taxes received has increased
from fifty to sixty per cent., and the amount paid by the people
into the treasury is estimated at about $30 per head of every
white family. That is the amount paivl into the treasury, but the
consumer, and especially the mechanic, who buys from the retailer
in very small quantities, pays a very large advance over the
amount paid into the treasury. The advance which the wholesale
merchant charges the retailer, and the further advance which the
retailer charges the consumer, are both, of course, as a rule made
upon the duty as well as upon the other elements of the cost, and
forty to fifty per cent, advance upon the duty, will represent the
real burden upon the consumer. The cost, therefore, to the con-
sumer must be from $42 to $45 per head of a family on the aver-
age. We in this Province believe, and I think rightly, that we

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PAY MORE THAN THE AVERAGE.

I could wish that the taxes were levied just for once, not in greater
quantity, but in a different way. / coidd wish that they ivere for
once levied directly ; for if they were paid hy you to a collector
calling upon you, instead of being included in the cost of the
goods you buy, you would apprehend the burden, you would scru-
tinize more earnestly than you do the items of the public expendi-
ture which are the justification for the tax; you would realize
how that taxation presses on the industries of the people. The
very interesting paper prepared by Mr. Blue, of the Ontario Bu-
reau of Statistics, showed the condition of workingmen for last
year as well as the averages of his correspondents' returns could
indicate it. They were, however, averages of superior men, men
who kept accounts of their household expenses, and these are
men who do better than the general average, and therefore the.
general average would be

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MUCH LESS FAVOURABLE

than these results. Yet the paper shows that, assuming the aver-
age family of the picked mechanic at 4|, which is the number
these figures seem to indicate, food cost $216.42; fuel, $40.53 ;
rent, $72.41 ; clothing, $80.39 ; or a total of $417.75, and the aver-
age earnings of the worker and his family are S447.C0, leaving, for
cdl the rest of his expenses, the sum of $29.85 — for the doctor, for
schooling, for books, for church, for charities, for pleasure, for all
the amenities and some of the necessaries of life, this paltry pit-
tance of less than thirty dollars, without anything for reserve,
without anything for a rainy day, without anything for the inevi-
table period when youth and skill and health depart, to be re-

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placed by weakness, infirmity, and old age. (Loud cheers.) This
is the average condition

EVEN AMONG PICKED MEN

— miserable. And many among these had no surplus, and some
were even deficient. I was told last year, when I discussed this
subject in the light of the figures of that day, that I ignored the
fact that the wages make the scale and that the scale eats up the
wages. I did not ignore the fact. I recognize the fact, and I de-
plore the fact. (Loud applause.) / say it is a fact of which we
ouf/ht to be ashained. and. a fact luhich iv- ought to endeavour to
make a fact no longer at the earliest possible moment. (Renewed
applause.)

THE CONDITION OF THINGS IS WRONG,

if the wages are to make the actual, and that a low scale of living,
and the scale is to eat up the whole of the wage. I agree with
Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, when he said, a year or so ago,
that our natural right is not only to existence, but to
THE FAIR ENJOYMENT OF IT. (Loud and prolonged cheering.)
And the present state affords no such enjoyment, and no adequate
provision for old age, sickness, or infirmity. I protest against the
view that all is well. (Loud cheers.) All is not well. But see
in the light of what I have just now told you, how important a
thing is the abstraction from these scanty earnings, and this still
more scanty margin, of even $40 for federal taxation, or of even
$20, half that amount. (Hear, hear.) Some tax we must pay,
but the tax which we were promised should not be increased has
been enormously increased, has been recklessly increased, has been
wantonly increased ; has been, iu the first instance, needlessly in-
creased, and if now required, is required only because the Gov-
ernment was determined to spend up to the limit to which you
allowed yourselves to be taxed ; and, therefore, for the increase,
and for the abstraction of what you might otherwise have added
to this too scanty margin, I charge the Government of the day.
But, apart from the question of the burden of taxation as cast
upon as all,

I OBJECT TO THE CHARACTER

and the distribution of the taxation. Things are even worse
than I have just described them. Not only is the burden great,
hut the distribution of that burden is unjust. One gt iieral sys-
tem of taxation, I maintain, as I have long maintained, is unjust
as between the richer and the poorer classes of the community.
(Loud applause.) Taxation generally should bear more

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HEAVILY THAN IT DOES UPON CAPITAL, AND MORE LIGHTLY UPON
LABOUR, MORE HEAVILY ON THE RICH, AND MORE LIGHTLY ON

THE POOR. (Renewed applause.) Realized, fixed, and permanent
capital from its nature can afford to contribute, and ought to con-
tribute, more than fluctuating, temporary, and wearing out labour;
and the rich man,

WITH A SURPLUS INCOME OF THOUSANDS,

should contribute more proportionately out of that income than
the poor man out of that poverty which leaves him no uiore than
a bare subsistence. It does not pinch the rich ; it does not pinch
capital ; the rich man and capitalist, if you call upon hiui for
somewhat heavier taxation, may have to see his yearly increase
somewhat diminished ; he may — though that is an extreme case
— even have to give up an extra horse, or an extra ball, or an
extra month at the seaside ; but theses are consequences not very
serious. Life, even without those things, is very well worth liv-
ing. But what to the rich man is nothing becomes a very serious
question to the poor man. When you increase his taxes he has
to consider which of those few things he has deemed up to that
time necessaries of life he shall deem a necessary of life no longer.
Therefore, if we were attempting to lay direct taxes in Ontario,
I should

STRONGLY FAVOR A SUCCESSION TAX, ^

under which realized capital upon its descent should pay a toll to
the State, thus yielding at the period most convenient for all, some
portion of the unearned increment. (Loud applause.) Tiierefoie
again, if we were attempting to lay an income tax here, / should
advocate a graduated tax upon just such a scale as we might be
able to fix without creating, what is the serious difficulty, too
great temptation for the fraudulent evasion of that easily evaded
tax. And, therefore, I maintain the justice of the exemption from
our municipal income tax of the smaller incomes, and would gladly
see the limit raised, so that the reasonable earnings of wage-earn-
ers should remain untouched. (Cheers.) On these general grounds
it is that I think in the Dominion system of indirect taxation^ — a
system which I cannot propose to change — the taxation should

BEAR MO^ '<: HEAVILY ON LUXURIES

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as a means of remedying, if only partially, the existing injustice.
^ You may call all this Socialism. I don't call it so ; I call it nothing
but justice and fair play. (Loud and prolonged applause,) Now
the present system works just the other way. The system of spe-
cific duties upon goods of different values, weights and qualitit.

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results in this — that the poor man is obliged to pay more, in pro-
portion to the value of the cheap and coarse and heavy goods to
which he must confine his purchases, th> n the rich man is called
upon to pay tor the fine and costly goods which he can afford to
purchase. So that, instead of there being a proportion, there is a
disproportion ; and

THAT DlSPilOPORTION IS IN FAVOUR OF THE RICH AND AGAINST THE

POOR.

This proposition as to the effect of specific duties was stated by
Sir Leonard Tilley when ho was Finance Minister, on the occasion
of a visit to England, though it is repudiated a good deal in Cana-
da. I have often demonstrated it by examples which I have no
time to give to-night.

There is another injustice in thp! distribution of the taxes,
namely, the imposition of sectional taxes and of high taxes on
primft necessaries of life, as fuel and bread ; and of r<aw materials
of manufacture, as fuel again. (Cheers.) There is yet another
injustice in the raising of some taxes so high that it unduly fos-
ters those monopolies in manufacture which, by combination or
otherwise, are thus enabled to extract too great sums from the
people. On the whole I cannot agree with those who say this
tariff is perfect. I think I have indicated points in which it is
seriously defective, and in which it ought to be amended. (Ap-
plause.) I alluded a moment ago to

monopolies fostered by tariffs.

There are other descriptions of monopolies which affect the masses
of the community and the wages of labour — monopolies of trans-
port, monopolies of land, and creations of fictitious capital and
watered stock, clothed with great powers, enabling them to presa
upon the public and to lower largely, by the contributions they
levy, the value of labour. Most railways are, to some extent, mono-
polies in respect of the non-competitive local points ; nor, even
where there is another railway, can you be sure how long there
will be competition. As most of you are aware by experience,
both of older and of recent date, combination is too likely to follow
competition ; and the effort then is to obtain enough from the
public to compensate for the new capital invested or created.
But it was reserved to Canada, just at the time when the question
of the regulation of transport was becoming acute on this contin-
ent, just when it was plain to the great statesmen on the other
side of the lines, and was even becoming clear to the people of
England, that this question of the regulation of transport was a-

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most serious problem of the near future — it was reserved, I say, to
Canada at this time to

CREATE THE GREATEST MONOPOLY

of all, and in all its features ; transportation, public grants, land
and privileges, absolute monopoly, and fictitious capital. (Loud
applause.) Take the case of the Canadian Pacific Railway Com-
pany. My quarrel is with the policy of the Government, which
I denounce, and not with the Company, which obtained what it
could from the Government. My quarrel with the Government is
serious.

The corporation was created at the cost of the State, which is
giving in connection with the whole scheme the equivalent of
$87,000,000 in cash, besides land and public resources, out of
which other resources about $11,000,000 have been realized al-
ready, and of which there are about 14,000,000 acres left to sell.

Besides this, there were free right of way and grounds, exemp-
tion from taxation, monopoly and numerous privileges of enor-
mous value.

There was enough to build the road at a reasonable pace.

Then the Government authorized a loan of $35,000,000, on
which the traffic has to pay the interest.

Then the Government authorized the issue of $65,000,000 of
stock, now in the hands of the promoters and the public. But it
was on the », .

r WRETCHED STOCK- WATERING PLAN.

The Company received but $29,500,000 for the $65,000,000.

But this is not the worst. The Government authorized such
arrangements as resulted in the retention out of the Company's
resources, within a brief space, of about $21,000,000 to pay and
secure dividends.

So it has come to pass that of $65,000,000 nominal stock there
has gone into and remained in the road only $8,500,000, about $1
out of $8 !

A modest dividend of 6 per cent, on the nominal capital would
absorb $3,900,000 a year, or 46 per cent, on what is in the road.

So that for all time labour is to be

TAXED TO PAY DIVIDENDS

on this enormous block of nominal capital.

Necessarily North-West rates must in future be higher, and the
prosperity of Canada at large be less, and the return of labour be
diminished by this policy.

• These great grants and privileges of themselves tended to mono-
poly, for how could private capital compete with them ? . , .;-,•'

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345

But all this was not enough.

The Government established an actual positive monopoly, by
the prohibition for 20 years of roads running' south ward — a thing
wholly unprecedented, and as indefensible as it was new.

Now, we proposed that Parliament should reserve the right to
acquire the road on reasonable terms should the interest of the
State in the future demand it, but in vain.

We proposed that the avenues of trade to the East and South
should not be barred, but in vain.

We proposed that the clause of exemption from taxation, which
reads thus : —

The Canadian Pacific Railway and all stations, station grounds, workshops,
building yards and other property, rolling stock and appurtenances . . .
and the capital stock of the Company shall be free for ever from taxation by
the Dominion or by any Province hereafter to be established, or by any
municipal corporation therein ; and the lands of the Company in the North-
West Territory, until they are either sold or occupied, shall also be free from
taxation for 20 years after the grant thereof from the Crown.

should be modified, but in vain.

We called attention to the fact that 25,000,000 acres of choice
land were to be granted.

UNACCOMPANIED BY ANY CONDITION

that the agricultural lands should be open to actual settlers in
suitable areas, and at fixed maximum prices, and we proposed a '
change in this sense, but this proposal also was rejected. Since
that time the evil effects of the creation of large interests in lands
without such conditions have been further evidenced. But not-
withstanding when, in 1885, large further free grants were pro-
posed in aid of railways in the North-West, and I moved that the
agricultural lands should be opened to actual settlers in reasonable
areas on conditions of settlement and at fixed maximum prices,
my proposal was again rejected, and the evil results are now ap-,
parent. Again, when large grants were made of coal, agricultural
and ranching lands to aid the construction of a coal railway, I
pointed out that

UNLESS WE MADE SPECIAL PROVISION

as to the admission of other mines to the benefits of the road and
took special powers as to tolls, a practical monopoly would result and ■
evil would ensue. I proposed an amendment. 1 was told it was •
all nonsense, that there could be no difficulty. And I find only
the other day an extract from the Regina Leader, a Conservative '
paper, in these terms : — . - ' •

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Sir Alexander (jralt must be a greedy man. Here has ho s;ot. a fine mine
fruni the people of Cjtnada, and he makes a portion of his benefaotors along
the line of railway, poor farinerH — or tries to do this — pays 83.50 per ton for
coal which ho is selling in Winnipeg for f 6.50. And why '? Because we have
not the coinpetitinn here.

And what does the Leader advise ?

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We hope our people will adopt, as far as possible, Mr. Arkles' excellent
suggestion to use timber.

(Loud laughter and applause.) There is the remedy proposed
against a ])ractical monopoly which was created unchecked, in
spite of the efforts of the Liberal party. (Cheers.) Now in all
these matters, wiiether they concerned the enormous grants to
the C. P. Railway, or the creation of practical and actual mono-
polies, or the creation of great blocks of fictitious stock, or the
treinaendous exemptions from taxation, or the grants of land with-
out conditions openirg them to settlement — in all these matters
I maintain that the Liberal fiarty has been labouring for the peo-
ple and against the monopolist, for the settler and against the
speculator, for the masses and against the few ; and I am con-
vinced that the policy we advocated would have given you a more
flourishing and better settled West, and a happy and more pros-
perous East than now obtains. (Loud cheers.) So much I have
saifl with reference to the past and the present. And now I turn
to what Sir John Macdonald had to say to the workingmen.

ON THE EVE OF AN ELECTION,

with reference to the futui'e. I was not surprised when I looked
at that portion of his speech and scrutinized its contents, that he
had wasted so much time upon the sterile past. (Applause.) It
was because he had so little to say for the future. What did he
promise ? A bureau of labour and statistics in the first place, and
a royal commission of inquiry in the second place. As to the
bureau of labour and statistics, that is a good thing. It should
have been created long ago. (Applause.) We have had a bureau
of statistics established in and for this Province, which has initi-
ated the operations, and has been, and is doing, very good work.
{Loud applause.) I suppose it is to be largely duplicated. I
trust its operations are to be extended ; and I do hope that the
appointment made in connection with this Bureau will be of a
man suitable for the position, for upon the appointment depends
almost the whole practical value of the department. (Cheers.) I
«poke my mind, and that of the Liberal party, as to the importance
of the

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347

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COLLECTION OF STATISTICAL LVi'OUMATlON

and tlie duty of the Government to attend to this matter a long^
time ago. In 1877, when I was a member of Mr. Mackenzie's
Government, 1 said : —

I may say generally that it is unfortunatu that Canada should be su imper-
fectly supplied with machinery for the collection of statiHtics on many other
subjects of interest. My colleagues, in common with-myself, are fully alive
to that fact, and it is only the question of expense, which, in the present con-
dition of the country, deters us from proposing the creation of that statistical
machinery wliich every free coumiuiiity must feel to be material to intelli-
gent, sound, and progressive legislation.

Tlierefore you will observe that we pointed in this direction
nine years ago. Since that time — at all events since the year
1880 — we have had an overflowing treasury, and, it is said, a
flourishing condition of affairs ; the income was there, at any rate,
though created by an enormous taxation. And during all that
time, no talk, no thought, no proposal of a bureau !

A DEFICIT COMES, AN ELECTION APPROACHES, AND STllAIGHTWAY
THE BUREAU DAWNS UPON THE HORIZON.

(Cheers and laughter.) Then the other great proposal is of a
Royal Commission. In 1873, Sir John Macdonald issued a Royal
Commission, in order to obtain the whitewashing of political
■criminals from a great offence. And in 188G he proposes to issue
another Royal Commission, in order that he may lead the great
political jury to which he is about to appeal to give a more favour-
able verdict than he might otherwise expect. (Laughter and
cheers.) I do not object, for my part, to the issue of a Royal
Commission. The problems which are referred to in this pro-
posal have attracted the attention of the acutest minds and been
the subject of most able disquisitions. The results are to be found
in printed books, and if I may judge by the men named and

THE RESULTS ACHIEVED BY FORME H COMMISSIONS

appointed by this Government in the professed interests of the
working classes, if I am to judge by the work and results of the
•commissions issued to Mr. Blackeby and Mr. Lukes, I should not
have very high hopes myself from the result of this Royal Com-
mission. (Laughter and applause.) I agree that it is important
to ascertain whether there be anything in our special conditions
different from those of other countries in relation to these great
problems, but I am inclined to doubt that either Mr. Blackeby or
Mr. Lukes or anybody else who may be appointed, will find on

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the general question much more than is to be found in the w'^orks
showing the researches of the a]>lest labour rcfonnersin the world.
I was sorry, however, to observe that Sir John Macdonald, after
promising a commission of inquiry, liad no words of iiope, no ex-
pressions of his own views, no suggestions of sympathy with the
objects which are being aimed at by the working classes. (Ap-
plause.) Noiu amongst the Importdut practical improvements
ivhick I fihouhi vAnh to see tvoidd be that amongst our memhers of
Parliament there should he some who from experience knoiu, and
from familiar intercourse, can realize ivhat most of us have onhj
learned from hooks and at second-hand. (Cheers.) They would
be nseful in the halls of Parliament, both from their special and
practical knowledge, which would enable them to take an impor-
tant part in the deliberations of Parliament, and also because their
presence in Parliament would give sj)ecial assurance to the work-
ing classes of the presentation of their views in the best light and
from their own standpoint. (Renewed cheering.) I hope to see
a genuine Liberal of this stamp,

I CARE NOT WHAT HIS PARTY NAME MAY BE,

SO that he be a genuine Liberal advocating our views,.sent to Par-
liament from Toronto at an early day. (Loud and prolonged
applause.) I do not wish to make odious comparisons, but I do
not think it would take very long to convince you that you might
better your representation — (cheers and laughter) — and that you
could find in the ranks of labour many a man who would put to
the blush — if any blushes they have left — a good many more pre-
tentious members of Parliament. (Hear, hear, and great ap-
plause.) I cannot say for myself that I expect to see all the plans
of labour reformers early, or some of them ever, incorporated in
the statute book ; but there is much in these pi'oposals with which
I have long sympathized. I rejoice greatly to observe the wise and
, conservative spirit in ivhich, on many occasions, the most promi-
nent figure in the ranks of labour has spoken, and used, his great
influence over his fellow-men. (Cheers.) He has recognized the
evils incident to the strike and the boycott. He has counselled
prudence, moderation, self-restraint, and conciliation along with
lirmness. He has advised the wise and restrained use of the power
of combination, which, if abused, may be so hurtful, and if wisely
used has been and must be so helpful to the cause of labour. On
the. whole he is a man of whom, I think, not merely the class to
which he belongs, but the whole English-speaking community,
may well be proud. (Groat applause.) Now a word I have to
.say as to the

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■ 349

RELATIONS OF LABOUR AND CAPITAL,

which is one of the things referred to as to be enciuired into by this
commission. I am sorry there was no expression of opinion from
the First Minister on that point. I, for my pai t, do not object, on
the contrary, I heartily approve of the accumulation which is the
result of honest toil and superior energy and brain power. (Ap-
plause.) The power to rise is a great incentive to industry,
frugality, and the orderly advance of humanity. It keeps us at
work. But it should not be impaired by artificial advantages
given to the few, and to capital ; by watered stocks and unjust
profits ; by toll and tribute levied under law for the benefit of the
unreal and fictitious capital ; by s()eculative holdings of the public
domain ; by too burdensome a load of taxation, and by unjustly
distributed taxation. I want to see this power to rise left and
kept as unimpaired as possible. The problem of the division be-
tween capital and labour of the fruits of their co-operalion is a
most serious one. That division has

NOT BEEN JUST IN THE PAST

— (cheers) — and conflicts of a grievous character have arisen in
the eflfort to readjust it. Combmations between employers, com-
binations between workmen, strikes by the workmen, lock-outs
by the employers — a state of aflPairs resembling nothing but civil
war !

CAN SOME REMEDY BE FOUND FOR ALL THIS ?

Surely we must try ! It is the question of the day. (Great ap-
plause.) Now, I frankly confess to you tliat I believe the com-
plete remedy is largely out of the pale of law. I believe it is
largely to be found in the growth and in the exemplification in
our daily lives of the Gospel precepts — " Love thy neighbour as
thyseliV and " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,
do ye even so to them." (Applause.) If ive believe these precepts
to be realities, we must live them; and if they infiiienced our
lives lue should see fewer instances of manufacturers grinding
the faces of employees, and of the general consuming public
grinding the face of the merchant and distributor of production.
A fair living rate would be- deemed right ; and to give or take
more or less would be deemed wrong. (Cheers.) We are, I hope,
rising — too slowly and gradually, considering that this is the nine-
teenth century of the Christian era — to this view ; and that cir-
cumstance must help us greatly in the adoption of the other
practical, lawful, and conventional remedies which are suggested.
There is the remedy of industrial partnership and the remedy of

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350 ' .

co-operation. (^Applause ) These are two distinct plans, each
having its own advantages and its own difficulties. I believe my-
self in the future of both, but I believe that each requires for its
proper fulfilment a more elevated moral tone and a greater mutual
confidence on the part o'l. those concerned. Both have been tried
very often, tried in various countries, tried with varying success ;
but tried with a great measure ot success in several instances ;
and that fact proves the possibility of success in many more in-
stances, if only the question be approached by both sides in the
proper spirit. Industrial partnership is the natuial first step, be-
cause at present you have capital and you have labour joined
together, though in an uniiappy sort of union, and this seems to
be the suggestion for a fitter union between the two. If time
allowed I would desire to give you

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' - SOME SIGNAL INSTANCES

of the success of each of these plans. The great point to be
reached is the creation of a practical and felt community of inter-
est, the recognition of the n'ght of labour to a share in the fruits
produced by the joint action of labour and capital ; and the adop-
tion of means to gain that right. These plans must grow, and in
them ultimately, I believe, will the conventional remedy be found.
I would like to see them tried well and prudently here ; and I
would invite for them, if they si^ould be tried, the active sympa-
thy and co-operation of the consuming public toM'^ards establish-
ments founded upon these principles, the success of which here
would tend to the best interests of the world at large. (Ap-
plause.) But meantime the conflict goes on ; and the immediate
palliative for the avoidance of this kind of civil war to which I
have referred is

ARBITRATION.

In that I have great faith. (Loud applause.) It involves partial
recognition of the rights of labour. It tends to substitute reason
and conciliation for force and violence. It has done great good
and will do more. Yet its root is to be found, I believe, in it?:
moral strength. We may be able by law to facilitate arbitration ;
we may even provide boards of arbitration ; but we cannot, in
most cases, hope to compel reference to arbitration, or obedience
to an award. The real good will often vanish in such an effort,
and the work must, therefore, be rr.ainly voluntary. The strength
of combination, the pressure of public opinion, the power of mu-
tual good-will, and the energy of the forces which are making for
righteousness, must be the main dependence for securing the sub-
mission to arbitration and the ratification of its results. I have

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351

done. There is much more to be said upon these questions,
but time fails me. Yet I cannot part from this subject of the
condition and prospects of workin^men without saying that there is

ONE THING WE HAVE IN OUR OWN POWER,

and by which we can most sensibly ameliorate ou'- condition, and
that is by the surrender of the drinking habit (Tremendous ap-
plause, renewed again and again ) I believe that no greater boon
can be dispensed to i/ie working man, his luife, and family, than
that which he can give himself by becoming a total abstainer —
(renewed applause) — and 1 tell you frankly that I should hope as
much from the direct and indirect influences of temperance ai
from, any other human agency, or from all combined, without it.
It would help all. ' And now 1 close. I have not sought to excite
false hopes, oi- create glowing anticipations ; nor have 1 endeavoured
to unduly dai'ken the picture. I have tried to speak the words
of truth and soberness. I have told you what I believe to be in
fact and in tiuth the condition of things as it exists, to what we
have to look, and for what we have to hope. I pray you to tliink
calmly over what I have said, and I ask that you may be guided
to a sound judgment, and may act and vote according to the
strength of the argument, and the justice of the cause. (Loud and
prolonged cheering.)

KNIGHTS OF LABOUR.

€aiiad» a Country 4»f Labour— Protecting^ tlic Workers-
IVecesbity Tor Factory Legislulion.

Mr. Blake said at Welland, in response to addresses from the
Liberal Association, the Knights of Labour, and the Young Men's
Liberal Clubs : — Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, allow me
before asking your attention to some other topics ()f public inter-
est to return my thanks to the various organizations for these
addresses. I receive with gratitude the assurance from the Re-
form Association of the County of Welland of the full confidence
which they are pleased to repose in me. Here, as elsewhere, I
.. must tell you that I cannot accept a.s deserved by me the flattering
expressions of kindly confidence which have been showered upon

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me in so many parts of the country. I am too conscious of my
shortcomings as a public man to be able to receive then as de-
served. I realize that your kir>dness has taken the will for the
deed ; that you believe I have endeavoured, as far as the poor
measure of my strength and power allowed, to do my duty
towards you in the station in which I have been placed ; that you
are willing to overlook my shortcomings, and to look rather upon
my honest effort to do good according to my lights. And I can
assure you that these expressions of confidence and affection will
nerve me to endeavour in the future to be more deserving of the
kindly feeling you entertain towards me than I can claim to be
to-day. And now to you, sir, who read the address of Welland
Assembly of the Knights of Labour, and to that Assembly, I have
to express my thanks for the language of the address. I fully
recognize the honourable and

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DfGNlFIED POSITION OF HONEST LABOUR.

(Cheers.) I see that you have assumed a knightly title. In that
respect I am rather in an unfortunate position. I was obliged
from my view of public duty nearly ten years ago respectfully to
decline the offer, altogether beyond my poor deserts, of the hon-
ourable rank of Knight Commander of the most distinguished
Order of St. Michael and St. George — (Great applause) — and I
understand that by the regulations of your body I am precluded
as a lawyer — though, ak'.s, a practising lawyer no longer — from
the hope of ever attaining the much more to be coveted honour of
being a Knight of Labour. (Laughter and cheers.) So between
these two stools I have come to the ground — (laughter) — and I
suppose I must content myself witli being what, after all, I have
ever desired to remain, plain Edward Blake to the end of the
chapter. (Loud and prolonged cheering.) I fully recognize the
truth of what has been said as to the importance to the state of
the condition of the toiling masses. If there be a country in the
world in which the importance of labour must be fully recognized
it is this country. Because, happily, most happily for us,

WE ARE A COUNTRY OF LABOUR.

(Applause.) There are but an insignificant few amongst us who
do not earn their bread by their daily toil. We are also fortunate
in this respect that capital and labour in our country are to a
great extent in the same hands, for we have a large agricultural
community, still, though not to the extent it oui e was, not to the
extent I could wish it to continue, made up of freehold proprietors
of the farms on which they live, the capitalist and the labourer
being in these cases happily the same. Nor are those among us

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353

who labour altogether debarred from the liope of bettering their
coiidition and becoming capitalists, though, as I have pointed out
elsewhere, the conditions are not ivhat they ought to he. I will
add that in my investigations of my own country and my
inquiries respecting others, / have . ever loohed with the \dmost
anxiety to the condition of those ivho stood in the ranks of shilled
and unskilled labour, satisfied that if these were in a reasonably
prosperous condition, if these enjoyed reasonable hours, fair pay,
decent subsistence, a moderate enjoyment of existence, an oppor-
tunity to rise, a chance to laj^ by something for a rainy day and
for the time of old ago, sickness, and infirmity— satisfied, I say,
that, if this was, as it ought to be, the condition of the labouring
classes, the condition of those who were still better off could not
call for very strong sympathy or compassion. (Applause.) Now,
I 'lo 'ot enter at large to-day into the general question of labour
1 gi.^iation, and my relation to that question, because I have lately
spoken on most of its aspects, having indeed left untouched one
important topic only, upon which I shall say a few words. T refer
^ * to the subject of

FACTORY LEGISLATION.

(Ajjplause.) In Sir John Macdonald's Ottawa speech, his mani-
festo to the labouring classes, he made, as I have pointed out
elsewhere, a great many extraordinary lapses ; and amongst his
omissions was this — that he forgot to say anything at all about
Dominion factory legislation. (Applause and laughter. There was
a great flourish of trumjiets in the session of 1883, and another in
the session of 1884i, with reference to the good intentions of the
Government on this subject, and these good intentions were ex-
emplified by the introduction in each of these sessions of a bill.
But

THOSE BILLS HAVE BEEN DROPPED.

We have heard no more of them. (Aj)plause.) They never were
pressed, and the Government has now even ceased to adorn the
Speech from the Throne with any suggestion of Dominion factory
legislation. (Renewed ai)plause.) Presumably this is because they
found out they were wrong in this attempt to legislate at all.
(Hear, hear.) That is the only explanation I can suggest to you ;
because if they think still they have the power to legislate, having
declared it was expedient to exercise that power, having gone so
far as even to introduce bills in '83 and '84, they must stand self-
condemned for not having legislated in the succeeding sessions of
'85 and '86. (Loud cheers.) I therefore assume that they have
now found out that they had not the power to do what they pro-
fessed to be able to do — what they promised they would do. If

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354

so, it only furnishes another instance of the abortive efforts at
centralization, the efforts to arrogate to theniselves powers which
did not belong to them, which have distinguished this Adminis-
tration, and another instance of a constitutional lawyer mistaken
— (cheers) — of a position abandoned, a promise unkept, a pledge
unredeemed, and a people fooled and betrayed. (Loud and pro-
longed cheering.) Now, these bills, when they came before us,
I analyzed, as was my duty, with care, and I found them far in-
ferior in their character to what my wishes would have made. I
found them inferior with reference to the powers of inspection,
and the classes of factories to be inspected, and the provisions for
health and safety which they prescribed ; and also inferior in an-
other most important respect — in reference to the restrictions and
regulations as to the

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EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN

and young persons. (Loud applause.) I prepared, in anticipa-
tion of the discussion, numerous amendments — between thirty
and forty, I believe — intended to bring the bill more into accord
with modern notions on these questions, but the bill was dropped
without a word, and there was no op[)ortunity to move these
amendments. I would direct the attention, not merely of me-
chanics, but also of the general community, to the question of the
employment of children and very young persons in factories. I
have a very strong belief that children ought largely to be kept
out of factories. (Loud applause.) 1 do not propose indiscrimi-
nately to abolish all child labour in factories ; but I think

THE EMPLOYMENT SHOULD BE (lUARDED AND CHECKED;

and, when allowed, I believe children ought only to be admitted as
half-timers, that is, allowed to work for half a day only with
speci.d provision for school attendance during the remaining
hours, so that we may take care first that their pliysical strength
and growth is not hurt by the prolonged confinement and labour
of the factory, and secondly that their mental gi-owth and develop-
ment is duly fostered in the schools. (Applause.) The same ob-
servation, at any rate, as to the physical structure, and to some
extent as to the mental development, applies to the employment in
factories of very young ))ersons, though past the age of childhood,
esjiecially of yoiing women. The future of our race may be in-
jured, arid the state of labour in important respects degraded, by
the too frequent, too prolonged, UjO sedulous employment of chil-
dren and young persons in factories. (Hear, hear.) I heard with
pain a statement made in the House of Commons, not very long

ago.

A member was pointing to the school attendance in Nova

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Scotia, and arguing from its relative smallness that the population
was not increasing as it should. The answer of a member on the
Conservative side was, " Don't you understand how that small
attendance comes about ? The children haven't time to go to
school now ; they are employed in the factories." If that were so
it was not a thing on which to congratulate the people of Can-
ada. (Loud cheers.) As this address says, it is

TO THE EDUCATION OF THE MASSES WE MUST LOOK FOR PROGRESS ;

and a system which impedes the education of the children, in order
to employ them in factories, is not a thing which I, as a Cana-
dian, can desire or approve. (Loud applause.) For a great many
years Old England led the van in this subject of factory legisla-
tion. For more than eighty years they have been engaged in
such legislation, from time to time altering, amending, and eidarg-
ing their laws, as experience pointed out the way, and they have
done great things, ro doubt, for the operative, for the child, and
for the young person employed in the factory ; but I am bound to
say also that in late years England itself has been left rather in the
back ground in some respects, and that in some of the continental
countries, with reference to the em])loyment of children, the edu-
cation of children, and with reference, also, to the t <3chnical edu-
cation of mechanics, advances have taken place which more than
parallel the advances of England. I maintain that in any fac-
tory legislation we may devise here, we ought to look to that
country whicii may stand in the iorefront on this question, to
follow the example of that land, whichever it may be, that has the
best laws on the subject, and to legislate according to that clearer
light, and by the assistance of that more advanced experience,
rather than in a comparatively retrograde or halting manner.
(Loud applause.) I turn to one other point before I pass from
this address. I observe that Mr. White, at Owen Sound the other
day, yielded once more to the fatal pressure of those political exigen-
cies — (loud applause and laughter) — which have so often caused
him to succuuib bef*^:^}, and invented a policy for mo, Jirguingthat
I had, as a policy for the Donuiiion, suggested a succession tax
and a graduated income tax.

Pray remember that this was

r^.

ONLY MR. WHITE ;

and give it just that amount of attention to which his avowed
standard of i)olitical moralitv in such nmtters entiUcs it. I ex-
pressly said that 1 could not propose a change in our indirect sys-
tem of taxation for the Dominion. My suggestion was in terms
confined to the Province of Ontario, where, if taxation is ever
required, it must be direct. And even for Ontario, I suggested it

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only in case we wei'e about to lay direct taxes. If we we)*e about, -
in this Province, to lay a diiect tax, I thought and think a suc-
cession tax the best. If we were about, in this Province, to lay
an income tax, I thought and think a graduated tax just; and, as
to our municipal income tax, I thought and think an extension of
the existing exemption ought to be made. But as to the Dominion

I MADE NO SUGGESTION OF DIRECT TAXATION.

I declared that I could not propose a change in the system of in-
direct taxation. I have no idea of any such change. But I did
propose certain changes in the details of our indirect system, for
example in some specific duties, in the taxes on prime necessaries,
and so on, Avith a view to a more equitable distribution of the
burdens as between rich and poor, as you will see in my speech,
a speech no honest or candid disputant could read without agree-
ing in this interpretation. My misfoi'tune is that these are not
honest or candid disputants. (Applause.) I am ready, as I have
shown by my past public course, to favour all fair and just mea-
sures towards the improvement of the condition of the working
masses of the community, believing that upon that improvernent
largely depend the elevation and prosperity of all. (Loud and
prolonged applause.)

FAIR LAWS FOE LABOUR

SIR JOHN MACDONALD'S MEMORY PLAYS HIM FALSE.

LIBERAL LEaiSLATION IN FAVOUR OF LABOUR.

OBJECTIONS BY TORIES— CONTRACT PRISON LABOUR— THE
CHINESE ENCOURAGEMENT POLICY

Hon. Edward Blake, in the course of his speech at Belleville,
said : — I wish to say a few words on some points of Sir John
Macdonald's Ottawa speech to the working classes ; I spoke on
some of the questions lately in Toronto. Of those which remain
most refer to the past, and some in fact to the rather remote past,

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and I confess to you that in the present pressure of urgent political
topics, which ought to engross our attention, it is unwillingly that
I take time to deal with these remote questions. I am bound to
do so, however, because I believe the statements made should not
go unanswered, and because I believe them to be very inaccurate
indeed, and far from just representations of the actual facts. Sir
John began by a very ancient reference — which has stood him in
good stead for many long years — to the incidents connected with
the printers' trouble in 1872 ; and on

THIS OLD STORY

he based one of his main arguments in support of his claim to
the confidence and support of the workingraen. Sir John Mac-
donald said : — '

They were, however, in 1872, horrified to find the then leader of the Liberal
party in Canada putting in force in Toronto the obsolete and oppressive Jaws
which ought to have been repealed a century ago. All would remember the
general feeling of horror and disgust that prevailed when it was announced
that 24 men had been arrested by warrant in Toronto because, forsooth, they
had ventured to form a trade association, and had resolved to carry the prin-
ciples of their Union into effect. At a meeting of employers, the then leader
of the Grit party, the editor of the Globe, urged the masters to have no deal-
ings whatever with Union men, and to hire none but those who would sign
a document to the effect that they did not belong to any labour organization,
and he trusted that in this way those who had shown a rebellious spirit against
their employers would be

DRIVEN OUT OF THE COUNTRY.

At that time he (Sir John) happened to be Minister of Justice and Attorney-
General, and in his capacity of Minister of Justice he advised the represen-
tative of the Sovereign, to at once release those printers and allow them to
walk out once more as free men. (Cheers.) More than that, he at once
introduced a bill into Parliament repealing those obsolete statutes, wiping
them off the statute book as a disgrace to our present state of civilization,
and introduced and carried through Parliament a law establishing Trades
Unions and confirming them in their previous proceedings, and under that
Act, which is now almost without any modification, the Trades Unions of
Canada can assemble and act together in concert, and protect and advance
their own interests against any combination of employers of labour, in case
capital should become an oppressor of labouring men.

T am very sorry that it has unfortunately happened that Sir
John's memory has repeatedly played him false in the course of
this statement. In the first place, Mr. Brown, to whom he referred,
was not then the leader of the Liberal party. He had not been
its leader for many years. He had been out of Parliament for five
years, and was not seeking re-election. Ho was a private member
of the party, engage<.l in managing his great newspaper. Mr.
Mackenzie, who oai. boast that he graduated from the stone-
da)

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mason's chisel to the ])0.sitioii of Prime Minister of Canada —
(Cheers) — was then the leader of the Liberal i)arty. But it suited
Sir John Macdonald's jiurpose for the moment to strike at the
Liberal party through Mr. Brown by describing him as occupying
a position which 1 e did not occu])y, and his memory helped his
end. Sir John Macdonald altogether forgot, extraordinary to say,
that at that date all but one, or, at the most two, of the printing
offices in Toronto agreed conditi^'nally to employ no Union men
and, so far, acted with Mr. Blown. I have here the published decla-
ration and agreement, from which I will read the signatures : —

Geo. Brown, Globe Priiitinc Co.
J. K08S Robertuon, Daily Telegraph.
James Mojlan, Canadian Freeman.
J. B. Ci ok, Express.
E. R. Stimsoii, Church Herald.
S. Rose, Christian Guardian.
W. H. Flint, Fure Gold.
I'atrick Bjyle, Irish Canadian.
Gopp, Clark & Co.

Dudley & Burns.
McLeish & Co.
Bell & Co.
Hunter, Rose & Co.
Rowsell & Hutchinson.
P. H. iStewart.
George C, Patterson.
M. J. Grand.

So this was not so far the resistance of one single man. It may
have been wrong, but all these persons — men on both sides of
politics — agreed to one course, and all must submit to one judg-
ment. Sir John Macdonald also forgot — and this is still more
singular — the action of the Mail newspaper at the very late date
of 1884, not so long ago as 1 672, when our notions were less fair
and enlightened than in 1884. In 1884

V *

THE "MAIL PREPARED A DOCUMENT

which it required every one of those who were within the scope
of its power to sign, declaring that he did not belong and would
not belong to any union organization, a document which remained
in force for a considerable time, but has lately, 1 am glad to believe,
been modified. (Applause.) He forgot, too, the action of his own
colleague, Mr. Frank Smith, only a few months ago, in this very
year, 1886, when he required the employes of the corporation, of
which he is president, controller and principal proprietor, the
Toronto Street Railway Company, to agree not to belong to any
union; and his subsequent conduct, when he called them in a
very public place by a very opprobrious name. (Cheers.) He
forgot all these things of course, for if he had remembered them
he would have been silent, and would not have been unsfenerous
enough to bring up the error in judgment and action which in
my judgment Mr. Brown, now six years dead, committed so long
ago as 1872 ; because it is clear, from the case to which I refer, and
from the whole facts, that this error cannot serve the Conservative

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359

as against the Liberal party. (Loud applause.) I say it was an
error. I think so now ; I thought so then ; and I declined at the
time to take any part in the proceedings against the printers.

BUT LET us DO JUSTICE BETWEEN HIM WHO IS Dr AD AND HIS

ACCUSER, WHO STILL LIVES.

(Loud applause.) Mr. Brown used and enforced the laws of his
country as he found them. Sir John Macdonald condemns him
for it, because, as he says, those laws were obsolete, oppressive,
and a disgrace to civilization, and should have been repealed a
» century before. I hold guiltier the Minister who was responsible
for the law continuing upon the statute book unrepealed and un-
amended, than the private citizen, who, finding it there, thought
fit to use it. It was there to use. The accuser is himself respon-
sible for the law being there at that time. (Cheers.) It is he who
is the author of the "oppression" and "disgrace ; " it was his neglect
that allowed it. (Renewed cheers.) If he had done his duty the
law would not have been there to be used by any man. For
twenty or thirty years before. Sir John Macdonald had occupied
almost continuously a place of power and responsibility. He was
always in a leading position ; for a large part of the time he was
actually leader of the Government ; and for a still larger part of
the time he was Attorney-General or Minister of Justice, specially
responsible for the criminal law of the country. (Loud cheers.)
During all that time he left the law ready to be used by any one ;
and now he comes, six years after Mr. Brown is in his grave, and
holds him up to the opprobrium and execration of his fellow-
countrymen because he said : — Here is the law of the land ; it is
made to be used; and I will use it. Thus you see Sir John
Macdonald claims credit for action when he ought to apologize for
inaction. He asks for praise when he deserves blame. (Uheers.)
Again he says he relieved the printers, and advised the Governor-
General to release them and allow them to walk forth free men.
That is, I believe, all a mistake. It is another lapse of memory.
The printers were not, so far as I can find, confined in gaol at all.
They were bailed ; and they were bailed to appear for trial for
their alleged offence. Sir John could not have freed them, there-
fore, had he tried, and 1 feel quite sure he didn't. (Laughter and
applause.) I believe they were not freed by the Governor-General
at all ; I believed bhey were not freed on Sir John'.>j advice
at all. I believe it is all a trick of the memory. (Applause.) He
legislated on this subject, he said ; but he forgot to say that his
law specially excluded all pending cases, and lelt these printers
just where they were before, and this by the express words of the
statute — (cheers) — so he did nothing that I can find, either by

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360

executive or by legislative action, to relieve tliem. (Clieers and
kiughter.) He forgot also that his much-lauded amending law was
so grossly defective, so inadequate to the occasion and the needs of
the day, that I had to set it right in several important particulars in
187G.

m; STATKS ALSO THAT HE THEN LEGISIJITED SATISFACTORILY ON
THE SUBJECT OF TRADES UNIONS.

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I differ from this view. His law contained a provision for regis-
tration, which is opposed to the interests of the unions. (Cheers.)
I come now to the action of the Liberal party. When these bills,
of which Sir John Macdonald speaks, were brought before the
House, only one member rose to oppose the legislation. That was
Mr. Masson, since a member ot Sir John Macdonald's Administra-
tion, and at the present moment Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec.
But I do not hold the Conservative party responsible for this action
of one of its members. The leader of the Liberal party, however,
rose to support it. He said, in answer to Mr. Masson's objection,
that " he saw nothing in the bill that could do harm, though he
thought the clause requiring mechanics to register their trades
unions was rather harsh and restrictive towards workingmen.
He did not see what objection there was to the bill." So, you
see, the leader of the Liberal party supported the legislation,
but with Mr. Mackenzie's practical knowledge of these matters

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HE WAS APLE TO HIT THE BLOT,

to point out the objection to the registration clause which has in-
jured, the operation of the law. (Cheers.) In 1876 and 1877 I
dealt, as Minister of Justice, with this class of subjects, including
breaches of contract of service ; and if I were to adopt Sir John's
method of discussion, and impute to the Conservative party what-
ever some individual member may have said, I might point out
that when I was repealing the laws making breaches of contracts of
service criminal oflences, I was opposed, for example, by Mr. Pope,
who had been a Minister in the Conservative Government, who
was recognized as one of the leaders of that party, and who is a
member of the present Government, who thought it was a dread-
ful thing that he should not continue to have the power to put
in gaol his farm labourers in case they brok e their contracts of
service. In the same sense I might refer to the attitude of
Mr. Hillyard Cameron, and of Sir John Macdonald himself,
during the debate on my bill for the amendment of the crimi-
nal law as to violence, threats, and molestation.

Let me read from the report : — ,. . , ' < '

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Hon. Mr. Oainerou ^CardwdU) said it waa sugi^eBtod that aotnething fur-
ther ought to be in the bill which waa not in tho English law — that was, with
reference to threats of accusing of crime. There were two or throe clasBes
of crime which woiild naturally suggest themselves to his hon. frieni, where
tho accusation would be as great an seri')tia an intimidation as any threat of
personal violence or injury to i)roporty. He suggested the bill should be
changed to bring such offences within its scope. Sir John Macdouald called
attention to a threat of this kind : " You must continue work in this place,
or I will do you mischief." The injury was not described, but it was intimi-
dation ; it probably did not moan violence to person or property,

Hon. Mr. Blake — It must be one or the other.

Sir John Maodonald said a threat might be made to injure the reputa'
tion, which was not property — there might be charges which did not amount
to personal violence or injury to property, but still would affect a man's
character. He suggested that his hon. friend take this into consideration.

Hon. Mr. Blake said of course he would give the suggestions of his
friends due consideration, but he thought that, as practical legislators, it was
better for them to provide punishment for the offences named by law than
attempt to conjure up different kinds of possible threats which were unknown
in this country. Probably many of the cases to which reference had been
made by his hon. friends would be met by the existing law. By legislating
for that class of crimes the objection might be raised by a large number in
Ihe community to its being class legislation, and they ought to be careful in
dealing with such matters. He would remind his hon. friends, while not
interposing objections to their views, that a<;reeins; thereto would be making
a new law, the utility of which had not been demonstrated by experience or
required by public necessity.

' ' ' '

Then at the final stage : — , . •

Hon. Mr. Blake said he had decided not to adopt the suggestions of his
hon. friends from Kingston and Oardwell with respect to this clause. He
entirely agreed with them as to the importance of preserving to the minority
of any trade or occupation its liberties against an improper assertion of the
so-called rights of the union or majority, and he would always be ready
while he sat in this House to sustain any legislation that time might deter-
mine to be necessary for that purpose ; but this House might be averse to
enact special les^islation, unless for a real and admitted evil. As far as he
knew, there was no reason to apprehend that this clause would be inade-
quate.

That is the attitude these gentlemen took with regard to the
legislation I was seeking to carry in favour of equal rights to all
classes of the community, and for the abolition of that which it
has always been the aim of Liberals to abolish — class legislation.
(Loud applause.) Then Sir John Macdonald declared that he
was opposed to contract

LA.BOUR IN PKNITENTI ARIES,

and took credit for its abolition. But he h&a forgotten again. He,
I need not tell you, is the man who, for the longest period we
know of, has been responsible for contract labour in the peni-
tentiaries. He was Attorney-General or Minister of Justice, and

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362

had control of the penitentiaries for ever so many years, and
during that time he controlled the legislation and the contracts ;
he arranged for the contracts under which the convicts were
employed, and he never began to cry out against the system
so long as he was in power But as soon as he got into Oppo-
sition he began to cry out. (Laughter.) When ne came back
to power we called upon him to carry out the abrogation of
the system, and almost every year this call was repeated, but
nothing was done. (Applause.) At length, only a little while
ago, a new Penitentiaries Bill was brought down. It was intro-
duced in the Senate by his Minister of Justice, passed in that
House, and came down to the House of Commons. There was
not a word in it about abolishing contract labour. (Cheers.)
I recalled once more the professions they had made, and in-
timated my intention of taking action in the matter. Sir John
Macdonald thereupon asked that the bill stand over, and when
it was resumed, just at the last stage, he introduced the clause
of which he now boasts. That clause is due, not to his good-
will or initiative, but to my pressure. (Cheers.) He now says
that the amendment was delayed because there were exist-
ing contracts. It is not so ; his memory has played him false
again. That amendment actually saves all existing contracts —
(x^heers) — it is Expressly declared not to come into operation until
those contracts terminate. I cannot speak positively, but I am
strongly of opinion that these contracts were terminable at the
will of the Government long before. Now, my opinion is that
prisoners ought not to be under the control of contractors, but
under the control of the prison authorities. Prison discipline,
the prisoners' good, and the good of the community call, I think,
for that course. My opinion with reference to the work done in
prisons is that it ought to be such as will train the prisoners to
earn an honest living when released, but at the same time such
as will interfere as little as possible with free labour. (Applause.)
There is no useful work to which you can put prisoners but will
interfere somewhat with free labour. When in control of this
deparment I tried to carry out what seemed to me

' THl MOST ADVANTAGEOUS PLAN, ' .'C

and in this view I purchased from Sir John Macdonald himself a
farm in the immediate neighbourhood of the penitentiary, in which,
according to my plan, spade husbandry was to be carried on, an
industry in which as many hands as possible should be employed,
with as little assistance from machines as possible. We had too
many idle hands. I wanted to do by hand the work ordinarily
done by machinery. I thought this employment would give the

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363

prisoners health and exercise, and would interfere as little as pos-
sible with free labiur. (Cheers.) I am afraid the system since
carried out has not been fully in accordance with my intentions ;
and since that time the Government has taken a vote for the erec-
tion of a flour mill in Kingston Penitentiary, so that they might
interfere as little as possible with the miller — (laughter) — who, as
you know, has under the N. P. been making great and undue pro-
fits. (Laughter.) Sir John Macdouald also claimed credit in con-
nection "^ith N w.

TH« CHINESE QUESTION.

He has put a tariff upc*n Chinamen as he has on almost everything
else. (Laughter.) In 1872, when the Tories made the contract
with British Columbia for the construction of the Canadian Pa-
citicin ten years, I objected to that bargain on several grounds,
and amongst others I said the road could not be completed within
that time, except by Chinese labour, and I was abused from end
to end of Canada for such a suggestion. They said I was advo-
cating the use of Chinese la'couiin building the Canadian Pacific
Railway — (cheers and laughter) — while my argument wis that
the bargain was objectionable because it practically involved for
its execution the employment of Chinese labour. (Laughter.)
Although I was abused for the statement, it was true. It is true
that many thousands of Chinamen have been imported into British
Columbia to build that railway within a period longer than the
ten years at first proposed. (Cheei's.) I have read a good deal
on both sides of this controversy, and I have found much conflict-
ing evidence. But some things seem established on the. whole.

I 1

CHINAMEN DO NOT BECOME WHAT WE CALL SETTLERS. ,

They do not become real citizens of the countr}' — (cheers) — they
do not become Canadians ; they do not intermingle with our people,
they do not accept c .'r civilization, and they carry their earnings
away to their own country as soon as they have secured the pit-
tance adequate for a livelinood there. Though they live amongst
us they are not of us ; they hold to their own special customs, and
to habits of life and a scale of subsistence far below ours, and
involving the degradation of white labour. (Cheers.) Thrift and
providence are good things, but decency and the customs of modem
civiHzation are essential to progress ; and these are interfered with
by the existing conditions of Chinese labour. If you consider
men simply as machines, the Chinaman may be on the whole a
cheaper machine than the Canadian, but I have never admitted
that the labour of a man ought to be regarded exactly as that of a
machine. (Cheers,) Other elements are involved. (Cheers.) Now,

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there was only one Province, British Coluhibia, in wliich this ques-
tion pressed upon the people as a practical grievance. And in that
Brovince there was one time when it pressed with special force as
a present and future danger, and that was during the constn ction
of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was obvious that the intiux
of Chinamen would be greater while construction was going on
than before its commencement, or than after completion, and that
the trouble would be worst when the road was finished. 'But no-
thing was done to prevent the evil. The Government refused to
act. They said that as soon as the road was built, and not before,
something would be done. Something was then done. A tariff was
laid upon Chinamen. But, as I stated to you, the evil had been
intensified, the mischief was accomplished. T saw in a newspaper
the other day a correspondence from British Columbia, saying that
two large shiploads of Chinese had just leit the Province, and that
there was no employment there now owing to the completion of
the railway. The trouble is not a present nfiux, but the present
excess. That was exactly the state of things which any sensi-
ble man would have anticipated. I am not of opinion, judging
by the information I have been able to get, that the existing law
is working satisfactorily. I believe it is admitted by the Gov-
ernment itself that the administration of it can be improved.
MY VIEW WAS AND IS THAT THE PROHIBITION OF
THE IMMIGRATION OF CHINAMEN IS THE ONLY
LOGICAL OUTCOME OF THE OPINIONS AND PRINCI-
PLES UPON WHICH OUR PRESENT LAW IS BASED.
It was said by Government, in opposition to this, that there was
danger, if such a step were taken, of conflict with the Chinese
Government. I believe it is admitted that the Chinese Govern-
ment discountenances the emigration of its citizens, and, if so, that
Government could hardly be dissatisfied with any action of ours
which would help them to carry out their policy. (Applause.)
Yet, I have recognized that it is an important object not to give of-
fence to a friendly nation, and as the Government stated positively
that such a law would give ofience, 1 felt it my duty, as a public
man, not to embarrass the Government by insisting upon pro-
hibition unless it should appear to be absolutely necessary, but
rather to accept in silence the assurancss of the Government,
and to endeuvour to work successfully the proposed legislation.
(Applause.) My reward for this forbearance has been the mis-
representation of our attitude, and I have thus been led to state
my opinions. (Loud cheers.) ,

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WORKINGMEN AND PARTIES

■ V ■■

HON. EDWARD BLAKE ON QUESTIONS AFFECTING WAGE-WORKERS.

CHpltallttt Allowed to Profit by the Saving Bankn— Necemlty

of Protecting the Saving Worklngnian— Tory Accept-

anee of Liberal Doctrlnei— Revleiv of ImportanI

Acts afltecting Labour.

Hon. Edward Blake, speaking at Deseronto, touched upon
the relations of the parties to labour questions. In the course of
his speech he said : —

One thing I would like to add to what I said at Belleville,
suggested by a gentleman who came on the platform at the close
of my speech and said, " Why didn't you refer to the fact that the
Government itself had dismissed employes on the Intercolonial
Railway because they were members of a labour organization."
My reply was that I had forgotten it for the moment, but that it
certainly was a notable instance of the kind I had already quoted.
He said, " I, at any rate, remember it very well, I was one of the
men discharged on that ground ; and that is the reason I am here
now instead of being down there." Fine champions these of the
cause of labour ! (Loud and prolonged applause.) I said I would
certainly take care to remedy my omission, and now I have
fulfilled my promise. (Laughter.) There are one or two points
that remain to be alluded to in this connection. In his Ottawa
speech Sir John Macdonald

CHARGED THE LIBERAL PARTY

with being opposed to the Government arrangements for en-
couraging the accumulation of the savings of the wage-earners,
and particularly to the interest allowed wage-earners on deposits
in the Government banks. That is an inaccurate statement of
the facts. For my own part, I have always felt the deepest
interest in schemes devised for promoting habits of thrift and
providence amongst those who may be encouraged out of their
daily earnings to make accumulations. I believe it to be the
duty of public men to press upon those whom they may influence
the obligation which rests upon them, in the period of strength
and energy and skill, to endeavour to provide for the rainy day,
for the period of old age, of infirmity, and sickness. And not

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merely by exhortation should we encourage these habits, but by
providing such public facilities as we can for the promotion of
the great object. It is quite true, however, that a few years ago
I did object, with some other members of the Liberal party, to
one of the regulations governing these savings banks. This
regulation allowed no less than $3,000 to be deposited by a single
individual upon the specially favourable terms which the Govern-
ment gave as to interest and in other respects. And we knew
that the provision, itself too liberal as to amount, was practically
evaded by wealthy men, some depositing $3,000 in their own
name, S3,000 in the wife's name, $3,000 in a son's name, or $3,000
in a daughter's name, and so on, thus securing

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THE DEPOSIT OF A HANDSOME FORTUNE

at these special rates. I said, and I think it is the opinion of wage-
earnei-s generally, that it was not within the limit of reason ta
describe an arrangement by which $3,000 or more was allowed to
be deposited, as an arrangement for the benefit of wage-earners.
(Applause.) I s^id that the maximum ought to be reduced to the
reasonable sum which we might expect the wage-earner to
accumulate. My own opinion is that when the sum accumulated
approximates to a thousand dollars the best thing the owner can
generally do is to become himself a homesteader, the owner of
the home in which he and his family live. (Cheers.) But at
any rate he has become in a modest way a capitalist. Now I'
was very much abused at that time for suggesting this limitation.
It was said I was speaking against the interest of the wage-
earner. As has often happened, however, after abusing me for a
year or two for my suggestion, the Government has adopted that
suggestion and has reduced the limit from what it was before to
$1,000. (Cheers.) So far from being opposed to favourable
arrangements in the interests of the wage-earner I spoke upon ^
that subject in 1885 thus : —

I am vdry glad to hear the hon. gentleman state that the P. O. Saving*
Banks are being extended throughout the country. There are many locaU-
' ties where there are no facilities for depositing savings but that which is
given by these banks, and I am sure the House and the country will receive
with gratification the announcement that the Oovernment propose to extend
the operation of an institution which has been, on the whole, extremely bene-
ficial. *

Again, in the same session, I moved for copies af all correspond-
ence and petitions to the Postmaster- General, or any member of
the Government, with reference to the adoption in Canada of a
system to encourage small savings, similar to that brought in by
the late Mr. Fawcett in England. And I said r —

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367

Some time ago the British Government adopted, at the instance of the late
Mr. Fawcett, a system which I think it is desirable to encourage in this coun-
try, for small savings in connection with the Post-office. The details of that
plan were that a slip was handed out to any applicant which contained twelve
compartments, and in each of these compartments the depositor was intended
as he made savings enough to buy postage stamps, to put a stamp, and as
soon as twelve of these were filled, amounting to a shilling, he was

ABLE TO DEPOSIT THAT AMOUNT

so that he was saved from the temptation, with reference to his small daily
savings, of spending them and having them lost, and was permitted at once
to buy a stamp, and then when a shilling was reached the nearest post-office
received the list and he was credited with a shilling. I have one of these in-
teresting slips here Now it seems to me that if we adopted, with reference
to our postage stamp currency, a similar system — perhaps by moans of five
cent or three cent stamps, and made an arrangement for as many as would
make up a quarter, which is our usual small denomination of that kind, it
would be extremely useful. I think every effort should be made to encourage
a system of saving in those who have the least to save. The importance is
not to be measured at all by the amount of the savings. A provident habit
is that which is of the last consequence, and a provident habit should be
stimulated amongst those who have but little to save, and in early life as a
sure way of inducing habits of thrift and economy which will make better
men, better citizens, and the c antry which is inhabited by them more pros-
perous. I have reason to believe that this system has been suggested for
adoption to the Government some time ago, and if not, I think it is a matter
which should be t«ken into consideration.

The Government objected on the score of expense ; and I point-
ed out some fallacies in their arguments, and contended that the
indirect advantages were to be considered, and should outweigh
their objections. Now I attach the highest importance to this
question of accumulation ; BUT I AM DESIROtJS THAT THE
SPECIAL ADVANTAGES WHICH ARE OFFERED BY THE
GOVERNMENT OF THE COUNTRY, ADVANTAGES IN
EXCESS OF THOSE THE BANKS CAN GRANT, SHOULD
BE CONFINED TO THE CLASS OF BONA FIDE WAGE-
EARNERS. (Loud applause,) If you extend them to the cap-
italist, you practically arrange that capital shall be benefited
at the expense of the public revenue, of which you yourselves
contribute too large a proportion as it is. A great deal is said
as to the prosperity of the country and of the wage-earning
classes, for proof of which they point to the increase in the de-
posits. You will know yourselves how much there is in that
argument ; how much you have deposited in the savings banks
within the last two years. There has been a large increase in the
public deposits. I am glad to know that some portion of that in-
crease has come from the wage-earners. I know that in some
localities, circumstances have been such as to enable them to add
a little to their accumulations, but I know, also, that in too many

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368

^'itses the facts are otherwise, and the increase has come from a
•class which is very much better off than the wa^e-eaming class ;
from the class of capitalists who have found it convenient and pro-
fitable in the dearth of safe and easily convertible investments to

WITHDRAW THEIR ACCUMULATIONS

from the mass of circulating capital and to sink it in the national
debt on the advantageous terms offered by the Government. This
does not help the wage-eai*ner. It hurts him by hurting the gen-
eral business of the country and establishing, without that justifi-
cation which I have shown exists in the case of the wage-earner,
an undue competition between the Government and the instru-
mentalities which exist for the collective and active employment
in the general business of the available capital oi the community.
(Cheers.) Now on some other branches of the labour question I
would like to speak to you as a wage-earning community, but on
the whole I have thought it best to ask the i-eporter to reproduce
an extract of my speech of 1882, which dealt with those topics ;
and to pass on to-night to some fresher subjects.

The extract from Mr. Blake's speech referred to is as follows
Without having made it the subject of an election cry or seek-
ing to pose as the workingman's friend, I am prepared to affirm
that the Liberal Administration of 1874 to 1878 paid more atten-
tion to the well-being, the social status, and the interests of the
workingman than any administration which preceded or followed
it ; and that the particular interest which the Conservative party
paid to the workingman was limited to the imposition on his
shoulders of an enormous, unequal, and unjust taxation.

What was the position of the workingman in 1874, when the
Liberal party came into power ? A law had been put on the sta-
tute book; a few years before with a great flourish of trumpets, as
a great boon to the workingman, bdt it was found not long after-
ward . . '

THAT PROMISED BOON WAS A BURDEN.

It was unsatisfactory in one important particular — that it was a
measure of class legislation, dealing specially with the master and
servant, and almost entirely in favour of the former and against
the latter.

It was a law which, according to the interpretation of the word
" intimidation," made it a criminal offence to watch a place of
business with a view to obtain information while disputes respect-
ing wages were in progress. It provided that the trial and con-
viction of those persons should be before two magistrates, and that

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369

In all such cases the law of conspiracy should remain in full
force. The Liberal Government, of which I myself was Minister
of Justice, found this law on the statute book when they came
into office. We set about to amend it, and we wiped out the
•odious element of class legislation altogether by repealing those
provisions which applied to the master and servant. We also de-
fined and limited tne word "intimidation" so as to make it apply
only where violence was threatened to person or property. We
especially made it lawful to watch places of business for the pur-
pose of receiving or communicating information. We allowed the
4ux:used under the law

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THE OFl'ION OF TRIAL HY JURY,

and we abolished the odious application of the law of conspiracy
under which, by the ruling of the courts, it had been made crimi-
nal for two or three workingmen to combine together to accom-
plish objects which, if attained by any one of them singly, would
be quite lawful. But that was not all. There were other laws
on the statute book in which the doctrine of class legislation ap-

E eared in even more odious form. Under the ordinary law a
reach of contract was merely a civil wrong, but to that general
law there was an odious exception which prevailed in this country
up to 1877. That exception provided that violation of agree-
ments between master and servant, refusal to go to work, leaving
employment without permission, or refusal to obey lawful com-
mands, were punishable by fine and imprisonment as a crime. In
the case of ordinary contracts there was no crime in the breach,
but where it came to violation of agreements between master and
servant the accused was liable to be sent to gaol.' In my Act, re-
pealing the former one, I redressed this grievance by declaring
that breaches of contract, whether between master and servant or
otherwise, shall only be regarded as civil wrongs and not as
crimes.

Under these circumstances I was a little amused to see that
Mr. Costigan has taken the credit to Tory legislation of having
opened the door to the poor man to rise to positions of honour
and trust, especially so wnen 1 contract the professions of the hon.
gentleman with one of the latest acts performed by the late Par-
liament and consummated by Tory influence. I hold that the
highest position to which a citizen can aspire is that of being the
representative of his fellow-citizens in the Parliament of the
country.

The law, as it stood till quite recently, required a deposit of ^50
from each candidate for election. I think that even that was an
unjust requirement, but during the last session, the Tories pro-

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posed and they had carried in their gerrymandering bill, as one
of its chief ornaments, a clause which increased this deposit from
S50 to S2()0. When the bill was^before the House, I moved an
amendment to reduce the $200 to $50, but the Tory party, who
were so desirous that the way and the path to honour should be
kept open, declined to reduce it. There is another measure which
it seems to me is in striking contrast to the Torj' professions of
interest in the workingman which becomes so profuse about elec-
ium times. This is

THE seaman's act,

which was passed in great haste in 1873, and which provided that
any one going on board a vessel for any pui'pose without permis-
sion of the master wan guilty of a criminal offence, punishable
with five years' imprisonment in penitentiary, and triable,Nas was
contended by the courts, before the Police Magistrate alone, with-
out the option of a judge or jury. The amended bill, passed by
the House last session, provided that the crime should not be for
going but for staying on board. It provided also for a possible
reduction of the punishment to two years' imprisonment, but it
made clear and beyond a doubt the provision respecting punish-
ment — declaring that it should be only before the Police Magis-
trate. I moved an amendment, providing that in a case so serious
that it permitted a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment,
the accused should have the benefit of trial by a jury of his ])eers,
and the Government, and«the Tory party, and Mr. Costigan, and
all those friends of the workingma.i voted that amendment down,
and deliberately said that the gu'lt or innocence of the party
charged with this offence should bo determined by a single judge
of an inferior jurisdiction. ♦ * * ♦ Coming next to the
Insolvent Law, I do not blame the Government for having repealed
it on the whole, but it was well known that it contained provi-
sions respecting liens which specially affected the workingmen,
and that they had not been benefited by such repeal. There was
another boon which the Tories had given to the workingman, and
that was high taxes. Since the delusive promises held out to the
workingmen in 1878, they had probably learned, many of them,
that neither law, National Policy, nor tariff*, would ensure their
share in the profits of their labour, but that they would have to
depend for this on their own exertions and concerted action, and
that they would be exposed year after year to the operation of
the law of demand and of competition on securing a proper return
for the labour of their hands. The Government was alive to this
fact also, and \ ^, i- , : •

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371

IN GIVING A CONTRACT ON THE PACIFIC RAILWAY
TO ONDERDONK AT A HIGHER PRICE THAN WAS
TENDERED FOR BY OTHERS, THEY ADMITTED THEIR
KNOWLEDGE OF THE FACT THAT AS ONDERDUNK
HAD AN ADJOINING CONTRACT. THE COMPETITION
FOR LABOUR WOULD BE DIMINISHED MUC« MORE
THAN IF THE CONTRACT WAS LET TO A NEW ^IRM.
(Loud and prolonged cheering.)

' ■

.• .

ORGANIZED LABOR'S ENEMY.

TORY TYRANNY.

Men Bounced for Belonging to Labor Organizations — The Intercolo*
nial Case— Sir John Macdonald's Denial— Mr. Blake's Reply.

Mr. Blake, in the course of his address at Hamilton, criticized*
as he has done at other places. Sir John Macdonald's speech made
at Ottawa, and intended to show the claims of the Conservative
party upon the workingmen. He said : — I observe by the report
of his speeches that Sir John Macdonald has tried to meet some
of my criticisms, especially one, to which I may refer, that the
Government which pietenJed to have so strong an interest in
trades unions and combinations of workingmen had itself dis-
charged employees on the Intercolonial Railway under its man-
agement because they were members of a labour organization.
My speech on that point was made at Deseronto. Sir John Mac-
donald visited Deseronto some time afterwards — he has been fol-
lowing me pretty closely — (laughter) — and he .said : — ^

Not long ago Mr. Blake in a speech, delivered, he believed, in that identi-
cal village, said that the Government had dismissed men employed on the
Intercolunial Railway because they belonged to trades unions. On behalf of
the Government he gave that statement the most clear and decided contra-
diction, and would challenge Mr. Blake on the floor of Parliament when it
met again, to verify the statement that either on the Intercolonial or ou any
public work^big or little, had a man been dismissed for belonging to a trades
union. TL^rad cheers.) He would challenge Mr. Blake to give the particu-
' lars, and if that hon. gentleman did not do so he would stand convicted of
having maligned the Government of the day. (Hear, hear.) '-<*'

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T stand by Wbat I said. THear, liear.) I do not wait for tlio time-
of the assembling of Parliament to meet his challenge.

I MEET IT HERE

and now^ (Loud applause.) I believe the facts to be that about
the year 1881 an order was given to the engineers on the later-
colonial, who were members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers, that they should either leave the Brotherhood or take
their discharge. Some of the engineers felt that they could not
resist the Government, and were forced to leave the Brotherhood,
but the remainder, about a dozen men, I believe, refused to leave
the Brotherhood and were obliged to take their discharge. (Shame 1)
These poor fellows appealed to their brethren. The Brotherhood
of Locomotive Engineers is a very powerful body, and its mem^
bers took up the case. A committee was appointed from the va^
rious railways in various parts of Canada. This committee went
to Sir John Macdonnld, the very man who has denied th'- charge,
and has called upon me to prove it. They represented the case to>
him and called for the repeal of the order. I believe, though of
this I am not certain, that they went also to the Acting Minister
of Railways. But nothing was done. Alter a while Sir Charles
Tupper, the Minister of Railways, returned. He saw the power
of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, he knew there wa&
a freemasonry between the members of all labour organizations,
he saw the political effect of the situation, and at length the order
was repealed and most of the men went back. I believe these
are the facts of the case, and these are the facts upo^n which I rely
to establish that the present Government did dismiss men from
the Intercolonial Railway for belonging to a labour organization..
(Loud applause).

Now, with reference to the arrest of the printers, you may re-
member that Sir John Macdonald boasted that he had legislated
so as to relieve them. I showed that his legislation had excepted
their cases and had not relieved tliem. (Laughter.) He also de-
clared that he " happened to be Minister of Justice and Attorney-
General, and that, in his capacity of Minister of Justice, he ad-
vised the representative of tne Sovereign to at once release those-
printers and allow them to walk out once more as free men."
1 showed that they were never in gaol, and so could not hava
been "released and allowed to walk forth as free men." (Laughter.)
I showed that they had been only bailed to appear at their trial,,
and so could not have been released by Sir John Macdonald in any
sense, the matter being purely local, and not federal. (Laughter.)
I showed that, in fact, he neither released them nor tried to re-
lease them ; and I declared the whole story to be a slip of th&

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uemoiy. (Laughter.) lie aftei wards iijtcitfed if. Theivupun 1'
felt bound to rentate the facts, and did so nt St. Thomas, where 1
was still charitable enough to treat his stutenients as lapsus of
memory, or tricks of imagination. I told the people there that
he had

OONE OVER THIS OLD STOKY SO OFl'KN

that he firmly believed it true ; that he reminded me of King
George IV., "who was, you know, a very respectable monarch, as
Sir John is a very respectable Minister — (laughter)— but who
told a good many strange stories. (Laughter.) He was fond, was
George IV., of uniforms and of military display ; and, by dint of
long telling the story, he got finitily to believe at last that he had
been at the battle of Waterloo — (laughter) — and had led a des-
perate charge against the French at the head of his regiment.
(Loud laughter.) After repeating this for many years, one night,
being in the company of the great Duke of Wellington, he told it
a^in, and appealed to the Duke to confirm it. " Arthur," said
the King, " you know I was there." The Duke was in a quan-
dary, between his devotion to the sovereign and his duty to the
truth. (Laughter.) He reconciled them by answering, " / have
often heard your majesty my so." (Roars of laughter.) So, I said,
you may reply to Sir John Macdonald. (Laughter.) Well, after
this further denial, the matter became more serious. He followed
me at St. Thomas, and could not avoid discussing the question.
He knew of my repeated challenge ; he had the opportunity, and
it was his duty to refresh that faded memory, to curb that vivid ;
imagination, and to re-examine the facts of the case. My chari-
table excuses can serve no longer for what he there said.

WHAT DID HE SAY? THIS:

Mr. Blake had lately referred to that speech and stated that the printers
were never sent to prison at all — that they had only been guilty of a misde-
meanour, which was a bailable ofifence. Those men were, however, arrested. *
The hand of a constable was laid on their nboulder. They wern under arrest
and had ceased to be free men just as much as if they were under a gaoler's
lock and key. Mr. Blake had said he (Sir John) never released these men.
Well, what he did do was to send up a nolle prosequi^ an order to stop the
prosecution, but such a storm of indignation had arisen that this did not need
to be acted on, and Mr. Brown was compelled by the force of public opinion ■ ^
to stop the prosecution himself. '

We are now face to face with a serious question.

First of all he now admits that the men were never in gaol, .
next that he never advised the Governor-General to release them^ ;•
and impliedly that he could not do so. r

BtU he has a new story ^ he tells a fresh tale. .

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He says he sent up a " nolle prosequi," an order to stop the
prosecution. " '

I deny the statement; it is not trite.
In the first pb.ce,

NO BILL HAD BEEN PRESENTED TO, OR FOUND

by, the grand jury, and therefore, as Sir John Macdonald once
knew, there could be no nolle prosequi at all. (Great laughter
and applause.) But, in the second place, had there been a bill.
Sir John Macdonald, as Attorney-Qeneral of the Dominion, had
not, as he once knew, any power to send up a nolle prosequi.
(Renewed laughter and applause.) The whole Dominion Govern-
ment, with its army, navy and volunteers could not seqd up^an
efficacious nolle prosequi. (Cheers and laughter.) Any attempt
to do it would have been an impudent nullity. It is part of the
administration of justice. It is a local function. And, in the third
place, as a matter of fact,

h1 '.

SIR JOHN MADE NO SUCH ATTEMPT.

(Uproarious laughter.) / have caused the records to be searched
and there is no proof that Sir John ever attempted any such
thing. But you may say that he ordered the proseeution to be
stopped. He says so. But it is not true. He did not do it. He
did not try to do it. He could not have done it had he tried.

■ ■ ■ ■ . ' i ■ - ;

.. . , ; IT IS ALL A FABRICATION. , .

Yet the prosecution was in fact, stopped and abandoned. Was
that a creditable act ? Was it an act the author of which should
be supported by workingmen ? Sir John says so. (Loud applause.)
He appeals for the support of the workingmen of Canada on the
ground that he ordered the abandonment of this prosecution. He
says that the man who did that is worthy the support of every
man who believes in the right of the workingmen to conibine for
their own advantage. I agree with him, and I ask you to-night
to give your support to the man who did it. It is the man
whom Sir John Macdonald is seeking to discredit and destroy,
it is

OLIVER MO WAT, ^

Attorney- General of Ontario. (Tremendous applause.) He was
sworn into office on the 3Ist of October, 1872, and took up this
question and ordered the abandonment of the prosecution on the
7th November — within seven days of the time he was sworn into
office — (Renewed applause.) I have here the return of Mr. Ken-

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375

neth Mackenzie, Q.C., the Crown prosecutor, which he aiade on
this case to the Crown Office : —

J. C. McMan and others : ofifence, conspiracy against master printerg.
Nothing was done in this case, the Attorney-General consiilering it was nut
desirable under the circamstances to proceed any further, ao that the pri>9t»-
cution oij the part of the Crown has been abandoned.

K. Mackenzik.

Mr. Mowat did his duty in this matter. But he never said any-
tliing about it; he has been before you in several elections since
that ; but ho never came before you claiming your support because
he had done what was his duty. Mr. Mowat never tried to make
party capital out of the discharge of his duty in the administra-
tion of criminal justice, even by telling you the truth as to the
law and the facts. But here you find this other gentleman mis-
representing the facts, and saying he did what he did not do,
misrepresenting the law, and saying he did what he could not do,
and so seeking by an impudent misstatement to get credit to
himself and inflict damage on his opponents. (Applause.) And
1 think it was full time to

STRIP HIM OF HIS BORROWED PLUMES, '

to pluck away his stolen feathers, to restore them to their real
owner, and leave the culprit " naked, shivering, and " — not
" ashamed," (Loud laughter and applause.) Judge of his other
(claims to support by this claim. (Hear, hear.) They have just
as little foundation and merit. This is a sample case of his accu-
racy in his facts, of his correctness in his law, and of his fairness
in controversy. (Loud and prolonged a[)plause.)

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PROVINCIAL QUESTIONS.

LIBERAL ADMINISTRATION IN ONTARIO.

WEAKNESS OF TORY OPPOSITION.

At Hamilton during the Local Campaign, Mr. Blake, after >iome
preliminary words respecting Mr. Mowat and his Government,
said : — We must remember that Government has been in power
fourteen years, and it is to be expected that in that long interval
there would be some acts of the Government with which some
Liberals may not agi'ee, indeed it can hardly be otherwise ; but
its general policy has been in full accord with Liberal principles,
and has met with the full approval of the great body of the
Liberals. My relations to Provmcial affairs and Provincial politics
are those of a citizen of Ontario deeply interested in its welfare ;
of a member of the Provincial Liberal party deeply anxious for
the triumph of its principles ; and of a supporter and follower of
Mr. Mowat as our worthy and trusted leader. He is our chiei, we
follow him ! he acts independently on his own judgment, with the
advico of his able colleagues and the counsel of his friends ; but he
lead'j ; he frames our policy, he guides oui* course. And though,
as I have said, there may sometimes be some matters on which we
:nay not see eye to eye, yet, in the main agreeing, we heartily sup-
port and follow him. We follow him first, because he is good in
himself, and secondly, because he is better than those who set
themselves up as his would-be successors. (Cheers.) And in this
world, where all things are imperfec«, where we cannot hope for
absolute perfection, we must consider, when called on to make a
choice, not merely a man's absolute, but also his relative qualities;
we must considei' whether we shall benefit by any change pro-
posed to us. The relations of the leader of the Canadian Liberal
])arty to the Provincial Prime Minister, as you will have seen,
diflPer altogether from those which subsist between Sir John Mac-
donald, the leader of the Canadian Conservatives, and Mr. Meredith,
the leader of the Provincial Opposition. Sir John has declared
upon several platforms within the last few days that Mr. Meredith
is his lieutenant, and he has asked the confidence and support of
the people of Ontario for Mr. Meredith as in effect his Provincial
Prime Minister, as his lieutenant. Sir John is thus

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REALLY THK PllOVINCIAL LEADER

of the Conservative party apd Mr. Meredith holds the place he
occupies in Sir John's room, simply because the law and his con-
venience do not allow Sir John to f''^ himself in the Local Legis-
lature. Mr. Meredith, under these circumstances, is his subordin-
ate, acts under him, follows his advice, does his bidding. Mr.
Meredith then is not an independent man, the leader of an inde-
pendent Provincial party, acting in accordance with the views and
in the interest of the Provincial Conservatives whom he nominally
leads. He is only the lieutenant of Sir John. (Cheers.) This is
a very important distinction, when you recollect the condition for
the last few years of the relations of Ontario and the Dominion.
There are three great heads into which we may divide the Pro-
vincial questions which are attracting our attention. There ought
to be only one great head, but there are three. I will talk first of
,that which ought to be the only head, namely, the

^- , ■ ■ ; ■• ' "

GENERAL INTERNAL POLICY

and course of the Government, whether executive or legislative.
Now, you have an administration which has ruled for fourteen
years, for a Iciiger term under the same Minister than has been
known in modern times ; an administration which has so ruled in
the blaze of day, with a hostile Opposition, anxious to find, and
establish, and proclaim anything that was wrong; with some
hostile members, and a hostile press, ready to assert that there is
something wrong, whether or no there be in fact anything wrong ;
and yet no serious act of wrongdoing has been plausibly alleged,
still less established. (Cheers.) You have an administration,
honest, pure, above reasonable suspicion of jobbery or corruption;
ana that, in these days, is no small matter. (Cheers.) You have
an administration at once prudent and progressive, which has
given general satisfaction by its course of executive action. It
has dispensed such moneys as were entrusted to it by the Legisla-
ture ; it has carried out the policy which commended itself to the
Legislature, fairly, honestly, with reasonable liberality, and with
due regard to the eflSciencv and wants of the public service. You
find

' '■ - ' ' NO SERIOUS QUESTION

raised with regard to expenditure. Of the many millions which
have been expended, exception has been taken by the Opposition
to only a few thousands. We are not to assume that even these
expenditures were really questionable, simply because they chose

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to question them ; but the figures show how trifiing is the amount
about which even those whose business it is to criticize thought
a question coulil be raised. You find in a word that no serious
fault is shown with the executive management of the Government.
Take, then,

THE LEGISIATIVE DKPARTMKNT.

You have had a vigorous series of legislative 'Acts. Legislation
has been kept fully abreast of public opinion. In this democratic
age when, fortunately, as we believe, the people are taking and
are expected to take, year by year, a more general, a more active,
and more intelligent share in moulding and fashioning public
policy, J, for my part, am wholly opposed to legislation which
shall be in advance of public opinion. (Olieers.) I believe it be
the duty of the lea<lcrs of the public mind to educate the public
mind up to the acceptance of a policy, and then to bring down the
legislation which shall crystjillizo that policy into law. (Cheers.)
On the subject of legislation, fis well as of administration, I believe
that this Government and this party is practically \massailaV)le.
(Applause.) Then, if you come to the

QUESTION OF ABILITY, '

and consider their ability in council or their ability in debate,
whether you consider their absolute, or their relative, ability, the
administration is one of which Ontario has just cause to be ])roud.
(Loud cheering.) We have a right to be proud that notwithstand-
ing the drain which is made upon us is in the w^alks of the pro-
fessions, in the walks of commerce and business, in the larger
' political arena in which I happen to be a humble instrument, we
have yet been able to secure a Provincial Administration so stiong
in talent and ability, in wise executive, and great legislative
power ; men so strong that Ontario would be ready to claim their
full (itne-s to become eminent member.s of a Canadian Ministry,
instead of a Provincial Cabinet. (Great applause.) And gieat as
is their merit absolutely, it is far greater relatively. I ask you, I
tell you to ask him to say when he comes hei'e, who has Mr.
Meredith behind him. (Clieers and laughter.) He is not first ;
he is alone. Where is the second man, not to say the third, the
fourth, the fifth, the sixth man with whom an administration
could b3 constructed, comparing in the elements of respectability
and power with those he would condemn ? (Hear, hear.) Their
candidates for the coming Legislature have been nominated and
are n5w before the country, and if every man whom they have
• put forward were elected they could not find among them all six
such men as those wliom you arp aske i to displace in their favour.

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(Cheers.) They could not even form a respectable Government,
so far as their candidat«>s have proved a title to public confidence.
Now then, this is the general state of things with reference to the
position of this Government, and of the Liberal party absolutely
and relatively. On this great division of the subject their record
is unassailed and unassailable, and there ought to be no doubt
whatever as to the verdict of the people. But J have told you
that there were other heads than this, which ought to be the only
head. The second is the

EXTEBNAL POLICY OF THE PROVIN'CIAI. GOVERNMENT.

There ought to be no call for an external policy, but unfortu-
nately, we have bean forced, for some years back, to engage in an
external or foreign policy. Happy is the Province, and happy the
Dominion, which has no foreign policy at all ; as happy, as a
great writer once said, is the nation which has no history ! There
ought to be harmony and not discord, between the different ele-
ments of Canada. (Cheers.) I am sorry it is not so. But it is
not our fault in Ontario. We, in this Province, have been latter-
•ly forced to light for our liberties, aye, for cir existence. Our
boundaries have been sought to be restrictc by one-half; our
lands to the extent of half our inheritance have been claimed, and
even at this moment are being claimed by another power, which
fieeks to wrest them from us. Oui* northern boundary is still
kept unsettled by the action of that power, which refuses to act
upon the spirit of the decision of the Privy Council, and keeps
open, as a festering sore, this question which might have been
settled fourteen years ago if the men now in power in the Domi-
nion had but agreed to my views as to the best settlement of the
boundary. But, no ; they wouldn't. Sir John Macdonald, when
I proposed a limit, said we were so far apart that there was no
use attempting to find common ground. He placed the boundary
at Port Arthur ; I put it at the Lake of the Woods. We were too
far apart, he said, to talk about settlement. We are together mow.
(Cheers.) Where have we met ? On what shore are we together
at last ? At the Lake of the Woods. (Tremendous laughter and
applause.) / have not gone to him ; I have not even met him, half
way ; 'he has been driven to come to me. (Cheers.) We have been
fighting for our rights to escheats, we have been fighting for our
right to issue licenses, we have been fighting for the most impor-
tant power of all, the power to legislate finally upon our own
Eureiy%)cal affairs not affecting Canadian interests, a right jvhich
as been, and is to-day, denied to us. (Cheers.) We nave been
fighting for these rights in the Courts of Ontario, in the Courts of
Canada, in the Privy Council at the foot of the Throne. The

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381

battles have been long an«l arduous, the battles have been costly,
but they have all been won so far. (Tumultuous applause.) The
great constitutional lawyer has been beaten every time. (Laugh-
ter and renewed applause.) Instead of being, as he proudly boasted
in 1882, infallibly right, he has been found

INFALLIBLY WRONG.

(Loud laughter.) And now, whatever he says, you may believe
that it is just Tiot so. (Shouts of laughter.) His standing as a
constitutional lawyer is lost, and his reputation shattered for-
ever. But he fights still. And at whose cost ? At ours. (Ap-
plause.) Why, only last session, we were called upon to vote
several thousand dollars to pay Mr. Dalton McCarthy's costs in
contesting the right of Ontario to the lands of Ontario, in a suit
that is going on to-day, and tliey say they intend, if necessary, to
take it to the Privy Council, so as to sweep away our lands if they
can. We are fighting to-day for our lands and for our northern
boundary ; we are fighting to-day against the arbitrary exercise
of the power of disallowance, and in these fights these men are
our opponents. They say : — There's no use talking about these
things ; they are dead issues. (Laughter and applause.) Those
that are in one sense dead are dead because we have won ; because
they have been settled the way we have wished them settled.
(Cheers and renewed laughter.) But they want to hear nothing
more about them, and they would be glad if besides being dead
they were buried, too. (Great applause.) But they are not yet
buried ; and besides, their ghosts still haunt the earth, and they
alarm and terrify, as they should alarm and terrify, the men who
wrongfully raised these questions, who fought them as long as
they could, and as hard as they could, and have been beaten so far
in every struggle — (cheers) — and who want badly now to lay
these ghosts. But they will not down. (Laughter.) Even if
these questions have been settled, what is your duty and mine ?
To consider which of the two parties in these conflicts has been
the party in the right ; which of the two parties it is that has
been standing up for the real rights of Ontario and the real rights
of the Dominion, the proved rights of the Province and the proved
rights of the Dominion. Which is that party ? The Liberal party
of Ontario, led by Oliver Mowat. (Enthusiastic cheering.) Who
is it that has been , -r ^

STRUaOLING TO INFRINQK ON OUR RIGHTS,

•»■■:>

\'' who is it that, but for Mr. Mowat, might have wrested them from
our hands ? It is Mr. Meredith's chief ; it is the man of whom he

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382

i8 tho lieutenant ;, it is Sir John Macdonald. (Loud cheers.) And
if that be so, your duty to-day is to cast up the accounts between
these two, ana reward tho patriot and punish the traitor. (Re-
newed cheering.) These contests wore not confined to the courts.
They went beyond the courts and reached the polls. In the last
two elections so well foi'ght, and so gallantly won, b}- Mr. Mowat,
who was his principal adversary ? VVas it Mr. Meredith and l\v.
Carnegie and Mr. Creighton, or Mr. Solomon White, with whom
he is now traversing the country, that bright particular star he
brings with nim everywhere to show what brilliant colleagues he
])Os.sesses, and what good material he has to form a Government ?
(Laughter.) Not so. These men were not foemen worthy of Mr.
Mowat's steel ; they were not worth powder and shot. (Laugh-
ter and cheers.) Mr. Mowat's principal adversaries were Sir John
Macdonald and the Dominion Government, with their power, their
influence, their patronage, their contractors' money, and the tim-
ber lands of Ontario, which they fraudulently took. (Cheer.s.)
This is the third contest upon this line ; and in this third contest '
whom do you find the main strength of the Provincial Opposi-
tion ? They do not, indeed, talk much Provincial politics aloud
on the platform ; they deal mostly in Dominion politics, but there
is a large spice of Provincial politics thrown in, and they do a good
deal of work off the platform. (Laughter.) Yes; you find the
great combination troupe has been traversing the whole Province
seeking to influence the fate of the Provincial election. And as
the polling-day approaches you find that they have separated.
They can't do their work fast enough together, so they have div-
ided their forces, and Mr. Foster has gone to my riding, and Mr.
White once again to Peterborough, and they have dispersed over
the land to put in a last good word for Sir John Macdonald, the
real Provincial loader, and for his lieutenant, Mr. Meredith, in
this local contest. (Cheers.) They are asking your verdict in
this Ontario contest.

WHO ARE THEY ? . v

Not only Sir John Macd.ona' J, the Prime Minister of Canada, hut
also Mr. White and Mr. Chapleau from Quebec, Mr. Foster from
New Brunswick, Mr. Thompson from Nova Scotia, all deeply, oh,
so deeply, interested in Ontario Provincial aflairs and Ontario
Provincial elections! (Loud applause.) They have generously
come to us, ])oor, ignorant people of Ontai'io, who do not know
enough to govern ourselves, who do not know what is for our ,
good, to teach us with all the wisdom of Quebec, and Nova Sco-
tia, and New Brunswick, what is good for us ; to show us the '
way we should go ! (Loud cheers.) Let u,s receive these lessons >
of superior wisdom with all due humility. (Laughter.) Let us. ;>

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bow before these higher intelligences ; let lis listen to these words
of sweetness and light; let us do as they would have us do!
' (Cheers and laughter.) No ! not so ! Mr. Mowat has been called
"^ ^' to attend to the duties of administration for those rtiany years in

A- ■ the face not merely of foes without, but of traitors within. (Loud
applause.) And ho has beat them both. (Great cheering.)
, Whether in the Legislature, with their arguments, or their money
— (cheers) — whether in the courts, whetlioi- at the polls, he has
beat them both, and he has beat them all. (il'^f owed cheers.) Mr.
Meredith, the lieutenant of Sir John Maodonald, acting for Sir
John Macdonald, filling his place, doing his will, this being now
their avowed relation, is the chief traitor within the gates.
(Cheere.) And now he asks you not merely to adiuit him once
again within the gates, but to let him into the citadel itself —
(cheers.) — not merely to let him into the citadel, but to place him
in absolute command of the fortress ! (Cheers and cries of
" Never.") And, if you do this, considering that these struggles
' are not yet ended, what result must you expect ? Do you sup-
pose there will be a very vigilant defence by Mr. Meredith of the
rights of Ontario against Sir John Macdonald ? (Cries of " No "
and loud cheers.) It is his own lieutenant wliora Sir John asks
you to put there in order to make things easier for himself.
(Cheers and laughter.) If you agree with the great wolf to put
the little wolf in charge of the sheep-fold, do you tliink you will
have got hold of a very good watch-dog ? (Tremendous laughter
and applause.) You know what Sir Jolm would do with the
boundary, and of course his lieutenant will and must agree with
. him. Of course he will ; else he will cease to be his lieutenant.
■ ..^ > , The captain will cashier the mutinous lieutenant should he not
, ; obey orders, and appoint another in his room — (laughter) — he will

'^'. put some other of his puppets into the place. (Cheers.) And so

as to •

OUR LEGISLATIVE RIGHTS.

What about the struggle against the disallowance of our purely
local laws, if you have in office in Ont'ario only the lieutenant of
' him who disallows those laws? There would be no struggle! You
would have peace and harmony — the same sort of peace and har-
mony that resulted when the lamb was comfortably lodged inside
N the lion ! (Cheers and laughter.) Sir John may ask again for

i - - your licenses ; he will ask, doubtless, for your lands ; he has
wished them long, he has struggled for them hard ; he will insist

i;.M . on an adverse northern boundary ; once he gets his lieutenant in
office he will doubtless re-assert his claims and enforce his au-
thority against his subordinate. (Cheers.) I advise you to hold
the fort— (cheers) — I advise you to hold youi- own — (cheers) —

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I advise you, having rights which you value, knowing that those
rights have been boldly asserted, carefully guarded, vigilantly
watched, and successfully protected for these many years, to hold
to the men who have met and defeated the enemy, who have en-
countered all the hostility, and repelled all the missiles of the
whole of the Conservative party of the Dominion, hostility
aroused and missiles tlung, just because these men were true to
their Province ! (Cheers.) I advise you to see to it that these
men are supported to-day as they never were supported before.
(Loud cheering.) Don't sat the lieutenant to fight the captain —
(great ap])lause and laughter) — else, you know, the captain niay
call a drum-head court-martial, try the lieutenant for mutiny, and
string him up. (Renewed laughter and apjilause.) So much for '
the foreign policy under which Mr. Mowat has been fighting for
Ontario's boundaries, for Ontario's lands, for Ontario's treasures,
for Ontai-io's jurisdictions, for Ontario's legislative rights, and
under which he is, if need be, prepared to tight still on the same
lines should you appoint him again to the same honourable though
arduous position. (Loud applause.) But there is yet another and
a last head, or division, of the issues of the day. There is what
they in England, when the Liberal party was fighting the election
of '85, called

"THE UNAUTHORIZED PROGRAMME,"

and it is upon the unauthorized programme that the Tories are
depending in this contest. They are depending upon the un-
authorized programme of the No Popery cry. (Hear, hear, and
applause.) Mr. Meredith disclaims it — and profits by it. (Re- -
newed applause.) He sees his organs create it, his followers use it,
he stands on the platfortii and hears their talk ; he sees thousands
of the Mail and other Tory newspapers sent to the Liberal Protes- -
tantfe throughout the land with a view, by misrepresentations, to
delude and deceive them ; he sees their precious campiign litera-
ture circulated among this class, just as there was another campaign
sheet of a very different kind, circulated by him amongst the
Roman Catholics in 1883 — (cheers and laughter) — he sees that
just as they addressed the Roman Catholic electors with false
representations as to the facts and the relations of the parties in
1883, so they are doing with regard to the Protestants in 1886 "
— (applause) — he sees the sinister and infamoiis efforts made, in
his interest, to rouse the religious bigotry of the people by these
misrepresentations, and he knows that ,

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THAT IS THE LIAIN DEPENDENCE OF HIS FRIENDS

to-day. (Tremendous applause.) I have nothing to do with it,

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ho says ; I inaigiiafitiy deny tlmt I say any of tlioso (hin;^'s — tliat
I do any of tliuso thin<,'s. But he knows tlioy uie bein^^nlone, and
he proposes to profit, by tliein. The Mail says tliat he must acton
the line it nmiks out; that if lie wins, "the intelli<jfent public
opinion " by which he wins will ensure such and such results.
(Hear, hear, and cheers.) And the other day, I think at Guelph,
he went so far as to adopt a portion of the cries, ami to speak of
a *' mutilated Bible." Now, what is it all about ? The subject
may be divided into two parts. There were some slight amend-
ments made in the ))ro visions of the Separate School law, the
principal ones made two Parliaments 0.^0, unobjt ctod to by the
Opposition, unobjected to by the press, unobjected to by the
people, unobjected to at each of the two general elections which
succeeded, unobjected to during this whole interval of nearly eight
years, and only now brought up to serve as an election cry, in the
hope that, by a sud<len stroke, by hurling forth these misrepre-
sentations, and creating a cloud of passion and prejudice, before
there is time to meet and to dissipate it, they may overbear sense
and reason and knowledge and fair play. (Cheers.) So far as I
can judge (exce])t perhaps as to one trifling point which has been
liaised in this city, and in respect of which anything that may
have been overlooked can, as has been explained, be easily*
amended, the question, in one contingency, of a difference in the
two rates), these changes are entirely unobjectionable. The
second is the question of /,

THE BIBLE IN THE SCHOOLS.

I ask leave to speak to you on this question as one who has taken
a deep interest in the question, and even had something to do with
the steps which resulted in the present arrangement. How was
it two or three years ago ? The five thousand Public School
teachers in Ontario had the power to read the Bible in the schools.
Of these, many were young ; many were not specially trained in
the making of proper selections for the purpose from the Bible;
some were not very specially devout ; some were not very speci-
ally discreet; and that being the condition of things, in
about one-half of our Public Schools, and one-half alone,
there was, speaking in the large and by comparison, and of
course with creditable exceptions, a comparatively perfunctory
and desultory, and not a regular or orderly, reading of some por-
tion of the Word of God. And in the other half of the schools
there was none. The Protestant Churches of Ontario, about that
time, took up this subject and called for an impro'^^ement. The
great denominations spoke ; the Methodist Conference spoke,
the Presbyterian Assembly spoke, the Church of England Synods

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or Komo of thcin, spoke, aiul 1 believe other bodies also spoke.
Eminent men ainon^jjst the liaptists and Conj,'re<,'ationalists spoko,
and in my humble way I used what little influence I could to
forward tlie movcMnont. Ah Chancellor of the University of
Toronto — one of the hi/^diest of the undeserved honours which
have lieen conferred upon me, — it is my high duty each year to
address the Convocation, and tlirough that body the Province at
larg(!, upon the aspect of (Mhicational affairs. In June, 1884, 1
spoke as Chancellor upon this fiu(!stion of reli<^ious instruction in
the schools. Let me read you what 1 then said : —

I want to make one practical proposiil with reference to religion in the
scHooIh, and I maintain that if Ihia propoaal is not acceptable to the denomina-
tions it is to be regretted, and it proves in the plainest way the impossibility of
Bueh an element on any other basis. \ see no reason why the heads of the
various denominations of this coinitry, Protestant and Catholic, should not
unite in a solfction of passages of Sacred Writ, without note or comment,
which it should be the duty of the masters to set for the scholars to learn and
repeat daily in the Public Schools of the land. I think it perfectly possible
in the present more happy sentiment which prevails among tlie different re-
ligious creeds for such a compilation to be nmde by them. Tho Slate cannot
make it — it cannot attempt it ; and if those who call for religion in tho Public
Schools will meet together and will agree that certain passages may be learned
• and repeated, without note or comment, without exposition or explanation, by
the master — leaving that to the pastor or parent at home or in church— then
that can be done which would be of very great consequence. It is of the last
Consequence, not merely that the Bible should be read, but that while the
memory is young, fresh and retentive, its words should be stored in the mind,
which will then retain the impression. Jf that can be done, much will be
done ; if that cannot be done, by common consent of the denominations, I
ask you what can be done ?

Now, a few days later the Synod of the Church of England
Diocese of Toronto met in that city. I happened to be Chan-
cellor of the diocese, and a member of the Synod. Another mem-
ber proposed a resolution looking towards Separate Schools.
Many members, including Senator Allan, the Chancellor of the
University of Trinity College,

' . " OBJECTED TO THAT PROPOSAL.

■ V

1 was amongst them. (Applause.) As a steadfast friend of our
system of common school education, I spoke again ; and I will
trouble you with what I then said, because, mark you, this was at
the time when this whole scheme was in the public mind, when
we were discussing it amongst ourselves, when we were endeav-
ouring to find a plan upon which we could agree, and when there
were no so-called " politics " in it. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) : — :

; '' Mr. Blake said it would be unfortunate if this resolution were carried out.
Ifi now that there was a united effort being made, t^e Synod were to appoint

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a cnmmittee to dificuaH aH«i|iHmtiHt iiiovo, they would dofent thoir own ohiect.
He WHS Btrongly iiiipn jh«mI witli the views of Mr. Allan and IVIr. IMariiii^.
The religions bodies and the clcr^'y who n-proHcntei them wt rii lurmdy ro-
■ponsible for the npathetie (iondition of pnhlic opinion, wliicli li.id rtsnltud
in there beinj,' a nofKissity for thin move for more of nuch relit^idUH instruction
HH luivy bi' t)088il)h^ under tlie common nehool Hysteni. He nriintiined that
the lirnt thing to be conaidt-red with reference to the Public Scliools in thin
connection is whether thoy Lould iiot got the various Christian denomina-
tions, Protestant and IJoni.in (Jatholio, to agrue upon a oolloction of pa.ssages
of Hcripturo. whicli fhouhl nof niertily bo read, but which shouhl be learned
by the children in the Huhooln jiUil repented there. (A[)phMi8e.) A largo
portion of the voluntarj' work in the Sunday school and of the preparation
for the Sunday Hchool would thus bo done. Tim reading of the Scripture,
whether by the teacher or the teacher and scholars responsively, was u good
thing, but it whh not enough. While the mind of the child was receptive it
should be stored with the most precious passages (rf Scrip^tire, which would
be a trejuniry on which to draw in after years. (Loud a|)plau8e. ) He agreed
that they could not expect to ini[»art religious uistructihn after school hiUirs.
The school hours were already, in many cases, too l<jng. (Applause. JMore
could be learned in a shorter time. To keep the children at school an hour
longer one or two days in the week for religious instruction would mean that
they wore to be penalized on those days, (AppI:iuHe.) Let the secular les-
Boub close an hour earlier one or two days in the week, and the religious
instruction be imparted in the time thus gained. Rev. Mr. Lewis said
they ought to take the highest ground, but in confining ♦^^iiis motion to the
cities and towns they were making a concession to the i)ractic'ible, and he aaked
that the practicable should be kept in view throughf)ut. If they advanced
frankly and freely and generously, and with open heart to the other denomi-
nations on this subject, they would solve the difliculty. (Applause.) Some
thought the Government should take the matter in hand. Did they suppose
that any Government would not be anxious to carry out this reform, if it
could be done ? The difficulty was in the unhappy divisions in the Christian
world. (Renewed applause.) Why could they not heal them ? He believed
the possible common ground was wider than that now occupied. (Loud and
long applause.)

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Now, the spirit favourable to our national system of education
prevailed in the Synod — (cheers) — a motion for a committee to
confer with the other religious bodies was passed. T was of the
delegation, and was a{)pointed as the spokesman of my own
Church to express to the Presbyterian Assembly, and also, if pos-
sible, to the Methodist Conference, our desire that there should be,
on this great question,

''V • , JOINT ACTION OF THE CHURCHES.

The (Churches appioached each other; they agreed to co-operate
with each other, and I thanked God for it. (Loud applause.) I
thanked God for it, because I thought it was an indication that we
were beginning to sink, in some degree, our sectarianism, and to
realize our points of agreement ; to recognize more and more how
much there was that we all held together of the fundamental
common truths of Christianity. I thanked Grod for it, because I

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thouglit ilf pointed tc a broader, more generoua, more Cliristian
feelintf whicli boded i,a'eat good for the Church and for the world.
The several Cliurch bodies appointed a general delegation to wait
upon the (Jox'ornmcnt. They met the Government, and the
Government, at their instigation, at the instigation of the Pro-
testant Chi-istianity of the Province of Ontario, agreed to go
forward. Well, just at this time, when the Government agreed
to go forward, a .l3ook of Selections appears to have been in
course of |)reparation as a private venture, by Mr. Kerr, a gen-
tleman of my own profession, a scholar, a Protestant, who hap-
pens t,o belong to the opposite school of jwlitics from mine.
That compilation being intended by Mr. Kerr for general use
in the education oi tlie young, he thought it would be a good
thing to obtain the* appro v.il of his work by the heads of
the Christian deiiouunattous ; and he had gone, it seems, to
the Archbishop of Toronto, the head of the Roman Catholic
Chui'ch in our Province, and a'^ked him to look at it. And
the Archbishop looked at it and said he did not object to it,
witij fho exce])tion that he suggested the substitution of " WHO "
FOR "WHJCil" in -:]ie Lord's Prayer. And, however bad the
Archbishop's theology may l)e, I think you will all admit that his
grammar v.-as correct. (Louu laughter and applause.) Now
hearing oi' the proposed ;ictio!i of the Oovernnjent, Mr. Kerr sub-
mitted his papers to the Minister of Education, Mr, i>oss. He
said: — I have been eiii.>'a!i'ed cm this work, and here is the result.
Mr. Ross looked at it, and thought it worthy of consideration.
He acted, though doubtless on his own judgment, upon the .very
lines I had suggested in the speech I have quoted. I hud pointed
out that this was necessarily a work for the united action of the
Churches, and not for the Government. On tliis same view Mr.
Ross asked le-iding and representative men of the vg-rious Pro-
testant Churches to lielp him, to take the book, to look at it, to
consider whether they thought it worthy and suitable, to pass their
verdict upon it. And these leading, godly men, including the
heads and many of the most eminent men of the Baptists, the
Congregationalists, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, and the
Church of England, accepted this great responsibility, undertook
the task, and appointed a sub-committee of their number, who
went over the book, revised and altered it, and reported in favour
of the Book of Selections. (Cheers.) And they, having reported
in favour of the P.ook of Selections, the Government adopted the
book and authorized it. Amonust these men were those who were
specially qualified, not only as great Biblical scholars, as trained
Bible teachers, but also as being the resp^msible persons connected
with thj higher education of the young. They included, I

BELIEVE, PjaHJCIPAl. GaVEN, THE HEAD OF THE KnOX PllESBY-

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TERTAN ThKOLOOICAL CoLLFHR ; PrOVOST BoDY, THR nPAD OF
TRINITV UnIVRRSITY, one of TIIK TuKOLOOIOAL CoLLK(iKS OF

THR CJhltkcij of England; Prin('II'Al Nellks, thr hkad of

VlCTOUI\, TIIR .MRfHODIST UnIVRKSITY, AND PlUNClPAL CASTLR,
THR HRAD OF THR BAPTIST CoLLRGR : SO YOU SRI' RVRllY PHR-
CAUTION WAS TAKICN TO GET TIIR VRllDICT OF AN AUTIIOIUTA-
TIVE COMMITTRE. On tiio stivngtb of that verdict and judginciit
it was that tlie Government autlioiized ilio b;H)k ; and made re^'u-
lations requiring tli at it ::hould bo roa'l in the -choolM ; anc^ wlicn
the thing was done the (.'liurchos ioj"icod that it ^vas don<'. Tht\y
rejoiced in it collectivoiy, they rejoiced in it iudividiinhy. Reso-
lutions were pa;;scd commendin:;' tliesc results. They were
deemed to be of great importaii'-e aiid atl vantage to the cause of
Protestant and Evangelical rciigion. Noi" were these rejoic-
ings confined to the clergy or to the Church bodies; the secular
world joined in. Why, even the Ma'd came out with a strong .
article ap))roviiig of the selectiojis, congratulating Mr. Ross upon
the admirable result, pointing out that the book contained those
passages of Scripture upon which all Chi istian bodies could agree,
stating that it mi'^lit liave been very easy to got into a dilHculty,
which Mr. Ross, by the steps he had taken, had entirely avoided
My bishop juid the Synod of my Church were amongst those
who rejoiced in this result. What lias the effect been ? instead
of a desultoiy and perfunctory reading of some passages chosen
at the will aiid discretion of individual teachers, in only onedialf
the schools, you have regular, proiital>le, orderly, systematic read-
ing of passages approved as the best for the purposes by the
religious authorities ; and this in 98 per cetit., practically in all
the Public schools of Ontario. (Loud cheers.) And yet there are
Protestants, so-called, men who claim and profess to be /(ialous for
the spread of religious truth and knowledge, for the wider read-
ing of the Bible in the schools, who object to this result, and who
declare that a " great evil and wrong has been done ! " What are
their grounds ? The first is that these are selections, that this is
not the whole Bible. I want to know who it is who knows the
book, that proposes as most profitable for the young minds, and
during the short time that can be devoted to religious exercises
in the schools, that the Bible should be read from cover to cover
in the Public schools ? (Mcar, hear.) If there is anybody who
knows the book who would propose that as the l)e<t and most
edifying way of dealing with the 'case, I would like to put him
under examination for a while. (A[)plause.) There is nobody, I
fancy, who really and seriously proposes that. Is it done even in
the Sunday schools? Yoit know that as a rule it is not. You
kno^that

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THE GREAT INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION HAS
. .. . ESTABLISHED SELECTIONS,

because that is the practical and profitable way. Is it done in the
home, in teaching the young children ? You know that as a rule
it is not. Js it done in family devotion ? I don't know how it is
in other homes, I know how it is in my own. I do not read the
Bible from covei' to cover in the mixed circle that gathers at my
taUle in the morning. I know I make selections, and I suppose
ftiost heads of families make selections also. (Loud applause.) My
wife said the other day, when she heard this rising storm — she
doesn't know much about the political aspect of this question ; but
she said to me: — " I wonder if I have been so wrong all my life
as would appear. I have brought all the children up in their
earlier yoars by instruction in a book of selections — not the Book
of Selections under discussion, it is hardly old enough for that,
but another — and I thought," she said, "I was doing my duty by
them, but it seems I have been very wrong." I am afraid there
are a great many more mothers just in the same predicament, ac-r
cording to the new lights that have arisen. (Cheers and laugh-
ter.) In my own Church Prayer Book we have authorized
selections which we read through year after year. There seems
to me no ground for reasonable controversy. I have no doubt
the best thing is the selections. (Cheers.) It is the thing which
was desired by the Churches, and the accomplishment of which
was rejoiced in by the Churches. Now, always, you must re-
member that what we can do in the Public school is only a part,
and a small part, of the work. The whole religious instruction
of our children is not to be carried on in the schools. Far from
it ! There is the work of the home, the work of the pulpit, the
work of the Sunday school. We may supplement and assist this
by the reading of the selections in the schools. But even these
must be expounded elsewhere, and if there are other passages for
which you or I have a special regard, but which are not to be found
in the Book of Selections, all we have to do is to read those passages
to our children, and to impreiss them upon their minds by instruc-
tion and illustration. I maintain that if the selections are regu-
larly used they will do much more good than any attempted
reading in the schools of the whole Bible. (Cheers.) But again
they say, that the Bible is banished from the Public schools. I
understand it not to be banished from the Public schools. (Cheers.)
The teachers may still use the whole Bible. I under-
stand that the teachei-s may, if they choose, still use any part of
the Bible in the instruction of the scholars, but they are also ,

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obliged to use those jiarticular parts. They may supplement, by
the reading of other parts, but those parts which are selected they
must read. Therefore, there is nothing whatever in that. But it
is- said tbe selections omit important passages. Of course they do.
The whole Bible is important, and if you make selections out of
a book of which every word is important, you must omit import-
ant passsages. The very

.'■. I- • • ■

,, . ESSENCE OF SELKCTTON IS OMISSION.

What sort of selection would it be that didn't — select ? (Loud
laughter and applause.) But the most important and most
useful passages for the purpose are what you ought to choose in
selection. You must not forget that the very Bible which these
gentlemen are so zealous to defend tells you : Milk for babes ;
strong meat for men. (Loud applause.) And, I think, that is a
principle which you may very fairly use in making your selection.s
for the use of the children. The only question then is: —

IS THE SELECrnON A GOOD ONE ?

I abide by the judgment of the godly and learned and eminent
men of those various denominations who met toiiether for the
single object of deciding whether these were good and tit and
proper selections, whether the work was suitable, who moulded it
as they thought right, and who unanimously decided in the
affirmative. (Cheers.) I abide by the judgment of the various
Church bodies which endorsed it. (Renewed cheers.) I know
man's work is imperfect. It would be extraordinaiy if there
were no ground for cavil or objection. But we have here a great
consensus of opinion of the eminent and representative men who
took the responsibility on behalf of the Church bodies of com-
mending the work, and of tbi;; Church bodies themse^.ves, a weight
which overbears, in my poor judgment, the strained and hystdrical
complaints of a few discontented men who, silent when they
should have spoken, silent where they should have spoken, speak
when and where they should be silent, who reserve their clamours
till an election ; who cry out only when they can do harm and
when they cannot possibly accomplish good ; and who exclaim
with a partiality and an injustice, a vehemence and a zeal, which
savours of the earth earthy, and is far enough removed to my
apprehension from a righteous and '^•hristian temper and spirit.
(Loud applause.) Then they say, " (ih, but the Archbishop had a
hand in it," or a finger in it at least — (laughter) — and they seem
to think that the Book of Selections is contaminated bv his

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principles ^(^L °f furtherance of EvanJllLi j't? ?«"«''»'

XnaS3"V- "P"=SS ?:-^^^^^
have seen U. Wh/r^:^ J, ^^ ^at the ArcRo^oSw^

their natioDAl nh^. j. *^"'^"c Schools to am a. ,« •^r'^®"*- (i-oud '
» . V *'*^®®'^ or nationality

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l»y be. (Cheers.) r rf,,v

viction that it 3 A "^ *""" Church I ^T'^^'fy- »"<* «« a
that iCtoiZCtk "VJ"^' «nd tpoS f^'^l'" ""« ~"-
without any3\f JhT •'! "'""^ «houFd ao and T '° '"«»«"
the Roman CatW/w-u ^S'''''' and interest nfH ^ «»nsulted
the Public Schook flt^'^T' P«P"» »d of fo1)fo"""^'T°f
troversy. whether the G„vT """ '^-^'a^' *" the mfdTof P,".!"'' "f
document to th. i ",f, ypvernment at anv *; J ■ **' ""» eon-

^ubmismon byMr^^'"'''°P- ^^ they dT/no? tl.""'""",'^'* this
f y, as I inti^ted fn7&^r ^«''^ to anster the pSr"A "" *^. the
^ should say an excusl 1 ' * ™'»'*ke had been mSfe^?!' ^ ^""""'d
say .—We i^„^. t .1"?* ^ou'd so be rivpn t„ u *' (•''■Pplause.)

. , our Chi torl''^|.'<J "">■■« Separate^SclLk wT"" ^"'^^"^^ to
to this with r»? K^"''''« Schools for wi "''* '''thdraw

there are so 'f?"^ '" .^'''<''' the others "^ ""' ^^^'ted 1
- ■ ■ «and of our child. "' "'!''<''•«" " the Hi„h « ?"?""''- though
this .ubje-ct mtr;or '"'' """'<= S^"-^' (K^) "^^t";!,-

at the time'Tr" " "'''^ ^™" ^- ~ ^

to ''^it^3i^^'^^^'^^''^:vi^t'-' -« 't :

stand upon n^,i7 *''f f^ that is raised Mr w VH^S you not
Bible. anropp^oS Ji* f»™ and d^oWe tSlt fe"\?*J' "ow
posed to the nrin • 1 * fnutilated " Bible r ^?. ""^ *'>ole
' matter of the 'l^r?'^ "' selection, w if h„^ "^^ 't^he was op- -
his duty toh* i*^ T'i »'• to omis^i^Ls in fh"^*, opposed to the .
he wa, We E ™';«d that question in the j*. ?f 'f "»"»' it was
ing.) I tpllM •5"'* Opposition rrl.,!i^"'*ture. >>» which
Peice then t^'™,." •^a bas«. a coward Wh;""'' r''!'"'««'J "heer- ~ V

•' hope oi^iZ^Z^'^ ^"''^ ""''■ on it eveof»n*V"S. ''«" Ws
through m"s,'So J .•""^ Protestant Libeml, i^ *''"'"'>»' i" the

(ReneiedtTv^Sus T' • "''"PP^c&'r r^- '^ ""'"cd '
ourstuation wr"'''cering.) Be not l^ x this matter, - ._

s"Ppose,Tthi,^,''!;'"-«'^8? Whatarewt. rf"^- «>"sider
wit£ me There are r^'v" ^'"''t majority of ^t"" "'t ''«™- I ^

1 hope there aretomep' ^'"PR^'^-alVma^ri . o/p'^I" ""'"t =
•noment those whH r*° Catholics.*^ ButTi^M'?S"testants;

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are five-sixths of the population ot the Pi-ovince in numbei*s
while our Roman Catholic brethren aie but one-sixth. I say to
my Protestant friends : — We believe, rightly or wrongly, that oiv^*
religion is the true one. We protest, rightly or wrongly, against .
certain dogmatic errors which we think exist in the faith of the
Church of Rome ; and if there be five of us to every one of them .
in numbers, and if we have faith in our religion ; if we believe it
to be the purer and better religion, 1 want to know what arf,
WE AFRAID OF ? (Groiit laughter and applause.) Are we going
to dread the domination of this weaker minority ? 1 am ashamed
of this talk. (Loud applause.) If we were equal in numbers I
would not fear to hold my own. (Cheers.) But being five to
one in numbers, I have more faith in the power of numbers, and
above all I have more faith in the power of truth and in the
strength of Evangelical religion than those strong Protestants
who believe that the five are to go down under the domination
of the one ; that what they and I think the purer and better
religion is to suffer at the hands iof that which they and I
think inferior and erroneous. (Renewed cheei'ing.) Sir John
Macdonald and his Minister of Justice, Mr. Thompson, very
lately took what I inay perhaps call the liberty of discussing,
my private affairs. They toll the public at one or two of the
meetings at which they have been endeavouring to amu-^o the
people — (laughter) — the stocks in which they believed my money
was invested, and they complained very seriously that I did not
put some of it into those railways whicli are subsidized by the
Treasury, and from which I might expect to get a hundred dollars
for every dollar I put in. (Laughter.) I am not very sure that
il was any of their business where I put my money. (Laugh tei'.)
What I have I earned by honest toil. (Loud cheers.) It
was not derived#as a Minister of the Crown, through testimonials
from public contractors— (cheers) — or from great corporations
indebted to the Treasury and asking relief, or from hangers-on of
the Government who expected rewards in return. (Rene\ve<l
cheering.) I did not owe it in any shape to my public position;
and I don't very well see what these gentlemen had to do with my
dispo-^iLion of my means. (Hear, hear.) I have never asked,
tb ^ ,tifh I might have done so with a better grace, how they tiave.
.. ■, ... -u their testimonials ! (Laughter.) But, since they have.;
;ca :• -li';; charge that T lack public spirit, and am given to sordid
df--'' i%. with what is my own, 1 may tell you and them thsit all
I iiaVv Iiad is not invested in the stocks they suppose, i have,
tried to do my .share of public good with the means with which
God has blessed me. I have never spoken of it befoi<i. Ijut as
both the conduct of my own affairs and my zeal for the ('aM.se of

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DOIM GOOD WOBK ?of>If °^'''°^'' «^"™0N ^ND ' I'f '"
tlEVE TO BE THE TBI,™ .^ "* '""' WSOMOtW OP w„!^ ''" '''
paraded our acUo^Tf ' (tremendous applause T 7? '^ "'"' '''=-

^vould be disposed odo or^aDm'o'''"''''' t"'' '^ "^^ 1 kefy tln^?

dear f (C? a^Va^^r^. 'l "^"^ P^te'^tenfe mt .'crtrf "^^
principles • but lX>n *V ^ '"»*« shown imZr 7"'™/« hoW

MEASWIE FULL, HBAPL„ UP AND B,m„

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mias to their deserved obscurity the men who would raise them-
selves to political power on the ruins of the national edifice !
(Great applause.) In fine, I ask you to join with me and say,
what I snail say by my voice and vote to Oliver Mowat : — " Well
done, good and faithful servant ; faithful in few things, I will
make thee ruler over many things." (Loud and prolonged ap-
plause.) '

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of complaint, to exhibit the practical blessings of their regime, ta
make their yoke easy and their burden light, at the least and
lowest to beware of and to eschew neglect, delay, misman-
agement, and mistakes. ' (Oheei's.) Then there was the con-
dition of distance. That vast territory, stretching for thou-
sands of miles towards the north and west of the continent^
was, even at its nearest practicable eastern point, over a thou-
sand miles from Ottawa, whence it was to be governed. It
was thus to be governed by letters and telegrams, through
agents and subordinates. This element of

> DISTANCE VERY MUCH ENHANCED THIi DIFFICULTIES,

and correspondingly enlarged the responsibilities of government
They knew the resultant dangers, and were boundto exercise all
the greater care, promptitude and energy, in order to overcome
them. Then consider the magnitude of the task. What was its
character ? Upon the development of this enormous country Can-
ada had, under the auspices of this Government, staked to a very
great extent her national and also her financial future. They told
us to hope, to expect, to believe, that under their lead we should
exhibit to the world at large the spectacle of this nation in the
east building itself up as a nation of the centre and the west as
well. They told us to hope, to expect, to believe ; they boasted
vain- gloriously, as though they were taking off, rather than put-
ting on, their armour, that, enlightened by the traditions and en-
riched by the experiences of the past, both in the Old World and
the New, of Europe, of Australia, as well as of North America,
they, with their unsuipassed gifts of statesmanship, would set an
example, and give an instance, such as had never been seen in
the wide world before, of rapid, wise and orderly development.
We were to have a better system of survey, a better system of
settlement, a better system of emigration, a better system of ter-
ritonal government, a better management of Indians, than had
been witnessed elsewhere. Again, we were to have a finer system
of railway development than had ever before been known. And
the Government called upon the toilers of Old Canada, they called
upon our neighbours to the south, they called most loudly upon the
labouring masses of our British Isles, and of continental Europe, to
move forward, to settle upon and develop, to their own advantage,
and to ours, the great area to which they pointed of free and fer-
tile land. " Make new homes here," they said. " Build your houses
and your barns ; cultivate your fields ; by your labour draw forth
the resources of the soil ; take the benefits we offer, secure that
you will enjoy these great advantages. We offer you a ready,
easy, speedy, sure and certain road to advancement, progress and

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prosperity, beyond what you can gain elsewhere. We offer you
peace, order, right, justice, and security, under the British flag and
the British system.'' Then, as to our financial future. We were
called on by our rulcjra, in the furtherance of their North-West
policy, to stake day by day, and year by year, very largely,

V OUK FINANCIAL FUTUKk,

Millions upon millions each year were being expended under
their system of development. Enormous sums for Mounted
Police, Indians, immigration, surveys, territorial government and
administration, were being paid, as they are being paid, year

, after year, out of the taxes of the East. And beyond all these,
scores of millions more were being piud, in part taken out of
the taxes, and in pari raised by mortgaging our future, involv-
ing heavy yearly interest payments, for the construction of the

• great railway, whose chief object, as its main justification, was
the development of the North-West. Near ninety millions of
capital expenditure, and about seven millions of yearly charge,
may represent the drain on us for these various expenditures.
Avti 1 not right then in saying, that having regard both to our
national future and to our financial outlook, we were putting at
stake, in reference to the North- West, more, far more, than in any
other single object, I might almost say than in all other objects
combined ? Now, have I not made good, even without going
further, the statement that no question aiming within the range
of executive action can be likened, in respect of the urgent and
imminent character of the duty and responsibility it imposed upon
the Government, to tl lis question of the management of the North-
West ? (Oheers.) But I go much further. There was yet much
more. We must consider the character of the sparse, yet divided

Eopulations, their tempers, their conditions, and tlie previous un-
appy incidents in the history of the Canadian connection with
the North-West, incidents wliioh had rendered the task of govern-
ment more difficult, but also indicated the dangers, and pointed
out the path of safety. The populations may be divided into, at
any rate,

THllEE DISTINCT CLASSES -

— the Indians, the Half-breeds, and the white settlers. As to
the Indian, consider his condition. For uncounted ages he and
his ancestors had roamed and hunted over those vast southern
prairies and northern hills and forests ; had voyaged upon and
fished in those great lakes and rivers ; had carried on their per-

f>etual feuds and warfare, had lived the lords of the land. In
ater days, it is true, there were scattered over the region, in

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possession of a few posts, a few whites, servunts of the Hud-
son's Bay Co., who did not pretend to dominate the Indian, or to
interfere with his lordship, whose presence was thought a ben-
etit, as giving the Indian a market, some employment, and some
of the white man's goods; while leaving him still, in effect, mon-
arch of all he surveyed. But after 1809 all began to change.
The white man intruded in increasing numbers ; the Indian found
the white asserting his claim to govern the country, to control
and occupy the lands. The Indian was

calli<:d on to suuuejsdeu the soil,

and to accept stipulated payments and limited reserves, in lieu
of his former unbounded enjoyment. On these reserves he was
to be pent, he was to be put under the control of white agents,
othcers and instructors. He saw the choicest spots, the well-
known places, taken up by the whites. He saw the old things
[>assino- away. And he saw in their most odious form — he
^aw and su tiered from some of the degradations and barbarisms
uf civilization. Drink and immorality infested his lodge, and
vice and crime and disease, as too often happens under like cir-
cumstances, marked the earlier steps of the white man's advance
over the inferior race. Alas, that it should be so • But, being
so, you will see that, naturally and inevital)ly (the Indian being a
man), there was engendered a temper of unrest, suspicion, jeal-
ousy and aversion, a condition alternating between hope and de-
spair, a consuming desire on the part of many to re-establish the
old re<jime, and at any rate to prevent the further encroachment
of the whites. And, unhappily, just at this time, appeared an-
other unfortunate factor. The sorest calamity that can befall oui"
poor, frail humanity, overshadowed and impended upon the In-
dian — - . • " ,

THE PLAQUE OF FAMINE. - .

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Just at this time, with miraculous rapidity, almost as in a dream,
almost as in a night, the buffalo vanished — the buffalo which
had supplied to the Indian in large measure his food, his cloth-
ing, aye, even the covering of his lodge, and his very fuel — the
buffalo vanished, and vanished largely, oiving to the reckless
slaughter induced by the advent of the whites. And so starva-
tion was added to all his other misfortunes. Such was the state
of these wild and savage tribes, proud and hereditary warriors,
who thought themselves abased, humbled, despoiled, degraded,
demoralized, defiled, starved, and doomed to destruction by
the white. Then, let me ask you whether the management
of the Indian did not imperatively demand, in the interests of

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justice and humarity, and also in the interests of true policy,
the highest measure of vigilance, promptness, prudence, foresight,
and liberality, on the part of the rulers of Canada ? (Loud ap-
plause.) Did not it imperatively demand tfutt the very best men,
the men heat suited for the task, and these alone, should he chosen
to condv/'l Indian affairs, to act as intemiediaries, as Indian super-
intendent , agents, farm instructors, to do the business to be done
with the Indians ? (Cheers.) Was that a place for political
hacks — for ignorant men, for arbitrary men, iot unsuitable men,
for men not adequate to the delicate and difficult duty of dealing
with an inferior and savage, but still a Jealous and high-strung,
and also a su >picious and hostile people ? (Cheers.) Not so !
(Loud applause.) I say it was the prime and imperative, the
absolute, duty of the Government to take into considerQ,tion
nothing but the question,

"WHO IS THE BEST MAN?"

in making the Indian appointments. (Renewed applause.) And,
having made them, it was their duty to watch them constantly, and
to deal with failure, unfitness, neglect, unfaithfulness, immorality
arbitrary conduct, with promptness and firmness. Does this de
scribe their conduct ? No ! You have heard the voice of those beat
qualified to speak raised a hundred times in condemnation, be-
cause the conduct of the Government was so far removed from
this. (Cheers.) Now, I cannot pause longer on this element.
I turn to the next element of the population —

THE HALF-BREEDS.

By the common consent of every man in that region whose
experience and ability render his opinion valuable, it was of the
last consequence that the Government should, in view of the
difficulties to be encountered in managing the Indians, keep the
Half-breed population on the side of Canada — on the side or the
Government. Why ? Because the Half-breed having in him a
strain of Indian blood, there was thus a tie of friendship and
kinship and confidenc j between him and the Indian — an invalu-
able bond. He had also an infl.uence over the Indian, due to his
strain of white blood, and to his acquisition of some portion of
our civilization and education, ^nd to his more or less intimate
connection with the white. 9(^the Half-breed was the means
sent to us, as it seemed, in the order of Providence, by which we
might hope most peacefully, with the least chance of disturbance,
with the least disadvantage, with the minimum of risk and loss
which the situation would admit, to intervene between the Indian

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and ourselves, to effect the necessarily difficult and painful
transition from the old order of things to the new, to lead the
Indian most successfully into the path of submission to his des- .
tiny, and to accomplish the tranquil settlement of the North-
West. 1 herefore it was an object of the hiyhest policy to secure
to Canada the friendf'hip, the conjidcnce, the power, and the
itijluence of the Ha' f breed. (Cheers.) Now, God forbid that I
should for tm instant put the claims of justice and equity below
those of policy and expediency. I do not do so. Justice comes
first in importance. (Cheers.) I have mentioned policy first only
in order of time, from the natural sequence of thought in passing
from the Indian to the Half-breed problem ; but I say that second
only to the imperative claims of justice and equity were the
claijns of policy and expediency in this regard. (Cheers.) And,
mark you, it was not only a question whether by wise manage-
ment we should secure the benefit o^ this influence for good, but
there was the danger,

THE PRESSING DANGER,

that by mismanagement we should turn the possible power for good
into a power for evil. Because if the Half-breed were to be set
against instead of on our side, if his sympathies were ^o be opposed
to instead of in favour of Canada, that influence and control which
he had over the Indian would probably be used to create difficulty
and to arouse hostility, and this, unhappily, with mii.'h greatc"" ease
than it could be used in the promotion of peac<i a,n- friendship ;
for, as I have shown you, the natural impulse of the Indian was
towards hate, and resistance, and war, rather than towards love,
and submission, and peace ; and so the task of the agitator would
be easier than that of the tranquilizer. I have, then, established
that the obvious and imperative duty of the Government with
reference to the Half-breeds was, on grounds of the highest
expediency and policy, apart from equity and justice, to be
liberal and generous, prompt and vigilant, conciliatory and active,
and so to win them to our side. (Loud cheers.) Well, now, I
come to the question of - \^ ,

THE CLAIMS OF THE HALF-BREEDS.

-/•

I cannot even touch them all ; I will deal briefly with one only.
There are other and very serious matters of complaint besides. You
know that there is a dark blot upKi Canadian Noith-West history,
of earlier date than the deep stain of 1 885. You know that there
was a rising in the North- West in 1869, largely due to the rash
and precipitate steps which were taken by the then Government
in their surveys of the territory without proper intimation to the

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Inhabitants as to their future, and in their despatch of a Govern-
ment to take possession of the land and to rule over the people,
without the proper precautions of previous explanations and
understandings and assurances as to the rdgime which was to be
established, and the security thereunder for the possessions and
liberties of the inhabitants. The rising was followed by a wise
though late effort to conciliate the people, and to do what should -
have been done before. A negotiation took place between Sir
John Macdonald's Government and the inhabitants, ending in an
arrangement which was ratified by Parliament at the instance of
that Government. Among their demands in this negotiation a
claim was set up by the Half-breeds based upon this ground : ,
' They said, the British and the Canadian people have always
recognized in the Indians a cerlain equitable claim, as lords of
the territory of which the whites were about to take possession,
to consideration, a claim which has resulted in the Indian treaties.
We, they said, are of Indian blood, and along with the Indians "
enjoy and po sess the territory. As such, we claim

A R^QHT TO CONSIDER 4.TI0N,

in respect of the region at large, apart from the claims of some
of us to our individual holdings, which are to be, and which
were, dealt v/ith independently. Now, this Half-breed claim,
known as the Half-breed claim for the extinguishment of
THE Indian title, was conceded by the Government of Canada ;
it was conceded by the Parliament of Canada ; it formed one of
the bases in the settlement of the North- West, and a large area
of land was set apart to .be distributed amongst these Half-breeds
by means of scrip in satisfaction of that claim. At that time we
were dealing only with that part of the territory embraced within
the original limits of Manitoba. No Half-breeds outside of these
limits were being dealt with ; there had been no late intrusion of
the whites on them ; they were, as were the Indians of those
parts, as yet undisturbed ; their condition was practically un-
changed at the moment ; they took no part in the rising ; nor
were they concerned in the settlement. It was only the east ot
the territory that was under disposition. But I need not point
out to you that their claim, when the occasion should arise, was
precisely the same as that of their brethren in the east. As I
said when this rebellion broke out, justice is the same on the
banks of the Saskatchewan and the Qa'Appelle as on the hanks
of the Red River and the Assiniboine — (cheers) — and it was im-
possible, it was utterly impossible, to deny to the Half-breed in
the rest of the territory the recognition of a right similar to that
which had been conceded to his brother in th 3 east It was

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founded on the same principle precisely ; and, even had it been
disputable once, it had ceased to be disputable in the west once it
had been yielded in the east. It was, or ought to have been,

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'T' IN PRINCIPLE A SETTLED QUESTION. ,

How could we deny to a part what we had granted to the
rest? (Cheers.) For a time, while their condition remained
uncharged, the claim was not asserted by the western Half-
breeds; but about 1878, the white inan having begun to in-
trude upon the western portion of the territory, and the buffalo
having largely diminished, the conditions changed. At once star-
vation, and the white intruder, stared the western Half-breeds in
the face. They grew anxious as to their future, even as to their
existence ; they saw that they must make up their minds to a
new order of things, and they desired the recognition of their
rights in the soil, and of their right to live. They looked to the
claims and concessions to their brethren in the east. They as-
serted the same rights. They called for the same concessions
And I think you will agree with me that
•• ' . '

THEY HAD JUSTICE ANI> REASON ON THEIR SIDE.

(Cheers.) Some of them petitioned the lately established North-
West Council for redress.

The North- West Council, by resolution, strongly urged that the
matter should receive the early and earnest attention of the Gov-
ernment ; and represented that in view of the Manitoba grants
there would undoubtedly be general dissatisfaction among the
Half-breeds of the Territories unless they received some like con-
sideration ; and they recommended grants with certain conditions
to prevent improvident alienation, conditions which they thought
would be beneficial to the Half-breeds.

V These documents reached Ottawa in the fall of 1878, and it de-
volved on Sir John Macdonald to take up ihe question. I am
heartily glad to be able to say uhat . ,, . .,

.4. \ HIS EARLIER COURSE ' ': '

should receive your approval. He acted promptly and judiciously.
He obtained the report of his chief officer, Col. Dennis. That officer
reported that the claims should be disposed of with the least pos-
sible delay ; that some uneasiness was felt by the Half-breeds in
consequence of no steps having been already taken towards recog-
nition of their demands ; that they had a claim to favourable con-
sideration ; that to satisfy them would place the whole of that
element in sympathy with the Government in dealing with the

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plain tribes of Indians, and that thus we would attract to our side
a moral power which, in the critical relations of the various tribes
of Indians towards each other and towards the Government, would
prove of the greatest value to the Dominion. j

Col. Dennis also reported that the state of affairs in relation to
the Indians and Half-breeds called for the serious consideration
of the Government in view of additional probable complications
owing to the presence of Indian refugees from the States ; and he
added that further measures should be adopted to cultivate and
maintain relations with the Indians and Half-breeds calculated to
attach them to us, and to convince them that the Government was
desirous of fulfilling its obligations to them with the utmost good
faith. He then proposed a plan for the issue of non-negotiable
scrip to the Half-breeds, and for considerable aids of various
kinds ; and he recommended that a plan should be devised w •
a view to legislation during the coming session.

The next step taken by the Government was also prompt a
judicious. They consulted great dignitaries of the Territorie
The replies were in the same sense. The Archbishop's answer
showed that the Half-breeds had a

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CLAIM TO FAVOURABLE CONSIDERATION ;

that great uneasiness was felt by them in consequence of no
steps having been yet taken in their behalf; that a liberal
policy on the part of the Government would attract to its side a
moral and physical power which, in the critical relations of the
various Indian tribes towards each other and towards the Govern-
ment, would prove of the gi'eatest value to the Dominion ; that on
the other hand, the Half-hreed element, if dissatisfied, would he-
come a standing menace to peace and prosperity ; that the state
of affairs touching the Indians and Half-breeds- called for tl^ se-
rious consideration of the Got^ernment ; that measures should be
adopted to cultivate relations with the Half-breeds calculated to
attach them to us ; that the formidable Indian question had not
yet arisen amongst us, owing largely to the influence of the Half-
breeds ; that the disappearance of the buffalo, and the extension of
settlement in the Indian country, were preparing difficulties which
might, he hoped, be avoided, but which would otherwise involve
such, terrible and expensive results that it was a duty to do every-
thing possible to prevent such misfortune ; that the result would
depend in a great measure on the treatment of the Half-breeds .
that, friendly disposed, they would mightily contribute to the'
maintenance of peace, while, dissatisfied, they might render settle-
ment difficult, or almost impossible. He added that

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THE HALF-BREEDS WEKE A HIGHLY SENSITIVE RACE,

keenly resenting injury or insult. He pointed out the import-
ance of making appointments of the very best character, and in
some cases of Half- breeds ; he suggested a scheme of settlement
embracing conditions as to the non- alienability of the grants ; and
he concluded by declaiing that it was desirable that the Half-
breed question should be decided without any further delay ; that ;
the required legislation should be passed at the coming session ;
and that the difficulties would no doubt increase with delay.

Now, at that time, had the advice of early settlement been
taken, it might, perhaps, have been possible to apply, in principle, ,
such conditions as were proposed, or some restrictions ; it might
have been possible, in the then more compliant and better temper
of the Half-breeds, before they were stung to exasperation by
long neglect, to have dealt with them in that way, and to have
preserved and secured their good-will ; but the absolutely essential -
conditions for the accomplishment of this were promptness, dili-
gence, and tact. Every month's delay increased the difficulty. •
All then pointed to the need of speed ; and the Government
seemed to realize, for a moment, this vital fact. They decided to ■
settle the claim ; they decided to settle it at once ; they looked into ^
their powers ; they found they had not, under the law, power to
settle it executively ; and so they took their fourth step.

They came down to Parliament in the Session of 1879, and
asked us to clothe them with

i:' ' FULL POWER AND AUTHORITY

to settle this claim. Parliament gave them that authority in the
wcfrds they chose; gave them full p{)wer to make such grants of land
and on such conditions as they thought expedient to the Half-
breeds of the Territories, in satisfaction of their claim, for the
-extinguishment of the Indian title. That Act was assented to on
the 17th of May, 1879. And this closes the first period of their
action.

I have shown you that the claim was pressed on them, that
they investigated it, that they obtained reports on it ; that its
justice, its urgency, its importance were demonstrated ; that they
decided that it should be settled, that they determined to settle it
executively themselves ; that they asked Parliament to invest
them with full power, and so to clothe them with full responsibil-
ity for its settlement, that Parliament did so ; and thus at the
prorogation of 1879 I leave them.

And here, Mr. Chairman, my * '■ f • '^ :^ >7 vt.^ ' ^ V:^»^r

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WORDS OF COMMENDATION MUST END,

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and my words of condemnation must begin. Sir, from that hour
to which I have brought you, to wit, from that 17th da}'^ of May,
1879, all through 1879, 1880, '81, '82, '83, '84, and into the winter
of 1885, the Oovernment took not one single step, did not one
single act, made not one single move towards the settlement of
that claim. (Cheers.) It stood, so far as they were concerned,
in the winter of 1885 as it stood in the spring of 1879. (Cheers.)
And I maintain that, if I had not one word more to say, I have by
these words made a strong, a conclusive case for the condemna-
tion of the Government. (Great applause.) I ask you how it ia
possible to defend or excuse men who, having obtained this power
and undertaken these duties, did, during these many long years,
literally, absolutely, emphatically nothing at all towards the use
of that power and the discharge of that duty ? (Cheers.) Do
you suppose it was because the people did not clamour ? Do you
suppose it was because they after a while gave up disheart-
ened, thinking that their voices could not reach Ottawa and
that they must perforce cease their requests for justice ?
That would, were it the fact, be a poor excuse indeed by powerful
guardians for the long neglect of poor and weak and distant wards!
It would be a poor excuse by judges and rulers for the delay, which
is the denial of justice ! (Cheers.) But - < -'

•' /.•,..■*•_

EVEN THAT POOR EXCUSE IS WANTING ! . , ' . !

t ' - ■

the people did not cease ! they did not for years lose heart and
hope ! they petitioned still, they assembled still, they appealed
still, they applied to the local magnates, they wrote, they sent
deputations, they did all that men could do to obtain their rights.
_ Local authorities added the weight of their words ; the white
settlers joined in the demand; the Nortii-West Council spoke once
and again, and pressed the question as demanding the early and
earnest attention of the Government.

The time, if there ever were a time, for conditions of non-aliena-
tion, passed away; the state of things changed, the discontent grew,
the demand became fixed and formulated for like treatment as the
Half-breeds of Manitoba, and its concession in this form was pressed
on the Government by everyone in the Noith-West, including the
Council. But all in vain! The Government was deaf; the Govern-
ment was V)lind; the Government was dumb; indeed for all they
did in this matter the Government might as well have been dead !
Nay better ! for had they been dead, I do not believe another
baker's dozen of Tories could have been found to succeed them
who would have been as deaf, and dumb, and blind, and dead as

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they ; (cheers and laughter) and Canada mi^ht have been saved -i. ;-'z-^
' the blow, the dreadful blow, which they caused, if they did not >' >•*.

actually inflict upon their country ! (Cheers.)
-'■ At length, in June 1884, after five years of total, of absolute
inaction in this pressing matter, occurred an event so marked that ., V
it might have made the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak, the blind " ., V ^
to see, nay, might almost have waked the dead — (applause) — for ^ ' ^ 'V
then it happened thtit these poor people, despairing at last of
reaching otherwise the ears of their rulers at Ottawa, sent a dep-
utation on foot to tramp the prairies, cross tho rivers, and pene- ,
trate the forests, 700 long miles into Montana, to find, and to coun-
sel with their old chief a;?.d leader, Louis Riel. They reached him ;
they invited his ". Av agreed to return in their company, to -,
lead his people in ar i ^>b.. on for the rights which they had so ,
long asked in vain ; he returned on this demand, on this errand, in .
these relations to his "n^ismen • and he was triumphantly and en-
thusiastically received b;y , la^^ ; as-^embly of the half-breeds on
the banks of the Saskatchewan, aiiv* all these ominous and por- ,
teutons facts were known to the Government. (Cheers.) Now
what at this juncture was the relation of Louis Riel to the dis-r '
turbed populations of the North- West ? That is a most important
question to be answered, when you are measuring the situation
and awarding its due responsibility to the Government. For I
ask you, having answered that question, to decide, as I believe
you will unhesitatingly decide, J ask not you Liberals only, but
the most compassionate, the most faithful Tory, the blindest, the
most party ridden Tory here, to decide — (even if he can find, what ,<
I cannot find, in the loving kindness of his nature, in the softness
of his heart, some, I will not say justification, I will not say ex- '
cuse, but some palliation for that five long years of inaction) — yet
I ask you all, with absolute confidence, to agree with me, that for '
the inaction after June, 1884, there is, under heaven, no palliation^
ivhatever. (Loud and prolonged cheers.) What was the relation
of Riel to those amongst whom he came ? I will not give you my
own comparisons — I will give you those of the First Minister him- r
self, used in reply to me in Parliament (Cheers.) • . ,

He said that Riel was • ' ■ ,

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THE EL MAHDI OF THE METIS

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the El Mahd — you know him — the Arabian priest, and prophet, ^nd
usurping chief, who excited in the breasts of the wild tribes of the ,
desert such a convinced belief in his supernatural powers, such
a devoted and fanatic afiection to his person, such a des-
perate fidelity to his cause, that at his bidding, ill-armed and
undisciplined as they were, they flung their naked bodies in

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ferocious fight against the better drilled and more numerous
forces of their lawful sovereign, the Khedive ; nay, they hurled
those naked bodies once and again against the serried ranks of
the British battalions ; and boldly encountered at once all the
old British valour, and all the modern dreadful appliances
of war ; and the sands of Africa were wet with brave English
blood, and English wives and mothers wept bitter tears, for the
deeds done, under these influences, by the wild followers of El
Mahdi ! (Cheers.) He said that Kiel was the La Rochejacquelein
of the Metis — La Rochejacquelien, the young French noble, who,
when all France almost beside had submitted to the Republic,
raised again the white flag of the legitimate monarchy, roused
the peaceful peasantry of remote La Vendee, led them in success-
ful attack against strong places held by the forces of the
Republic, and by virtue of the spirit he infused, the confidence
they reposed, the affection and fealty they bore towards their feudal
chief, kept at bay for a while the great armies of the State (Cheers.)
He said he was the Charles Stuart, the Pretender, the leader of
the lost cause of the Half-breeds ! " Bonnie Prince Charlie, the
King o' the Hieland hearts," who, after the lowlands of Scotland,
after all England, after all Ireland, had submitted to the new rule,
yet raised the clans; marched into Edinburgh; held court at Holy-
rood; made a descent on England itself; and, when pressed back
into the North, fought with his irregular and ill- equipped liege-
men in unequal, but obstinate and glorious, and sometimes suc-
cessful conflict with the disciplined troops of the new dynasty !
(Cheers.) The Stuart, who found and proved for the hundredth
time the stern valour and the enthusiastic love of his Highland
followers — who found and proved it, not only in the fleeting hour
of victory, but in ■the dark season of distress ; when, with broken
fortunes, and a lost cause, with thirty thousand pounds offered
for his head, and death assigned as the penalty for his harbourer,
he was safely guarded, and loved, and cherished, and sheltered by
his clansmen in the caves and glens and bothies of the Highlands,
as safe as if he had been in command in the centre of a British
square ! (Loud cheers.) Yes ! they scorned the base reward, they
contemned the dreadful penalty ; they kept him safe, and at length
helped him to escape to other climes, to wait for the better days
that never came. (Loud cheers.)

-■.:\>

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SUCH WERE THE MEN

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to whom the First Minister compared Riel, in his relation to the
Metis. And, such being his relation, I ask you was not his com-
ing an ominous ^nd portentous event ? (Loud cheers.) He came,
with all that power and influence over that ill-educated, half-

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civilized, impulsive, yet proud and sensitive people, living their
lonely lives in that far land ; he came amongst them at their
request, he who had led the Half-breeds of the east in '69, and had
achieved for them a treaty and the recognition of their rights ; he
came to lead his kinsmen of the went in the path by which they
were, as they hoped, to obtain their rights as well ! Had the
Government been diligent before, they should have been roused
by this to further- zeal ! But he came after five years of absolute
lethargy on the part of the Government, when they knew that
they had not been diligent, and when, therefore, they had a
double duty to repair, in the time God gave them still, the con-
sequences of their sloth ! (Cheers.) Surely, surely, such a coming
should have made the deaf to hear, the blind to see, the dumb to
speak ; surely it miglit have almost waked the dead ! (Loud
cheers.) But, you may say to me, why should there be
alarm ? These were, after all, but a feeble folk ; there were
in the whole of that vast territory, scattered over its thou-
sands of miles, less than five thousand of them, men, women,
and children from the little infant in arms to the old grandfather
tottering towards his grave — they were but a feeble folk — why
should the Government be alarmed ? That again is a poor excuse —
the voice of conscience should have alarmed them. The record of
duty neglected, of justice denied, should have shamed them into
action. (Cheers.) Fear should not have been the only impulse to-
wards the performance of their duty. But remember, though the
Half-breeds were few, the settlers also were few and unprotected ;
and even 4 or 5,000 of such a population as the Half-breeds could
inflict much dama£:e. And remember too that

i ' '''

THEY WERE NOT ALONE.

There were also their Indian kinsmen. (Hear, hear.) These
numbered many thousands ; they were trained warriors, and un-
happily their condition was largely that of discontent, jealousy,
hostility, semi-starvation and desperation. They would have been
more than human if they had not felt hostile to us, though well
and wisely managed and^^I am sorry to say — they were not
managed well or wisely. (Loud cheers.) I need not describe
their condition in my own words. Let me state it in the words
OF THE Prime Minister, when we charged him with so conducting
affairs as to provoke dissatisfaction. He said speaking sometimes
of the Indians and sometimes of the Metis, whom he seeme^to
confound together, that we had no right to expect that we would
be so successful in governing the country in peace and quiet
as we had been ; that the country was occupied by savages or
sekni-savages, by men then driven to' desperation, through the

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disappearance of the buft'ulo ; that hungry men were desperate,
starving men were ready to grasp at anything, ready to charge
those in power with being the cause of their starvation ; that
when Louis Kiel was sent for that summer, he was sent for by
these poor people, suffering from hunger ; and that Louis Riel
listened too readily to the invitation of the poor starving people,
the Metis in the neighbourhood of Duck Lake. Thus you will
see he knew the condition, and that there was great danger of
an Indian rising ; indeed there had been armed resistance to the
authorities and open insubordination during the season ; and it
was obvious that peril was in the air. But if a rising was to be
apprehended, even under good g ivernment, I leave you to imagine
what the chances were under such a government as that which
ruled at Ottawa. (Cheers.) However, good government or bad
government, the danger was there before Riel appeared. How
greatly that danger was increased by his appearance, you can
judge. (Cheers.) Thus you will see that the question was not one
simply of a Half-breed rising ; it was one of a Half-breed and an
Indian rising ; and n(j graver, no more alarming conjuncture can
be conceived.

Surely then, at any rate, the Government should have acted !
(Cheers.)

There were in the Territories that summer several Ministers,
among them Sir Hector Langevin, who met the Half-breeds at
Qu'Appelle, received the complaint, agreed in its reasonableness,
and promised the attention of his colleagues. He was there
at the request of Sir John Macdoiiald, to spy out the grievances.
This one he learned, but he forgot the lesson ; no record is to be
found of his pressing the matter at Ottawa, and nothing was done.
(Cheers.)

Mr. Burgess, the Dejjuty Minister of the Interior, was there that
summer ; he knew of the grievances ; but nothing was done.

Other Ministers were there ; but nothing was done. " - ,

• ■,-:.. i ■ ■ ■■■' ■■ ■ ^ ;.'-r^^^iy

. • . IT WAS NOT FOR WAMT OF WARNING. ' ..

The North-West Council felt that the danger was imminent
and in July passed a resolution, that it recognised absolutely the
justice of the claims of the Metis, so far as concerned the grants
of land which they demanded.

The resolution was telegraphed to Sir John Macdonald, as first
Minister, and also acting Minister of the Interior.

Sir John telegraphed in reply, that the Minister of the Interior
on his return from Europe, " would take into his serious consi-
deration " (loud laughter), the questions relating to the Half-
breeds : and he did nothin«: at all. • ,v , , \ ., «.,.,.

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The Minister of the Interior was in England, he was there on
important business — on business of the State, deeply affecting the
public welfare — he was there — he was there — getting knighted^
(Roars of laughter.) He returned later, honoured by his Sov-
ereign, who honoured Canada in his person ; decorated for his y, -
great public services ; standing, if that werd possible, a step higher
in the general estimation ; ready, we may presume, at last to dis- ,»
pose of the public business which he was paid and sworn to -
settle. , ;'

Whether he considered thi? matter at all, whether he considered
it seriously, I cannot tell — but this I know that unhappily nothing
was done ; it is still the same sad and incomprehensible story of
absolute inaction. (Cheers.)

No one did anything. W as it for lack of still more pressure ?
No. Bishop Grandin wrote a letter to Sir H. Langevin, pointing
out the grievances, the disturbed condition, the danger of delay,
the importance of action, and imploring redress.

He might as well have implored the dead ! (Cheers.) Bishop
Grandin wrote a like letter to Sir John Macdonald, in still greater
detail — he might as well have implored the dead! (Renewed
cheers.)

These letters are so damaging, that though repeatedly called
for, and sometimes promised, the Government has not dared to
bring them doivn, and lay them before you.

They are in the mass of concealed and suppressed papers, which
these criminals hold in the public vaults, dreading the condemna-
tion which their production would ensure ! (Cheers.)

I have made many efforts to get you these papers ; I have
MLboured long and hard to secure for you the knowledge which is
your due ; but

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ONLY THE CORNER OF THE VEIL HAS BEEN LIFTED ;

only a fraction of the mass of incriminating papers has been dragged '
out of their reluctant hands ; the rest they hold ; and the task of
obtaining them has, I believe, passed out of my hands. It has fallea .'
into yours ; you must perform it at the polls. (Cheers.) Send men
to Parliament who will force the production of these further ma-
terials for a judgment, and then, and not until then, will you ob-
tain them. (Loud cheers.)

There were letters and telegrams from various important quarters;
there were newspaper accounts too. But there were other warnings.
There were great meetings at various points, some of Metis, and
some of whites, speeches were made, resolutions were passed, the
agitation increased, redress of the grievances, recognition of the
claims was loudly called for. There wer^f private meetings too,

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more dangerous than the public ones — the whole district was in
an obviously fiaverish and excited state. No man knew what was
going to happen, or how soon ; every man thought that the Gov-
ernment should act at once and redress the grievance.

But nothing was done. (Cheers.) Yet I do not tell you that
the Government was stone deaf, or quite blind, or wholly dumb.
There did penetrate those dull ears some faint echo of the clam-
ours rising on the banks of the Saskatchewan ! There did pierce
those dim eyes some flickering glimmer of the lurid light reflected
from the waters of that mighty stream ! There did come at last
some confused and imperfect utterance from those long-sealed
lips ! But, alas, the ears did not hear aright, the eyes did not see
true, and the lips spake not the fitting words ! (Cheers.) '^

Mr. Chairman, there are two great and fundamental duties of
Governments, a primary and a secondary duty.

The primary duty, the most blessed and happy, the most God-
like duty, that which nearest approaches, at a distance, however
infinite and awful, the divine attributes, is the duty of faithfully
doing full justice, of ^ • : • '

' . ' PROMPTLY REDRESSING ALL GRIEVANCES, ' ' ■'

of dealing in a broad and generous and merciful and liberal spirit
with the claims of the poor and weak and humble and distressed.
(Cheers.)

The secondary duty, a stern and painful duty, a duty which in
these later and happier days seldom, thank God, or never, arises,
unless the first has been shamefully neglected, is, if unhappily
the public peace be broken, the public order disturbed, the public
authority defied, firmly and eflPectually to restore peace, to re-
establish order, to vindicate authority.

There would have been no need in the North-West for the per-
formance of that duty but for the shameful neglect of our rulers
as to the other. (Cheers.) But they did apprehend danger — they
did fear a rising — they did move, though in a bungling and foolish
way, towards the discharge of the duty of suppression.

»~<.

WHAT WAS THEIR FIRST SIGN OF LIFE.

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-\' was their first sign of life ? * <■

In July they sent Col. Houghton to the Saskatchewan to col-
lect the arms of the old volunteer companies, to remove them
from the district, and to put them in a place of safety. Why ?
For fear they might be seized by insurgents, and the muzzles
might be pointed against the wrong breasts. j it r^f^.:^^-

Col. Houghton reported to Sir A. Caroh on the danger of a ris-

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ing, the condition of discontent and agitation, the need of prompt
measures of redress. His report is suppressed— U^ey dare not
bring it down ; but the fact is aa I have stated. Yet nothing
towards redress was done ! And this other sign of life they gave :— *
They obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company the post of
Charlton, which was within " striking distance," as soldiers say, of
the centre of the agitation ; and this post they occupied with
Mounted Police, so as to be ready to strike the b'.ow, and to sup-
press the insurrection, when it should come. Thus I show you
that they — even they — had grasped the idea of danger and were
preparing for the resort to force.

But while they took these stops, ill-advised and inadequate aa
they were, in the discharge of their duty to restore the peace by

, arms, they were yet blind and deaf and dumb as to the evidencea
of that first and highest duty of preserving the peace by doing jus-

' tice and dispensing equity, removing grievance and redressing
wrong, and so taking away the weapons of the agitator, the rea-
sons for revolt. They made ready to suppress, they did nothing
to prevent ! (Cheers.) And so all through June, July, August,
•September, October, November, December, and into January ; all
through those long months of summer, fall, winter — for now the
crisis nears,now we come to count by months, not years — all through
those invaluable months still allowed them for redress, they did m
this regard literally and absolutely nothing. (Renewed applause.)
Now was the accepted time, now was the eleventh hour, still the
lamp held out to burn ; the time was passing, the lamp was flicker-
ing; all called for action but nothing was done I (Cheers.) There
they reclined in their luxurious couches, there they transacted their

. political intrigues, there they concocted their plans for enjoyment

of the sweets of office and the partition of the public treasure and

estate, but they were wholly indifferent to the call of duty.

They remind me of Tennyson's description of the old gods — ■

they seemed .

" to live and lie reclined » \ *

• ,^ On the hills like gods together, careless of mankind ; /'''--

, ,;.', For they lie beside their nectar, and the bolts are hurled '. ■•„'

' .J Far below them in the valleys, and the clouds are lightly curled
^ ' . Round their golden houses, girdled with the gleaming world ;
- ", Where they smile in secret, looking over wasted lands, . ,

Clangning fights, and flaming towns, and sinking ships, and praying hands.
But they smile, they find a music centred in a doleful song
' Steaming up, a lamentation and an ancient tale of wrong, . ,. .» '-t *r:'-
,:"'^ ■ Like a tale of little meaning, though the words are strong ; ' _■;, ; '/_ •
'•; i,^ Chaunted from an ill-used race of men that cleave the soil,
> A:. , Store the seed and reap the. harvest with enduring toil ; ■
Till they perish and they suffer." ^',

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(Applause.) Such seemed to be the demeanour of the Government.

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(Renewed applause.) Through all these long months the agita-
tion grew, and the remonstrances doubtless increased, and at
length — at length — the Ministers awoke. They woke in January,
they woke late, they woke but for an instant ; and then they took
a step — a step on which they now rely for defence. No step then
taken could atone for their previous neglect. (Cheers.)
But _

WAS THIS FAMOUS STEP? ' ' ''^

WUA.T

.^ *"-^'

At the very end of January, 1885, they decided that, with

; , a view to settle these claims equitably, three men should be

\. V appointed to ascertain the number of the Half-breeds. (Laugh-

:'\ ter.) That was all! No recognition of their rights; still

\ ^' less any statement of the extent or principle of settlement;

.A still less any machinery for effectuating a settlement! Only a

numbering of the people ! (Laughter.) Whether few or many,

'' ' ', their rights were the same; nor was the numb'.r of any con-

^■\i sequence to the settlement. (Cheers.) But, at any rute, this

was all ! And, having made the < der, they slept again. (Cheers

and laughter.) They did not wake even long enough to put the

' abortive order into execution — thky SLEPT again. Whether it was

the sleep of the just, judge ye ! (Cheers.) And so the time passed,

' ' and the sands ran out of the L,das,s — so slipped away valuable days

and weeks — for the period of grace was now shortened, and oidy

', V days and weeks remained — so slipped away the short remaining

' ■• , time, unused and wasted, till the day of grace had parsed, till the

^ , *■ people rose, till blood was spilt, till Duck I^ke fight was fought!

• .' (Cheers) Yea, at length revolt raised its horrid head, and the

_ ; • sounds of the tiring, and the groans of the wounded, and the la-

;-y' ments over the dead, and the cry of alarm from the Noi-th-West

'*> , reached the eats of the Ministers ; and they woke a^^ain ! (Cheers.)

Waked again, they took another step. In the end of March they

made what they declared for a few days was a recognition of the

•'■* . ^ claims, and they appointed commissioners to settle them on the

V - ' basis they fixed. Then jor the first time, did they propound a

solution ; then, after the rising. But, even then, can you believe

/^/'»<K^ >. it, so ignorant, or dull, or obt^tinate were they, that their so called

^■^',- settlement ...

• ' . ' WAS NO 8KTTLEMENT AT ALL; ' .-':■?

-:•,,•■.■■•,. • • " ,, , ..,•'-',

that, for a large number of the cases, it allowed in truth nothing at
, all for this claim ! (Cheers.) I need not go into details to [)rove this
astounding statement. It is admitted. Their commissioners went
in hot haste to Winnipeg, saw the chief men, looked into the matter,
, ahd telegraphed and wrote to the Government demonstrating this
amazing fact, and asking further powers. And the Minister, on

ifeirt

■J ♦•

• i*>«a

•\:

■"^v

,.^^,v

416

,t; .

- - I

of; thatThrCo^rl* ' ^'""■^ "i'^sior.ary eve^ ''!*?" «««»'. every .
and wide thi^r •"'"°" ''"^ going to Zr? °?,f ""^^ """'d thint

•i V. .'

ffoSDeJ ntZ *-""""& at lone and at T»Jt ?!.. "^^ proclaimf
"w/ou meet a H.^'!!""'^"*''^ °<" to stand on f J"'*'««' Cheers.)

.( '•*

b:5^,','*:-AiSt'

fc »

'*/

■W^u meet a H,l?T''r''«''« °ot to stend on fc ''"'"""• ^<^'>««'-^)
whether he ha, «•'•"*' "^P*" your coortfn',.n,-P..""° '*«*"?

|i tai:^-- -^ it ^- ^ "s:^^txbi

^ ; . ^"^ ^^^ THIS HASTE ? . ^ - . '^ ^

cause a mTraLtW "'"^^y ™e» i theyXid ..f"! "",*. ^''"'■^ ">« "■

we.. widlSefeTh -^"f -g "" P t n'^^^^^^^ ^^ to be .
vigoroa, action of ?L r""' '* '^^^ they were Tverl^ 1"*°^
a very few week?, -f Commission. (diZ^ averting by the .
sanfl nf *i^ ^?e™ 't was f jund tho* jj-^^eers.; In the course of

> . v, -. ■ ** S^eat number

"""' ^O-'SAXI, sm«.x. CASES

j* is greater

even reJativelv ?hil u , ® "nredreased TKui

thousand souttrfw'"^^^^' ^^^ there we,t 1 ;.-—

^^ole^or^XtL '^ population, so Zf ^'? *^"^ ^^^

(14)

mmtl

••v

-. '. ^ *

A '•.>H

417

- .- .•- ■ Ji« ',

which would ensure redress !
gists for the Government say :

(Loud cheers.) But some apolo-^*'

OH, BUT THE GRIEVANCE DID NOT CAUSE THE REBELUON.

- ■• * -4

•':S

.1.-^':'

v'i /*V'if that were so, it does not lessen the guilt of the Govern-
ment. (Cheers.) Had the people been patient still, had they
fv 1 v' ■ not been led into the unfortunate step of rising, yet the
Government would have been guilty of that neglect, delay, and
mismanagement which I have this night charged and proved
against them ! It is not the Half-breed rising that makes the Govern-
I . ' ment guilty , it is their own misconduct, (Cheers.) But the excuse
is false. These apologists say this grievance did not cause the ris-
I, ,, ing, because only 200 or 300 rose, and out of these only a few had
I' claims of this particular nature. The argument is absurd. It was
' If ; not the only grievance ; there were others, it was one of sev-
;x V. ;' eral. (Cheers.) But did you ever hear or read of a rising which^
'f)%-' % ivas conjined to those who had in their own individual cases suf-
''^ '■" fered fratn grievance ? No ! The brothers, the fathers, the sons,
'the kinsmen rise, the neighbours, the friends, the sympathisers
rise ! (Cheers.) Man sympathises with his fellow man, and this,
'- even when it leads to his joining in the fight for his fellow's rights,
is not a low or base characteristic of humanity ! (Cheers). But
again, do you suppose the insurgents and their leader did not
count when they rose on being joined by the others ? They did,
. and there was great danger of it too ! And this assurance and
= this danger was due to the fact that there was a large body
'-^f^Cv^L - ' of aggrieved Half-breeds to appeal to. (Loud cheering.) But
the Government have lately published Half-breed declarations
which prove the case. They have this long time been engaged in
^ getting whitewashing papers from the Half-breeds ; they have
' demeaned themselves by sending their powerful agents to these
poor people, some wounded in battle, some imprisoned under the

• law, some exiles from their country, all ruined, starving, and despair-
ing, dreading they know not what further horrors, uncertain of

* their future, doubtful of amnesty, doubtful of their poor holdings,
. absolutely dependent on the good-will of the Government, feeling

it vital to gain that good- will, and taught that the easiest road
to it was to say what the Government wished should be said as
to the rebellion ; they have sent their agents to get papers from
these poor Half-breeds. (Cheers.) I do not attach the greatest
weight to acquittals of the Government, to condemnations of
Riel, to excuses for themselves put forth by the Half-breeds on
this pressure, and at this instance ; at any rate so far as their sen-
timents are such as their rulers require at their hand.s. (Cheers.)

-', s •■

A.\

>t^

^:. ■.. (14)

■ V

■J*

'■ >

-'>^

■

■'■ ' .

;;;.i

'.■ '_

i ,'

! '

•

<■

1'/

■\

^X'%

i 1=,

% f f'^

t "

I !

-' *

ft, •-» K,*

b^M■^^

418

i/.

^..i...

But I do say that vtrhen, even in statements so obtained and
put forward, you find

vrvi. ■'

PROOFS OF THE GUILT OF GOVERNMENT,

1.:

that evidence is of the highest value. (Loud cheers.) And I fii
that in a fresh batch of declarations, published by the Mail, at th|
instance of Government the other day, and said to come froi
twenty -four of the principal insurgents, about one half of thei
declare that this grievance of the neglect to make the grants fo\
extinguishment of the Indian title was their ground for rising\
extinguishment of the Indian title was their ground for rising
not that all of them had personal claims ; but this wrong, to theii
people was their ground. (Cheers.) But I need not waste time ii
arguing it. I can prove it out of the adversary's mouth. Mr. White]
the Minister of the Interior, before he saw the fatal effect of his
statement, in his futile efforts to rebut the charge of delay, deciarecJI
on several 'platforms that the action of the Government, in\
ordering the numbering of the Half-breeds, had axitually precvpiA
tated tJie rebellion. So far from their delay having caused it, I
their action 'hastened it. How? Because, said he, Louis Riel,
when he hear^ that at last the Government was about to take
steps towards redress, raised the people some weeks before he had |
intended, knowing that if, even at that twelfth hour, the people
should learn that the Government was really moving towards
redress, they would refuse to rise, he would lose his power to
move them, his game would be spoiled. And, that bein;; so ; it
being so, tliat, even then, those hearts so sick with hope deferred,
- those spirits so angered by neglect and delay, tljose wills so
.' controlled and excited by the influence of Riel, would all be
calmed and soothed by the news, the joyful news, of a step
* towards justice — it being so, that this joyful news would even
.; then have prevented a rising, I ask you how can the Government
, escape condemnation for having left unhealed for years this
' , festering sore, for having delayed for years that redress, which
they now admit would have rendered impossible a rising, which
" would have spoiled the game ? " (Loud and prolonged applause.)
If by action even then, known to the people, if by doing, even
then, the justice which a little later they were compelled to grant,
the rising would have become impossible, the staff of the agitator
would nave broken in his hands, his power for evil would have
ceased . .

HOW SHALL THE MINISTERS ESCAPE

">' ,»,,

v'^V

the judgment of an indignant people for their long months
and years of absolute inaction ? (Great cheering.) I have

14)

itiik**

■. \ .

/ \

•,>.•-. .y.-'^. ',•:*>/ ,

"^ /

SO obtained and so

iNMENT, SS'I^O' '''

' ■, V

cheers.) And I find '
I by the Mail, at the
said to come from
it one half of them
nake the grants for
ground for rmiig;
r ground for rising ;
this wrong to their
i not waste time in
mouth. Mr. White,
»e fatal effect of his
fe of delay, c?ecWe<i
? Government, in
d actually precipi-
' having caused it,
tid he, Louis Kiel,
was about to take
,eeks before he had
b hour, the people

moving towards .'
lose his power to
that bein;,' so; it
ith hope deferred,
y, tliose wills so
iel, would all be

news, of a step
lews would even

the Government
1 for years this
at redress, which
e a rising, which *
longed applause.)
if by doing, even

npelied to grant,
ffof the agitator

evil would have

■A

*', ■- ■

ir long months
iring.) I have

14)

• ;

419

"■v r

told these men to their faces on the floors of Parliament thafr
I hold them responsible before God and man for eveiy dollar
of the five millions of our lavished treasure ; for every drop
of blood shed, whether on the field or on the scaffold; for,
every pang of suffering, sorrow, or anxiety borne by the tone
settler in the North- West, his wife, and children, or by us his
kinsmen in the east ; for the stain on the fair name of Canada,
tarnished by two rebellions w ithin fifteen years, both due to mis-
government ; for the check to the prosperity of Canada, injured,
deeply injured, by the North- West troubles ! (Thunders of ap-
plause.) For all this I hold them responsible, and ask you to
condemn them by your votes ! (Renewed applause.) Well, the
rebellion broke out ; and no. man could tell how far the flame
might spread, or what might be tlie end. The duty of public
men then was to take steps to restore order, and provide security.
That duty devolved on the Government whose neglect had caused
the rising ; but none ihe less was it the part of the Opposition to
assist, to aid them bj^ our counsel, to strengthen their hands in the
task, to spur them forward in the work ; arid we performed our
part. (Cheers.) We gave them all the money, and munitions, and
men they asked for ; we suspended, at their request, wholesome
rules, though the need resulted from their neglect ; we did all
that men could do to promote the restoration of peace, even by
the stern means of war. (Renewed cheers.) We were charged,
nevertheless, most unjustly and ungenerously charged, with creat-
ing and fostering and sympathizing with the rebellion. It was
the old game of the robber, running down the street, crying out
" stop thiet," (Cheers and laughter.) Why, they would almost
.persuade you that the volunteer force was a Tory institution, not
manned or favoured by the Reformers ! (Cheers.) And indeed
they did their best, by the appointments of commanding ofliicers
and otherwise, to use the force and the war to the profit of the
Tories. (Cheers.) But, sir, the Reformers have always sympa-
thized with the volunteers ; our effort has been to secure greater
coiisideration for the rank and file ; we felt for them, we cheered
them, we encouraged them, we did all men could do to lessen the
toils and dangers of our brave defenders. (Loud cheers.) And
we sympathized with them all the more because we felt that they,
whose appropriate duty was to risk their lives in defence of Can-
ada against foreign foes, were called on to endure toils and wounds
and death in a struggle against Canadian citizens, on Canadian
soil, due to Canadian misgovernment. (Loud cheers.) We knew
what their feelings must naturally be, and we saw, and rejoiced
to see, how

• ,-■>

>S.

»i \S I

(M)

V,-

«i.tlr-

■'*-'.

« >. «H lt l »> ^ lil» ii,

MJ ff ^ ll ftl ,

'In ipt . iliii nil I

-' . ' ^i '» "" ' T ~-rr

; -4

,«

v;"-*

■ t-.--

'AVi,, :;,.;.

^ ■".'-'

,"jl'.il,'f < f*-.

NOBLY THEY DID THEIB HARD DUTY.

1 (Loud cheers.) We not sympathize with the volunteers ! Why, i|
their ranks are to be found to-day, I venture to affirm, the full pre
portion of Reformers ; there you would find our political frienc"
our personal friends, our sons, our brothers, our kinsmen, our coni
jiexions. (Cheers.) Take the case of the humble individual wh(
speaks to you. Of the Ontario Law Society, of which I have th^
honour to be head, twenty-one members served in the Queen'^
Own and the Royal Grenadiers in the North- West. Out of th(
twenty-one, seven,* one-third of the whole, were out of my officeJ
(Cheers.) Of the commissioned officers in the Grenadiers onl
North-West service, one was from my office; of those in the!
Queen's Own no less than four, one-fifth of the whole number onl
the strength, were from my office. Not only did seven men go|
out of my office,

'^ '' • TWO WENT OUT OF MY OWN HOME. ^ '

" • "-■..'■ .. "

(Loud cheers.) Let them point to any other case in Canada like
this, before they ask you to believe that we Reformers could be so
unnatural as not to feel and, show the deepest anxiety to quell the
rebellion, and the deepest sympathy with our gallant volunteers !
(Cheers.) Our wives and daughters helped at home, and did all that
women could to dimioish the hardships of the men abroad, and of
the deal* ones they had left behind. (Cheers.) And yet we are to be
told by these Tory monopolizers of loyalty, and public spirit, and
patriotism, and sympathy, that we fostered the rebellion, and
wished success to those who rose, and wounds. and death to our
own people ! (Tremendous cheers.) But you understand the ob-
ject ; it is by any means, however vile, to avert your judgment
on themselves ; and for that they resort to these base attacks on
us. (Cheers.) The rebellion over, the tim^ came for fudging
our rulers for their conduct. They have used every means
to prevent that trial. As I have told you they have suppressed
the papers. As I have told you, they have cast the blame
on us. They have repeatedly cast it on the white settlers.
But they determined to make a supreme effort to cast it wholly on
Riel,' not only to his condemnation, but also, and that is a very
different thing, to their own exoneration. Order restored, they
put the law in force, they proceeded to the trial, the conviction,
the sentence, and the execution of Riel. And they have since pro- •''
claimed that their actions in that regard is the question to be* *'
tried — that, they say is the great issue ! (Cheers and laughter.) I
cannot to-night discuss that question. You know my views. I

(14) '''

I <■

y^^-r-

— I--

*fi'^h*i^i <"■■ m' •<

,r^

.■■■-.»,''.

DUTY.

•A

-i<-

-4 "^ - *.

/■

'i^-

.,-■»..

I believe they are such as his-
not, and do not believe, that

olunteers! Why, in
> aflSrm, the full pro-
ur political friends,
r kinsmen, our con-
ible individual who
f which I have the
^ed in the Queen's
West. Out of the
•e out of my office,
the Grenadiers on
3; of those in the
i whole number on
' did seven men go

'ME. N J,, ..

ise in feanada like
ormers could be so
ixiety to quell the
allant volunteers •
le, and did all that
en abroad, and of
i yet we are to be
public spirit, and
le rebellion, and
md death to our
derstand the ob-
your judgment
base attacks on
w^ for judging
>d every means
lave suppressed
cast the blame
white settlers,
ist it wholly on
that is a very
restored, they
the conviction, «S / ■?;
lave since pro-
question to be
d laughter.) I
my views. I
(14)

am ready to maintain them ; and
tory will record as sound. I did

according to the settled principles of the administration of criminal
justice, the Government in that respect did its duty. But whether
1 be right, or they, on that question, matters not one whit as to
your verdict on the true issue, their responsibility for the rebellion.
(Loud dieers.) I have never denied that there was treason on the
banks of the Saskatchewan, amongst those half civilized, illiterate,
misguided, but also much abused pec^le. There was treason under
the law. Nor have I ever contended that the circumstances
afforded even a moral justification for a resort to arms, whatever
palliation may exist by reason of their ill-treatment. But I tell
you that treason was not conjined to the banks of the Saskat-
chewam (Cheers.) There luas treason on the hanks of the
Ottawa as tvell. (Loud and prolonged applause.) Tjiere was trea-
son there, not amongst poor, half-savage, uneducated, misled men,
stung to madness by contempt, neglect, and the long denial of jus-
; ', tice, starving and desperate, led astray, if you plense, V)y agitators ;

<■!.

- , THERE WAS TREASON AT OTTAWA ..v ' ^

. •'• ^-" •< ■.-■'.

against the Queen's majesty, against the Canadian people, on
the part of men in the highest place, men of the widest
knowledge, men of the largest experience, men living at ease
upon the people's taxes in order that they might do the people's
work ! (Loud cheers.) I charge it on the pledged councillors
of the Queen, on the men who wear her honours, on the men
solemnly sworn so to advise Her Majesty, so to conduct the
pu^blic affairs, as that her people should be well and wisely ruled,
that justice .should be done, that harmony rnd peace .should
mark her happy reign — I charge it on these men that they un-
]-jardonably violated that solemn oath, that they wantonly neg-
lected their prime duty, that they left just claims unheeded for
long years, that they gave the opportunity for rebellion, and so
tarnished their sovereign's honour and betrayed their country's
welfare ! (Tremendous cheering. Voices, " We will turn them
out ! ") Aye, turn them out ! I have told them that in older
and sterner days men far higher placed than they, peers of the
British realm, have been attainted at the bar of the House of
Lords, have stood in peril of life and limb, of freedom and estate,
have been dishonoured and disgraced, and declared mcapable cf
•^^ ever serving the Crown again ; for neglects of duty, and betrayals
. of trust, and violations of obligation far less flagrant ! (Cheers.)
/ I have told them that our modem and milder age provides for
crimes like theirs no adequate punishment; that their only
punishment will be the people's withdrawal of the power they

^ • . ■ . ^- (14)

}

I'*

1 ,

r '■

. *'

i''>

W-

■/

1^:

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'i.^*-ir«t'.- -V',

,.^,-.;.hk<i*^'"'ir

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i%,.^ ,■:-^^ „x.

V 422

have Abused! (Tremendous cheerii^.)
go. This only you can do. And this,

ThuB^sr only you

IF YOU ARE WORTHY OF YOUB FUEEDJM,

this you will surely do! (A chorus of voices, " we wi
^nd thunders of applause.) But thev have their plea. T
plead, as an ample expiation for all their blunders and a|
their crimes, they plead the blood of Louis Riel ! Let me reca
to you a sequence of events.^ Had tliere been no negkd
there would have been no rebellion ; if no rebellion, no arrest
if no arrest, no trial ; if no trial, no condemnation ; if n
yconderrmation, no execution ! (Loud cbeer^) They, therefor
who are responsible for the first are responsible for 4ver;
link in that fatal chain ! (Renewed cheering.) And yet the
tell you, "Because in the last event we have done our duty, be
cause we have executed the man who headed the rebellion, you
are not merely to sanction that last act, you are to do far more,
you are to cast the mantle of oblivion over all our prior crimes,
you are to give us that mercy and favourable consideraation
which we denied, you are to welcome us as innocent and wor-
thy men, whose sins have been all washed white in the blood ql"
Louis Kiel." (Loud and prolonged applause.) But

EVEN THIS WAS NOT ENOUGH,

■^1

An effort has been made for more than a year past to divide
Canadians on lines of race and creed, to the expected gain of
the Tory party For more than a year the fires of race hate,
the fires of creed hate, have been assiduously fed and blown ; and
it has been proclaimed that the dividing lines must be found in*
origin and faith. In the fall of '85 we were told that the French
and the Catholics were about to unite in solid column against the
Government because of the execution of Riel ; and that it was the
bounden duty of us, English-speaking Protestants, to unite in solid
cplumn to oppose the Catholics and French. I shall not easily de-^
spair of my country ; but if aught could fill me with despair as to
its future, it would be such a situation as was described. That
would, indeed, leave but little to hope for in the land we love.
(Cheers.) We could not prosper or grow on such conditions ; we
.must inevitably wither and die. (Renewed, cheers.) Then, if this
would be the deadliest blow to Canada, what is the nieasure of
their guilt who invented the situation, in ordor to provoke it into
existence ? (Cheers) It was not the real situation. In January,
'8G, at London, I explained the truth. / pointei^ out thj^t there
was no ,8uch union of French and Catholics, as pretended ; J
poifUedout that theOovemment was in no danger whatever on

' ^ (14) •

IS ^r onty you can

liBEDJir.

oices, "We will!"
B their plea. They
p blunders and all
liel ! Let me recall
e been no negkcty
ebellion, no arrest ;
demnation; if no
They, therefore,
ponsible for ^very
J.) • And yet they
done our duty, be-

the rebellion, you
*re to do far more,

our prior crimes,
ble consideraation
nnocent and wpr-
ite in the blood of
But

- I \iPfe atr^//br^:^^,pj|^J^|^ ,J^^ the po-''%j^^^' ->" U

'•lyjinc;!! Tuap cT' Cvnfida~"''c>>e'^rr'^--l--'T«<»lnr?d not merely that the ^X^^'-^u
/ri:>i^Eohiia.iL'ad.oJitj'^ vvolij:J t- -ii-Mo.], luC ih;>^ the Hb*/: -.bthc:;]- ^''■'u

■ irfj.

tfMrHCe i.ibcv-l pprry v],,-^

T.UE Orro?ITION WOVLD L'.: PIVTDFJJ. ■. . . ...

one involving the {uluihiis-

iiito v/hich an ■■^'^o■:t \,iv\

of 13 cu aud crotiti, I %n-ou;'J. .-■..'

.1 t;ike uo party line, should main-

>uid b.i:x. and \():.e euiiroK' r-i'r'"d--

aftur licariii:.! the evidciioo imd

ONvn

i/'d:tcUr«J .hat op thiri rii.-vjon, a--
be<>a (v^tt«<« to iiitroduce. 'Js^Mt^

■r,' I :.-i-

(ess c«f i.arfcvy^^ • '
a.rAuiv^^nt sh;^idd

clAcl^la? ••e ^'udt anr: jut-L (Che-iS.) -.-, _

the Frtrncii Avere divi'scd; the Liber

■i:]'', guided by hU own oo:i^;cionce

And the e /i;ijts , v';;ided

:u- v,-e''.. 01-

•wy iv^C-iC"-' vi.: ; tne x'rencii Avere aiv.i'icd; tlio Lioerai- '.ve''.. ■.ii-
Vi4€<;f^' x):,'c '.Tovcrnni-nt obtained a iarp) rjcdovity ; and •.Li.-n. foi-
iCcbK. '.h^- T'rie:-; tnri> d ror.nd an'.l :.^^^X, ' iiow disapooijtted Mr.

J-M.^kc nu;..-::''!<jei iha^v he dl..i net b-uU rh^- ''.b:^v jiT<i:ie'iv 'j:! '.b'lli^d
i^nes' io»:." (Che.'^';': n.i:d b'':;yiit-er.) O/ e. .'//v.^, 1 Uhu-; c--r;j 7-iuc'<.
(lij't': :\-Ai:':i.i V -.:.■■ '■'! ;; /,'•'- ■:''-:\.;;'..v I'.L'J. '-.\.;/uv T/ i^?, "-^-.'ie f^i (■"ir^
'trcrr ■'-:■■ :!>fil. (L':.:.;^hc^i . ^ rhu d-i':yh,.l': tb^'ii" rj^; ,.no b,;r 1 1 .0
cr\'; ;.:.'l iji '..i\e .:;.'^.^- ;;:. .".^t :'v ;• tbvv hj-v- Kof^t it up vA';.;- "biov.,
You and *]'t;i'.i d'.^eb.i'in:/ iie:Ki: that chc l.j'cciI u:.v.;r.;.i:j..-.;.;t •■.■; '.y.e-

Yoi; and *]'t;i'.i d'.^eh.i'inj; iie:Ki:

.■\>v.pt ou' of oxiiCv:nce at tiie

bcc

vv'i.iLua

Protesri'lit alavrri at .saeh a re

ebuh

and cxcitiii':'

ir past to divide
expected gain of
res of race hate,
and blown ; and
lust be found in
that the French
umn against the
id that it was the
to unite in solid
ill not easily de-
ith despair as to
escribed. That
leland we love,
conditions; we
Then, if this
the nieasure of
provoke it into
u In January, .
out thijf,t there
pretended; I
sr whatever on

m^"

And now the}- >,&<■
1 — '

iio more rlgiit to n

I ''■!

die ihari

. and "vvdth "which wg have
they have vrith ours. (Cheer*.;,

PrOvirei. ant

En-ihh

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tiu^ ov^^r riic i^nirii^,. jycc.i\r>j: b^'■o':e^>t;■.ni:.^ ef l:]:.;\r

i a call 10 all Proie.staiits everywhere to do fc^orne-

o%v not what, for thf reh-j: of their hrethren ;

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\'\/'\ '^:0- nisy' v/o tru,.v'-!v>p;^,tiO help iho u-ij.?!-:. ofotH.}!: Province.-, ^-Ijould';'
r. ." tkev'noed onr'aM ; . I 'ionv cbau-t^t-in^oi'le or rav ri.itive Province ■
..■ 'vdil viso to tr.o OL'Cii;>i'on •, fiKiu c^ii-y.v/iii -^ivo on tho 2Sth «jt' Dc-
'■' :, comber a deol-ivc vcivlit^c. oji the ■:'-iKl'^'-e(l ;-:^vio^ ; and I lielieve'/
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.jV^'.'^.tv' be soon delivered .■■i2;_aiiiso,iiiO l:fOveriiraeiiu afc bttav,ci----(chee4's);>''
^■-■r;/^'_L-_;^' T|TD,;;A,ri;:yT 'A)Ar'r:^i:. yoK': >:-:tEf.n.,..\ ]^■;Nl^s.t^^SNT alt. t.ie '■'■
!;/•:;''■:. ^GRSATEr;, ).!::;• A.i:r<?:'.ot' '^iih: riLiA.^rL'aL. e. -'ports, wxrcn rf-wii lbkn'^
3;T_;'Mi.DK TO A;V!:ir;:. Tifi: jr:.T ]N}f,:ibF -rru-: o^tknd^us, kvltt rivl^
V-r •r'.'"-THE RUIXOF TitK STATE THLY RULE, (Thunders of applause.) , jv^

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