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1^ 
 
 National Library Biblioth6que nationale 
 of Canada du Canada 
 
XiESTTEDR 
 
 SHOWING THI 
 
 UNDBR THE PRBSBNT ADMINISTRATION, 
 
 AND COMMENTING UPON THE SPEECH OF THE HON. EDWARD BLAKB 
 TO THE YOUNG MENS REFORM CLUB OF MONTREAL^ 
 
 ADDRESSED BY 
 
 THE HON. D. L MACPHERSON, 
 
 SENATOR OF CANADA, 
 
 TO 
 
 GEORGE JACKSON, ESQ., M.P., 
 
 FOR THE SOUTH RIDING OF THE COUNTY OF GREY. 
 
 "Boonomy is itself a great Inoome." 
 
 TORONTO: 
 Williams, Sleeth & MacMillan, Printers, 124 Bay Street. 
 
 1881. 
 
! 
 
 
 I 
 
SHOWINQ THE 
 
 DECREASE IN THE CONTROLLABLE PUBLIC EXPENDITURE 
 
 UNDER THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION, 
 
 AND COMMENTING UPON THE SPEECH OF THE HON. EDWARD BLAKE 
 TO THE YOUNG MEN'S REFORM CLUB OF MONTREAL. 
 
 George Jackson, Esq., M.P., 
 
 SoufA Riding of Gtey^ Durham^ Ont. 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 Recalling your conversations with me before the close of last session 
 upon the subject of the Public Expenditure, and seeing that it is being 
 referred to by leading members of the Opposition and by their organs in the 
 Press in a manner that is calculated to mislead the people, by conveying an 
 exaggerated impression of the amount of the controllable portion of the 
 expenditure, I have extracted the facts from the Public Accounts. I have 
 embodied these facts in tabulated form in this letter, which you are at liberty to 
 publish, and which I address to you as the Representative in the House of 
 Commons of a portion of the ci-deiiant Saugeen division, which I had the 
 honor to represent in the Legislative Council of United Canada. 
 
 I observe that the majority of Opposition speakers and writers, while 
 professing to discuss the expenditure, confine their criticism to the estimates 
 that were recently submitted to Parliament. 
 
 Their strictures are not upon the expenditure, but upon sums which have not 
 yet been expended ; and they are, therefore, worthless, except as injunctions 
 to the Government to observe economy, — a virtue that the leaders of the 
 Opposition when in office certainly did not practice. 
 
 I apprehend the " mixing and muddling " of estimates and expenditure 
 are indulged in by some of our critics for the purpose of perplexing and 
 dec^ving those who are not experienced in distinguishing between the two. 
 
For the information of such as are not familiar with them and with the 
 implied condition on which Parliament votes the supplies for carrying on the 
 affairs of the country, I may explain that the estimates are the sums which 
 the Government assumes will be required for the various branches of the 
 public service during the financial year beginning on the ist July succeeding 
 the session iii which they are voted. They are laid before the House of 
 Commons in detail by the Minister of Finance. 
 
 The amounts which Parliament thus sees fit to vote and place at the disposal 
 of the Government are embodied in an Act, but it does not follow thnt the 
 whole will be exi)ended. It is the duty of Ministers constantly to exercise 
 the strictest economy compatible with efficiency in the public service ; and in 
 expending the money placed in their hands each session for the service of the 
 ensuing financial year, they must be governed in some measure by the state 
 of the country — its prosperity or otherwise, the harvest, the condition of 
 its many industries and of the Revenue. 
 
 It will thus be seen that comparisons based on Estimates, or partly on 
 Estimates and partly on Expenditure, are valueless, and to those who con- 
 found the one with the other mu.st be altogether misleading. 
 
 The only comparisons that are accurate are those of the ascertained 
 expenditure of one year with that of another as detailed in the Public 
 Accounts ; and to judge of the economy and capacity of Administrations, 
 it is necessary to confine the comparisons to the portion of the expenditure 
 that is, more or less, within the control of the Executive. 
 
 When in past years I compared the expenditure of Mr. Mackenzie's 
 Government with that of his predecessor. Sir John Macdonald, and 
 exposed and reprobated what I considered its needless and extravagant 
 increase by gentlemen whose political battle-cry had always been " Economy 
 and Retrenchment ! " — I say, when 1 compared their expenditure with 
 that of their predecessors, I eliminated from the gross amount the 
 charges for Interest, Sinking Fund, and other items connected with the public 
 debt, and dealt only with the controllable portion. 
 
 To make comparisons on which to judge Administrations fairly, the items 
 of fixed outlay, such as Subsidies to Provinces, should be deducted, as they 
 are beyond the control of the Government. The outlay in the North- West 
 Territories should also be separated from that of the Dominion proper. 
 When all this is done, the public accounts are simple to all who understand 
 the first four rules of arithmetic; and the people can readily distinguish pru- 
 dent and economical administrators from those who are reckless and wasteful. 
 The following table, formulated on the above plan, shows the annual expendi- 
 ture for seven years from ist July, 1873, to 30th June, 1880, the first of these 
 being the year of Mr. Mackenzie's advent to power, and the last of them the 
 first complete year under Sir John Macdonald, after his return to power in 
 October, 1878, and the last for which we have the Public Accounts : 
 
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 It is thus made plain that the Controllable Expenditure for 1879-80, amount- 
 ing to $11,015,797, was less than it had been for five of the six preceding 
 financial years, being — 
 
 $1,112,737 less than for 1873-74 
 
 577,572 •' '• 1874-75 
 
 1,192,105 •• •• 1875-76 
 
 239,342 •• •• 1876-77 
 
 561,019 •> «> 1878-79 
 
 The year 1877-78 shows a decrease of $71,157 as compared with 1879-80, 
 These results rest on data that are given in the Public Accounts and can be 
 easily verified. 
 
 I challenge the Opposition to disprove the correctness of any one of them. 
 Their Orators, both in and out of Parliament, who with great unfairness, 
 I might say with great dishonesty, carefully abstain, when instituting com- 
 parisons, from separating what is controllable from what is not, must be 
 conscious that they have been detected in misrepresenting the expenditure of 
 the present Government, and they should feel mortified and humbled when 
 they scan the table that proves that the controllable expenditure for 1879-80 wa» 
 $1,192,705 less than for Mr. Mackenzie's second complete year in office, 1875- 
 76, and was less than for any year of his Administration, notwithstanding the 
 annual recurrence then of heavy deficits, except in 1877-78, when, owing to 
 the exposure of his extravagance in the Senate and being on the eve of the 
 General Election, he temporarily retrenched, in the expectation doubtless of a 
 renewed five years' lease of power and of a continuance of reckless 
 expenditure during the term. In 1877-78 the expenditure for Militia 
 and Defence and for Public Works paid for out of income was reduced below 
 that of 1875-76 by no less a sum than $1,310,741, but such was the extrava- 
 gance in other departments that the controllable expenditure for 1877-78, as 
 I have already shewn, was only $72,213 less than that for 1879-80, The pre- 
 tended retrenchment of 1877-78 could only have been intended as a political 
 
 subterfuge. 
 
 It was, however, too late. The people had lost faith in the falsely-styled 
 Reform party. They had raised the leaders of that party to power to enable 
 them to fulfil their pledges of economy and retrenchment, but instead of 
 doing so, those leaders had run up the controllable expenditure to the highest 
 figure it has reached since Confederation. 
 
 The decrease of the gross controllable expenditure is not, however, the 
 only gratifying, nor even the most gratifying fact that is disclosed by an 
 examination of the Public Accounts, and the more closely they are examined, 
 the more abundant will be the evidence of careful administration by the 
 present Government. 
 
 I shall not extend this letter by dwelling on minor proofs of this, but will 
 content myself by pointing to what has been accomplished in the Depart- 
 ments of Customs and of Railways and Canals. 
 
lount- 
 [eding 
 
 in be 
 
 In 1875-76 the receipts from Customs Revenue were $13,833,837, and the 
 cost of collection was $731,008, being $5.62 on each $100. In 1879-80 the 
 receipts from Customs were $14,071,343, and the cost of collection was 
 $716,136, being $5.08 on each $100. It will thus be seen that the cost of 
 collecting the revenue by this department for 1879-80 was 54 Cents 
 on each $100 less than in 1875-76, being a comparative saving in fnvor 
 of 1879-80, the first complete fiscal year of the present Administration, of 
 $75»983' Not only was there this important proportionate economy achieved, 
 but the actual expenditure of the department was less in 1879-80 than in 
 >875-76. The average cost of collecting the Customs Revenue for five years 
 to 30th June, 1879, was $5.36 on each $100 of revenue. 
 
 The accounts of the Railways owned and operated by the Dominion 
 afford striking and gratifying evidence of the growth of our Inter-Provincial 
 trade, and of the economy of management. 
 
 The last report of the Auditor-General, Mr. J. Lorn Macdougall, contains 
 the following comparative summary of the Earnings and Working Expenses of 
 the Intercolonial and P. E. Island Railways (operated by the Dominion 
 Government) during the years 1879 and 1880. 
 
 N. B.- The C. P. and Windsor Branch Railways are not included, as they 
 were not in operation in 1879. See Auditor-Generars Ret>ort, 1880, folio 24 j. 
 
 RAILWAYS. 
 
 Earnings. 
 1879. 
 
 Working Ex- 
 penses. 
 
 1879. 
 
 Excess of 
 
 Expenses OVER 
 
 Earnings. 
 
 1879. 
 
 Intercolonial Railway 
 
 $1,294,099 69 
 125.855 91 
 
 $2,010,183 22 
 223,313 12 
 
 $716,083 S3 
 
 P. E. Island Railway 
 
 97,457 21 
 
 
 
 
 $1,419,955 60 
 
 $2,233,496 34 
 
 $813,540 74 
 
 RAILWAYS. 
 
 Earnings. 
 1880. 
 
 Working Ex- 
 penses. 
 
 1880. 
 
 Excess of 
 
 expensesover 
 
 Earnings. 
 
 1880. 
 
 Intercolonial Railway 
 
 $1,506,298 48 
 113.851 " 
 
 $1,603,429 71 
 164 640 55 
 
 $97,131 23 
 
 P. E. Island Railway 
 
 50,789 44 
 
 
 
 
 $1,620,149 59 
 
 $1,768,070 26 
 
 $147,920 67 
 
 Increase of Earnings in 1880 
 
 $200,193 99 
 
 $465,426 08 
 
 
 Decrease of Working Expenses in 1880. 
 Net Gain in 1880 as compared with 1879 
 
 
 
 $665,620 07 
 
 
 
 
 
I 
 
 Juit consider that in 1880, the first year in which the Railways were 
 managed under the policy of the present Government, that the receipts from 
 the Intercolonial and Prince Edward Island Rail/ays exceeded those of the 
 year before by the sum of $200,193.99, <^^ ^1^*^ notwithstanding the increas- 
 ed traffic, the operating expenses were reduced $465,426.08, making, alto- 
 gether, a diflference to the Canadian tax payer of $665,620.07. Although Mr. 
 Mackenzie retired from office in October, 1878, his mode of Railway man- 
 agement could not be suddenly changed. It took a year, or longer, of unre- 
 mitting and anxious labor to introduce and perfect the new arrangements for 
 operating the lines. In 1879 the Railways were mainly worked under Mr. 
 Mackenzie's system, while in 1880 that of Sir Charles Tapper was in full 
 operation. 
 
 I shall not dilate upon the contrast that is presented in the results, but it 
 may account for the fiendish malignity with which traducers in the Opposi- 
 tion ranks pursue Sir Charles Tupper, even to his sick bed-side. 
 
 The interest and other charges for the Public Debt are a heavy and 
 increasing burden. 
 
 Between 1873-74 and 1878-79 these items were increased by the sum of 
 $2,006,837. It is thus made manifest that for Public Debt items alone, Mr. 
 Mackenzie's Administration permanently increased ihe annual public expendi- 
 ture by the sum of not less than $2,000,000. 
 
 The increase of the Public Debt during the same period, according to the 
 Public Accounts, was $42,811,202.32, — the increase between 1872-73, and 
 1877-78, was $451213,836.77. The loan of 1878 was actually negociated by 
 Sir Leonard Tilley, but it was required to meet the obligations incurred by his 
 predecessor, Sir Richard Cartwright, who should have provided for them before 
 the general election. He, however, decided to wait until after that event, 
 doubtless expecting that he would be enabled to present himself in the money 
 market with a renewed mandate from the people. To meet the requirements 
 of the Government for the time being, he had recourse to borrowing for short 
 periods from London Bankers and Financial Agents. It was to pay off 
 these liabilities, to prepare for meeting the other maturing obligations 
 of the Government, and generally to place the public finances on a 
 satisfactory footing, that Sir Leonard had to hasten to England immediately 
 after his election, on his appointment as Minister of Finance ; and although 
 Sir Richard's neglect to negociate a loan, when he should have done so, was 
 not unattended with peril to the public credit, yet it was fortunate for the 
 Dominion that the negociation devolved upon Sir Leonard Tilley, for he 
 disposed of the loan by public competition or tender as he did in 1873. 
 
 In the increase of the debt, stated above, ($42,811,202.32) of course is 
 included the sum of $1,520,833, that being substantially the portion of the 
 loan of 1876, ($12,166,666) which Sir Richard Cartwright allowed as discount 
 to the lenders and paid for Brokerage, &c. 
 
 While the Dominion did not receive this sum of $11520,833, or any 
 
9 
 
 • 
 
 part of it, yet interest, sinking fund, &c., have to be paid thereon, amounting 
 to about $70,000 a year, till the maturity of the loan in 1906, (the interest 
 alone at 4 per cent, exceeds $60,000 a year.) To have to pay $70,000 
 a year for thirty years for that which the Dominion did not receive does 
 seem a grievous hardship, but Sir Richard maintains, and Mr. Blake and his 
 other colleagues of 1876 also maintain that that loan was advantageous for 
 the Dominion, was, in fact, a model loan. But, in the opinion of men who do 
 not belong to their model school of finance, it was an improvident and myste- 
 rious loan — I say mysterious, because it was sold without public competition, 
 on terms which reduced the net proceeds which Canada received to about 
 87^ Cents on the dollar, and further because Mr. Mackenzie's Admin- 
 istration refused to make public the names of the allotees or beneficiaries. 
 
 The amount of $1,520,833 is the portion which Sir Pichard sank in England, 
 of the principal of the loan. Unfortunately it does not represent the whole 
 loss. To it must be added $1,037,520, which is the value of the yearly pay- 
 ment of interest of $60,000 for thirty years, when capitalized. 
 
 The country's loss by Sir Richard Cartwright's disastrous loan of 1876, it will 
 thus be seen, amounted to the prodigious sum of $2,658,363. Yet Mr. Blake 
 supported and still approves of that transaction ! 
 
 And what did Mr. Mackenzie's Government show for all the money they 
 had spent ? Unfinished canals that ought to have been finished, and fragments 
 of the Canadian Pacific Railway — disjecta w^w^ra— scattered from the Geor- 
 gian Bay to the Red River of the North, including the Fort Francis Lock — 
 all of" Reform" planning and engineering. When Mr. Mackenzie, Mr. Blake, 
 and their colleagues came into power, they were quite free to follow the dictates 
 of their own judgment in building the Canadian Pacific Railway, for the country 
 was, at that time, uncommitted to any scheme for its construction. Had they 
 been allowed to remain in office after 1878, I verily believe they would have 
 drifted into pledging the country to build it, throughout its entire length, 
 out of the public exchequer. 
 
 Happily for the Dominion, the present Government succeeded to power in 
 time to place the portions that were unbuilt and uncontracted for under con- 
 tract, and to utilize in paying for constructing those portions and for operating 
 the whole line, 25,000,000 of Acres of Land, which are and will be value- 
 less, until the Railway is built, and they thereby saved $25,000,000 of 
 cash, and prevented an increase of the annual burdens of at least 
 $1,120,000 in addition to the loss that may be incurred for a time in operat- 
 ing ^he Railway. 
 
 The leaders of the Opposition are silent touching their mal-administration 
 when in office ; and we have to go to the United States to discover the fruits 
 of their arduous labors of the last two sessions. There we find that the 
 agents and runners of Western Railways and land speculators use the 
 speeches of Mr. Blake and others for advertising and puffing the territories 
 of the United States, and disparaging those of Canada. 
 
 
10 
 
 ;♦ I 
 
 ii' 
 
 li 
 
 The r^/e the Opposition leaders are playing is unworthy and unpatriotic, 
 and will, doubtless, be appreciated by the people at its true value. They 
 may be prompted to it by chagrin at the collapse of their desperate 
 anti-Syndicate agitation du.ing the Christmas recess, which ended in the 
 most complete fiasco recorded in the annals of Canada. 
 
 But I have digressed from the subject which I took up my pen to write 
 upon— the controllable Public Expenditure. 
 
 While I have proved from the Public Accounts that the financial adminis- 
 tration of the present Government has been prudent and economical, I 
 would not have it supposed that I regard all increase of expenditure as 
 extravagant and unwise. 
 
 Perhaps there is no country that has benefitted more than Canada hae 
 done from a bold but judicious expenditure on public works, undertaken to 
 cheapen the transport of her products from the interior to the sea. 
 
 What would Canada be to-day without the Canals and Railways which she 
 has either constructed or subsidized ? Neither the Canals nor the Railways yield 
 a direct return upon the Capital invested in them, but the indirect profit 
 reaped by the whoie people through the enhanced value of their land and of 
 the fruits of their labour and enterprise in the multiform industries of 
 the Dominion is enormous. So great and marked is the progress of Canada, 
 that last year for the first time the Exports exceeded the Imports. 
 
 While the great public Works — the Canals and Railways — have contributed 
 immensely to bring about the happy state of things now existing, they have 
 had invaluable auxiliaries in the minor Works, such as Lighthouses, Harbours, 
 Piers, Breakwaters, and the improvement of navigable Rivers. And now the 
 Submarine Telegraph has been laid to important points on the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence. 
 
 The development of our Commerce demands improvements, and improve- 
 ments mean expenditure, on the Pacific as well as on the Atlantic, on the 
 Red River, the Assineboine, the Saskatchewan, and the Eraser, as well as 
 on the St. Lawrence, the St. John, the Ottawa, and the Great Lakes. 
 
 Among the most important and anxious duties of conscientious Ministers 
 is the determining which of the many pressing improvements are the most 
 urgently needed, and how many can be undertaken without bearing too- 
 heavily upon the taxpayers. 
 
 It may be the duty of Governments in times of general prosperity and 
 redundant revenue to enter upon expenditure intended to develope the 
 material resources of the country and to provide suitable buildings in cities 
 and towns which are unprovided with them, for the safe and efficient conduct 
 of public business, which it would be unwise to undertake in times of wide- 
 spread depression in trade, chronic deficits in revenue and popular despond- 
 ency. 
 
 The people are too intelligent and too confident of the future of the country 
 to tolerate a refrogade or stand-still Administration, and while taxes that may 
 
[triotic, 
 
 They 
 
 sperate 
 
 [in the 
 
 write 
 
 Injinis- 
 fca], I 
 jure as 
 
 la har 
 ten to 
 
 ch she 
 
 s yield 
 
 profit 
 [and of 
 ies of 
 fanada, 
 
 11 
 
 bear unequally upon them should be adjusted or removed, they do not desire 
 to have given back to them all of the income that may remain over the 
 expenditure of each year. They neither wish it helplessly given back to 
 them nor wrapped in a napkin and buried, but they require that their 
 Ministers for the time being, unswayed by sectionalism or provincialism, shall 
 employ what can be spared from the Revenue where it will best subserve 
 the interests of the whole Dominion. 
 
 The expenditure incurred in developing the North West Tenitories, in 
 civilizing the Indians there, and in constructing the Canadian Pacific Railway, 
 may fairly be regarded simply as an advance or loan from the Dominion. 
 The proceeds of the hundreds of millions of acres of land, the only great area 
 of attractive land remaining unsettled in the world, should recoup the Do- 
 minion, principal and interest, two or three times over, to say nothing of the 
 revenue that will flow from that country into the Dominion exchequer. 
 
 Before the Opposition Financiers again discuss either the Estimates or the 
 Expenditure of the present Government, they should read the Budget 
 Speeches of Sir Richard Cartwright, to recall the schemes of their party for 
 increasing the expenditure. I wish those speeches could be placed in 
 the hands of every elector of this Dominion. In 1874, when imposing 
 new taxes, Sir Richard said : " The total amount expected to be derived 
 from those new sources of revenue is about $3,000,000, which is about the 
 amount we require over the $22,000,000 already estimated for, in order to 
 meet the enormous additional expense which we must expect during the 
 next four or five years." 
 
 He also said : " I do not think that any greater increase of the Tariff than 
 we suggest would be wise. I think we have gone to the limit beyond which 
 it would be impossible to pass without resorting to direct taxation." 
 
 His own words thus prove that he intended to provide for an expen- 
 diture of $25,000,000 a year, and his estimates for that year (1874-75) 
 amounted to $24,449,000. It seems incredible that Mr. Mackenzie's Ad- 
 ministration should have been induced to sanction estimates so extravagant as 
 those which they submitted to Parliament in 1874. Sir Richard Cartwright 
 announced the amount to the House of Commons as follows : " Mr. Chair- 
 man, the total sum demanded " (by the Government) " for the services of the 
 year 1874-75 is, as I have stated, $24,449,000." The amount actually voted 
 by Parliament was $24,883,000. I have shown that for interest, &c., upon 
 the amount by which he increased the Public Debt, Sir Richard added 
 $2,000,000 a year permanently to the public expenditure. 
 
 The following is an extract from his Budget Speech, delivered on i6th 
 February, 1875: " I think that during those ten years (1874 to 1884) we 
 shall probably borrow from our own people, through the medium of Savings 
 Banks, or receive from miscellaneous sources, about $1,000,000 annually, 
 amounting in all to $io,ooo,coo." 
 
 In the same Speech he further said : " If the House coincides with me 
 
11 
 
 in the opinion that it will be wise and prudent, with these heavy engage- 
 ments, to maintain a steady moderate surplus, we shall probably have another 
 $1,000,000 per annum from that source, amounting to $10,000,000 more." 
 
 From his dream of an annual surplus of $2,000,000, Sir Richard awaken- 
 ed to discover an annual deficit of nearly that amount, and it may be well for 
 the country that it was so, for, had not his Estimates of Revenue proved 
 altogether fallacious, it is quite obvious now thai the expenditure of the 
 Government, of which he was a member, would have been even more reck- 
 lessly prodigal than it was. 
 
 - 1 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 The speech which Mr. Blake delivered to the Young Men's Reform Club 
 of Montreal, being in the nature of a political '"pronunciamento," is deserving 
 of more careful perusal than after-dinner speeches usually receive. It con- 
 tains some passages that I feel bound to notice. 
 
 Mr. Blake is evidently amazed and mortified that his efforts against the 
 ratification of the contract with the Syndicate for building the Canadian Pacific 
 Railway bore no fruit beyond reducing by one the number of his usual fol- 
 lowers in the House of Commons, and, instead of attributing his failure to 
 the true cause, he insinuated at Montreal that it was due to some adverse 
 " preponderating influence," which he did not define. 
 
 The following is an extract from his speech : — 
 
 " I do not speak without having weighed my words, when I say that my 
 belief is that there was not merely outside that House but also within its walls, 
 at one time, a preponderance of opinion adverse to that contract, (Hear, 
 hear.) By what means ? under what circumstances ? By what pressure ? I 
 don't accuse any one of baseness ; I don't accuse any one of impropriety, but 
 there was a rallying to the support of the Government which deliberately 
 chose to pledge itself to the carrying of that contract. What that preponder- 
 ating influence may have been it is not for me to state ; it is for the country 
 to judge." 
 
 While Mr. Blake did not, and dared not charge any of the Ministerial 
 supporters with baseness, he cast at them collectively a sweeping insinuation 
 of infamy — at gentlemen who are unstained by, and incapable of dishonorable 
 conduct. Will the future historian who may have access to the chronicles 
 of the Legislature of Ontario be able to say as much of Mr. Blake ? 
 
 If the Leader of the Opposition knows of one member of the House of 
 Commons who yielded to improper influences, he ought to name him, and, if 
 be did know of such a case, it is he who would proclaim it with a light heart. 
 But since he does not know of an instance of dishonor, it is altogether un- 
 worthy of one occupying his position, insidiously to promulgate a covert, but 
 most foul slander against a body of gentlemen, of whom., probably, no one 
 would be willing to exchange political records with him. 
 
 
18 
 
 What did those gentlemen do to expose them to the nefarious imputation ? 
 They simply refused to be lured by Mr. Blake's disingenuous appeals to follow 
 an odious example and to desert their leader. They preferred, one and all, to 
 adhere to what they considered the path of patriotism. Mr. Blake ought to 
 be aware that, if he charged gentlemen in Parliament with being swayed in 
 the discharge of their highest duties by improper " preponderating influences," 
 he would import into our Legislative Halls the enactment of scenes such as 
 we read of occurring elsewhere, and deplore. He must have meant that 
 the influences he referred to were improper, or he would not have prefaced 
 the insult by saying that " he did not speak without having weighed his words." 
 
 If Mr. Blake had meant it to be understood, for instance, that Sir John 
 Macdonald had exerted so " preponderating an influence " in his party that it 
 defied him (Mr. Blake) to break their phalanx, he would have alluded only 
 to the exercise of a legitimate influence, and, therefore, the remark would have 
 been inoffensive and would not have required the pre-weighing of his words; 
 but the declared pre-weighing of words proves that Mr. Blake intended 
 by them to convey a deliberate insult. 
 
 Can it be that Mr. Blake's vile insinuations were suggested by reminiscences 
 of experiences in his own political career ? 
 
 It is quite true that the gentlemen who support the Government in both 
 Houses of Parliament were most anxious that the provisions of so important 
 a contract, as that for building the Canadian Pacific Railway, should be free 
 from all ambiguity and opejj^ as little as possible, to the misrepresentations of 
 the ingenuous, the unscrupulous, and the unpatriotic among their opponents ; 
 and, in deference to the wishes of the friends of the Ministry the Syndicate 
 signified that they agreed in the construction which the Government had 
 placed upon the contract, and thus all reasonable objections to it were 
 satisfactorily removed. 
 
 These important facts Mr. Blake saw fit to withhold from his audience at 
 Montreal, and thereby committed an act of suppressio vert inconsistent with 
 the example of scrupulous candor which might have been expected from one 
 of his position and pretensions, when addressing a society of young 
 Reformers. But, if he had stated the facts, he must have denied himself the 
 gratification of uttering an inuendo, by means of which he tried figuratively 
 to stab his opponents in the back. 
 
 Mr. Blake appears prone to reticence under circumstances which would 
 seem to require perfect frankness. A remarkable instance of this occurred in a 
 speech to his then constituents delivered at Teeswater, in the County of Bruce, 
 in 1877. When comparing the expenses of the Department of Justice, at 
 Ottawa, under himself with the same when under Sir John Macdonald, and 
 apparently desiring to prove (what the Public Accounts did not bear out), that 
 his Administration was the more economical of the two, he actually omitted 
 the salaries of Sir John Macdonald and himself, and thus suppressed the fact 
 that his own salary as Minister of Justice was $7,000 a year, being $2,000 a 
 
u 
 
 i 
 
 year more than that of Sir John Macdonald as Premier and Minister of 
 Justice from Confederation until within a short time of his retirement in 
 1873. 
 
 Mr. Blake, and others who, like him, set themselves up as political exem- 
 plars and leaders, should remember that as the strength of the strongest chain 
 is limited to that of its weakest link, so the character of each individual man 
 for pureness and nobleness does not rise above the level of the basest, 
 meanest propensity that he permits to exercise a preponderating influence 
 over his conduct. 
 
 To return to the House of Commons, does Mr, Blake know of an instance 
 in which an important Government measure, when first introduced, received 
 the cordial approval of all those who finally voted f-)r it ? 
 
 During the times when he himselt was only a supporter of Mr. Mackenzie's 
 Administration, as a private member, did he always approve unqualifiedly, 
 when they were first submitted, of Government measures that he ultimately 
 supported? He should remember how frequently and cruelly he played 
 the part of " candid friend," to the great embarrassment of Mr. Mackenzie. 
 
 It would not have been surprising if, before they had time to make them- 
 selves masters of the contract, some members of the Commons had supposed 
 that it must have contained very objectionable features, when it provoked an 
 oration of six hours from Mr. Blake, and speeches extending over weeks 
 from his lieutenants. 
 
 But, when each of his verbose objections to the Contract was in its turn 
 subjected to exhaustive discussion, its hoUowness was demonstrated, and 
 Parliament became convinced and the country became satisfied that his great 
 oratorical effort had been only as sounding brass and those of his followers 
 as mere tinkling cymbals. 
 
 Early in the debate it seemed as if Mr. Blake's opposition were not so much 
 against the contract as against the Government, and as if he cared little how 
 serious the consequence to the country might be, provided he could score a 
 political triumph for himself. His anticipations were no doubt most sanguine, 
 his labors, measured by time, were prodigious, his failure must have been 
 galling to him, for it was complete and ignominious. 
 
 In his Banquet Speech, at Montreal, he dwell at great length upon the 
 second or political Syndicate, and treated its offer as dond fide. Mr Blake 
 should in kindness to the members of that Syndicate drop a veil over il. I 
 am sure that those whose names gave it whatever semblance of respectability 
 it possessed already wish it to be forgotten. 
 
 If they were in earnest in desiring to secure a contract, if their movement were 
 not a paltry political manoeuvre, why did they not tender under Mr. Mackenzie's 
 tempting advertisement, which stood for many months unanswered, notwith- 
 standing that it suggested to the contractor far more favorable terms than those 
 granted to the Syndicate? They knew for a long time that the present 
 Governnoient had invited tenders, and was negociating a contract ; why did 
 
u 
 
 they not make known to it their desire to compete ? Why did they wait until 
 a contract was concluded, so far as it could be concluded by the Government, 
 and until its terms were published ? Was it worthy of prudent business men, 
 without taking time to inform themselves as to the cost of the work, to frame 
 a tender on the contract of other parties, and expect it to be regarded as dond 
 fidel They must have known that the Government could not deal with it in 
 any way. Did not its origin stamp it as thoroughly spurious ? It is very 
 safe, more safe indeed than honorable, to underbid for a work that has been 
 already contracted for. 
 
 The offer of the second Syndicate reminds me of an incident that came 
 to my knowledge some years ago. Tenders were invited for continuing a 
 certain service, and a person unconnected with the original contract was 
 desirous to secure the future one, and was very anxious to learn the prices 
 at which the contractor would re-tender. They were not acquainted with 
 each other, although staying at the time at the same hotel. The prototype of 
 the second. Syndicate was thus enabled to ^atch the contractor without 
 exciting his suspicion or notice. 
 
 On the morning that the tenders were to be sent in the contractor wrote his 
 ofre*" at the%ble in the public sitting-room. His rival watched and saw that 
 he turned over his tender and dried the ink on the blotter. As soon as he 
 left the room his rival seized the blotter, and, placing it between himself 
 and the light, he was able to decipher the figures that had been transferred 
 to it. He quickly made ouWi tender at rates a little tower than those of the 
 contractor and excited the astonishment of experts by exhibiting without having 
 had any previous experience an accurate knowledge of the value of the busi- 
 ness. In the case of the second Syndicate the publication of the contract 
 rendered recourse to the blotting paper unnecessary. In other respects the 
 analogy between it and the hero of the blotter is tolerably complete. 
 
 At Montreal Mr. Blake declaimed against the increased public expen- 
 diture and the increase of the Tariff. But all he said on these topics 
 reflected only on the Government of which he had been a member. 
 The table of expenditure in this letter proves that the increases were incurred 
 by the Mackenzie Administration, and it was to meet those increases that the 
 advance in the Tariff became unavoidable. All this is susceptible of demon- 
 stration. 
 
 He displayed an inclination to attack the Estimates of last Session, but the 
 chief objection to which he gave expression will be found in the following 
 extract from his speech : 
 
 " If we are told that we have ourselves increa{?ed the public charges, we 
 answer that, in our opinion,, it is not right that the Finance Minister who, in 
 1878, declared that $22,500,000 was all the money that would be required 
 for the public services, and that we were censurable because we were spend- 
 ing some $23,500,000, that he should subsequently come before the people 
 of this country and say in 1881, * we want $26,500,000 or $27,500,000."* 
 
le 
 
 
 The above is not only less logical than Mr. Blake's utterances usually 
 are, but it is disingenuous and inaccurate. Sir Leonard Tilley, in a 
 speech at St. John, in 1878, stated that had Sir John Macdonald's Govern- 
 ment remained in power, the expenditure in 1873-74 would not have exceeded 
 $32,500,000 and that that sum should have been sufficient for each of the 
 three following years. 
 
 The ascertained expenditure for 1879-80 has fully confirmed tHe correctness 
 of his statement, the amount thereof being $24,830,634. If we deduct from this 
 sum the increased payments for interest and sinking fund beyond the average 
 amount for these items in 1873 74 and up to and including 1876-77, the 
 expenditure on the additional mileage of Railways worked by the Govern- 
 ment in 1879-80, the grant for the sufferers in Ireland and the outlay for the 
 relief of the Indians of the Norlh-West, it. will be found that the expenditure 
 for 1879-80 would be reduced to $22,500,000. 
 
 Where did Mr. Blake find the statement made by the Finance Minister, 
 that wairanted him in saying that the Government had asked $27,500,000 for 
 1881 ? He must have known that the sum he named was more than 
 $1,000,000 in excess of the Estimates for 1881-82 ; and the whole amount 
 voted by Parliament may not be expended. * 
 
 When alluding to Estimates, Mr. Blake may have remembered and may have 
 been dismayed by the recollection that the Estimates for 1874-75, which he 
 had supported, amounted to $24,883,000 and that subsequently to the 
 voting of those Estimates the Government of ^ich he had been either 
 a member or supporter had increased the permanent annual expenditure 
 by the sum of $2,000,000. He cannot but be fully aware that the ex- 
 penditure of Mr. Mackenzie's Government was wantonly extravagant. He 
 knows that when that Government succeeded to power they were perfectly 
 free to deal with the Canadian Pacific Railway as they might consider best. 
 No one knows better than Mr. Blake does that the only obligation of this 
 country then existing in respect to that undertaking was that embodied in the 
 Treaty of Union with British Columbia, and he did not regard that Treaty 
 as binding upon Canada. He ostentatiously repudiated it even after it had 
 been entered into anew by his Leader, and it is understood that he made 
 the virtual abandonment of the Railway in British Columbia a condition of 
 his re-entering the Government in 1875. Mr. Blake was wont to flit in and 
 out of the Cabinet — in, when it suited his mood or convenience ; ouf, when 
 most inconvenient for Mr. Mackenzie, his Chief. But I do not remember 
 ever to have heard it alleged that he had resigned or threatened to resign on 
 account of the extravagance or mal-administration of the Mackenzie Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 The wastefulness of that Ministry has been ^0 conclusively proved 
 and is so universally known, that it is not only absurdly inconsistent, 
 but positively audacious, in Mr. Blake and its other members to pose as 
 economists before the people. 
 
17 . 
 
 He hinted darkly at some possible scheme of revenue which might take the 
 place of Customs duties. It is impossible to say what chimerical project 
 might not be attempted by Sir Richard Cartvvright to de troy the National 
 Policy. When Mr. Blake reached the question of trade he gave rein to his 
 bitter eloquence, and it is no figure of speech to say that, when listening to 
 his words, the thought of his possible accession to power made the hearts 
 of the manufacturers of Montreal sink within them. The following are 
 extracts from his speech. The italics are, of course, mine : — 
 
 "I suspect we shall have another Tariff Bill next session, and another 
 Tariff Bill after that, and then, I hope, in the good time to come, that we shall 
 have still another Tariff Bill." * # ♦ * 
 
 " If this Government continues still in its present course for two years to 
 come, at any rate we must contemplate the raising of a very high revenue, and 
 that the revenue must be raised, as it has been, both before and after Confed- 
 eration, by taxation from the Customs and the Excises I sav further that 
 revenue would have to be raised from the Customs duties imposed upon a 
 great variety of articles." # ♦ ;ie :ie 
 
 " There is no doubt that this would continue until there is some new scheme 
 of raising the rei'enue propounded, and that thus there will be a very consid- 
 erable amount of incidental protection as an essential result frcm the very 
 condition of things. You know, I suppose, my sentiments with reference to 
 free-trade and protection, I have never disguised them, and it is not here, 
 even in this city of Montreal, that I should disguise them for an instant. (Hear, 
 hear). But I am not prepared to allow those who oppose us to distort the 
 state of things or the attitudt of the Liberal party on this subject, and I make 
 these //a/« statements of what I believe to be absolute and essential conditions 
 as to the mode of raising the revenue as my contribution to the subject. At 
 the same time I declare to you that it is my opinion, first, that, in the interest 
 of all parties, in the interest of the country as a whole, of all, indeed, but an 
 infinitesimal proportion of the people of this country, there ought to be 
 very considerable modifications of the Tariff. I believe it will be found to be 
 advantageous to those who are engaged in various branches of manufactures 
 throughout this country, that the increases which have been made to the Tariff 
 should be altered, and that it was not advantageous that those increases, 
 coupled with the increases which have been made upon the raw materials of 
 their trades — that these increases, in the interest of protection, which have 
 resulted from the Tariff, positively are hurtful, and that in many trades the cost 
 of production has been increased, without any corresponding advantage to the 
 persons engaged in the trade. I believe it will be found that the working of 
 this Tariff has mischievous results — that very mischievous results, which I do 
 not intend to attempt to trace to-night, will flow from its operation." * * 
 
 " Now we have declared in Parliament our opinion that this enormously 
 heavy Tariff ought not to be continued at its present rate ; that it ought to be 
 reduced, so as to create something like an equilibrium between the revenue 
 and a reasonable expenditure. We hold, in fact, that the Tariff presses most 
 inequally upon the different sections of the Dominion, and I suppose you will 
 all agree with me that taxation ought, as far as possible, to press equally upon 
 all parts of the country, that the burden ought to be borne equally by all." * 
 
 " There is another principle upon which we are at issue with our adversaries, 
 and upon which we have different opinions, that is as to the effect of the opera- 
 
18 
 
 tions of commerce and of exchange. We think that a free and voluntary 
 exchange is to the mutual benefit of both parties who effect the exchange^ and 
 we beliei'e that that position is established by the mere fact that it is a volun- 
 tary exchange ^ because ^ if it had mt been suitable to both patties it would not 
 have taken place at all. The very fact, we say, of an exchange indicates to 
 you that, if it be free and voluntary — both parties to that exchange thought 
 that it was to their benefit that the particular exchange should take place — that 
 is our opinion of commerce. Our belief is that there is no restriction needed, 
 and that in a fair exchange each party profits by the operation ; each pays 
 that which he is willing to give for what he wants, whether it be in the torm 
 of goods or in the forui of money." # # ♦ 
 
 The success of the National Policy is no longer problematical. The benefits 
 it has conferred upon the whole people are recognized and admitted through- 
 out the Dominion. Yet at Montreal Mr. Blake did not hesitate to threaten 
 that, if he should attain to power, he would shake the whole industrial fabric 
 of the land, the fabric in which every producer from the agriculturalist to the 
 smallest handicraftsman holds a vital stake. This was felt to be so untimely 
 and injudicious that other speakers endeavored to assure the manufacturers 
 and those interested with, and dependent upon them that they had nothing to 
 fear, that the revenue requirements would preserve the Tariff from destruction, 
 and that,if the Reformers should succeed to power,the industries of the country 
 would be quite as safe in their hands as in those of the Conservatives. 
 
 Do these gentlemen think that they can hood-wirik a body of intelligent 
 men with such insincere promises ? Do they believe that prudent men of 
 business will be induced to discard the friends, whose policy has enabled them 
 to create the industries in which their fortunes ar^ow embarked, for men who 
 did all in their power to keep them in the position of hewers of wood and 
 drawers of water to the manufacturers of Europe and the United Slates ? 
 
 Is it likely that they will reject those who, like themselves, are the advocates 
 of a Canadian National Policy, for Free Trade Theorists, who, it may be sup- 
 posed, would look with complacency on the sacrifice of industries, whose 
 destruction would be a condemnation of Protection in every form and degree, 
 and a vindication, as they would allege, ol their own policy ? Do ship-owners 
 take vessels freighted with the lives and fortunes of themselves and their 
 families out of the charge of skilful pilots and entrust them to professional 
 wreckers, on promises from those wreckers that they will not run them on the 
 rocks ? When they do, and not until they do, will I believe that the people 
 of Canada will transfer their confidence from th,ose whose skill as statesmen, 
 and whose undoubted patriotism have contributed to restore prosperity to the 
 land, and whose political fortunes are inseparably interwoven with their own 
 material success, for men like Mr. Blake and Sir Richard Cartwright, who, when 
 in office, declared themselves powerless to serve the Commonwealth, and 
 characterized their own Government as a mere " fly on the wheel." 
 
 In the event of Mr. Blake and his associates ever succeeding to power, I 
 commend lor their consideration the following extract from a speech 
 of Erskine's, delivered in Parliament in 1797, when picturing a state of 
 
19 
 
 things such as now actually exists in this country. It ought to cause them 
 to pause before laying a destroying hand on the industries of Canada. Mr. 
 Blake will probably admit that Erskine was a sound Reformer : 
 
 " What but mischief can be your object ? No sooner are the springs of 
 industry again put in motion — no sooner are the sources of commerce 
 unlocked, and are pouring forth the riches of the country in every direction — 
 no sooner has returning confidence in a re-animated government given a new 
 impulse to every exertion of skill, and new directions to labor and ingenious 
 industry, than you agitate your question of reform to set men mad upon 
 theories of government, instead of supporting it by the peaceable enjoyment 
 of its practical blessings, checking the rising prosperity of peace, and plunging 
 us back into all the dangers and difficulties from which we had almost 
 miraculously emerged." 
 
 The remainder of Mr, Blake's address at Montreal was devoted to specu- 
 lative politics, and was scarcely appreciated by his audience. 
 
 The young men composing the Montreal Reform Club, probably like the 
 same political class elsewhere, may be compared figuratively to young ravens. 
 They went to hear Mr. Blake, expecting to be told how the " ins " were to be 
 quickly turned out, and the " outs " installed in their places. Their minds 
 are of the practical order, and they wanted to know how immediate and tangible 
 results were to be secured. To the great majority of them an essay on the 
 squaring of the circle might have been as profitable, and, possibly, in their 
 opinion, quite as appropriate as a lecture on Imperial Confederation, and the 
 Representation of Minorities. The former subject has been discussed by a 
 well-known English gentleman, who, some years ago, addressed a communi- 
 cation thereon to Mr. Blake, at the latter's request, and, no doubt, to 
 mark his satisfaction that a young Canadian statesman had adopted his views 
 and ventilated them at Aurora, he subsequently embalmed in his papers an 
 extract from the oration that Mr. Blake delivered at that village. 
 
 The Young Men's Reform Club of Montreal probably already regret that 
 their guest should have spoken words that disturbed and alarmed important 
 interests in the community, and were calculated to check the employment 
 of Capital in extending the industries of the Dominion. Indeed, if his object 
 had been to paralyse those great interests throughout Canada, he could 
 not have exerted his influence more ingeniously for its accomplishment. 
 
 I feel very confident that the people of Canada will not " be set mad 
 upon theories of Government," and will take care that political and commer- 
 cial visionaries shall not have the opportunity of disturbing the prosperity of 
 
 this Dominion. 
 
 I remain, 
 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 D. L. MACPHERSON. 
 Toronto, April i6th, 1881.