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The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce d la g6n6rosit6 de I'dtablissement prdteur suivant : La bibliotheque des Archives publiques du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul clich6 sont film^es d partir de Tangle supdrieure gauche, de gaurhe d droite et do haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n«icessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 It ■H .. •^'• h:,. ..' ■■ ,.1.,, „. - .• t :- . , / i;;'." »; A' * ■- r. 1 1 . -■ . ri * .' ^ - r l! r.i ' . ■ - ,\ ■ . 1i ■ .■;'/ ' ^ / :^/v...5i,' ( ■■■•■■ •; •.V.) '• A- T \: I: •'*■ t '■ • V, /; I) il \ i^--'A>: -■:, ■ ,fv-#r. ;-■ ;-v'V: ,., -.Sf . r ^-^.f-V*^:* ^^ DOimiON ELECTION. 1 CAMPAIGN OF 1886. EoL Edward Elake's Spseck No. lO (First Series). (Welland)— Liberal Party, Creeds and Classes. (Orillia) — Parties and Newspapers. The "Mail" a daily "Orange Sentinel," NOTE.— See Inside Cover for List of Mr. Blake' Sx)eech.©s in first Series. Apply to W. T. R. Preston, Reform Club, Toronto, for Copies of tliese Speeciies. -T 1 ^ortnta: * ' . HUNTER, ROSE & CO., PRINTERS. .f-. >■ ' \t i - 1' 1886. tf* -■V- J Vy-v, ; m ■ >^\ -5. ^ 41 f-y '■'•■''A ^1 ¥ r^*'^-*! i !^ ^^^''::y^^■:■^/r I ■i V ,'■ [■^ r 4 - cT' t . r>i LIST OF SPEECHES IN THIS SERIES. No. I.— (London): General Review of Situation. Riel Question. (Owen Sound) : North- West Maladministration. Riel. Na 2. — (Beaverton) : Independence of Parliament The Boodle Brigade. No. 3.— (Chesley) : Public Finances — Taxation and Deficits — Farmers. No. 4. — (Simcoe) : Federal a4id Provincial Rig^hts— Ontario— Nova Scotia. (Guelph)— Elections near. — Tory Dodg:es— Nova Scotia. No. 5. — (Owen Sound) : Principles of Liberalism— Duty of the Leader. (Welland) — Policy of the Party — Functions of an Opposition. (Oakwoou)— Sir J. Macdonald on Functions of an Opposition. No. 6. — £xircuts ~(Guy.lph) : Home Rule for Ireland. (Berlin): Firebrand Tory attempts to excite Germans. (Galt & Okangkville) .- Indian Starvation Policy. (Pembroke) : Maladministration felt at Cut Knife Hill. No. 7. — Extra(fs—{K.ENDAi.L) : Business Methods required in Public Affaira — Degradation *bf Parliament— A few Boodlera. (Hampton): Civil SerViCe Reform. (Galt) : Burden of Public Debt (ORANGEvy^Li:) : Burden of Public Debt (Belleville); Burden of Public Debt — The Interest on Debt (Oakwocd) : Burden of Public Debt— Our Public Expen- diture. No. 8.— (Newcastle) : Canadian Pacific Railroad Matters. (LisTowEL): Canadian Pacific Railroad Matters— The last SacrW fice of $10,000,000— Collapse of Tory '• Boom " Policy. (St. Thomas) : North- West Lands. (Hui-iisviLLE): R.R. Policy— Sir John's Subsidies to •'Guinea-Pig* Directors — Assisted Immigration and Railway Frauds. (Parry Sound) : Railway Policy of Liberals. (Orangbvillk) : Railway Policy of Liberals. (Brantfokd) : The Kansas Slander. (LiSTOWEL) : The Sea of Mountains. No. 9.— (WiNGHAM) : Blake's Tribute to Mackenzie. (Stayner): Blake's Tribute to Sir Richard Cartwright (Bfantfokd) : Blake's Tribute to Paterson— Duty of Young Mea No. 10.— (Welland) : Liberal Party, Creeds and Classes. (Orillia): Leaders and Newspapers— The "Mail" Crusade. No. II.— (Aylmer) : Prohibition and Politics. , No. 12.— (Toronto) : Interests of Labour— The Tariff. ^ (Welland) : To Knights of Labour. . ^ (Bbllbvillb): Legislation for Labour. (ijESERONTO) : Workiogmen and Parties. (Hamilton): Workingmen and Parties. Na 13.— (Hamilton) : Provincial Issues— The Religious Cry— Liberals an4 Catholics. N9. 14.— (L1SD8AY) : North- West Affairs — Neglect, Delay and Misman- .* ■•■,■ agement— Race and Creed Cries. „ \ » . ,. M B.S. rade. :s- otia. sr. 1. on. mant. Hill. Affair» on Debt : Expen- 1 »t SacrW lea-Pig" ig Men. ide. ierals and in Misman- '. ■ ^ r'. >' .4 .' -■ V- ., I EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL. THE RELATIONS OF THE LIBERAL PARTY TO CREEDS AND CLASSES. < Case of W. B. O'Donoghue— New Brunswick School Case — Case of Hon. John Q'Dononoe — Toleration and True National 'Spirit ■-} '■ t. •■ ' . i ■■■■vt • ■■ (w i. ' I y--' I ' Hon. Edward Btake, speaking at Welland, said : — While speaking at the meeting this morning I could not bub remember the last time I addressed a meeting in Welland. It was nearly fifteen years ago, and we so^e from 12 at noon to 12 at night. (Laughter.) It was the noimnation for 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 Mr. Aikins, now Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba; Dr. Tupper, now High Commissioner for Canada ; Mr. O'Connor, now a judge ; and IS .. William Macdougall and Mr. Peter Mitchell. These five gentlemen I was called that (fay to meet. (Applause.) Of the 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 are NO LONGER IN THE RANKS OF THE PARTY on whose behalf they spoke that day. Though, perhaps, not occu- pying the position of absolutely enrolled members of the Liberal party, they are of us, they are with 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* (10) ^.v 'ii' .. •vlll • ..■v" ■■-■\u ^ -'- ■;1; t- .' If ■■',''. 'f'X'^.'- 11 w '''i: if. V ■i./ /^ ,.' '-. \:^: .!'.>' J'^: .i''^ e- I'i :l'! ''v;,-^ >/•*■ i-V II |i i I - ' /, ' 284 these eases 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 own 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 re)>laced by 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 c^siderations of race or creed. (Ap- plause.) My earnest desirWias ever been that toe ahovld Tningle, irrespective of our origins, irrespective of our creeds, as Canadian brethren, as Canadian fellow-citizens, whether we be English or French, Scotch^ Irish, or Oemians, 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 as a rule almost as well divide upon the number of our inches or on the colour of our hair), but rather upon honest differences 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 myself, 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 be^n 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 iio 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 *•, <. (10) >1 • t ap- em- tbat urse. occa- )opu- far (Ap- ingle, idian iah or stanty litical n, not )st as )f our srence ) But ae to ce, to rela- mble por- e an meet- llately n of com- g to pport t yet Loud roan ed.no Great 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 [ 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 unworthy of me, of him, and of you. I believe the principles and policy ta which !je 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 PELLOW-^UNTRYMEN 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- louslj'^ 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 }■' ... V- • • ..'S ,^..^r- m • u% ■*% I • ■ f - I • •! ^1 ! .' ; ->■■«. r' I ■>■->; 1 rr !il I ^ u *.. i! \^v I" 3,', I • -4 I >■■. ; • ■■>■ ;■ ':. •■'■ h-if' I v.; 1 V. '.j.'' >>»■' i>'. .11 .H ". M L' ,-J. 1 / 286 opposing myaelf to the passions and prejudices of a large body 01 my fellow-countrymen, and that I was, which 1 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 I 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, I 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 ia THE CASE OF W. B. O'dONOGHUB. • ^ When Mr. Mackenzie proposed resolutions for an amne-sty to certain persons implicated in the North- West troubles, I was not a member of the Government, but I quite agreed in and I accept my full share of responsibility for those resolutions. They gav3 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. 1 may say, therefore, that the course proposed then met with general assent. When, in 1870, Mr. Costigan first 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, votedj against his motion. I quote a brief extract from my speech : — Th< reasons why partial amnesty was granted to Riel were mentioned ini the re^iolutions of last session, and the address based on them. They showedl that after the termination uf the North- West troubles, and the establishment! of a constitutional government in Manitoba, an incursion into that Provinc was set on foot, the principal actor, if not the leader, of which was W. O'Donoghue. It was necessary to the preservation of that order which hadj been restored that there should be a union of all the inhabitants of thai country. Such results were obtained upon pledges made to some of the />•'>' m ■ *>. .^^ '{■>■ ;•». V A. (body retted, umber gment. ving, 1 hat has the iin- istantly cuss to- They iformed. uestions then, for rotestaut leir con- say the ;holic f el- in recall- •e ia ,mnesty to 1 was not d I accept They gava id to take, y, was not jsent accu- ^y auiend- ,ed against g O'Dono- then met ,t proposed not acting | hich satis- voted fori ,ral3, voted] leech :— -lentioned inl iThey showedl iBtablishmenj Ihat Provincef Ih was W. B ler which h* ItantB of th^ ae of the m 287 an in the old North-Wt»\ troubles, and the attitude there assumed by them was one of the principal causes for the lenity extended to those individuals. It WHS unnecessary to do more than state these facts to show why, when it was proposed to deal mercifully and leniently with th" actors in the North- West troubles, the same lenity was not extended to O'Donoghue. A state- ment of the f*ota 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'Donoghue leading an insurrection against Her Majoety's subjects, while the others were found on the other side. The acts of O'Don- o*{hue on that occasion were such as precluded the House from taking a fa- 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 hon. gentleman had complained in respect of this particular person an amnesty in referencJto 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, O'Donoghue's letter, which had been read, expressly states that HE WAS ENTIRBLY 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-callod Fenian raid, he would have gone to Manitoba long 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. What now was the diflBculty 1 It was not that he had not been pardoned for his connection with these troubles, because he did not want his amnest'^y for that. His difficulty was that his action in 1871, whatever it was- had not been pardoned. 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 i raid. They say it was not the raid which was in question, but the attitude of the actors in the raid was, as T 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 Government. He used these words : — The hon. member for Hastings had then stated that if W. B. O'Donoghue had not been an Irishman but a member of the same nationality as the ottier two persona to whom he had referred, he, like them, would have been par- doned. Perhaps this argument did not possess much force, and he (Mr. Costigan) for his part had not then considered, and did not now 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*;-^' 'tt • A- I ■ , 1 . 1 ::1 ' til .. ; .'-r-t Ill '<■'■': \ . V. (10) v.- 1' '. U'^ ?■ t ■0-. , ^:^'l ^^■f. " '"■'■' ■•■-' ,• ■''i '\r -v T \ •• \ , 288 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 stood 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 around the House to see where there was a place folr 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'Donoghuo was sacrificed, that he was treated unjustly, that his property had suffered, and that he ought to be permitted to retnrn 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 Riel and Lepine, in that, by the proclamation issued in Eursuance of an address by this House, they were amnestied. • As to Riel, e 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 Riel 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'Donoghue treated like Riel, for he could not return to Manitoba till after five years had elapsed. The hon. gentleman had spoken as if Riel, and those placed in the same cate- gory with him, were enjoying present rights and privileges not accorded to O'Donoghue. But this was fallacious, because were an amnesty given to O'Donoghue to-morrow, on the same terms as it had been given to Riel, he could 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 might 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 Bouse, that it was 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'Donoghue 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 ia 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 conneodon with the North- West troubles of 1 869-70, the House was asked to amnesty O'Donoghue for his participation in the Fenian raid. One man 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 "rrested, charged, tried, convicted of high treason and sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to 20 years' imprisonment, 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 was not embraced in the motion of his hon. friend. if. J _^, (10) _i-Si.". 289 inoh- loul- i not leaid place thiDg »were to be entle- juBtly, ,nrn to But ced in uod in Riel, estying noghue la as an jelf, hia roperty treated elapsed. lue cate- orded to piven to Riel, he »d to and joverned moghue, vere am- evidence it on the prevent- on. gen- )tion waB ?hich he rith, and t for the as to hie want an LIB action adopted bver of a lepiue in |aa asked )ne man . British f ould not AB Louis aaon and ionment, Ipeal — no \n of his friend. O'Donoghue, in a letter formally addressed to Mr. Speaker m Um oifan of this House, had told him in the strongest and plainest t«nns, bj his own statement, that he did not care for amnesty, that he was not presented from entering Manitoba by reason of the North- West troubles, bat it was the Fenian trouble that prevented him from goinj^ there. ... It was the opinion of the Oovemment that without naming a time or dedartag any decision, the time had not arrived for taking any action on the nsattcr, 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'Donogfaue at the present moment. Even if the motion were granted O'Donofhae would not be for years in a position to return to Manitoba ; and there fo re no injustice— in the hon. gentleman's sense — was done by not giantang it at thiia time. Now all this time, as you will see, both Riel and ODonogfaue were in the United States, and neither could, withoat nx. qf 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'Donoghne, 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 of apprehension on the same terras, and at the sune 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 error, 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 jadgmeat. 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 la!er 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 the circumstances of the case, and in no degree upon considerations of origin or faith. Now, there is the case of W. B. ODonoghue. (Loud applause.) The next matter of attack is • 1 ., THE NEW BRUNSWICK SCHOOL QUESTION. The point was whether the Provincial Legislature of New Brans- (10) <^ fn v '' .-i/ i*" './ I ! '-^■**:-.;;^^v:t- , , -.;....- ,-•.-■ ■.;.,x '■",••.■•;', ip .* , -i^, <' - ■ ■ .. ;•- •-i')v;'- • •• -'• ' •■ : \ f '.'I'^r. \y. "<'■: .. ■' ,<;■ ■290 v ■ > ■ . I'. .t p E^v' t;'. '>. ,'■'■ l"v :^v y. -. M^. wick had overstepped its powers in dealing with education by a law which modified certain customs and practices which had long existed in the Province wi<^h reference to Roman Catholic educa- tion. The question was doubtful. The Liberals thought that even if the Legislature had the power, the act was 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 we did. The Liberals, however, proposed and obtained facilities for the decision of the doubtful constitutional question. They went further, and, against the earnest protests fit Sir John Macdonald and the Conservative party, they ad- dressed the Governor- General with a view to an ad inteHm 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 Liberals and not the Tories that were to 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 neilher Liberals nor honest Tories could agree. The principle of Home Rule was in question. (Applause.) We did what we could. We sent an address 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 hostility; 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! There is the New Brunswick school question ! (Applause.) The third and last question, is " the tempest in the teapot," of (10) ' >.( .&;•».>*•'!- '"I ).'<• ^i- »• \"^ ■n 's> upon sld in Act. I was have stand er the g any went John ithit; jays it (Loud Lsd in ouncil, 12 the ^ To inciple at we raying Local of the ment. lOoth, le are g, and Tories school "the i< ? s ,-P;-( \ 291 .. . ^ ,, o^ i< I ' ' -v.- MY ALLEGED IMPROPRIETY TOWARDS MR. JOHN O'doNOHOE. ,.,,. I am charged with showing prejudice and hostility against Roman Catholics because, it is said; I refused to speak for Mr. O'Donohoe when he was Reform candidate for East 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. I hope to speak a hundred times more as I am doing to-night. (Applauje.) I hope to do it as long as health and^trength allow. (Renewed applause.) In Mr. O'Donohoe's candidature in January, 1884, I had, being then a member of the Government, done everything I could for him. On this occasion Mr. O'Donohoe 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 influence 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 than 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. (A.pplause.) 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. I have never replied to them or retorted on them. I have preferred to reraeuiber the old' (10) ■/■\ I' I ; 'I -x ^ Ki /r ■■■A ^■■' fi; , \ ".!• A-", ■I' f li :; i-.; 'I- . I' I \^'r ,> '■ 1 -v.' .■ l,^f<'.' I ■.:.'•:■ .•<■■.^"■ I I; /.i } . t If.'/, jIv • ?:'.T- r'-i.-. ,^^T^ .'^"■•^i ■ .; \ 292 times when we worked together. 1 have preferred to remember, too, that they were my fellow-countrymen ; and I have borne in silence their unjust attacks rather than retaliate. I have chosen to recollect their acts of friendship 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 me justice — (Ap- jdause) — and I wished to put no obstacle whatever in the way of a reconciliation in which I have nothing to withdraw, nothing to apologize for, nothing to excuse. (Renewed applause.) I frankly Bay 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 warm friftids. I have deemed them still the natural allies of the Liberals and Reformers. (Great cheering.) I have hoped that the clouds of prejudice and distrust 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 m}' 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 ' ^ • UNDEB 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 nptionality 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 jn 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) I ■ J , that it |d upon > by lis end [not by such )r mis- races I liberal le last fellow- ^hat 1 ida at J uf-V^ Then the hon. member for Gloucester (Mr. Burns) said that I was trying to catoh the Irish vote. I have been in public life a good many years. The Irish population of my Province, is, of course, composed of the Iriih Protes- tant population, and the Irish Catholic population. I have endeavoured to do ray duty "and to act upon what I believe were sound liberal principles towards all classes of the population. I have found mysalf opposed by a solid body, by the great majority, by the vast bulk of the Irish Protestants of Ontario. They are my strongest, and sternest and fiercest 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 amongst 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, justly, 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 no bid for the support of any class 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. They know they have nothing whatever to gain 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 justice and liberty. > ., . . i I say to you 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. 7 do not desire the support of any man, Irish or French, Scotch, English or German, 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, hosed on thetr belief in the policy I set forth, the principles 1 hold, the political faith in tuhich 1 hope to live and die. (Loud and prolonged applause.) .■ ,, . y. • m •'r^ai'.:' ./^ ■V^V ..It .1*- ,-v..| , ,.;..■>- 1 < ip 'iS\ ; . 1 1 > — ■ '■ 1 - -^ ;| t 1 1 : •'■». "'-» ?> ' M '•"'l\,-t '• !.- H 4» ,, ^ ; »- • /I- ./ ' ;,.*•' *'- .. t . . ^' ^i fc ; ■^* . ( ■ V y-, ■ ?N '^: ' 1 . '. . ^ ■.!} T '. .J "^ ' V--?,--. ' ' •\'V,> "1^^ • ■•' * .ii"'*^ - '■■An''*-"'- '-""^fT ; ' N*'"" ^ W .■ ' J V ■ ^'.' '•'**'• v-'J'^ W,* V ' * ■■■• -,'•>>'. -'i. '*•',■',./ V. •:,■••■■ '■ ' ;. ■ • . •I-..V.-' . .; •■ " 294 . >«: PARTIES AND NEWSPAPERS. ^ ■'.*' \. Mn\ '<■'' li s- 'Iv ]l ly: li^'^: ■f:*-' ; • '■ ■■'■ ■ ,• '.^V^ •v.'Vj- •' "Mail" and "Globe" 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 ve^y lately been visited by the grand combination. (Loud applause and laughter.) I have read with - intq^est the accounts? of their proceedings everywhere. The troupe f!5 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 ])lay 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 svery one, lifted his hat to the ladies and chucked a score or more of the babie» under the chin. Sir John probably made more votes by this one act than did . the speeches of himself and colleagues. (Laughter.) T don't know how many 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 Walker^ u ; 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 liars ; another Ananias ; and the last flowers of polite eloquence were added to the bouquet by Mr. Chapleau last night when he called -. , . > (10) "■ >^ : ■" ■ V \ • ■■•• r I' ', >* ■• ■t J 295 '- ■■■■': VV-'f- ; ^'X'-^^ 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 '••v.> mds igh- haa 3d in and 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 Hessian 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 hovv 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, to 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 ot 'the choicest order. Thus he descanted then : — The Government is patriotic and generous, and they are satisfied, so long as Canadian industries thrive, no matter if they are iu the hands of the old boy himself. (Laughter.) You may have noticed in the Olobe — that truth- ful paper — it always tells the truth if you read 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 came the party of purity and retrenchment. If there is any Grit 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 afraid it will drop considerably. i-; Last winter I had a very painful attack of sciatica — what the Irislimah oalled tuoUiache 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) ■:'. '^ «-, ii'! :». ■■^•V <^. "V t.i.l'i.t r' ' ■>'•.-■- J,. ,-;'> M good u new, and ■4. . »\ ' «'»- in: >.-':v:V^^: ^6 » / M good u new, and God willing 1 im going to lead 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 young 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 opportunity 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 f«r repen- tance, and I would feel happier if I were only sure he would use that time wisely ! (Laughter.) 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 Ao, to repudiate with scorn and indignation the imputation of such barbarous and inhuman wishes. (Cheers.) We do, indeed, IN OUR country's INTEREST, 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 his , following the rejected method of the earlier quoter. He said at Stratford: — ...-..> . ^^,' .;,.,., v •' •■'- ' . , :. t - - . Mr. Blake was a very able man ; but he was consumed with ambition. jYi (10) ,1 Vj. w. »5-' >J<' ■if A-- 297 >-. So long a« Mordecai sat at the king's gate, so long would Haman envf him. He hoped Mr. Blake would never meet Raman's fate and hang on a gallows forty feet high. He believed that the people would stand by him, and keep Mordecai sitting K. the king's gate, notwithstanding all the calumnies, all the unfounded charges made against him. , - : , So I am 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 oflSce. 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 ' ;7,. more wish been )n the leers.) imself ikaU )tural and I to his Laid at VBk. SIR 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 Kichard 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 ipe 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, humbUy 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's wrath. Such was Mordecai. Haman, on the other hand, was the First Minister of the Crown. (Laughter.) He wlas probably President of the Council — (laughter) — and as the kingdom stretched from India to Ethio- pia, he was doubtless Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs. (Ix)ud laughter.) He was the ruler of the State; he was en> vA ' t-i- . -v- '^c- 'ft' ' _ji ;X: 'y '■?•■' j; .--'.->.<. 2i»^ r\ • i •V' '?<'' ' .\'.-./-- v2K^ trusted with the power of the Crown ; he had the ear of the 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 subsidized, 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 recent metaphor of another and very different personage, like " a comet with its tail" (Laughter.) No great public meetings were then in vogue, garnished with mottoes and decorations expressive of devotion and loyalty .' '...>< > : / '. ■ • • ■ N * .s- '•; -;. •„^7;■■;.;^':^,^*^,^;;; *i ) by a -made mphal i were royal with flung zeal. 3 and kd his lom he Irity to 1 King's of his ■^» 'I •;. I. i }■ • 299 , " 1 - I y 'r i, ■'. Now. I am amazed at ,-^!' '•. .V.v( Just then Mordecai's long services wore also remembered and recognized. (Loud cheers.) And so it happened that Ham an was turned out of his OFFICE, stripped OF HIS POWER, AND ACCORDII^O TO THE STERN FASHION OF THAT DAY, HANGED. (Laughter.) And, Haman thus disposed of, Mordecai was promoted to hie vacant place and oflice. (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 fits 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 peraonal, 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 diflFered from the Liberal party of to-day. That odoriferous journal, the Globe — (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- porting us, but it is quite independent of us, as you may know, and in some respects does not accord with the principles and practices of the Government which we maintain, and which we desire to maintain. But the Olobe is the paid servant of the Liberal party. It is in the hands of Mr. Edgar, the henchman, the whipper-in, the lieutenant of Mr. filake. Every word ap- pearing in that paper 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 ungbr.tlemanly, upon the leader of the Opposi- tion, and not upon the miserable tools who print and publish it, the stigma, must rest. And at Sunderland, Sir John Macdonald said : — What cared he for his miserable traducers, so long as he had his fellow- countrymen standing by him. Not satisfied, however, with reviling him in- every respect, his opponents had not hesitated 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 Globe. It was owned by independent and wealthy men, and its conductors were aa independent of him (Sir John) as anyone could be. (10) V ri\ ■ .J '■'■ I -:' ! '" i 4 r\\ k '■n m "M :s\ ■i'i,> S "i-"-'. *..X^.. ."v.' ». •,■. '. *\.-.:;^>'x.v K^: .■j- .11 ^. ■ ■% ■■ \ "':' .">, . *• ■ • I* . » I Z'/ 'C 300 % r^ m \ I- THE AUDACITY OF THESE UTTERANCES. He says his party never struck below the belt. Why, I do not need to go to his assistants or colleagues or principal supporters. I do noi 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 njatters 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 suras 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 return for election funds. He declared that these charges would be proven at the next session of Parliament, and he declared that Mr. Mackenzie, by reason of 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. '>: , ' ^• . : • . • ;'•' ■' (10) ■.., ..' ■f.^ii. •■■ I ,,-• * • S .. ' ' ' 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. And 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 Ma#ionald. (Cheers.) Now I come to his account of the relations of the leaders to ' . ••'.■^ ■V- . I ) ■ A- nment ~nds in next 516, by lof the [undue to the THE CHIEF NEWSPAPERS. Sir John Macdonald holds me responsible for personal attacks, he says, in the G/obe. 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 responaibi- 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 1 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) , - X' . ■ * ' ■■./>;-•» . w- . <■*.:■>■ >: :»■ Jf.- ■V '.'< . • THE "GLOBK" was FOUNDED by Mr. Brown upon the basis 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 Government or Opposition, to leaders or to patronage. It used for many years to be tailed 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 decla^:ed 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 Mr MASTER OR MY SLAVE. (Tremendous cheering.) I call no man master, nor would I allow any others to call me master. (Renewed cheering.) The Qlohe newspaper has never had any relations of money or of business or of dependency with me. I never owned a share of its stock ; I 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 (10) v"^', ■/•■■■ 1 ^'* »r h 303 \ . low ohe ess ckj irs. nee ral tit di- ort "which should be given under those circumstances, like that given by the Mail to-day to the Tories, would savour of dependence and dishonesty, of secret uudorHtandings and tortuous dealing, and would be in my eyes not valuable, but despicable. (Cheers.) That is all I have to say as to the Olobe, 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 S'J EXTENSIVE, OR ITS FINANCIAL PROSPERITY SO GREAT AS NOW. (Loud and prolonged applause.) Long may it endure as aa INDEPENDENT EXPONENT OF LIBERAL VIEWS. (Renewed applause.) Never may it present the hamiliating 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 shares, 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 all 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-Quthec and an anti-Catholic howl. It has roused the bigotry of its Orange friends, the backbone of the Tory party in Ontario. It has ex.citedto the best of its power the suscieptibilities, 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. '-n. ID) *'■.•- -?t ^'- . 4 -^1! r 1 f: '< 'i /, '• i., ■ vf- -x C-iJ- -' « •* Sf^ ,).., 'W ^;V-;;-vv 304 . IT HAS PREA.CHED A HOLY WAR ; 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. Il 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 PRACTIOL END, I ask you to-night ? Why,ju,8t to help 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 ballot 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 luith us. (Tremendous applause and laughter.) But, says Sir John, " for form's sake you must allow me to say one deprecatory word. It shall be mild and apologetic, it shall be accompanied by, nay, it shall be overshadowed by, praise and ackKOwledgments ; 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 : Wa UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER THOROUGHLY." f ' 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 wealth and numbers and independence that of (10) in ^i«.-'*T:/r 305 r'] lary ^lish lebec re of ailed ies to olica. i this dand e new "All ne un- le Tm- centre. •ead to ril go \you go ,ke the sheaves ys Sir scatory led by, ents ; little a Mr. le it in bones, and 111 take rhat is II His [ail is Ihat in THE "GLOBE BEATS IT HOLLOW. (Loud applause.) Why, who founded the Mail ? Sir John Mac- donald. (Great cheering and laughter.) He, then First Minister, promoted the subscriptions to its stock, took stock himself, and got his contracting and expectant friends and hangers-on to take more. The Northern Railway, a bankrupt concern, indebted in millions, 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 woe our money. But it went, not to pay the debt to us, hut to found Sir J. Macdona/d'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 sense, but it is sunk in the effort. The paper got into trouble. It was mortgaged to its paper merchant, and the equity of redemption was, I 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 Govern- 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 public expense, from his further connection with its columns. For some years, as you know, Mr. Bunting has had control ; and you are all aware of his close relations with Sir John Macdonaldi- 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 " Mail " to Sir John Macdon- aid is that of the child to the father, the creature to the creator) to him it owes its being ; and unless it be unnatural it must regard and reverence its parent. (Loud applause and laughter.) I re- > . (10) 1 r. - .• ■ •c^ • "i ( ' '.' Vi' ■ ll ■••1 i f V I. '- :.v.^VtL^ '-A, ! ■•■ 306 tort his charge upon him. I say that the distinction is altogether in my favour and against him, and I say that if in either case it be fair to hold the leader responsible for the general conduct of the paper it is quite obviously rather the case of the Mail and Sir John Macdonald than of the Qlohe and me. (Loud cheers.) Do you remember a single letter which appeared in the Qlohe just before the election of 1882, in which were given the opinions of a Montreal manufacturer on the subject of 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 ridings just because they made the party respon- sible for that letter. It was not just. Even if you are to impute- responsibility, there is, as 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 couKsiderations which call for your attention. / ffay that the settled 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 feelings 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 precisely the same way the game he has played for so many years and by which tie 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 promises. And he- (10) A' .iO t they le can le has iphed. years lember iment, to be made Lnd he- V , ••' • .... ', » ' .1 ' 307 ^ ' ■ found an Irishman who was little enough of an Irishman for the placeJ^ And him he made his Minister, by the grace of the Orange Tories. (Cheers.) And then he wrote HIS LETTER TO THE BISHOPS — that precious letter which saw the light last session. Here IS : — (Private and Confidential.) Toronto, June 5, 1882. My Dear Lord, — Mr. O'Donohoe will tell you of the tempest that has BEEN RAISED HERE IN ToRONTO on aCCOUUt of the BUppositioH that HIS VIEV/S ARE extreme as TO THE Irish QUESTION. This might destroy hia future, and it has, therefore, been arranged between the 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 the Senate. Frank Smith is to make way for O'Donohoe in the Ministry when THEY THINK THE TIME IS OPPORTUNE. Those two gentlemen are acting in perfect accord, and desire that I should explain to your Lordship the nature of their arrangement, which, of course, must be kept a profound secret at PRESENT. » Believia me, my dear Lord, faithfully yours, ' -. (Signed), John A. Macdonald. (Loud cheers.) Yes, after four years we were allowed a peep into the closet, and saw the skeleton in the corner. (Renewed 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 our political lean- ings. No greater calamity can befall a comynunittj than tohen the cleavage of po- litical parties is coincident with the cleavage of religious bodies. That is a great calamity and misfortune. I am anxious that, whatever our creeds or religious opinions may he, we should feel that they have nothing whatever to do with our political opinions, and that we should agree or differ on political ques- 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, the lines of division for the religious and the political convictions of the people, and act directly in the teeth of what I believe to be for the benefit of the State. Our political differences are bitter enough without introducing into them religioihs difftrences^ and if the odium theo- logicum, which is known to be so bitter, is to be accentuated by political differ- ences, it will become intolerable. Let us endeavour then not to make coincident the lines <>f division for political and religious opinions. Yet this society, which under the guise of religion and benevolence, is in Ontario largely and chif fly political in its power and effltsacy, is doing this very thing, which I believe to be for the public evil aud not for the public good. (10) . •''i . ■ j: i!. ' 'I' i!' ■iif^'Ji^r:.' hj'} "^.l'" V'; 1 --:".^ -• Si. ' . 308 Then I showed that while at first the promoters of the 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 : — There, you see, Mr. Speaker, the disposition to which I refer, to blam& those Rom»n 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 all municipal and legislative bodies they had men who wot^ld truly represent them. In the past they had taken the broad view that a man's religion should not be a bar to his political preferment ;: but the conduct of the Roman Catholic members of the House demonstrated that they cuuld 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, t(^ 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 manlinesa 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 offered for the course pursued by the Roman Catholic Conservatives, and upon their shoul- ders, in the greatest measure, must rest the onus of our defeat." There again, you see the first line taken by the promoters of the Bill — they were prepared to charge the Roman Catholics, whether Conservatives or Reform- ers, and particularly Conservatives, with the onus of 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- ties, been induced to support Roman Catholics at the polls ; but the measure of bigoted intolerance with which our liberality was met in the vote upon our Bill, precludes any possibility of this mistake again occurring." The ISenthiel goes on to say, with respect 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 has acted with the greatest sincerity towards us, and has used all his influ- ence to obtain for us the redress we sought, still we cannot 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. That 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. i^ AFTER THE DEFEAT 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 suppoA of the Bill, and they showed the true principles of their leading men, in the observations I have just now read. (10) /! *1; ^iJ'4' par- isure .our itiv» arity lally [nflu- lea to roval thia bead- the laer- Itrue .;^ ,.' ',■ ■■••^ read, 309 u to the oatraciam they proposed to pronounce on Roman Catholica generally, in conaequence of the courae of the Roman Catholic Conaervativea with refer- ence to the Bill. I have aaid that in Ontario the Orange Society ia mainly a political organization ; and I aay that it aubordinatet* all other conaiderations — ita leadera cause it to aubordinate all other conaiderations — to the political and party conaideration. That ia proved by the courae which was puraued ahortly afterwarda. Their tactica were changed, and they seemed to think it would not do to continue blaming the Roman Catholic Tories for opposing the Bill, that thia might diaturb the political ailiancea ; and that they must throw the odium on the Protestant Liberals, and on me particularly, aa what they call an Ultramontane Proteatant. It would not do to eo on saying that the Roman Catholic Conaervativea had done wrong, and that they must not return Roman Catholica to Parliament, and the hon. gentleman did not wait until the next election to grant absolution. He granted absolution at once, and he tamed the condemnation upon us, from whom, for a little apace of time, he waa juat enough to nay he had no right to expect much. And why^ waa thia done ? Mr. White (Haatinga)— Read what I aaid. Mr. Blake — I have read what the hon. gentleman aaid— is he not aatiafied f I cannot read all hia apeechea, but I ahall gratify him. There waa a meeting to which I have already referred, held in Ottawa immediately after the defeat of the Bill, at which an addreaa waa presented to him, and the addreaa con- tained the following paragraph : — " From the proceedings in Parliament on the Orange Incorporation Bill, we have learned a bitter, but aalutary leaaon, and one that will bear fruit in due aeaaon. While we disclaim an intolerant apirit, we declare that henceforth the Roman Catholica muat be prepared to- reap as they have aown, and that if we are auch diaturbera of the peace aa they declare us to be, we will for the future abatain from voting for them, and ao deprive them of the power to mortify us by refusing to grant to us t]»e aame rights that we have always cheerfully accorded to them." The hon. gen- tleman'a anawer waa as follows : — " Many Conaervative members had asked and begged of him not to ruin them, but he told them that he would atand by the Order first. Another mistake wab that of aasisting to elect a French- man in Rusaell, and an Iriah Roman Catholic (Mr. Baakerville) in Ottawa city, and he aaid he waa now ashamed of his actions ; he hoped the Orange- men would forgive him for asking them to vote for Baakerville. There are very ^w Hawkinses. One Roman Catholic member of the House, whoae name he did not like to mention, aaid to him privately : — ' How can we vote for thia Bill when the priest saya he haa power from the Pope to damn thoae of hia conatituents who dare vote for a candidate for parliamentary honoura, who would support auch a measure.' If the Conaervativea 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 eea — the Roman Catholics and the Reformers. " Mr. White (Renfrew) — One word > I believe the hon. gentleman is reading from the Ottawa Free Press. Mr. Blake — I am reading from Bansard. I do not know where the report waa taken from, but it waa 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 againat the aecond readings It waa, at that time, within hia graap to have the united Orange vote of Ontatio." Now, sir, aa I have aaid, the J'ory politiciana *'ho lead and direct, and control the bulk of the Orangemen of Ontario, believed it would not do to continue the battle with their own allies, and, aa politica are the main ingre- dient in their view of theOrder, aa it ia for the propagation of their own party politics that they work the Order, they decided on taking another courae : (10) ;- - ' ■ '■ ',f>.- . '■ ■•> '-.r t' . • -,■•■- ^ .!«■- >l .? I !. I i.- 310 I'y ■>-*. ' and the fight which existed ^^(ain8t the Roman Catholic Oonservativea waa I : . put to one side, and the guns were turned against us. Sir, it reniinda me of j I . '^, the story of the Irish duel. The Firat Minister with the hon. Minister of j j ,.' Customs on one side, and the hon. Minister of Public Works, with the hon. \ :' '' Minister of Inland Revenue on the other, met in a coffee-room with hostile ;. intent. I ■ ' THEY MET TO FIOHT I ^' ' ' , 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 j ^' ' > through the floor and striking him in the leg. He asks the waiter what is i going on, and he replies: — "Sure it is (>nly Mr. Moriarty and Captain i O'Toole lighting a dual, but thanks be to God they both fired in the air." i , . . The gentleman upstairs with the bullet in his leg did not thank Providence j at all. This duel between the First Minister and the Minister of Customs on I ,. the one hand, and the Minister of Public Works and the Minister of Inland ] : ^ Revenue on the other ; this great demonstration of hostility, of voting squarely I . / against one another ; all this fire and fury and blood and thunder ; all this I 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 I do not propose to be hit without protest. As I have said, they have changed j • . " their grounds. They have determined that they will not fight with one another, but will attack us ; and what is the present argument 1 The present . ^ ak'gument is that the contest over this Bill is a contest between the Roman '■ Catholics and the Protestants, and that all true Protestants miist unite in I . supporting the Bill against the Roman Catholics. That is the argument ; ! that is the proposition. You cannot get out of it. And if we do not agree I to that proposition, we are to be told — in our religious associations, among i ■ • ' 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 i' ; 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 I ' ■ 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). i ■ I ■ He spoke as follows : — " If he observed the signs of the times correctljr, there ! I . is as much need of Orangeism, both in Ireland 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 R-^former, that I must . j 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 Smth 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 Church, and to its interests. On such matters Roman Catholic representa- tives were a unit in the House of Cpmmons. They even had an Irish <;atholic ■'i^ ^ ] 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 Orange '' ' ■ and Protestant representatives were divided. He counselled organizttion ' ^ " and unity on the part of all Protestants, irrespective of politics, in order to ./> , " • - (10) -,'•,•' •*-'■''•'. "'^V '' ">'"''■ v'V ,?<'•''■■ ■■'^/' ', i' 'v''''i' ' natives was inda me of Minister of th the hon. vith hostile was taking lUet coming iter what is nd Captain in the air." Providence Customs on sr of Inland ing squarely let ; all this air, and hit- V. Now, Sir, ave changed ht with one The present 1 the Roman lUst unite in e ai'gument ; do not agree dons, among it we are not Catholics by it ; and with hall produce xtracts from .882, a lodge by a great |r. Parkhill). frectj^, there the present as our fore- our political , principles." that I must ill, whom I [from his ap- t\nir,e against »uth Simcoe M.P., waa [n the course the Roman ince t< > their represeuta- •ish (Jatholic Imaider their hat Orange •rganizition in order to )) 311 * stem the aggressive march of the Papacy in this our beloved Dominion. " Nov/ 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 th© 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 Ho'use 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 principles. His position in the House, his professions of 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 BESOLUTION reported in the Sentinel — " We are not surprised at Roman Catholic members who put religion before pariy : 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 religioxis principles. * * * Then, Sir, the hon. member 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 he did, he gave them credit for more honesty than politicians generally possessed." And I perceive that, only the other day, on the 1 1th of March, a special meeting of the Middlesex County Lodge was held, at w' ich 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 shown their willingness to accord us those rights which, we aa Orangemen are ever ready to extend to all sections of Her Majesty's loyal subjects, we have no words to sufliciently express our strong condemnation of the course of those Protestant represen- tatives, especially from Protestant Ontario, who, from political spleen, voted to deny us (their Protestant fellow-citizens) those rights which they 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 be satisfied until our full rights in the matter of incorporation are properly ac- (10) .1 • .-^ '■ ^ . ■* ' :' ''.' -.-.T' 1 ■1 '■ ''.(•■■ , J ■■ ^. » ■ •■■■■ f y •"»■■*. ■ tj*'-iH.«ii ' i 1 r>;->. : - ■' ■ /I . ....... " .. r '.-•-' , . // .- .'■'.. "r ' . ^^^ ■-.< 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 Une 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 il, 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 Protestunt principles could 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 id. If it be the case that, as a matter of fact, this is an issue raised between us, in which all Protestants are to be on one side, and all Roman Oatholios 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 J 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 (Htistings) — You are drawing it pretty strong ; you are draw- ing on your imagination. Mr. Blake — I have given the text, and I will guarantee that the comments are justiBed by the text. Now, sir, 1 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 goud, 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 hon. 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 fact. Notwithstanding that I am relieved from the necessity of proving my case as to his statement by his own declaration in this House, I PKOCEED TO GIVE THE EVIDENCE ;. of that as I have given the evidence of other things. He said :*'*Mr. ■_, '-■ Mowat was controlled by Archbishop Lvnch, 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. g'^ntleman, that I would V, meet him here, fa^e 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 instrumentality of Ontario .^r politicians, who considered the smiles of Rome of greater value than the approbation of their fellow-Protestants. The bill was defeated because Arch- ' , .'■ bisnop Lynch said no, Christopher Fraser repeated no, and Edward B.ake ' V^ bowed hia head and whispered no." He voted "no" the last time ; 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 ... ' . <^ ..^ ->, - ••'•-f- -.1. r- J // '•"Mr. to the it from Ide- [ would lut with 3ting in liament hitario kan the |e Arch- Bake J but I It is uot lage his inately •. ^ . ■* • -;- ■V . I K ^ ■ .'■'■•.-'. .1 ' *■■ ' , ' * ' ' ' . ' I ( •* ■ / ; . 313 Archbishop Lynch had Mr. Mowat bound hand and foot, and it was even hinted ho was getting a hard hold on Mr. Blake, and let us hope onr own leader will keep his skirts clear." An lion, gemleman — He has no confidence in the breed. Mr. Blake — My hon. friend says he has "no confidence in the breed." Now, I have had the honour of the acquaintance, for a considerable time, of His Grace the Archbishop of Toronto, and I hope, being both of us Irishmen, I may even call myself his friend ; but I have never, either directly or in- directly, through others or myself, by speech or writing, or in any way had the slightest communication with Archbishop Lynch on any one political topic of any description whatever — not this one only, but any political topic of any description. For anght T know, unless he has given public utterance to the contrary, that prelate may entertain the same view with reference to the Orange bill as 1 observe the hon. member for Hastings has said Arch- bishop Tach6 docs, namely, that he is in favour of its being passed. But I say that in this, as in all other particulars, I have acted entirely upon my own judgment, and wholly free from every — I will not say dictation or control — but attempt at dictation or control, hint or suggestion, knowledge or informa- tion as to what the opinions of that prelate, or of any other prelate, or digni- tary or persons of the Roman Catholic faith, might be" on the subject. I have acteil on convictions iVhiei I have entertained ever since I came into public life, on convictions which I was known to have entertained in the Local Legirlature, and to have expressed, not on the floor of the Legislature, but to leading members, when the question was likely to come up in the Local House, with reference to another secret organization — convictions hos- tile to the incorporation of secret associations — hostile to the incorporation of the Orange society. It is perfectly true that I am, as the hon. gentleman says, a Protestant, and it is also true — I suppose that is the meaning of his phrase ultramontane — that I am of that school of thought which is most op- posed to what I believe to be the dogmatic errors of the Church of Rome. That is perfectly true. I protest against what I deem her errors ; but I am also AN EARNEST ADVOCATE OF RELiaiOUS FREEDOM and equality and the full rights of conscience. As the Ontario leaders of the Orange society declare that the province is ruled politically by the Roman Catholic clergy, and that it must be freed from the domination of the Roman Catholic clergy by subverting Mr. Mowat, I notice they have sometimes said a word with reference to the conduct of the Province of Quebec, and as to its rule ; and I desire here to advert to this question, speaking with the same plainness of speech which I have used this evening, though 1 may perhaps offend some of those who may have listened with approval to some things I have hitherto said. I say I do not find this pretension to be the exclusive right of standard-bearers of Protestant principles, to lay down a rule and measure, with which, unless all Protestants comply, they are to be held un- true to their principles, to bo a proper attribute of this association, judged by its leaders in Ontario. I have spoken of Quebec. Now, in that Province there have been, for a long time, some persons — some persons only, I am glad to say — who have striven to create that clerical regime in favour of their own party, who have insisted on extreme pretensions as to the rights of the clergy to use their influence in elections ; who have sought to drag, the clergy into the political arena ; who have sought to pervert certain general language, which was used by the authorities of the Church, from its true sense, and to turn it to the condemnation of one political party ; who have sought to maintain the view that the clergy should refuse the rites of the Church to persons on account of their votes ; who have sought to repeal the law as to undue influ- ''•t! H -T VI 'I ii ' . (' I, ^•\ -■ \\M 1> .r^,: 'k:'^-^-:,A :^,Ai :'Ni ^ ■■ ' / 314 _ ' * ence, as far as it affected the clor<,'y ; and thoro can bo no doubt that these efforts on the part of some parsons in Quebec met in the past with a measure of success. Pressure was used in several counties against the crndidates of one political party, as Liberal Catholics ; and the struggle was severe, and resulted in a yreat weakenin<,' 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 si)here of the Church. The members of that party ai)pealed also to the law ; and the law was vindi- cated in several cases. They appealed also to tlie highest authorities in tha ' Church, and those authorities also interfered. We know well, for it is public? to us what was done. I then pointed out, with the proofs, the course of that lonj^ con- ' troversy, and the ultimate triumph of the right. I added : — As I have said, there was a long and bitter controversy in the Province of Quebec with some who strove to abuse the power of the Church in the way to which I have referred. That long and bitter 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 I want to know whether they were helping in the cause which has thus been vindicated in the end ? 1 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 oi 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 mccAbers who were waging that controversy against the Quebec Liberals. Why I Because they were ^ united in political bonds with thofse 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 k<3pt 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 r • , - 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 uiorals, you -V /::':•,.;..'- . . ■ , . ■■'•.•' ' • *:• •^.•■^r ,-}' ', Vo» ^"''[•\ ': :*<-rT J\-'*iJ' -sX* >■ '' 4;_y ii/. ' • / ;■"■■ -iit .-J.-.e-^'k! "-c.^J>: ■ these leasure ,atos of re, and veil yet itances, )url8 of ought a od from >pealed, d many 'ty with treasure Church. IS vindi- 38 in the ia public mg con- •ovince of a the way ntroversy Bed party, Tom it, in n the par- at so long a perma- , were the :e helping to know athy with accorded my oi the )ec in that g in their re waging ,hey were d in their hoae with ^ilaee and )w saying kject, and I am to be ^r Roman strive to lieve that faith and and un- Irals, you / 315 concede necoHsarily to that Church absolute power altogether ; aiul I boUove, therefore, that it is quite necessary to remember that tliere may be a point at which we may be called on to consider what the tenets of the Church, ir that particular point of view, are. I have shown that the struyfgle was fought out within the Roman Catholic Church ; that those rights on which the Ijiberals of Iiower Canada insisted have been vindicated, and that the elect- tors have a right to vote as free men. But should sucli a struggle recur — which (xod forbid ! — could I, judging from the past, hope for any assistance, could the Liberal party look with hope for any assistance, from the ( )rango Tory loaders of Ontario i No, because we have not received 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, 1 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 their views as to the tenets of that (church, so far as these aflect 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 Sentinel of December 21st, 1882, there is the following, which is headed, *' Allegiance to Rome Only " :— " We have always contended thai the Romish Church teaches its follovvers to be disloyal to every State wherein it exists, to recognize the authority of no temporal Government, and to own allegiance only to the Papacy." On April 26111, ISSIJ, the same paper svid : — " It is hardly necessary to say that every tru3 member of the Church must yield to the Pope, the infallible head of the Church, uriquestiening obedience in morals, dogmatic faith or belief, and also conduct of civil afiairs. No member of the Church can dispute the right of the head of it to decido infallibly atid dogmatically all questions atfecting 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 aro, 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 secondly 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 1 " Again in the Seniind 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) . , . . i'1 i --4 / I •v- * ■ f \»«>» J » .1 V ; u -■ ^ , I I [ <•( 31G 7 > •> , \ freest inHtitiitions of tnory State in Christendom." Those are the statements repeated over and ovor aiart of those who so believe, with Roman CJatholica. On the other hand, all overs of free institutions should combine against the eril which would be wrought, the pressing evil and clanger 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 hare it here ; we have had it within the last few months : we have had it stated as a doc- trine of to-.^. ,•>' ' ---.' 318 ' thanked, although we differ in religion, we may agree in works of charity — it would be a blessed achievei. ent. But to-day wliat are you doing ? You are promoting these calumnies in ^eierence to another Church ; you are com- ing forward and declaring, untruly, as I believe, that the tenets of that Church, from which you differ, are in these respects detestable, and that every true Protestant must take the same position. It is a course of which 1 hope you will repent before you are many years older. Now, 1 am anxious for a Pro- testant ascendency of oub kind — for the spread of those opinions which I be- lieve to be true ; but X am ^inxious 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. I am not anxious for that kind of Protestant ascendency, and in my desire to pro- mote my dogmatic faith ^i}X ..^r^ I DO WOT OOUNTENANCR 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 prelates, at> long ago as the 25th of Januarj-, 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 statements which touch our social and political system, and our relations to each othor, as citiaens of one common country, as follows : — " The Irish Catholics swear that the Catholics of Ireland do not believe that the Pope of Rome, or auy other foreign prince, prelate, state or potentate, hath, or ought to have any temporal or civil jurisdiction, power, superiority or pre-eminence, directly or indirectly, within this realm ; and this without any mental reservation or dispensation." The prelates go on 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 it 'awful to nuirder or destroy any person or persons whatever unl;.,' .\\. ;-_ -r ' , ,■_.-■ ^ ,, V • _, ■_. r^<:^ ,'"'■: ''--r^ is that alty to ;hey do him is umnies lb, in a ) which But it md our ows : — ve that ;cntate, leriority ithout ."After lonceive .ids our lence to ot only au and lersons ■inciple ;ementa which d yet, ;o, but leated ; iversive ark as fitizeus. 0, the ind the Ignition to:^9 myself ill, any aspect lie real I have Ibut by r-,: '. v -A r~''- ■•■■''.'■ f .■ 1 319 recent and authentic utteranceB. But, perhaps, T am wrong ; I dare say that I shall be more bitterly misrepresented than ever before by the Orange Tory leaders ; and a { to the Tory Roman Catholic leaders, they, too, the temporary struggle between them arrd their Orani^e allies being ended and the alliance revived, will regard me all the more distastefully because I have necessarily shown, either how sham tlieir battle is, or how false and un- natural is their conjunction. THE TRUK POLICY DEFINED. But I have this satisfaction, that I have told plainly the truth as 1 believe it ; and it will be to me an ample i-eward, if I have succeeded in explaining to moderate men on both sides the views I hold, an3 in pointing out the true path of duty in a community of diverse races and creeds like ours ; where we must combine firmness in the assertion of our own rights, with fulness in the recognition of the rights of others ; we must cultivate modoration and forbearance ; we must avoid misrepresentation, calumny, and abuse ; we must hold to the ample acknowledgment of each man's individual rights of conscience in religious matters, and of the common citizenship of all in civil afiairs, if we would make of Canada a great and free country, inhabited by a happy and united people. Now T have given you these extracts because they throw light on the situation of to-day. They show the trutli of what I 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 platfoi^i is the Orange Tory platform. They show the character of that platform. And here you have the real significance of the position. Tlie 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 {ire Tories above all ; and they are willing to use even their explosions of wrath to help him. In truth they have exploded only when they saw that they could no longer control the almost undivided Roman (/atholic vote. Then it ivas 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 perfoimers are to separate. They are to take differ- ent paths. Mr. Bowell and Mr. Bunting take the Orange horse and are passed through the Orange toll-har ; Sir Hector Lange- (10) •/ V ■' -■rt ■•). N • :(' i ii if I. ' I, •I' Ml 'ill -.->'■' '.* 'un'.;. I ..LV / ;^^,',4 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 triumph in the wrong— (cheers) — but hoping and believing that the day is passed 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 believing that the Canadian people HAVE learned TO BE MORE LIBERAL, TO BE MORE JUST, TO BK MORE . TOLERANT THAN ONCE THEY WERE ; HOPING AND BELIEVING THAT ''C' '.V ♦^ THEY ARE 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 taAT 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 THEY HAD MET THEIR FATE WITHOUT ATTEMPTING TO AVEiiT IT BY THE DESTRUCTION OF THEIR SACRED CHARGE. (Loud and prolonged applause.) • , .' . ' ' ^ .-. r . .■ i" .. > r- "?■. ■ ;;'_ •«■ j.-\''x' 'f»-'''>_ '"Vi'^^'- ■■''"•'"/ ''^''- '^v '. •^''•V"'?!''.;.' v'^'fJi - -i^. -^ w; ■l.'1»r. ■ '. i^« ',.'1 -•^' V'l ■X'\''i Uv -'^ 1^ I: • 1 ' : .li I •■• . ■V2^^Mr :i«pT.'iC^t?ft -jii^i -|.^,ji'i., M.-,. ';«(,7;y|r_(iL-;7,i :iv ^