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J I2X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hsa Ma.ikstv the Quhkn. Kll mp" il >* 'm Tm Rt. Eon. Sik J(»jin S. I). Thompson, P.O., K.C.M.G., Q.C. Fourth Prime MiniUer of Canada, F '^.M^.W^^ LIFE AND WORK OF THE RT. HON. SIR JOHN THOMPSON ^T P.C, K.C.M.G,, Q.C. PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA BY J CASTELL HOPKINS WITH A PREFACK BY His Excellency the Earl of Aberdeen Governor General of Canada. "■^.1 BRADLEY, G ARRETSON & CO. BRANTFOKD, ONT. 1895 Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five, by Thomas S. Linscott, in the Ofl5ce of tlie Minister of Agriculture. me he . i m-»..'ij ' - ' H i » r .-! ' ''i ' .t',; ' f * ." ' .w. 'T ;K" ' gwr'Wk'i.iJam-jt in. i i jb"h ■ * lu"- >• ' ' '■'> ' His Excellency The Earl of Aberpben, P.G. Qovemor General of Canada. PREFACE. The " Lit'e and Work " of a man. — The phrase is sug- gestive ; and it is eminently applicable as the title of a biography of Sir John Thompson, His 'life was full of work, and of work to which emphatically might be applied the old maxim, " Laborare eat orare," for the labours of his busy life were pervaded and prompted by lofty aims and religious principles. That a record, a description, of his career should be given to his country and to the world, is a matter not merely of appropriateness but of obligation ; for the vari- ous grounds upon which a claim for a biography of any person may be made on behalf of \he public, are in this case combined, whether regarded from the histonca), the polit-oal, the legal, the exemplary, or the personal point of view. To say this implies that the biogra^jher will have no lack of material ; but it does not follow that his task will be easy. Indeed it must be admitted that in no case can the authorship of a biography be free from difficulty : and of course, especially is this the cpse when the life to be presented is that of a st.itesman whose position and duties inevitably brought him not oi \y into the midst o^ the stir and stress of a central place ni public I'fe, and the contro- versies and emulations w'tli which it is surrounded, but also included the takint^ of an impv>»*%nt part in intt^rna- tional and other transactions requirmg delicate handling and diplomatic skill. The biographer of such a man will desire to exercise discretion, but he will also wish to avoid the criticism tREFACfi. lii , : that in striving to exercise caution he has incurred the risk of dullness. He must enable his readers to under- stand the domestic and personal characteristics of his subject, but he must not too freely lift the veil that pro- tects the sanctity of home and family life. Above all, while utilizing the opportunity for justifying any utter- ances or lines of conduct which he regards as having been misrepresented or misunderstood, he must not allow this proper sense of loyalty, this admiration for the character of his subject, to betray him into uncalled-for, perhaps unfair, disparagement of those whose attitude on the occa- sion in question was that of opposition. And the need of good judgment and discretion in this matter is of course increased, when the controversies referred to are of ex- tremely recent occurrence. But it is not necessary to say more about the functions of a biographer than will serve to draw attention to the manner in which the author of this memoir has performed his part. It may safely be predicted that the general opinion will be that he has done his work well. He has evidently aimed at maintaining the impartiality of a chronicler, together with the appreciation of an admirer. He has also shown that sense of proportion which is especially necessary in the picture of a life so many-sided and so full of interest as that of Sir John Thompson. It is indeed not too niucb. to say that to describe fully the chief portion of his public career would be to write a his- tory of Canada during the past decade ; and it is thus that the author has evidently felt it requisite to give a descrip- tive feL.«)tch of several of the chief events and public ques- tions which occupied or agitated the mind of the country daring the period in view, in order that Sir John Thomp- poti's actions and influence on these occasionc may be properly presented to the reader. PREFACE. XI It has already been remarked that the reasons for the appearance of this biograpliy are numerous. A perusal of the volume will make this apparent, even to those not previously in any personal manner acquainted with the circumstances and the subject ; while by those who were in any way b :o-Tght in contact with Sir John Thompson, the book will be looked for with an eager, though melan- choly interest. But there is one feature in Sir John Thompson's char- acter which adds especially to the value oi any memoir of his life. He has often been described as a man of reserved and even cold demeanour. It follows therefore that he must frequently have been liable to be misunderstood, or at least that the beauty of his character and disposition cannot always have been fully revealed. Doubtless to those who were at all intimately acquainted with him the less appa- rent features of his character h;;d become familiar. But if the more genial side of his nature was to some extent hid- den, how desirable that this and every other distinguishing trait of the man should be as fully as possible described and portrayed ! To the attainment of that object, the pub- lication of correspondence is doubtless a most important means, and it may be a cause of some regret that the pre- sent volume does not contain a larger number of letters. But it must be borne in mind that the publication of cor- respondence, especially of the correspondence of a person who has occupied an important position in public life, is a matter whicli requires time, for the pui'pose of deliberation, consultation, and classification ; in addition to which, the lapse of a certain period is sometimes necessary before cor- respondence upon some questions can suitably be given to the world. The present volume, however, is published in order to meet the immediate demand of the public ; and meanwhile it may be hoped that at some later date there ' za PREFACE may be an opportunity of becoming acquainted with ai least a considerable poi tion of Sir John Thompson's corres- pondence. Reverting to what has been said regarding the manner and appearance of Sir John Thompson, the writer of this preface, if asked to give a tl ^-seription of the personality of the late Premier, would say that the dominant impression left on his raii>d and recollection is that of combined strength and sweetness. When silent, his countenance no doubt often wore a composed, almost a stoical expression ; but this, as a contrast, only made the bright and gentle smile more attractive. His remarkable aptitude as a listener, combined with an extraordinary power of grasping and presenting in a clear and lucid manner the vjirious aspects and bearings of a subject, must have struck all "r:'ho had occasion to confer with him on matters of business ; and his faculty in this respect is illustrated in a highly interesting manner by one of the personal reminiscences recorded in the text by Bishop Cameron. Sir John Thompson had a ready and genial sense of humour. Muny a quiet laugh have I shared with him, even during conversations on official matters, when anything dr6w from him a jocular remark, or recalled to either of us an amusing anecdote or reminiscence. With this sense of humour, as is often the cape with those who possess it, there was the power of sarcasm, which (as members of the , Dominion House of Commons could no doubt testify) was manifested on occasion. As a public speaker Sir John Thompson has been described m somewhat cold, although possessing in a high degree the essentially important qualities of clear articula- tion, lucidity of expression, and an accurate sense of pro- portion in the division of a subject. I was debarred from PREFACE. Xlll having many opportunities of hearing him spe^ak in public, but the occasions on which that advantage was enjoyed would lead me to demur to the designation of " coldness " as applied to his oratory. Doubtless his delivery was calm, and ill a sense unimpassioned ; but there was frequently a sympathetic ring — almost a tremor — in his tones, which in a pathetic passage would readily have moved many to tears. And indeed it could not be that this note of sympathetic feeling, albeit as an undertone, should be absent from even the public utterances of one whose deep and true feeling was manifested so clearly in every relation of life. Ill short, as haR alreadj'^ been said, in him were united gentleness and strength — marks of true manliness and nobility of character. Such were some of the characteristics of the subject of this memoir. And though the promptings of affection and appreciation would incite the writer to linger on the theme, this informal preface must be brought to a close. Sir John Thompson was a great man. He has made his mark. His influence has been for good, and its impress is of an abiding nature. His country has reason to be proud of him ; it has reason to be thankful for him ; r.nd it may be confidently recorded that his oharaeter and his abilities were su&h as would have fitted him to occupy with success and distinction the very liighest positions that can be attained by any statesman in the British Empire. .A^. fLA^^X^^tMjL.4Ji^ OffauHi, Feh. !25, 1895. CONTENTS. » 1 iii# CHAPTER I. A Great Canadian 27-34 CHAPTER II. Early Days. Parentage— Bivth— Education— An industrious student — A proficient shorthand writer— Studies law and is admitted to the Bar of Nova-Scotia — G radual progress — Marriage — Change of Religion — First Meets Bishop Cameron — An Alderman of Halifax— Connection with various societies — A stormy political period 36-48 CHAPTER III. Law and Politics. High legal reputation in the Province— Appointed counsel for the U.S. Government before the Halifax Fisheries Com- mission — Enters political life in 1877 — liecomes a member of the Provincial Government and Uter on Premier of Nova-Scotia — His establishment of the municipal system — Appointed to the Bench of the Province — His remarkable judicial faculty — Great success as a Judge — Founding of tne Law school at Halifax 49-67 CHAPTER IV. Enters the Government. Becomes Minister of Justice after pro- longed persuasion by his friends — Press comments — General congratu lations and public appreciation of the appointment — Discussion in the House of C.^ommons and escpressions of opinion by Mr. IMake and Sir John Macdonaid 6S 79 CHAPTER V. The Riel Qukstion. The ditticult position of the Government. Points at issue — French-Canadian indignation — Importance of a right decision — Mr. Landry's motion in the House— Mr. Thompson's great speech- -Wins a national leputation in a few hours — Neucssity for the execution of Louis Riel— His crimes and their just penalty — The Minister of Justice denounces those in Quebec who would make religion a political question— Sir Hector Langeviu makes a mistake 80 96 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. 16 An Election and a Fxshkriks QeKeiioN. A critical period-Mr. Thompson makes a tour of Ontario with Sir John Macdonald — Is well received and delivers numerous Speeclies — An election and a Conser- vative Victory — The Minister of Justice sent to Washington with Mr. Chamberla-in and Sir Charles Tapper — His able work — A treaty arranged but afterwards thrown out by the U. S. Senate — Speech in the House upou the question — Created a K. C. M G., by tho Queon. . , 97-115 CHAPTER VII. The Jesuits' Estates Act. Exceptional difficulty of the Government's position — History of the Question — The debate— His great 8pef>ch upon the Question — Overwhelming support given the Governnient in the House — Attacks upon Sir John from other quarters. 116-136 CHAPTER VIII. Equal Rights, The Fishkriks, and the French Language. Rise and influence of a strong Protestant party — Mr. McCarthy's Activity — Protests against the Jesuits' Estates Policy — bisheries' Question in Parliament — Sir John's Speech — The French Language in the Xorth- Weet — A race question growing out of the unfortunate Riel cam- paign — Sir John Thompson's fair attitude in the matter- -A hot debate and eettifement of the Question « . . 139-163 CHAPTER IX The Elkctions of 1891. A memorable battle — Questions at issue— The Chiefs manifesto — Sir John Tiionipsun speaks in Toronto and el«e- where— Elections in Antigonisli— Bishop Cameron's inllueuce - Tlie General Result 164-182 CHAPTER X, Dkath o;' SiK John Maodonald. The end of a great life— Sir John Thompson unselfishly refp.ses the Promicrsliip -Private letters written by Mr. Abbott and St John Thompson at the time of the (chieftain's death — Mr. D' Alton 'oCarthy and tho Premiership— Reconstruction of the Ministry — Sir John serves under Mr. Abbott as Leader of the Commons— A difficult session skilfully managed. 18rledge when it was crowned by selection as one of England's arbitrators in that brilliant gathering of statesmen and jurists ci Paris. A marked feature of the late Premier's character was his entire unselfishness. Devotion to duty was his watch- word, disregard of personal considerations and comfort his principle of action. Without any particular liking for politics if-i such, he left the Bench of Nova Scotia, with its life of comparative ease and affluence and the prospect of undoubted and high promotion, for the stormy career of statesmanship No doubt he liad tliai: ambition for fame which all great men have und which the next few years so fully realized. Perhaps, also, ho felt that it was possible :r*i|^^' SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 27 for him to render greater service to the country which he loved so well. Judging indeed by his subsequent career, there can be little doubt that Sir Juhn Thompson did deliberately surrender the ermine of ease, as he at a later period refused to take the Chief Justiceship of Canada, in order to devote himself to promoting the welfare of the Dominion. This quality of unseltish loyalty was well exhibited in those dark days which followed the death of Sir John A. Macdonald. It was a time of political stir and stress ; a moment when the Conservative party was bewildered by the greatness of its loss ; a period when very little causes might have produced striking and startling results. A man actuated by ambition only would have thought and said in Sir John Thompson's position that he had earned the Premiership, and would have expected it at; a right. But Sir John was a true statesman, and his appreciation of th'i situation made him see that the patriotic course was to step aside for t!ie moment and to continue doing his duty in a high, though still subordinate, sphere. No doubt, too, he felt the consciousness of personal power, and realized that his time could not be far distant. But it must also be remembered tliat at 'lie moment in question no one knew the full strength of the sectarian feeling in Ontario. It might ':ave prevented Sir John Thompson from ever obtaining the Premiership, as the strength of a similar sentiment in Quebec in earlier days kept Geoige Brown permanently out of power, and during many years in the recent history of Ontario, kept Mr. Meredith in Opposi- tion. In still another way was his self-sacrifice shown. No one doubts that Sir John could have made large sums of money at his profession, and maintained himself and his family in affluence. So also, had he remained a judge, or f:.i J 28 LIFE AND WORK OF .=tv at any later period accepted a judgeship once more, there is every probability that his life would have been indefi- nitely prolonged, and his promotion rapid ; while his even- tual elevation to the lofty and remunerative post of a member of the Judicial Committee of the Imperial Privy Council would have been almost a certainty. But he pre- ferred the path of public life and duty to the ease and dignity of the Bench, and his sudden death left a family unprovided for, which, but for unstinted devotion to his national work, would have had ample fortune and an assured future. His WP.S a peculiar style of oratory — typical of the man and his work. He was unable, and in any case would have been unwilling, to move the masses by appeals to prejudice ind passion. But if eloquence finds its perfect expression in convincing minds and swaying intellects, then Sir John Thompson was emphatically a great orator. His memorable speech upon the Riel question placed the new Minister of Justice at one bound in the front rank of Parliamentary debaters, and there he remained until his death. Indeed the full supremacy of his master-mind could hardly be appreciated save by those who lieard and felt its operation in the debates of Parliament. Sir John Macdonald held sway in that Chamber for many years by the force of matchless political skill ami dexterity, and in the latter period of his life was aided by a ripe and respected experience ; a deep personal afl'ection on the part of mem- bers ; a devoted and united following. But Sir John Thompson stepped up at once to the place held by Sir Charles Tupper and Mr. Blake, and upon their retirement from the scene his supremacy as a debater was practically unchallenged. In command of language ho excelled Mr. Blake, who is known to have put much labor into the wording of his speeches : in beauty of expression he some- SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 29 what resembled Lord Rosebery ; in clearness and incisive- ness of styb he might have been compared to Mr. Cham- berlain. His rank amongst the trained debaters of the Imperial Parliament would have been high ; his place in the Canadian House of Commons was the highest. In the annals of the British Empire he will hold a permanent and lofty place. Under his leadership, though fostered and guided by the patriotic hand of the Hon. Mackenzie Bowell, the movement for closer British rela- tionship found expression in the Ottawa Conference by means of which, tariffs, cables and steamship lines will be freely utilized in drawing the distant parts of our vast Imperial realm into commercial, political and personal union. As the London Daily News so well said, that step " established a precedent and suggested the possibility of an imperial federation. The calling of it belonged almost to the dreamland oi statesmanship " But the result belongs also to the record of practical work and progress which Sir John perhaps appreciated more than sentimental considerations. The latter he by no means deprecated, however, and his mournful death, almost at the feet of the Sovereign he had served so well, illustrates, as did his life and policy, the famous utterance in a speech at Bollevilie : " He who serves Canada, serves the Empire, and he who servey the Empire serves Canada as well." But while his statesmanship exceeded the bounds of the Dominion and stamped itself upon Imperial history ; while his heart went out to the Mother-land and his policy strove to bind its children in close union and brotherly intercourse ; yet the life work of Sir John Thompson was essentially Canadian. He was emphatically a son of the soil. Born and educated in Canada, his early political battles and later political succoHses were all fought and obtained within the Dominion. Imperial honours were ■ ■ • ' 1 , ( ! ' '1 r iX" 30 LIFE AND WORK OF s. . showered upon him, and more of them might have come in the future, but they were bestowed for services which in benefiting Canada, benefitted the Empire as well. He was filled with a passionate patriotism which was neither un- derstood nor properly appreciated by the people during his life -time, being as it was to a great extent concealed from view by his calm and cold exterior and by the even flow of his logical and unsympathetic oratory, But it was shown in his policy, and occasionally surprised the public in some unusually eloquent and striking phrase; while his death exhibits the man as he really was — unwilling to give up his post even under the physicians' warning of a fatal termin- ation, because it might lead to party disorganization and the consequent defeat of the principles he held so dear, 'ind of the policy he considered so necessary to the progress and welfare of the Dominion. No one but a true Canadian, devoted to his country and his cause, could have led the Conservatives through the troubles following the fatal Gth of June, 1891. But Sir John inspired the rank and file of the party with thorough confidence in his ability, and impressed even his most bitter opponents with respect for his honesty and honour. The result was that his moderation, his intellec- tual strength, his justice, and sincere conscientiousness had become qualities to conjure with, and had lent a peculiar power to his leadership which it is safe to say would have remaincid unshaken by all tlie bubbles and foam of secta- rian advocacy. It is difficult to be critical concerning such a life and character as that of Sir John Thompson. Apart from the sympathy whicli the Angel of Death creates for all men and particularly when it comes uuiid such surroundings and with such dramatic and painful suddenness, it is not easy to find faults in either his public or private career. I! 1 *'*« >■ liii: Ur. Hon. «ik .Iohn A. Macihinald, P.C, (i.C.B.. g.C, M .P. /VrKf I'liiiif MiriKti'i- itf the Ihnninion 11/ Citnada. til I il 1| Sin JOflN Tfl >.\IP.SOM. S.9 Men differed from him in politics, but all united in praise of his life, his motives his ?haracter, his attainments. Wiiou death came, the Opposition prc^s was as eulogistic as were the Government organs. Men differed from hitn in religion, but his life was so pure, his change of faith has been proved to have been ^o conscientious and at the time so injurious to his makrial interests, that all criticism has been hushed, and the denunciations of Dr. Douglas, sincere as that eloquent divine no doubt was, are buried with him. His faults were undoubtedly few, his virtues many. He lived indeed as though he fully appreciated the fact that ♦• Ourlife of mortal breath la but a suburb of the life Elysian, Whose portal we call death." It is not fulsome flattery of a man, who was good as well as great, to say that his whole career and character constitute a noble example for young Canadians. There was never any doubt that Sir John Thompson would do right in any public emergency, in accordance with his con- victions, and up to the extreme limit of his power. His inflexible purp;)se compelled respect from the leaders of his party, and couibini.'d with his high character and great ability, caused his Cabinet, as well as his followers in the House, and in the country, to give an extraordinary degree of consideration to his wishes. A well-regulated ambition coupled with concentration of aim and a wide degree of culture, brought him the highest place in a field which his patriotism had made as wide as the Empire. These quali- ties render the career of Sir John Thompson memorable, and important to all Canadians. They carried him from the reporter's table to the foot of the Tiironc ; t'tiey made the young lawyer of other days Minister of Justice for this wide dominion and a British representative upon more : i;l « !: m ff 34 LIFE AND WORK OF than one important occasion ; they made the once youthful politician and debater a great Prime-Minister and powerful speaker. They will carry his name still further down the corridors of time, as i iill *' Were a star quenched on high, For ages would its light, Still travelling downwards from the sky, Shine on our mortal sight. So. when a great man dies For years beyond our ken, The light he leaves behind him lies Upon the paths of men." ID! Sill ^OHN THOMPSON. di CHAPTER IT. Early Days, si The Province of Nova Scotia has become famous for the iijen it produces. The broad Dominion of Canada from end to end has felt the impress of their virile force and unusual ability. The name of Sir Charles Tupper is stamped in vivid letters upon the pages of provincial, national ..-'d imperial hi8tor;^ The eloquence of Joseph Howe stili thunders down through the years which have passed since his wonderful voice v/as hushed in death. The ability, energy and skill of Sir William Dawson have made McGill University one of the great educational centres of the world, and left his name a lofty one in the difficult realms of science. The great work of Principal Grant has built up Queen's University, Kingston, and his fame as an earnest and eloquent exponent of Imperial unity has not been confined to the shores of Canada. The financial ability of Hon. George E. Foster has been a tower of strength to three Canadian administrations ; and the rapid rise of Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper in reputation and position, presage a place in history hardly second to that held by his distinguished father. But history will probably say that the career of Sir John Thompson was more remarimbn than that of any other native of Nova Scotia. His rapid ;ise, his lofty position, his great honours, his dramatic death, all com- bined to render the life of the fourth Premier cf Canada the most eventful and remarkable in the national annals. M\ ■I (I ti ^6 LIFE AND WORK Of There was, however, nothing in his surroundings to indicate this future when John Sparrow David Thompson was born at Halifax on November 10th, 1844. His mother, a thoroughly good woman, was a native of the Orkney Islands, her maiden name being Charlotte Pottinger. His father, Mr. John Sparrow Thompson, was a man of culture and position, though not possessed of private means. He was a native of Waterford, Ireland, and had emigrated, when quite young, to the Province of Nova Scotia, then an isolated, out of the world sort of place, possessed of charms and resources which seemed to be buried in almost primeval obscurity. For some years, Mr. Thompson was Queen's Printer, and subsequently for a prolonged period, held the restricted but fairly comfortable post of Superintendent of the Nova Scotian Monej Order system. He seems, however, to have participated in other pursuits as well, and was assistant editor of the Nova Scotian, at a time when Joseph Howe as its proprietor was occupied in moulding public opinion with pen and voice and influence. Naturally, he fought with his chief during the struggle for responsible government in the Province, and naturally also, be taught his then youthful son an affectionate regard for the great tri- bune, which had its effect in later days. Mr. Thompson, who died in 1867, seems to have enjoyed in his day a high reputation as a graceful and well-informed writer, and an accomplished gentleman. The circumstances sur- rounding his son's boyhood therefore were not at all unfavorable to the youthful development of any remark- able qualities which he might possess. But, as in so many other cases, the child hardly seems to have been the father of the man. He attended the common schools Qf his native city, and afterwards took a course at the Free Church Academy in Halifax, besides receiving moat care- SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 37 pui fill home training and advice, in all his studies and suits. At the early age of fifteen he commenced the study of law as an articled clerk in the office of Mr. Henry Pryor, afterwards stipendiary magistrate of Halifax, and was called to the Bar of the Province in 1865, when barely twenty-one. He is described in his student days as having been a slight and rather delicate youth, with a shy and timid manner, and as utterly devoid of anything like conceit or self-assertion. And the daily work of the junior articled student was not then made as pleasant or useful as it is at the present time. It was indeed of the dullest and appar- ently most useless character, including such labor as the copying of voluminous writs and pleadings, now long done away with, and the general performance of a class of work which is nowadays handed over to the otfice typewriter. Some one has said in this connection that it was a formid- ible undertaking even to peruse an ordinary set of the pleadings of thirty years ago ; it was a s- ill more difficult task to write out the complete copy of such a set ; but the superlative was reached by the bewildered student in the attempt to comprehend the precise meanings of the s^jjer- subtle technicalities thus expanded upon so many pages of foolscap. Browning may indeed be termed the embodi- ment of lucidity in comparison with the intricate legal phraseology of some of the documents of a generation or two since. But " Johnnie " Thompson, as he was called, not only found time to do his office work and to be an industrious student of the principles of 'aw, but also to master the difficult art of stenography. Then as in the future, what he found to do, he did thoroughly. And when the early years of hard and constant struggle at the bar commenced, the young lawyer was only too glad to eke out his inconc^e by "I ; il ,V; , ' i J I W ■ ^' . .,* si 38 LIFE AND WORK OP ^ . :i| : 'l!!l:i. liii the use of an accomplishment not very common at the time. As a matter of fact also, there is as much difference be- tween a first-class stenographer, such as he was, and one who can only take down words and then give a literal translation of them, as there is between the writer and the pen he drives over the paper. The one will summa- rize in a short time a ten-column speech so that it will not exceed a column in space and yet include every salient point, ^-"ammatically worded, and perhaps embellished in a way tlk^ speaker himself was incapable of doing. The other will take down his letters from dictation, and give an exact copy, as may perhaps be his duty, without the exercise of thought or of any special ability. This was not the way with young Thompson. He practised law and, at the same time, reported the debates of the Legislative Assembly. In 1867, the Official Reporter of the House was Mr. John George Bourinot, now the learned and distinguished Clerk of the Dominion House of Commons. His volumes for that year make acknowledgment to John S. D. Thompson for assistance given, and in the succeeding year they bear the signature of Mr. Thompson as Reporter-in-chief. During the four following sessions he continued to report the debates with great advantage to himself in the gaining of a thorough and ready knowledge of the procedure of Par- liament. It must also have given him a very complete acquaintance with the politics and political leaders of his province, and been of great assistance when he later on came to enter the House of Assembly. Meanwhile the reputation of the young lawyer was growing. When he had been at the Bar but I'ttle more than two years he had won the respect and confidence of the Bench and of his professional brethren. Simplicity, sincerity and fairness seem t>o have be§Q the predominant (qualities of the l£|,wyer sin JOHN THOMPSON. 39 as they were fifterwards of the judge and the statesman. His first partner was Mr. Joseph Coombes. for whom he did the office work and prepared briefs; his second, after a few years of indifferent progresp, from a pecuniary standpoint, was Mr. Waliai-e Graham. The firm thus finally formed was a succesd, and Mr. Thompson soon rose in his profession until he attained the foremost place before the Provincial Bar. During these years he worked exceedingly hard. Matters were complicated by his father's health filing, and for some years the son pt formed much of the work per- taining to his paie'^.t's Government position by sitting up and labou)-; . far into the night. It is a raolancholy fact stated by one of his friends in those seemingly distant days, that his ambition then was to make sufficient money to keep his own family from ever being in the difficulties he himself had experienced, xis a lawyer during this period he contributed to the true dignity of a great pro- fession, scorned pettifogging tricks, and was ever on the side of peace and settlement wheie such results were at all possible. His powers of conceijitration were very great, and of course aided hira iiut a little in getting through multifarious duties and in winning legal successes. In 1870, i.t the age of twenty-six, John Thompson was married to Miss Aniile Affleck, daughter of Captain Affleck, of Halifax. To her, the partner of his early struggles and his later greatness, he was ever the most devoted of husbands, as he has been to his children a most thoughtful and tender parent. But the marriage was not accomplished without some difficulty. Miss Affleck was a Roman Catholic, he was a Protestant. His family were most devoted and pronounced Methodists : with perhaps a liille of that undue religious prejudice which is apt to de- velop in small communities and in tho hearts and minds of the very best of people. He was, however, driiting intg ^|l m ■' I: I', .'i'l !'! I _ ' :' ' . ii m 40 LIFE AND WORK OF closer communion with the Roman Catholic Cjiurch, and had about this time been deeply impressed by a series ot* sermons on the "Foundations and Doctrines of the Church," preached by Archbishop Connolly of Halifax, an ecclesiastic whom he greatly admired, rnd who soon came in turn to appreciate his young friend's ability and keenness of thought. It seems cl^^-i^* that his future wife had little or nothing to do with hip change of faith, which came later, and which so influenced the course of his whole life. It is indeed un- derstood that they never discussed religious matters, either before or after marriage, until he announced his intention •^f becoming a Roman Catholic. During their engagement Mr. Thompson would frequently meet her at the church door and walk home, but he seldom or never attended the services with her. At the tiuio the marriage was decided upon, Archbishop Connolly was unfortunately away and as mixed marriages were never celebrated in Halifax, arrange- ments were made with some little difficulty to have the ceremony performed in Portland, Maine. Canon Power ultimately gave Mrs. Affleck letters to Bishop Bacon of that place, who did everything possible to facilitate matters. She and her daughter reached there early in July, and on the 5th of the month the young couple were married in the Bishop'H parlor. A year afterwards Mr. Thompson joined the Roman Catholic Church. A change of relic:' on is always a marked and striking taction whichever direction it may take, and in his case was rendered especially noteworthy by the silent opposition of his relatives and friends, by the fact that as a boy he had been the pride of the Brunswick Street Metho- dist Sabbath School, and as a young man, one of its most efficient teachers. But there was no room for surprise in the matter. His frie:^ds knew that for years he had be^n I1 1 Hon. Alex. Mackenzie, M.P,, Second J'riiiw Miimlar of Canada. H: HI M ko. . _ tl tl fl B S( ai cc cl ra w B< fo 80 CO ar Sc CO Tl pr: rel vie Th ev( pec po) SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 43 debating the question, and that the final step was only taken after the deliberate weighing of arguments and con- clusions which characterized him throughout life. He was never the creature of circumstances, and there cannot be the slightest doubt of his having made the change from the highest and purest of motives. As he remarked at the time to an intimate friend : — " I have everything to lose from a worldly standpoint by the step I am about to take." But so convinced were all his friends of his sincerity, and 80 much did they admire his high-minded indifference to any success which might be attained by refusing to run counter to public opinion or individual prejudice, that they clung to him all the more closely, and his popularity grew rather than diminished. A few months after the event he waR elected an Alderman of Halifax in the fifth ward, and by acclamation. This position he continued to hold for six years, in 1874 being also elected a member of the City Board of School Comuiissioners. Of the latter body he was for a time chairman. In civic affairs the young Alderman soon took an active and prominent part, and his surviving colleagues, as well as the records of the Council itself, bear ample testimony to his ability and skill. And so with the School Board. Education was then, as it always is in mixed religious communities, a difficult matter to deal with in Halifax. There were no Separate Schools, though of course many private institutions were maintained of a more or less reli- gious character. The School Board was chosen without reference to creed and it had to manage the conflicting views of the different elements of the people. In this Mr. Thompson showed Marked skill. It is said that he hardly ever offended any one. He did not believe in antagonizing people, and if his manner was too cold and distant to win pt)pulftr fifTection, hie (jualities at least compelled publiq m V4 i; '1 /! ill 44 LIFE AND WORK OF respect, while his quiet, dignifipd way of discussing matters prevented people from taking personal offence at his oppo- sition to their views. He once warned a close personal friend, who now holds a high judicial place in the Dominion, that he was " too impulsive," and advised him to use every possible argument against the point in dispute, but never so as to personally offend the other disputant. And there is no doubt about his own success in these years of prelimi- nary struggle. His influence in the Gouncil was supreme, and no one could throw oil upon the troubled waters of the School Board better than he. Writing on Dec. 4th, 1877, the Halifax Herald says that " If any Alderman ever con- ducted himself in such a manner as to win popularity and confidence that man was Alderman Thompson." During these years the young lawyer was for some time President of the Young Men's Literary Association of Halifax, ai*.! of the Charitable Irish Society, taking a deep ' interest in their affairs and general proc^-edings. Naturally also he was steadily developing his debating powers as well as increasing the stores of information and knowledge of precedents, which lie at the basis of a genuine and perma- nent Parliamentary reputation. The shyness of early youth soon wore away, so far as any outward manifestation was concerned, but the reserved manner remained and clung to him through life. But then, and always, he disliked public speaking, and for this reason, probably, was never a good campaign orator. Any audience, however, which desired to hear a clear-cut analysis of the questions at issue with- out oratorical frills or appeals to sentiraeiit and passion, could appreciate an address from John Thompson, and would probably leave the building impressed by the hon- esty and honor of the man, as well as by the logical sitrength of his argumentH. At this time th(3 storms which had swept over the stR John Thompson. 4& politics and parties of Nova-Scotia were somewhat abated, tliough much ot' bitterness still remained The great figure of Joseph Howe had passed from the scene and only tho memory was left of a man whom the Canadian people of to day can hardly appreciate at the full measure of his superb ability aad disinterestedness. The historic battles which he waged for responsible government and against confederation had brought out a display of eloquence and power which in a less circumscribed sphere would have made Howe one of the great men of the age. The latter rontest was a struggle of giants. The sledge-hamn:. ' blows of Dr. Tapper ringing against the shield of his eloquent antag- onist made the prolonged battle a memorable one to all Nova-Scotians, and the literary part taken in it by Mi:. Thompson, senior, as a devoted friend and follower of the Anti-Union leader, was by no means small. During this period the Province was literally deluged with pamphlets and political literature of all kinds ; the press was loaded with arguments and fiery denunciation ; the air was filled with the sounds of oratory. Finally, on the 18th of September, 1867, the new Dominion was startled by intelligence of the terrific defeat which the supporters of Canadian federation had received in Nova-Scotia, Out of eighteen members of the Commons, but one Confederate, Dr. Tupper, was returned ; and out of 38 members of the Provincial Assembly only two Confederates had survived the political hurricane. Howe literally held the Province in his hand and had he pleased, during the next year or two could have taken Nova-Scotia out of the Union and compelled the Dominion to conquer /t or else wait for a turning tide. But the Imperial Government refused to grant constitutional repeal of the Union, and he was too loyal a man to dream or usii g force. Many of his followers however, began to assume a disloyal attitude and to even dally with American s'Mnpathi/ers. iil_ ■^HB" 46 LIFE AND WORK Of Here was the opportunity for the Dominion party, which had been gradually regaining ground during the in- terval. And no one could seize an opportunity quicker than Sir John A Macdonald. He came to Halifax and saw Howe ; played upon his love of British connection and closer Imperial unity ; convinced him of the serious danger into which the Anti-Confederates were drifting and the utter impossibility of separation ; offered him better finan- cial terms for the Province, and finally won him over. Howe entered the Dominion Parliament and Government in order to more efl^ectually guard the interests of Nova- Scotia, and though much of his marvellous popularity departed with that act, and the misrepresentation to which it was subjected, he nevertheless lived to occupy for a short time the Government House of his native Province, and when he died received the tribute of heart -felt and univer- sal mourning from its people. Mr. Thompson, who had in the meantime lost his father by death, was not sorry when circumstances com- pelled Howe to sever himself from his old-time associates. His admiration for the man was very great, his regard for his memory was afterwards deep and sincere, but he would never have followed him in any unconstitutional action or disloyal advocacy. This union of Tupper and Howe — the Conservative and Radical of earlier days — founded tl a Lib- eral-Conservative party in Nova-Scotia which, in Provin- cial matters, John S. D. Thompson was to lead in the course of a few years, and in later times was to represent in the Government of the Dominion. About 1874, he became known as a strong advocate of protection to native indus- tries, and with a small coterie of active friends in Halifax, urged the issue which four years afterwards was to sweep the country like a whirlwind. Meanwhile he was connected with various important StR JOHN THOMPS )^. 4T 11 1fel cases coming before the Supreme Court of Ncva-Scotia, and was rapidly acquiring a foremost place at the bar, as well as in municipal politics, and in the appreciation of public men who were able to judge of ability in those rising around them. It was a curious friendship which existed at this time between the young lawyer, with his cold and reserved manner, his suppressed emotions and solid judgment, and the emotional and impetuous Archbishop Connolly, with his fervid temperament and characteristic Irish eloquence. Bishop Cameron of Antigonish describes his first meeting with Mr. Thompson as being at a dinner in the Archbishop's house some years after the religious change, which has been elsewhere referred to, and says : * — " Dinner over, His Grace invited us to his room and began to give us the detailed history of a case at law in which he was largely interested. As a listener, a perfect listener, he (Mr. Thompson) impressed me very much. And when he broke his dead silence, his rapid and searching examination was a study, soon followed by unbounded admiration at the easy skill with which he proved that he had already thoroughly mastered the whole complicated subject at issue and completely dissipated every difficulty that had the mo- ment before seemed all but insurmountable." Archbishop Hannan, who succeeded Dr. Connolly in 1876, was not upon very intimate or friendly terms with Mi'. Thompson, and the latter's action in defence of a local religious sisterhood which appealed to him for legal aid, actually embittered their relationship. It seems that the sisterhood in question consulted the lawyer regarding cer- tain regulations made by the Archbishop which they did not like, and he advised an appeal to Rome. After a pro- lonjxed controversy, in which Archbishop Lynch of Toronto was accidentally involved, the sisterhood finally triumphed. fight the whole Government interest and an alleged InUipendent candidate, besides facing a constituency to which he was a stranger, and in which he had only a week to become acquainted. The Conservative Opposition in t.n .' % i M 9 i l ! , I |i 1 1 ■ 1 . .. 1 ■\ I I 58 LIFE AND WORK OP the Local House was jubilant, and the Herald congratu- lated the County of Antigonish on having secured the ser- vices of one of the ablest young men in the Province. It congraiuiated Nova-Scotia upon obtaining the public ser- vices of a man of high character and tried ability. It congratulated the Opposition upon such an accession of strength to its ranks. The Government of Nova-Scotia was at this time in the hands of the Liberal party, under the leadership of the Hon. P. C. Kill. A large majority of the Legislature was at it3 back, but it had become somewhat weakened by a reckless management of the finances, by certain scandals in connection with details of administration, and by the growing unpopularity of the Liberal Ministry at Ottawa, coupled with that omniscient factor in political affairs — hard times. Mr. Thompson's victory in Antigonish marked the turning of the tide, and a year later, at the same time that the Mackenzie Government was swept from power by the rising waves of Protectionirm, the Nova-Scotia Minis- try was so badly beaten at the polls that only eight of its supporters were returned to the Legislature out of a mem- bership of thirty-eight. All the ministers but one were defeated. Mr. Thompson came back to the Assembly from Anti- gonish by acclamation, and on the 2l8t of .October,- 1878, a Conservative Government was formed by the Hon. Simon H. Holmes, who took the portfolio of Provincial Secretary, with J. S. D. Thompson as Attorney-General, and the Hon. Samuel Creelman, a veteran Radical of the days of Howe, as Commissioner of Works and Minns. Messrs. C J. McDonald, W. B. Troop, J. S. McDonald. N. W. White, C. J. Townshend, and H. F. McDougall held office without port- folios. The new Attorney -General was warmly welcomed by a portion of the press, the Herald declaring him to bo SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 59 of high standing in every situation of public or private life, with a reputation as clear as noonday from all charges and even all suspicions. Much was expected from the new Ministry, and in a very substantial way much was received. To extricate the Province from financial difficulties, to lift its railway system out of the hopeless muddle into which it had fallen, and to reform the loose method of municipal government, were the requirements of the moment. The Premier and !iis chief assistant set themselves to this task, and in three years of economy and retrenchment paid off $70,000 of the $400,000 debt incurred by their predecessors; reduced expenditures by $150,000 ; doubled the receipts from mines ; and trebled the receipts from Crown Lands. T*^. another direction considerable success was achieved. The preceeding Government had subsidized Provincial railways to the extent of $1,400,000 during its term of office, but without securing the results aimed at. There now seemed to be difficulties in every direction. Grants had been expended without half the work being done, and in the case of the Eastern Extension Railway, the Com- pany, contractors, and Government appeared to be in a perfect tangle of trouble. One or two minor roads were soon completed by the new Ministry, and its energies were then devoted to the production of a scheme which should olFoct the complete consolidation of the railways of the Province under the control of an English syndicate. Some local men of wealth were interested, but the principal members of the Company were Sir Honry Tyler, Lord Ashley, Lord Colin Campbell, and other Etiglishmen of Himilar standing. Under a voluminous contract pi epared by the Attorney-General, the Company, after considerable discussion, both public and private, agreed to complete some of the existing roads, and to construct 140 miles of %\i ■fr. n 60 LIFE ANB WORK OF new railway. The Government in turn promised con- piderable grants of land, and consented to guarantee the interest on certain bonds. i There seemed to be no general opposition to the seheme. From one quarter, however, came steadfast and stinging criticism, and the ability with which Mr. W. S. Fielding, then editor of the Halifax Morning Chronicle, handled the question, not only effected the public mind injuriously to the Government, but helped to place him in the prominent position which he afterwards attained of Prime Minister of Nova-Scotia. But these attacks made no impression upon the Legislature. In opening the ses- sion of that body on January 19th, 1882, the Lieut- Governor was very optimistic, and prophesied that the railway consolidation arrangements would " mai*k a new era in the development of the Province." On Feb. 1st, following, Mr. Thompson delivered a long and powerful speech upon the Railway Bill, which embodied the scheme in its entirety, and the measure was carried by a sweeping majority. It easily passed the Council, but the success of the Liberals at the polls a few months later prevented it from ever going into operation. Another matter dealt with, and to the lasting benefit of the Province, was the reform of its municipal system. It was a most difficult task. The old method of municipal government was vastly inferior to that of Ontario, and even to the system which had been established in New Brunswick two years previously. Attornej/- General Thompson, however, went into the matter with his usual thoroughness, and seemed to be utterly oblivious of local popular clamor or of political exigencies. His Municipal Corporation Act, which finally became law, effected a genuine revolution. Each county in the Province was incorporated and provided with municipal self-government, ^ V SiK Mi.uKENziE BowELx., K.C.M.G., Senator, f'i/th Premier of Catmda, ii 1 i ii ! -lii ^^R^ tJ i St' M] ^■'li ■ ki\ m BB SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 63 largely upon the Ontario plan, in place of the antiquated method of rule by Sessions of the .Peace and Grand Juries. liio control of road and bridge moneys was vested in the municipal councils, and many abuses developed as the natural outgrowths of an old system were done away with. It was natural that a measure of wholesale reform such as this should create discontent in different quarters. The Liberal Opposition, as a matter of course, opposed and censured it. Magistrates all over the Province, whom it deprived of the share in governing the counties which they had hitherto held, were naturally indignant. And sn army of oflEicials who had been previously connected with the expenditures upon roads and bridges fought vigorously against the new proposals and against Mr. Thompson as the author of the reforms. But the measure was so good as a whole that the Legislature could hardly refuse to pass it, even though the majority knew that the conscientious labours of the Attorney-General would deprive the Gov- ernment party in the coming elections of the support of what had practically become a political machine — the magistracy of the Province. A prolonged eifort was also made by the Holmes- Thompson Government, as it was called, to abolish the not very useful, and certainly expensive. Upper House. In 1879, the Ministry introduced a bill for that purpose, which was i^^ssed by the Assembly but thrown out by the Legis- lative Council. An address to the Queen was then carried through the popular chamber praying for such amendment to the British North America Act as would permit the Lieut. -Governor in-CouDcil to appoint enough members of the Upper House to carry the measure. The latter body presented a counter address to Her Majesty, and the Ministry followed that up with an able document prepared by Mr. TUompsop, and endorsing the views of thQ Assembly, 1 I i( lllf- i \ 64 LIFE AND WORK OP The Imperial Government, however, refused to interfere, and the Legislative Council still stands as one of the institutions of Nova-Scotia. Other legislation was attempted or carried out and, taken altogether, the course of the Government won it a reputation which caused so well-informed a paper as the St John Sun to declare that, " Nova-Scotia had never been so well governed " as it was during this period. Meanwhile important changes were pending, and on the 25th of May, 1882, it was announced that a re-con- struction of the Cabinet had taken place. Mr. Holmes had resigned the Premiership on account of ill-health, and had accepted the office of Prothonotory of Halifax. The new Ministry was formed as follows : Premier and Attorney-General Hon. John S. D. Thompson. Provincial. Secretary Hon. A. C. Bell. Commissioner of Public Works Hon. S. Creelman. Without Portfolio Hon. W. B. Troop. 11 II Hon. C. J. Townshend. Mr. Thompson became Prime Minister as a matter of course. He was now, as a leading local paper declared, first in his profession and first in the Legislature, while, " as the son of one of the founders of Liberalism in Nova- Sc.otia, he still retains the spirit which actuated the men who won responsible government for us a nd made future reforms possible." But he was destined to hold the position for only a very brief period. Dissolution followed early in June, and in the elections which took place on June 20th the Thompson government was defeated by a majority of five. The Premier himself was again returned for Anti- gonish, and amongst other notable selections at the polls was that of J. W. Longley for Annapolis, and W. S. Field- ing for Halifax, Eftrly in July the Goverftm^^^ resigned, SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 65 and on the 27th of the same month M^. Thompson accepted a place on the Supreme Court of the Province. There were many reasons for the defeat of the Ministry. The ability displayed by the Chronicle in its strong but unscrupulous attacks was one ; the enemies made by the municipal reforms was another; and the following statement by Mr, Fielding in a speech at Halifax on June 1st was widely believed : " As Premier we have a gentleman who has many friends. It is well known that the Hon. gentleman who temporarily fills that office has no intention of remaining in politics, but will at the earliest opportunity take a seat upon the Bench which his recog- nized ability as a lawyer fits him to adorn." There is no doubt that this was a popular impression, strengthened by the Attorney- General's disregard of the usual arts of the politician. And there seems also to have been a certain limited display of that sectarian spirit which had been shown in the first contest fought by Mr. Thomp- son in Antigonish. When a very few scattered votes could change the result in manj'^ constituencies, appeals tO bigotry, whether secretly or openly made, would naturally have some effect in a general election. Of genuine religious narrowness, however, such as was developed at a later period in Ontario, there never had been very much in Nova-Scotia. But. whatever the measure of influence wielded by diverse causes may have been, the battle was now over; Mr. Thompson had ceased to be Premier ; his star of political success appeared to have paled forever ; and he had assumed at the early age of thirty-eight the ermine of the Provincial judiciary. There seemed to be no discord or disagreement in opinion regarding his appointment. The Liberals said : " We told you so." The Conservatives declared that the ablest lawyer in Nova-Scotia had taken the place which 66 LIFE AND WORK OP • i-ji he perhaps most desired, and which he was splendidly fitted to fill. Long afterwards a few whispers were heard to the effect that he had deserted his party in its time of need, and that he should have stayed by the political ship in the shadow of failure as well as in the sunshine cf success. But there was no public expression of this feeling at the time, and it was confined to a low who may have been offended by his political rectitude or judicial manner of dealing with party questions. The Halifax Herald gave the Tory view in a parting eulogium in which reference was made to his having brought order out of Legislative chaos ; inaugurated many valuable reforms ; secured the completion and publication of the Provincial Law Reports, and rendered the Province many other services which it would feel for all time to come. An interesting tribute, unexpected at the time, and destined to be of political service in years to come, was that tendered by the new Judge's most bitter critic and ablest journalistic adversary — the Morning Chronicle. Writing on July 27th, that paper spoke of him as probably the youngest Judge in the Dominion, and then went on to say : " In politics we htt^^e differed from him, but our differ- ences have never prevented a recognition of his fine abili- ties and high standing as a lawyer. It will be admitted on all sides that he is one of the foremost men in his profession, and possesses all the qualities necessary for a good Judge. . . . We predict for him a brilliant judicial car< It was therefore under very favourabi': cii that Judge Thompson began what appeal - r< life-work. Politics had been a sort of pa.-^ iigex riment in which he had not succeeded as a paiiy lt'ad( though proving himself more than successful as a masterful debater and legislator. And during the next three years he did good work for Nova-Scotia. The Judicature Act of 1884, sill J«.-IIN THOMPSON. 67 hy which the system of pleadings and practice in the Pro- vince was greatly simplified and brought up to ths standard of Ontario and England, was chiefly his work. He took the greatest interest in the founding of the Law School at Halifax in connection with Dalhousie University ; contri- buted liberally to its support at a time when his aid meant life or death to the institution ; lectured for yeai-s in its nails without charge and while holding a seat on the Bench . and devoted much time in other ways to what is now a most successful and valuable legal establishment. Personally he displayed many of the qualities of an ideal Judge. He was prompt in decision, fertile in prece- dent, invariably courteous to the nwjmbers of the Bar, and was undoubtedly possessed of that indescribable qualifica- tion known as a judicial mind. He seemed to have a pecu- liar faculty for getting down through a huge mass of apparently relevant, or really irrelevant, questions to the ciiicial point in the most intricate of disputes. No student ^t college ever worked harder than did .fudge Thompson. Tn pursuance of a resolution made when he ascended the Bench, it is understood that during the years he remained in his position he devoted at least five hours a day to the study of law. So deep was the impression this legal know- ledge now began to make upon the public mind that when his lectures upon "Evidence," at Dalhousie University, were announced, a large number of the barristers of Halifajc enrolled themselves as general students of the college for the purpose of hearing them. And these addresses upon a, most difficult branch of legal study are considered to be of the highest value, as well as distinguished for lucidity and scholarly style. When therefore the call came to higher iuties, and in his case to national responsibilities, Judge I'hompson was prepared for advancement, as is every man \'ho does thoroughly and well that which his hand finds () do. ^11 68 LIFE AND WORK OF CHAPTER IV. Enters the Government. 3 1: P Pi 1 1 "1 'i m ' i' 1 ' 1 By the autumn of 1885 some important changes in the composition of the Dominion Cabinet had become necessary. Sir John Macdonald wan not all that he had once been in health and energy, though his cheerines3 of disposition showed no signs of failing. Sir Leonard Tilley had found the Finance Department too great a strain for one of his years and strength, and the ministry was therefore about to lose the services of one of the best trusted ol Canadian statesmen. Sir Charles Tupper intended also to shortly retire to the High Commissionership in London, and Sir Alex. Campbell was desirous of resigning his position. To find new men t apable of in some measure taking the place of these distinguished veterans was the task which the Premier had to face. And it was all the more important that his selections should be men of vigour and ability be- cause the Kiel question was at this moment threatening the party with disintegration and the country with serious disaster. It was, therefore, a happy stroke of wisdom and good fortune combined, when Sir John Macdonald called in Mr. Thomas White as Minister of the Interior, and Mr. George E. Foster as Minister of Marine and Fisheries. Both had been of considerable service to him in the preceding session when various causes had made debating talent rather scarce upon the Conservative side of the House, and both were well-known throughout the country as skillful speakers and clever politicians. But when it was announcofl SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 69 a short time afterwards that the most important portfolio in the Cabinet at that moment — the Ministry of Justice — had been offered to a Ncva-Scotian judge whom the Prime Minister had never even seen, and who, as a politician, had never filled the public mind of the countrj' in any national sense, there were .undoubted and natural expressions of su^orise. The Dominion Liberals did not attack the appoint- ment of Judge Thompson on personal grounds, but made the mistake of trying to minimize it. Referring to the Ministerial changes generally, the Toronto Globe observed, on the 26th of September, the day after the new Minister of Justice was gazetted, that " these changes and shuffles are of very little consequence to the country. The men who remained in the Cabinet rnd the men who have lately been taken into the Cabinet, are ^jmall men who will exer- cise no influence on the country." Such a comment upon politicians of the calibre of White and Foster and Thomp- son is enough to make partisans on either side smile to-day and it is quite safe to say would not be offered by the Glohe under its present clever management, should any similar occurrence again take place. The Toronto Mail, the i under the able editorship of Martin J. Griffin, was on familiar ground iti dealing with the Hon John 8. D. Thompson, and naturally did him more justice. It wm*. in a position to tell the Dominion something of his services iir. a lawyer ; of his occasional successes as an orator ; of his " high and unstained per- sonal character " ; of his eminence as a judge ; and of his reputation since 1869 as " a most faithful, high-minded, unselfish, and respected advocate of the policy of the great chief of the Liberal Conservative party of Canada." Still it must be admitted that the country as a whole accepted the appointment largely on trust, and waited for time and n 'I ''I 70 LIFE AND WORK OP experience to develop results before expressing any partic- ular opinion. The Conservative party, of course, had confidence in Sir John Macdonald's wonderful judgment of men, and those who followed politics closely knew also that there must be something remarkable in the new Minister or he would never have been selected to fill an exceedingly difficult post at the moment when a most complicated constit'i- tional issue was darkening the whole national horizon with sectarian and sectional storm clouds. The man most directly concerned did not want the position. His party had almost forced him into public life when he first consented to contest Antigonish for the Local, House. During the following period, while Mr. Thompson held office in Nova-Scotia, he made as few public appearances as possible, seldom delivered platform speeches, and though he laboured earnestly and unre- mittingly, was known to have retired to the Bench with pleasure, when defeat ultimately came. And now his party had again demanded his aid. It was given with hesitation, and only from a final conviction of duty. The well-known statement of Sir John Macdonald's, that " the great discovery of my life was the discovery of Thomp- son," m, Mke most epigrams, somewhat inaccurate. It was absolutely necessary that a successor should be found to Sir Charles Tupper, and Ncva-Scotia had, of course, the first claim to produce him. But it seemed very doubtful if the man was to be obtained in the Province. Mr. (now Sir) Charles H. Tupper. and his distinguished father, Mr. Robert Sedgewick, Q.C., and the othei- local Conservative loaders urged upon Sir John the ability and services of Judge Thompson. The latter however told his friends he would not take the position, and there really seemed to be no one else upon whom the mantle of Howe p Hon. VVn.KKin Laorier, Q.C, M.P., Leader (\f the Canadian Oppoitil itm. SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 73 and Tupper could for the time being fall. Meanwhile the claims of the Hon. George E. King, ex-Preraier and then Judge of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick, were being pushed by friends in his Province, and the result seemed very doubtiul. Finally, Mr. C. H. Tupper, Mr. Sedgewick, and others went once more and urged Judge Thompson to accept the post they thought him so well fitted to occupy. A letter from Sir John Macdonald wa-- taken to him, form- ally offering the position, and stating that a County Judge- ship had been accepted by Mr. Mclsaac, the Liberal M.P. for Antigonish, and that his old constituency was once more open to receive him. Sir Charles Tupper at the same time and with the consent of Sir John Macdonald, went down to Antigonish in order to obtain, if possible, the concurrence and aid of Bishop Cameron, who had now for some years been Judge Thompson's closest friend and confidant. He pointed out to the Bishop what a wide sphere of influence the change would open up for his friend, and how greatly in the inter- est of Nova-Scotia and of the country generally it would be to have such a strong man in control of the Department of Justice. Bishop Cameron eventually concurred, and under the varied pressure thus brought upon him the Hon. J. S. D. Thompson entered the Dominion Cabinet. The whole proceedure was a great compliment to the man and his ability, and it proves also that the astute Chieftain at Ottawa had been more than favorably impressed by what had been told him regarding the Nova-Scotian Judge. In this way he may be said to have " discovered " him. But the fact that Mr. D'Alton McCarthy, Q.C., M.P., was first offered the Ministry of Justice before Judge Thompson was approached in the matter, rather tends to make the appointment one of those accidents of politics which bring about the most strange and striking results. (I 74 LIFE AND WOUK OF l^if f ! Mr. "vIcHarthy's refusal of the portfolio really paved the way for the successful national career of his ^reat rival. It must have required considerable courage to face the large opposiiig majority in Antigonish. Several constitu- encies were offered the new Minister, in any one of which he would have been elected by acclamation, but he pre- ferred going back to his old friends. Without hesitation, or taking time to '' sound " the electorate, he faced a Lib- eral majority of 833 ; placed his faith and p )litical future in the hands of the people of Ar^ugonish; and despite renewed appeals in certain quarters to the old religious prejudice; and a natural local desire for a local represen- tative such as Dr. Mcintosh was, who opposed him as an Independent Conservative ; the brief campaign resulted in a sweeping triumph for the new Nova-Scotian leader by the splendid majority of 226. The conmients of the Nova Scotian press had in the meantime been generally eulogistic and congratulatory. Unlike that of Ontario it could «peak with knowledge of the past record and of the personal character and abilities of the lawyer and politician who was now to enter upon a career of broader statesmanship. The Halifax Herald, speaking on the 24th of Septomber, when the appointment was first announce 1, represented very accurately the opinion of most of the intelligent Conservatives of the Province : " As a gentleman the new minister has ever beeti a favorite among men of all parties, creeds and classes ; as a liiAvyer he litis no equal in the Lower Provinces, and few if any superiors, in Canada ; while as a public man he dis- played all the highest qualities of an ideal statesman. . . . Honest, industrious, broad-minded, clear-headed and cour- ageous, with a thorougii mastery of his profession and a |iatriotic ambition to be useful in his day and generation, .\lr. Thompson is unquestionably of all the men in the Pro- SIR John Thompson. 76 vince the one best qualified to succeed Sir Charles Tupper as the representative of Nova-Scotia in the Government of Canada." Fair minded Liberal opinion was voiced by the follow- ing from the Windsor, N.S. Courier : — " We congratulate the people of Nova-Scotia upon having in the Dominion Cabinet a gentleman of Mr. Thomp- son's ability and untiring energy. He is an excellent speaker, a clear-headed lawyer, and will undoubtedly fill the office to the satisfaction of the countrj^" Well-informed opinion outside of the Province was represented by the Toronto Mail — already quoted — and the Montreal Gazette, which declared that in the new min- ister the Government would receive a valuable acquisition. It went on to describe him thus : — " A profound lawyer, universally admitted as being in the foremost rank of his profession, he combines the qualities of a sound jurist, with those of an eloquent and effective speaker, who will prove a valuable addition to the debating power of the Ministerial benches." How valuable, not even the Gazette had the faintest conception ! The rabid and extreme partisan view may be obtained from a despatch sent by the Ottawa cor- respondent of the St. John Telegraph, which declared that " the members of the Orange order are greatly enraged over the appointment. They say he supplants a Protestant and that Riel will not be hanged." There was a very interesting discussion following upon the appointment, which was partisan in origin, couMitu- tional in form, and not exactly personal in application. A good many years before tliis time Vice-Chancellor Mowat ijf the Ontario Judiciary had stepped down from the bench to assume the Attorney-Generalsliip of his Province, and to enttr that political arena in which ne has since had such con- spicuous success. The Conservative press and speakers^ of 76 LIFE AND WORK OP f ! !«' that day had censured the Liberal party for thus degrading the Bench of Justice by making its occupants ehgible for party favours and party rewards, and had especially de- nounced Mr. Blake, the retiring Premier of Ontario, who had nominated the distinguished Judge as his successor and had urged him to accept the post. Whatever force these arguments may have had in Provincial politics, and it is not probable that an occasional retirement from the Bench to enter political life will ever really injure the Judiciary, they had still less in connection with the Domi- nion post of Minister of Justice. Who indeed could be better fFtted to administer jus- tice for the nation ; to control the law -work of the Domi- nion ; to look aftor and abolish, modify, change or amend its laws, than one who had previously possessed judicial experience ? Then in a matter of precedents — those things which lawyers and politicians appreciate so much and which constitute such excellent reasons for action or inac- tion as the case may be — there is a considerable resemb- lance as to the duties performed, between the position of Canadian Minister of Justice and that of the Lord Chan- cellor in England. In the Mother-country many of the most distinguished holders of that great blue ribbon of the legal profession went from the Bench to the woolsack. Amongst them were Lord Hardwicke, Lord Bathurst, I^ord Loughborough, Lord Truro, Lord Hatherley, Lord Camden, liord Campbell, and, greatest of all. Lord Eldon. And cer- tainly it has never been claimed that the English Bench was degraded thereby, though it is open to any one to urge that men like the late Lord Chief Justices Cockburn and Coleridge have left greater legal reputations than the vast majority of those who preferred the temporary glory of the woolsack to the lasting splendour of a distinguished judicial record. ^ SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 77 urge and vast ry of Hished But none the less the discussion was entertaining, and gave the party organs something to talk about. As there was nothing special about the new Minister to denounce, they tired a good deal of political ammunition over this little point, and it was one of the earliest matters referred to when Parliament opened its fourth session on the 25th of February, 1886. The new member for Antigonish was introduced for the first time to the House, of which in five years he was to be leader, by Sir John A. Macdonald and the Hon. A. W. McLellan, and at once took his seat as Minister of Justice. At the same time the Hon. Thomas White and Hon. George E, Foster went through the form of introduction and took their places, after having returned to their constituents for election upon appointment to office. Within eight years from that day four out of those five political leaders had passed through more or less ev^.ntful phases of political life, and had departed from the scene ! How wonderfully true in this connection seem the beautiful lines by Lowell : ■'.,■- . -.V * V Life is a leaf of paper, white, Upon which eanh of us may write His word or two. • Then comes the night." On the following day the debate upon the Address in reply to the Speech from the Throne took place, and Mr. Blake, as leader of the Opposition, proceeded to pour the usual hot shot into the Ministerial ranks. He was parti- cularly sarcastic concerning the two different opinions apparently held by the party in power regarding the appointment of judges to political ofiice. It was with them, he declared, not a matter of principle, but simply one of expediency. And then speaking of the Mowat incident, he said : " I was told that I had degraded the Bench; %at I had soiled the hitherto unspotted ermine; that 1 had created mz 78 LIFE AND WORK OF I! a feeling of want of coiifidence on the part oi' the people in the judges of the land ; that I had rendered it impossible for the judges to conduct impartially the trials of election cases." And after this he paid his respects to the new Minister in a style which was meant to make prominent Conservatives feel secretly annoyed, and to make Mr. Thompson slightly uncomfortable had he really been, as Mr. Blake supposed, a small man in a large place. "I congratulate the honorable incumbent of the oflSce. He enters Federal politics, as the French would say, by the great gate. For him there is no apprenticeship in our Parliament. . . . No greater compliment could be paid a public man. The Government felt the office was knpor- tant ; they felt they had no one available in Parliamont, and that they had to look outside. As a lawyer, the hon. gentleman has come to the front with a bound over many heads ; as a legislator, he begir)s his Federal career at once as a Minister." In his reply, Sir John Macdonald chaffed the Opposi- tion leader in his usual effective style ; spoke of him as " the dissolving view " of the Mackenzie Government, sometimes in and sometimes out ; referred to the Hon. W. B. Vail having been brought into that Government from M ova-Scotia over the heads of many Liberal members in the House ; criticized the retirement of Vice-Chancellor S. H. Blake from the Bench ; and spoke of the elevation of the Hon. E. B. Wood to the Chief Justiceship of Manitoba by Mr. Blake as the employment of the Bench for the reward of political services. Finally, he had a few words, and only a few words, to say about the new Minister : " I looked out in Nova-Scotia when the (Ministerial) vacancy existed, for a lawyer who could fill that position creditably, and I found him in my hon. friend, and if he were aot here at this moment I might enter more fully into the fact !1 SIR JOHN TH(JMPSON. 79 of his fitness, but I believe that even the hon. gentlemen opposite will admit before the Session closes the correctness of my selection and choice." It is probable that a very few months of intimate association in Cabinet and private political discussion would be all that was necessary for a man of Sir John Macdonald's keen insight to have guaged the ability and knowledge of the new Minister of Justice. But in making that last prophetic remark, even he could hardly have foreseen the skill and value of Mr. Thompson as a Parlia- mentary debater, though, no doubt, he was able to make a shrewd guess at the truth. In the course of a few weeks, however, there would be no possible doubt concerning the matter. 80 LIFE AND WORK OF i l\ I- i . CHAPTER V. The RiEL Question. , ' The opening of this session of the Parliament oi 1886, was perhaps the most critical period in the life of the new Minister of Justice. At a crisis in the history of the government which he had joined and of the party to which he belonged, he found himself called upon to bear the burden of defence against the fiercest and best organ- ized attack in the annals of Canadian legislation. Fresh from the Bench of his Province and long unaccustomed to heated discussions and party strife, he was to endure the lash of sectarian bitterness and sectional prejudice, inten- sified as it was, by an external and seemingly successful campaign of unscrupulous misrepresentation. Unknown as a speaker to nearly the whole of his critical, or already prejudiced, audience in the House, he had to face the oratorical graces of Mr. Laurier, the powerful eloquence of Mr. Blake, and the fervid utterances of a score of others, who were borne by the excitement of the time to the crest of a storm -tossed political wave. There can be little doubt that the position of the Ministry was very precarious. The old-time influence of the Conservative party in the Province of Quebec, seemed to have gone forever. The magnetic personality of Sir John A. Macdonald appeared to have lost its power. He was freely denoun*;d in great French- Canadian meetings as " the enemy of our nationality," and was even burned in effigy at Montreal, whilst the Hon. J. A, Qhapleau, the The Karl of Dekby, C.C.B., P.C., Late Governor-Qeneral of Canada. < 1 u mh * in I. ;i i sill JOHN THOMPSON. 83 eloquent tribune of the people, wnf uracketed with Sir Hector Langevin and Sir Adolphe Caron, in public resolutions, as " traitors to lueir country." Riel was to be the hero of Quobec and one of the political martyrs of his nationality: Mr. Mercier was to be the len,der of a new move- ment which in the sacred name of race and religion was to avenge his execution : the Parti-Nationale was to sweep out of existence the enemies of French Canada and of the Roman Catholic Church : Mr. Blake was to stir up the Province of Ontario against those who had committed what 30,0U0 people on the Champ de- Mars in Montreal, declared " an act of inhumanity and cruelty unworthy of a civilized nation." From the moment when the man who had caused so much of sorrow and bloodshed, suffering and death, was executed at Regina, on the 16th of November, 1885, this agitation had grown in force and sunk deeper and deeper into the hearts of tho people. Popular passion is always easy to arouse when questions are raised touching even the fringe of creed or nationality, and Mr. Mercier, who was trying to ride into power upon a wave of sectarian prejudice, seemed utterly imlifllerent to the danger of his course. And in allowing the law to be carried out the Dominion Goveriiinent had to face a double difficulty. Not only was the situation in Quebec critico-l : not only did Le Monde, a Conservative puper, represent the senti- ments of its press avS a whole in declaring, after the execution, that " Fanaticism wanted a victim : Riel has been offered as a holocaust : and Oranereism has hansred him for hate and to .satisfy an old thirst for revenge ": but the remarkable utterances of the Toronto Mail and Orange Seidinel, provided additional fuel for the fiame of excitement. The former had declared on the 3rd of November, preceding the execution, that " as Britons we M t: ! r liil 84 LIFE AND WORK OF I .■ believe the conquest v;ill have to be fought over ag.iin and Lower Canada may depend upon it, there will bo no treaty of 17C3." The Sentinel declared, in reply to fiery state- ments from Quebec, that the Government did not dare to hang the rebel ; that " English -Canadians will not longer suffer this galling bondage : and the day may not be far distant when the call to arms wili again resound through- out the Dominion." Tremendous pressure had been brought to bear upon the French-Canadian Ministers to resign from the Dominion Cabinet. They were told, and trulj'-, that Mr Mercier was about to sweep the Province of Quebec, defeat the Local administration, and then turn his attention to aiding Mr. Laurier at Ottawa. Many of their Conservative sup- porters pointed out that refusal to leave a doomed government meant political extinction, and that if they attempted to condone the execution of Riel, even a seat in Parliament would be an impossibility. Whole batches of French-Canadian Conservatives declared that they dare not support the Government in their proposal to let justice take itn course, or in their subsequent definite performance of that duty. Meanwhile, Mr. Blake had not made the outlook more pleasant by vigorous speechep. in Ontario, during which he denounced the whole North- West policy of the Government. If appearances o.ould be trusted it seemed indeed as though a general break-up of the national Conservative foices was about to take place. This then was the situation when the Hon. J. S. D Thompson faced a storm-tossed House of (Jommons on the llth of March, and listeiKMl with stocial composure to Mr. Landry's long-anticipated and now famous motion : — " That this House feelw it its duty to express its deep regret that the seuteuco of death passed upou Louis Kiel, !'l SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 85 convicted of high treason, was allowed to be carried into execution." Mr. Landry's speech was the key-note of much that followed during a week's debate. He described the Government's action in a strain of the fiercest invective. It was a provocation flung at the face of a whole nation- ality : it was a breach of the laws of justice : it was an evidence of weakness on the part of the Ministry : it was the gratification of a long-sought vengeance : it was the wanton sacrifice of the life of a French- Car ^ian Catholic upon the altar of sectarian hatred and bigotry. He spoke of the petitions that had been disregarded, and considered the actions of Riel to be those of an insane man or of a nionc ^aniac. He quoted the pardoning of Jefferson Davis, the exile of Arabi Pashi, and the treatment of Abd-el-Kader by France, as affording ample precedents for the forgiveness of Riel. Lt. Colonel Amyot, another Conservative, followed, and declared with all the vigour of passionate declamation, tliafcnfter an examination of the record in Kiel's case, the Ministry had ordered the hanging in spite of the favourable n.'iture of the record : in spite of the recoinmendation to mercy by the jury : in spite of the madness of Riel, which was at^mitted and proved : in spite of the petitions which they hid received. "Wo go further" added the orator, " we say they did it after mature deliberation, in order to please a certain section of the country, not caring about ffending the other." Many others spoke. Mr. Clarke Wallace declared that out of 2000 Orange Lodges in the country not more than six had passed any resolutions whatever upon the subject. Mr. M. C. Cameron denounced the Government as having " trafficked in the destiny of a follow mortal." Mr. I^au- rier made a speech which was remarkable for the purity of Ha diction, the beauty of its language and style, lie 86 LIFE AND VvvJllK OF !' stated his belief, and the belief of his Piovince, that the execution oi Riel was "the sacrifico of a life, not to inexorable justice, but to bitter passion and revenge." He claimed that the American, English and French press, almost without exception, had taken the ground that the execufcior of Riel was u.ijustiiied, unwarranted and against the spirit of the age. He urged that Riel had been deprived at his trial of certain witnesses, and that papers and docu- ments taken from him and his house had not been placed at the disposal of his counsel as requested. He compared Riel to Jefferson Davis, and quoted from the evidence of General Grant before a committee of the American Congress to show what were considered the riglits of surrendered olHcers. If Riel had thought that ho was going to be treated as a caj)tured rebel he would have escaped instead of surrendering to Major- General Middleton. Mr, Laurier concluded an oration, which Mr. Blake afterwards character- ized as the best he had ever heard upon the floors of Parliament, by appealing for that justice which, in his opinion, the unfortunate half-breeds had fought for and had iiever yet obtained. Sir Hector Langevin. Minister of Public Works, and the nominal leader of the French-Canadian Conservatives, referred to tl)*.' great difliculties which he and his colleagues had been compolled to contni.d with during the previous i'our months of wild excitement, of agitation in Quebec, and counter-agitation in Ontario. He spoke of the rebel- lion ; its inception tlirough the machinations of Louis Riel ; its progress and final suppression by the gallantry of the Canadian volunteers. General Middleton had kept his promise to Riel, and had handed him over in safety to the civil authoritit'S He had been tried under a law which W)is put on the Statute book when the Liberal pai-ty had been in power And so an.\ious was tiie Goverunjont t<] SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 8T give the rebel leader every legal chance for his life that the case had been carried to the Supreme Court of Mani- toba, and thence to the Judicial Committee of the Imp'^ria Privy Council. He summed up strongly and eloquently in the following words : " We are the Government of the country ; we had no revenge against this man ; he had done us nothing person- ally ; but he had attacked the authority of the Queen ; he had revolutionized that country ; he had called the half- breeds to his aid and had deceived them in a most shameful way, as the missionaries of that country have all testified ; he had destroy jd their faith; he had destroyed their religion to establish one of his own, and my friends fro^i vie Province of Quebec call that man a compatriot ! IS' >, 2ifr. Speaker, the sober second thought of the people ,v ill not be so." Mr. E. )yal contended that the rebellic n was a crime against God and humanity ; Mr. Gigault thought it was a political scaftbld and a political execution that took place at Regiua, though he did not say how th< matter could possibly have benefited the party in power. Mr. J. J. Curran (afterwards Solicitor-General) declared that the central figure in this war of races and religions which was being inaugurated, had been alternately exhibited as a hero, a martyr, a fool and a lunatic. He quoted from documents, speeches at the trial, interviews, etc., in order to prove that Iliel was simply an ambitious and utterly unscrupulous schemer. Mr. Coursol denounced the attitude of the Toronto Mail, as did Mr. Langolier, who contributed the foliownig remarks to the 'lebate : "Our ancestors, when only 60 000 in number, including men, women and children, stood their ground for five years against 50,000 g)f the best soldiers, not only of England, but of the world Now that we are a million and a half R-'l m is LIFE AND WORK OF l| I il ii ' '''' we could offer a pretty stiff resistance to the Tory hnul grabbers who threaten us." Sir Adolphe Caron, in an eloquent speech, declared that if circumstances should ever arise similar to those of last year, he would again do what he had then thought was his dufiy. He considered that Riel had deceived the half- breeds., and showed how he had offered to sell for a bribe both his followers and his " cause." He read letters from Bishop Grandin showing the tr( uble and misery the rebel- lion had caused, and from Riel to " Poundmaker," which proved that he had tried to raise the Indians in revolt. Mr. Chapleau, in a most able effort, defended the Gov- ernment's position and his own share in supporting the law of the land. He referred to the brilliant offers made him by the Parti-Nationale ; spoke of his refusal to take the leadership of that organization in Quebec, which for a time seemed, and was, all powerful; and urged strongly his conviction that Riel was entirely responsible for his own actions. But the speeches around which centered the greatest interest, and upon which depended the ultimate verdict of Parliament, of the people and of posterity, were those of Mr. Blake and Mr. Thompson. The House was expectant when the leader of the Opposition rose to his feet. Tt looked for a powerful arraignment of the Government ; for close reasoning ; for a wide display of constituticiial knowledge ; for vigorous invective. But in the case of the Minister of Justice, it was simply curious. Conserva- tives anticipated a fair presentation of the case, but were hopeless of any real reply to the great speech which it was known Mr. Blake had prepared. And Liberals would have hiughed exceedingly had fftiy one hinte'> .:<" w^.. s 4t X 4j M-i ^ />/, t^'- :A 1.0 I.I 1.25 !^iM IIIIIM " illM 12.2 ' m nil 12.0 U U III 1.6 % ^ /a ^ ¥ >> m /r^ 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation t ■sj is. Jv V ^N^ ^ *> <^- V ^"^ V 33 WEST MAIN STHlIT WEBSTER, N.Y MSBO (716) 872-4503 ^^L \i I '■] I « r ; J \ 04 LIFE AND WOllli Of overt acts of rebellion, assassination or other violence^ the extreme penalty must be maintained." Lord Cranborne, now the Marquis of Salisbury, had said that " You must treat treason as the hig^hest crime known to the law. If you impose capital punishment for murder you must for treason." He pointed out tha»; Lord Bramwell had declared that " Treason is worse than murder, because it involves the taking of many lives." The condition of a new country such as the North- West absolutely required strong enforce- ment of the law, and any laxity in the punishment of admitted crime would have been a criminal act on the part of the Governmrnt. He then dealt with the insanity question in a lucid and convincing manner, and asked in that connection how others who took part in the rebellion could have been dealt with if the head and front of the moveixient had been granted executive clemency. " I should like to ask how the Frog Lake murderers could have been iDunished if the man who incited them to rebel- lion w*as allowed to go free or to repose in a lunatic asylum until he got rid of his delusion ? " And then, in a few ringing words, he concluded his speech amid ioud and prolonged cheering : " I think, Sir, it was absolutely necessary for us to show to those Indians, to every section of the country, to every class of the population, that the power of the Govern- ment in the North-West wa« strong, not only to protect, but to punish as well ; and in the administration of justice, with regard to those territories in particular, it was absolutely necessary that the deterrent effect of capital punishment should be called into play. (CheerE.) I am not disposed, remote as that territory is, strong as the calls are for v'^orous government tliere and for the enforce- ment of every branch of the law, to be inhuman or SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 95 unmerciful in the execution of the penalties which the law pronounces ; but in relation to men of this class, men who time and again are candidates for the extreme penalty, men who have despised mercy when it was given to them before, I would give the answer given to those who pro- posed to abolish capital punishment in France, "Very well, but let the assassins begin." With the close of this speech there arose a new tigure in Canadian politics and a chief amongst those who played the leading parts in the great game of public life. Three days afterwards the division was taken, and the Govern- ment found itself sustained by 146 to 42 Meantime, the echoes of t'^e speedi delivered by the new 'vlinister of Justice had permeated every part of the Dominion, and the man from Nova-Scotia, the stranger who had entered the great arena of debate and overthrown the hitherto almost invincible Blake, found himself famous as a consti- tutional lawyer and powerful speaker. Canada has every reason to be grateful for the firm disposition and straightforward character of its Minister of Justice during the crisis which prevailed in the autumn of 1885, as well as in that which has just been described. There is no doubt that Sir Hector Langevin had given his friends in Quebec secret assurances during the storm of prote&is which came in while the execution of Riel was pending, that a commutation of the sentence might be and would be granted. He spoke with the authority of a senior Privy Councillor and a right hand man of the Premier's for many a long year, and it is probable really believed that his influence over Sir John Macdonald, both as a personal friend and as the successor of Sir George Cartier in the French-Canadian leadernhip, would be suf- ficient to eventually obtain it. Hence his organ Le Monde was permitted to join the chorus of protciting papers and ;- If! dd LIFE AND WORK OF politicians ; many Conservatives were deceived into join- ing the movement ; and it was only when the agitation got beyond control and threatened the very existence of the Conservative party in the Province, that Sir Hector woke up at the same time to the dangerous situation he had allowed to develop in the ranks of his own followers, and k) the prohab;:ity that he ^ rcald be unable to guide the iiiaue in the Cabinet. Stronger men than he were at the back of Sir John Macdonald, and had the chieftain entertained the least idea of interfering with the course of the law, the forceful personality of Mr. Thompson would have probably averted the evil. There is no indication or evidence that he ever did think of taking such an action, but Sir Hector ap- pears to have been in a serious predicament, and the crisis was so acute that a weak-kneed Minister of Justice might have been cajoled or coerced into advising that the sentence be commuted. The excuse thr.a given for bending before the storm miglyt have been accepted oi it might not, the pro- babilities being that a large majority of the Cabinet would still have been in favour of the upright and honourable course which was in the end pursued. And this may be said without considering " the Old Man's " masterful disposition. But none the less was the fact of Mr. Thompson being a Roman Catliolic and possessing a vigorous will and char- acter of' bis ow^n very effective in keeping the Govern- ment uinted to ail intents and purpose! upon the question which was shortly to b« the central one in a general elec- tion, extending from the shores of the Atlantic to the rock-bound coasts of the Pacitic. -i SIR JOHN THOMPSO'/. 97 CHAPTER VI. An Election and a Fisheries' Treaty. The campaign which preceded the Dominion elections of 1S87 brought the new Minister of Justice into personal contact with the people of Ontario. Hitherto he had been a sort oi political myth, powerful in the Cabinet and in Parliament, but personally unknown to the public. He was now to be introduced to Ontario by the Chieftain himself, and to take a leading part in the battle upon which depended the fate of the party ; for, as Ontario went, so it was felt would go the country. The Conserva- tives in Quebec were fighting a lost cause ; Rielism, and all that it involved of racial agitation and revengeful cries, was uppermost, and the Province on Oct. llth, 1886, rotui-ned the Liberals to power in the Local Legislature, and placed the sweets of office in the hands of Mr. Mercie r. Nothing could, therefore, be hoped from what had once been the mainstay of Canadian Toryism, and everything turned upon the result in Ontario. On the ilth of November, Sir John A. Macdonald, the Hon. J, S. D. Thompson, the Hon. Thomas White and Mr. W. R. Meredith, started in the afterwards famous private car " Jamaica " upon their political tour of the Province, commencing with a large meeting at Renfrew. Mr. Mere- llow, and then Sir John Macdonald would close with a few pithy, witty remarks. Very often there were two meetings — one in the afternoon, and one in the evening at the next town. A preliminary mass-iT) 'feting and demonstration was held at London on Sept. 10th, 188G. Sir John Macdonald, Mr. Thompson, Mr. White, Mr. Chapleau, Mr. Meredith SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 99 and Mr. Carlintj were the speakers, and the " Old Man " delivered a lengthy and elaborate address. The Minister of Justice received a splendid reception, and the eloquent speech of Mr. Chapleau, the great Quebec orator, was one which, it is, safe to say, wilx never be forgotten by those who heard it. A little later, on Oct. 14th, Messrs. White, Foster and Thompson addressed an immense gathering at St. John, N.B,, and the Daily Sun on the succeeding day observed that " Too much cannot be said in praise either of the style or matter of the address of the Minister of Justice. He is the more polished speaker of the three. Everj sentence is clear, incisive and graceful." At Owen Sound, on Nov. 15th, when the Ontario tour i'eally commenced, the reception was particularly elaborate in arrangement and enthusiastic in spirit. Mr. Thompson was warmly received and brought ringing cheers from a great audienvje by the declaration that " one loyal man is as good as ten rebels." Then followed a large gathering at Dungannon in Huron County, and on Nov. 20th the party reached Hamilton. Here Wft find in Mr. Thompson's speech a rather amusing comment on the varied policies of the Liberals. " There, however, Mr. Blake did have a policy in his pocket. He had a right to christen liis own baby, and, therefore, he called it the ' alternative policy.' A better name for it, however, would have been the 'all- turnative policy.' " Gait, Listowel, Stratford, Guelph and Sarnia were then visited, with all the now familiar bccompaniments of tremendous crowds, torch-light processions and loyal addresses. At Stratford the crowd was so great that the Ministers could hardly get through it to the platform. When they did get there, Mr. Thompson referred to " the warm-hearted hug" he had received as one which a man only wanted once in a lifetime. At Sarnia he said a ri^ good thing at the exi>r,r.tte •<: one of the Liberal leaders ; Wj" 100 LIB'E AND WORK OF !M *' Sir Richard Cartwri^ht has recently stated that the Prime Minister ought to pass into nothingness, but these demonstrations did not indicate such a result. Eight years ago he had himself passed into nothingness, and he was realizing to-day the bitterness of the old axiom that out of nothing, nothing comes." In speaking of the recent Quebec elections, the success of the Nationalists, and Mr. Mercier's promised aid to Mr. Laurier in the coming Dominion contest, he referred — with more bitterness than usually characterized him — to "the b'y^phemer, Mr. Mercier, and the traitor, Mr. I-aurier." It IS not unlikely that he afterwards regretted the violent 3 of this language, but the provocation was great, and the people of Ontario only partially realized then, and have forgotten now, the terrific storm of abuse and misrepre.sent- ation by which Quebec had just been carried for the Local House, and by the continued use of which it was hoped to capture the Dominion. Th^ applause, however, upon this occasion was long and continued. The episode showed, as did a certain reply to Sir Richard Cartwright some years later, tha.t the Minister of Justice could, w^ben he desired, denounce his opponents as vigorously, as he could argue with them skilfully. Immense meetings followed r.t Orangeville, Orillia, Sunderlp.nd: Port Hope, Peterboro'. Cobourg, Deseronto, Welland, Essex Centre and Windsor. At Sunderland, on Dec. 1st, Mr. Thompson referred to the name applied by the Globe to the party of speakers, " the Chestnut Combina tion," as being in a certain sense correct. The successful receptions to different Ministers in New Brunswick, Nova- Scotia and Ontario were, no doubt, becoming unpleasant " chestnuts " to the Liberal organ. " And," said he, " there was another sense in which they might be called a ' cheat- uut combiuation,' and in respect of which they gloried in Hon. Sir Charles Hibbert Topper, K.C.M.G., Mininter of Justice. >*> i I SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 103 the name. They were able to go from one Province to another, from one town to another, and tell the same story to the people." At Deseronto he joked with the same phrase in a rather effective way : " Why, Mr. Blake him- self repeated but one speech in every part of Nova-Scotia. He dished up chestnuts roasted, chestnuts fried, chestnuts on the hard shell, chestnuts salted down, and reproduced long after they were stale and out of use." Sp3aking at Peterboro of the good times which followed the depression of 1878, and ss an illustration of the general progress under Conservative rule, he said that an old and wealthy Marii-'me Province man was once asked how he had acquired h'n money, and replied, " I bought pro- perty when the Liberals we-.i^ *n power : I sold it when the Tories came in." A.t Well and, Mr. Thompson declared that " Mr. Blake had better confine his attention to the laborious and malignant satire which suited his dispositi' a so very much better than any allusion to facts or figures." At Windsor he once more struck at Mr. Laurier. as one who "justifies murder, pillage and rebellion under the sacred right of resistance. Do not the settler.s, the Government officials, the mounted police and the volunteers possess some sacred rights as well as Riel and his associates ? " The closing meetings of the tour were at Lucan, Wingham and Chath&.m, with a final demonstration at Torontvi. For some res;,aon connected . with the general campaign, Mr. Thompson was not present in the Queen City on Dec, 2l8t but addresses wert delWered by Sii' John and by Mest.r.^. White, Foster and Chaplear.. This prolonged toui made the new Minister deaer\'edly popular, though, of course, i^ever in the same sense as was Sir John Macdonald. His proper place was not upor- the stump, though in this campaign many things combined to render his speeches exceedingly effective Jj-nd useful to the 104 LIFE AND WORK OF « I ill party. He could bo sarcastic, and at times hum- reus in narrative, though never magnetic with thatpersoiml merri- ment which has such infiuence upon a crowd. He was also much too self-contained and deliberate to arouse large gatherings. Meantime the campaign had been progressing all over the country. Mr. Ohapleau had done much to even matters up in Quebec, assisted by the efforts of Sir Hector Langevin and Sir Adolphe Caron. Sir Hector had finally thrown in his lot with the Ministry, and his work in organization during that time of political uncer- tainty, and amid the loss of party followers and friends, and the smashing of party ties, was of great value. Sir A. P. Caron was always an effective and popular campaigner, and on this occasion he worked like a Trojan. Between them, they managed to hold the balance so that election day showed, in;'* ?ad of the expected Liberal sweep, a representation of about half and half. On the 22nd of February, 18S7, the ballot box settled the destinies of Canada for a few years longer. The Maritime Provinces returned a pretty solid Conservative contigent, Mr. Thompson being elected for Antigonish by a majority of forty over an old-time antagonist in local politics, Mr. Angus McGillivray. Manitoba, the North- West and British Columbia went straight Conservative, and Ontario gave a fair majority. Once more, Sir John Macdonald had appealed successfully to " A weapon that comes down as still As snowflakes fall upon the sod ; But executes a freemanV. will As lightning does the will of God." The Kiel question was thus disposed of so far as Dominion politics ^ere concerned, but it was already pro- ducing, in the form of Mc^cierism, many serious evils, of which Sir John Thompson himseli dio not live to see the end. SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 105 The cessation of party struggles at homo for the time being, now gave the Government an oppoifcrnity to deal with the trying ana difficult Fisheries' Question. And in wiiting a number of years after the crucial point had been faced by Canada, Sir Charles Tupper d«^clared that he only accepted the post of Plenipcientiary to Washing- ton in 1887 upon the condition that he should be accom- panied by the Hon. J. S. D. Thompson as legal adviser. There is no doubt that he very fully apprehended the situation, and after sittiug for a time in the same Gov- ernment with the Ministe' of Justice, understood how great the value his wide kL.o^vledg3 and clear grasp of interna- tional law would be in such a connection. It was the revival of the old, old quefci,ion which had been settled in 1818, settled again in 18; l, and re-adjusted by the Halifax Commission of 1877. Through the deliberate abrogation of the Fisheries' Clause of the Washington Treaty by the American Government in 1885, the Canadian Administra- tion had found itself face to face with the alternative of giving the Americans a free hand in the in«mensly valuable in-shore fisheries of the Dominion, or else of falling back upon the treaty of 1818 which gave full power for the regu- ation and control of foreign fishermen in British waters. The Government had naturally taken the latter course ; made the necessary arrangements for the complete protec- tion ol Canadian interests and British subject" within the three mile limit ; and prepared to endure with pti^ience the outburst of American indignation which was of course in- evitable. But unfortunately the United States re^ujed alto- gether to recognize th'- I'^nadian construction of tlie Treaty of 1818 ; its Government denounced the protective regula- tions as unfriendly and illegal ; its fishing interests clam- oured for action, w'.iile their men and vessels proceeded boldly into Canadian waters and did as they liked without regard to Illit li 106 LIFE AND WORK Of either law or license. Armed coasting- steamers had been at once despatched to the disputed fishing grounds with orders to capture and carry into tVie nearest British port any vessel found poaching within British jurisdiction. These orders v/ere freely obeyed, and during the next two years many American vessels were seized, the cases tried by the C«-na- dian M ritime Courts, and not infrequently the cargoes and vessels confiscated. More than once there had been colli- sions .. tween excited crews. More than once bloodshed was only avert'jd by the merest chance, and not infrequently during this perilous period, the possibility of a war between th J Empire and the Republic seemed to hang upon trifles light as air. Many were the menaces from the other side of the line. The abrogation of the bonding privilege, the refusal to permit Canadian vessels to enter American ports, the cessation of all commercial intercourse, were each in turn threatened either by the newspapers, by Congress or by the President. Canada, however, stood firmly by what the Government believed to be its rights, and the Minister of Justice was at one with the Minister of Marine and Fisheries in the determination to uphold the legal rights and Maritime interests of the Dominion and of its large fishing population. The result was that on November 15th of this year, a Commission met at Washington to discuss the points at issue and make an attempt at settlement. The British Plenipo- tentiaries were the Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P., the bi'illiar-t and keen-witted English Radical ; the Hon. Lionel Sackville We?t, British Minister to the United States, and Sir Charles Tupper, G.C.M G., Canadian Minister o" Finance. The American Commissioners were the Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, United States Secretary of State, and Messrs. W. L Putnam and James B. Angell. With Sir Charles Tupper was associated Mr. Thompson as legal adviser. SIR JOHN THOMPSON. lor No more fitting appointment could have l)cen made. The Canadian Minister of Justice was closely in touch with the business and lej^al details of the whole question ; he understood thoroughly the views and wishes of his col- leagues ; and the American side of the case was by do means new to him. It is very seldom indeed that a Pleni- potentiary in negotiating a Treaty has the assistance of an acute legal mind which not very rfiany years before had thoroughly mastered the other side of the questions at issue and prepared the brief for the representatives of the country which he was now to meet in discussion. And no doubt Mr. Thompson's acquaintance ten year's previously with American methods at Halifax, had given him an in- sight into the somewhat tortuous paths of American diplo- macy which was useful to even the long experience of Sir Chnrles Tupper, or the trained intellect cf Mr. Chamberlain. So far, however, as Mr. Boyard was concerned, he showed in this case how honourable, straightforward and honest an American statesman can be when he allows himself to rise above the narrow anti-British prejudices of his own envi- I'onment. A great deal of discussion and cross-firing of commu- nications between the three Gov^'rnments concerned, to- gether with many and diverse comments by the newspapers of the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, followed. From November, 1887, until February, 1888, the negoti- ations were continued off and on. For a prolonged period meetings of the plenipotentiaries and their counsel were I'leli almost daily. It is understood that many abio papers wore submitted to the British Conmiissioners upon different (pu'stions and phases of the general problem by Mr. Thompson, and that his knowledge and quick perception of technical and legal points were of invaluable service to Sir Charles Tupper. And Cana^ubmitted in a spirit of equity, and with the anxious hope of promoting neighbourly intercourse." A little later Mr. Bayard wrote that "Conciliation and mutual neighbourly concession have together done their honourable and honest work in this treaty, and have paved the way for relations of amity and mutual advantage." In the beginning of April the measure came before the Canadian Parliament for ratification. Mr. L. H. Davies delivered a speech of general denunciation, and was followed by Mr. Thompson, who referred to the onslaught made upon the Treaty by the Liberal party and then to the equally strong claim of the Republicans on the other side of the line, that tho interests of the United States^ were sacrificed in the arrangement : — " The enemies of the Adniinistration, the enemies of this Treaty, the enemies of Canada, have been ringing the changes which he (Mr. Davies) has reversed here to night." The Minister of Justice proceeded first to speak of the Fisheries as Canada's knost valuable possession, and one that would as the years rolled by steadily increase in value ; and then defended the Canadian interpretation of the Treaty of 1818 — " It was always assumed, even in the courts of law, that the enter- ing of an American fishing vessel in defiance or a treaty would result in the forfeiture of the vessel and her carco. and we were only putting on the statute book in 1886 what had been the view of the law acted on from the -liest times, with the exception that the seizures in ' .lUer times were by British vessels of war, and that lately they have been made by Canadian revenue cutters." It had not been, ho declared, an " anti-civilized policy," It p ri Hun. Bi.wARU BiiAKK.^Q.C, M.l\ kok Lonokokd, Laic Leader uf the Liberal i'arty in Canada, t, \\ J;fi: SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 113 as the Liberals had called It, but one ot proper protection of Canadian interests, and one which the United States carried out to a far greater degree in its own ports and harbours. " I support this Treaty," he added, " because it contains fair concessions on the part of Canada and fair and liberal concessions on the part of the United States." He then pointed out that Nova-Scotian fishermen did not particularly want a treaty — so long, in fact, as their inshore fisheries were protected they did not care about it at all. *' The only necessity that existed for one was the fact that our neighbors alongside of us were dissatisfied with the construction which we put on the Treaty of 1818." And then came an eloquent peroration : " If the Govern- ment had not protected the fisheries as they have, with vigilance and with strictness, instead of occupying the proud position we occupy to-day, we should have had no treaty on the Table ; we should have had no concessions to make ; we should have received no concessions in return ; our fishermen would not have fared as well as they have during the past few years ; our fisheries would not have been as valuable as they are to-day, and neither the United States nor any other country would have thought it worth their while to go through the solemnities of negotiating and making a treaty in regard to fisheries which the owners thought so little of that they did not take the trouble to administer the laws of their own country fur their protec- tion." The Treaty finally passed the House of Commons with- out amendment and without a vote beifig taken. In the month of August following, however, the American Senate, actuated by considerations of demagoguery and unfriendli- ness, very far removed from the spirit of conciliation and good will to which Mr. Chamberlain had appealed, sum- marily threw out the whole arraigement. President Gleve- 8 "i> til. m lit ■?r ! ' 114 LIFE AND WORK OP land then issued his remarkable Message, dated the 23rd of August, in which he declared his belief that " the treaty just rejected was well suited to the exigency and its provi- sions were adequate for our security in the future and for the promotion of friendly intimacy without sacrificing our national pride and dignity." And then, in the teeth of all honour, friendliness and common sense, he recommends " a policy of national retaliation," one which " manifestly em- braces the infliction of the jjreatest harm upon those who have injured us, with the least possible damage to ourselves"! " I recommend," he continued, "immediate legislative action conferring upon the Executive the power to suspend by proclamation the operation of all laws and regulations per- mitting the transit of goods, wares, and merchandize in bond, across or over the territory of the United States, to or from Canada." Needless to say no overt action followed this extraor- dinary message. The President was given the authority desired but never used it : the ensuing election swept him from the power which he had hoped to strengthen by this very means ; and the Canadian Government fell back once more upon its own regulations for the care of its fisheries. But it was not the fault of Canada or England that this measure of peace and conciliation had been refused. It was not the fault of the able negotiators who had spent time and labour in its preparation. It was the strength of that anti-British element in the United States to which even a President with the strong will, clear intellect, and vigorous convictions of Mr. Grover Cleveland, found it necessary to bow and to offer sacrifice, as did the men of old before Moloch. On the 11th of September the work done by Mr. J. S. D. Thompso/i was rewarded by Her Majesty the Queen with a Knight Commandership of the distinguished order SIR JofiN l"fi0MPS0». 115 of St. Michael and St. George, bestowed " in recognition of his eminent services on the Commission." He accepted it with that loyal appreciation which is a natural accompani- ment of true modesty and genuine ability. It is said that on the morning Mr. Thompson was apprised of the honour conferred upon him, Sir John Macdonald put his head into the room of the Minister of Justice and enquired : " How is Sir John this morning ?" " You ought to be best able to answer that question," replied Sir John Thompson, forget- ting for the moment his new designation. This mark of distinction was most fully approved by the Canadian press, and the Montreal Gazette, in the following comment, pretty well voiced public opinion : " Though but a young man, in Dominion politics. Sir John Thompson has won a foremost place among the coun- try's public men. As Minister of Justice it has been his duty to act in a number of cases calling for the greatest legal skill and the .surest judgment, and in all he has acquitted himself with honour, even when in opposition to so powerful a legal authority as Mr. Blake." And a Par- liamentary question was now about to darken the political horizon which would require all the skill and ability pos- sessed by the Minister of Justice, and which was destined to leave its mark upon the remaining years of his public life. I :; i' I I ! * li m 116 LIFE AND WORK O^ CHAPTER VII. The Jesuits' Estates Act. The action of the Dominion Government in the case of Riel, had etirred to a white heat the prejudices of ultra Catholics in the Province of Quebec. Its refusal to disallow the Jesuits' Estates Act was now destined to have a similar effect upon the ultra Protestants of the Province of Ontario. The ablest defence of the refusal to pander to the sectarian elements of French-speaking Canada, had been made by Mr. John S. D.Thompson. And his great deliverance during the debate upon Colonel O'Brien's famous motion, defended up to the hilt the Government's policy of refusal to interfere with the Provincial legislation of Quebec, at the dictation of the sectarian elements in English-speaking Canada. Py the first speech the Minister of Justice made his reputation. By the second he confirmed and enhanced it. And curiously enough, they were each made upon opposite sides of the semi-religious issue which has more than once threatened the Dominion with serious disaster. In connection with this Jesuits' Estates question there seemed to be combined nearly every element which could embarrass a Government, provoke ill-will between the Pro- vinces, raise sectarian issues, and make the action of the Dominion Ministry unpopular whichever line it might ultimately take. The Premier of Quebec, who had planned and passed the legislation, was intensely unpopular in Ontario and other Provinces, because of his speeches during the Riel agitation. The preamble to the Bill as carried through the Parliament of Quebec was exceedingly offensive 1 SIR JOHN THOMPSON 117 in Its terms to a great majority of Protestants. The measure itself seemed to be specially adapted to misrepre- sentation and to the uses of those who might and did believe in all honesty that Roman Catholicism was advaiic- ing its influence and power to a dangerous degree through- out the Dominion of Canada. And, although it is a delicate matter to refer to, there can he no doubt that the personal position of the Minister of Justice, as a converted member of that great church, was freely used to enhance this injurious sentiment. The first stages in the history of the affair did not indicate any serious trouble. On tlie 3rd of July, 1888, a Bill for the settlement of the long-stf nding dispute between the Jesuits, the Clergy of the Rpman Catholic Church, and the Province of Quebec, was passed without opposition or protest through the Lower House of the Quebec Legislature. It passed the Upper House also without opposition, and in due course was assented to by the Lieut.-Governor and became law, subject within a certain period to disallowance by the Dominion authorities should the legislation be con- sidered unconstitutional or dangerous to the interests of the country as a whole. At first there was neither opposi- tion nor serious criticism. With the exception of the Huntingdon Gleaner, not a paper in Quefllc discussed the matter from a hostile standpoint, and the Protestant Com- mittee of Public Instrnc'ion quietly accepted the promise of $60,000, included in the measure. Mr. Mercier w^as therefore justified in concluding while the Bill was before the Legislature that there could be no very strong feeling against the proposal in the Province interested. Indeed the Hon. Mr. Lynch, a Protestant representative, declared during the passage of the measure, that " there v/as noth- ing in it alarming in character." The Hon. Mr. Starnes, in the Legislative Council, said 1'' it J. !P ^ ii 'H.! I IJ! 118 LIFE AND WOilh <.r that " Protestants and Catholics oupfht to be satisfied with the manner in which the question is now settled." The Hon. David Ross, declared that "we had to deal with a question of justice and I gave it ny support. The Pro- testants whom I represent in the Cabinet are well satisfied with the settlement " None the less however, Mr. Mercier was necessarily well aware of the ultimate result of such legislation, especially when the introductory portion of the Bill was worded in a way so peculiarly offensive to large elements of the national population. He supplied the pro- vocation, and it is hardly unjust in view of his previous and subsequent record, to surmise that he did it deliberately, knowing the advantage which a sectarian agitation in Ontario would oj to his own political position in Quebec. The origin of the question was simple enough. Stripped of all technicalities and complex dv^velopments, it seems that in 1791 the King of Great Britain issued a proclama- tion suppressing the Order of the Jesuits in Canada, but leaving them the use of their estates so long as those who were then members should remain alive. In 1800 the last Jesuit died and the properties, it was claimed, were escheated to the Crown. But in cases of escheat a liberal proportion is generally appropriated to the carrying out of the intention of #he donors, or to indemnifying those who morally may consider themselves entitled to it. And the re-instatement of the Jesuits at a later period, together with their incorporation, gave them this moral right — such as it was. Meanwhile through the suppression for a time of the Order by the Pope, it was also claimed that the estates instead of reverting to the Crown, passed to the dioceses in which they were placed. Hence the claims of the Quebec Bishops and a situation generally, which for a long period either precluded the sale of the iands by the Government or very seriously hampered its action in dealing with them. '*lfc«\4" SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 119 At every step it was met by protests fiom the united hierarchy of Quebec demanding that the hinds should not be diverted from the charitable and religious purposes to which they had been originally devoted, in some cases by private donors, in others by grants from the French King. Under these conditions, and it must be remembered in a Catholic Province, several Governments had atten.pted to adjust the question but without success, because they did not like to negotiate upon the i&ch that there was only one authority whom the Jesuits and the Bishops as branches of the same church, could each recognize as an arbiter, and as having the moral power to act for them in the settlement of the dispute. By the calling in of the Pope, Mr, Mercier solved the problem, but by the way in which it was done, he created a storm in Ontario which it has taken years to calm. Summed up in a few words the head of the Roman Catholic Church consented to perform the part of an arbiter, and appointed the Archbishop of Quebec to act as his attorney in the matter. This latter arrangement was afterwards can- Celled, and in a letter dated May 7th, 1887, which was freely used in the subsequent Ontario campaign, the Pope states that he has " reserved to himself " the right to settle the question. That is to say, he reserved to himself the author- ity previously given to the archbishop. Without, Iwwever, going into the matter further at this stage, it seems clear that the business arrangement was not in itself a& bad as it has been depicted. The Quebec Premier claimed that Kome settlement was absolutely necessary ; that the Pope was the oaly authority recognized in a church dispute by the tT'O religious bodies in question; and that the $400,000 wa:s made by his intervention a full, legal settlement of clai/is aggregating $'2,0'>0,000. Nevertheless the in- troduction of his preamble into the bill and some of the i '■ f ra -y-p?- h II 1' : ! 1 lliii I II! i 120 LIFE AND WORK OP correspondeiace itself, was a gross illustration of political de- magogism and a dangerous menace to the good-feeling in Ontario which had survived the ebullition of ffTiaticism of a couple of years before in Quebec itself. There could be no doubt about the sentiment which the publication of the bill speedily aroused in many sections of the Upper Province. Aggressive Protestantism was stirred up , Orange Lodges passed denunciatvjry rtssolutions ; the Mail renewed its vigorous and able but unjust and un- wise attacks, upon Quebec and the great religious institu- tions of that Province ; the Jesuit.^ were painted in the blackest shades which tongue and pen could produce ; and Equal Rights and Disallowance became the cries of the hour. Though this ebullition of strong and sincere senti- ment was confined to a limited number of the people it had the usual effect elsewhere. Extremes in one direction are almost sure to produce the o{)posite extreme. The Protes- tants of Quebec therefore commenced to think themselves aggrieved and a section of tht^m began to agitate and pabs resolutions which served to fan the flame in Ontario. The unwise language which is always used in sectarian disputes stirred up both sides to the controversy and very soon the French-Canadian press was denouncing the fanaticism of the Upper Province in language very like that used by many Ontario papers during the Riel discussion. This then was the position of affairs which Sir John Thompson had to face before the country, and in the great Parliamentary debate which soon became imminent. With the forgetfulness of his stand in the Riel matter, which always cliaracterises a busy public, he was looked upon by ultra Protestants as the central figure in a great drama of surrender to the mandates of the Church which he was known to regard with such devotion. It did not seem to QQCur to many of therav although the groat moss of enlight- Hon. Geo. E. Foster, D.C.L., M.P., Canadian Minkter i\f Finanee. Ifttl: r m '» i H ■ SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 123 ened Canadians believed otherwise, that a statesman could be a Roman Catholic and at the same time a patriotic citizen. If Sir John Thompson's career had served no other purpose than to dispel such bigoted and dangerous views he would not have lived in vain. On February 13th, 1889, the first mutterings of the coming Parliamentary conflict were heard, as Mr. J. A. Barron, Q.C., rose from his place in the House of Commons to ask five questions regarding the consideration which the Jesuits' Estates Act had received from the Dominion Government. Sir John Thompson's reply was character- istically precise and complete : " The answer to the first question of the hon. gentle- man is that the Act referred to has been before the Governniont for their consideration; to the second question, that the Minister of Justice reported on the Act to His Excellency the Governor-General on the 16th January last; to the third question, that the Minister of Justice reported that the Act in question, together with the 112 other Acts passed at the same session of the Quebec Legislature, should be left to its operation ; to the fourth question, that the report of the Minister of Justice was approved on the 19th January, 18S9, and the result was at once communi- cated to the Government of Quebec ; to the fifth question, that the Acts of the Legislature of Quebec for the session of 188S were received by the Secretary of State on the 8th August." This statement set at rest all speculation as to the course the Government intended to pursue, but it opened the flood-gates of sectarian agitation and made the Minister of Justice the theme of much fiery denunciation and eloquent invective. The Rev. Dr. J^ouglas, Bishop Carman, Canon DuMoulin, Principal Caven, Mr. James L. Hughes, and many others, denounced the action or inaction of tlie 11 .% ii i ^ !Li; ':M i jjiji ' 124 LIFE AND WORK OF Ministry in permitting the Act to go into operation. Great mass meetings were held in Toronto and elsewhere ; and Mr, J) Alton McCarthy was urged to become the Pro- testant champion and to take the field against those who were willing — it was claimed — to sacrifice religion upon the altar of political expediency. Finally, after many rumours, and amid great political purturbation, Lieut. Colonel William E. O'Brien moved the following resolution in the House on March 26th : " That an humble address be presented to His Excel- lency the Governor-General setting forth : I. That this House regards the power of disallowing the Acts of the Legislative Assemblies of the Provinces, vest d in His Excellency in Council, as a prerogative essential to the national existence of the Dominion : II. That this great power, while it should never be wantonly exercised, should be fearlessly used for the protection of the rights of a minority, for the preservation of the fundamental principles of the Constitution, and for safe-gaxrding the general interests of the people : III. That in the opinion of this House, the passage by the Legislature of the Province of Quebec of the Act entitled ' An Act respecting the settle- ment of the Jesuits' Estates,' is beyond the power of that Legislature. Firstly, because it endows from public funds a religious organization, thereby violating the undoubted constitutional principle of the complete separation of Church and State, and of the absolute equality of all denominations before the law. Secondly, because it recog- nizes the usurpation of a right by a foreign authority, namely, His Holiness the Pope of Rome, to claim that his consent was necessary to empower the Provincial Legisla- ture to dispose of a portion of the public domain, and also because the Act is made to depend upon the will, and the appropriation Qf the grant thereby made as subject to the Stft JOHN fHoMF^SOlJ. m control, of the same authority. And, thirdly, because the endowment of the Society of Jesus, an alien, secret and politico- religious body, the expulsion of which from every Christian community wherein it has had a footing has been rendered necessary by its intolerant and mischievous intermeddling with the functions of civil government, is fraught with danger to the civil and religious liberties of the people of Canada. And this House, therefore,, prays that His Excellency ^will be graciously pleased to disallow the said Act." Such was the famous motion which precipitated an able, but somewhat violent, debate in Parliament, and still further promoted the sectarian agitation in the country generally. It was skilfully worded, and was intended to obtain the support of all who believed in limited Provincial powers; of all wlio disliked or dreaded Roman Catholicism ; of all who shared in the popular prejudice against the Papal spiritual and temporal power, and against the Jesuit body. Colonel O'Brien delivered a speech which in ability and eloquence surprised the House. He gave the lead, however, in a direction which was very generaL'y followed by his supporters in debate, and endeavoured to hold up the Jesuits to |)opular execration. He admitted the hard- ships, trials and sutierings they had endured ir> attempting to convert and civilize the Indians of early Canadian days., but would admit no good points in their work or history in any other country. Reference was made to the glarincr dirterence between this grant of money by Quebec to a religious body, and the abolition of the Clergy Reserves in Ontario, in order that perfect religious equality might prevail. In dealing with the Pope's exercise of his moral authority over the parties to the dispute, he quoted from the instructions given to Governor Murray in 1762: " You I ' 1 r\i i H 111! !l I' ! iii 126 LiPE AND Work of are not to admit of any ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the See of Rome," and of those in which Governor Carleton is reminded in 1775, " That all appeals to, or correspondence with, any foreign ecclesiastical jurisdiction is absolutely forbidden under vcy severe penalties." The subse(juent relaxation of restrictions was claimed to be simply tolera- tion, and not the giving of any legal right. A Jesuit was described as " a being abnormal in his conditions ; he has nr family ties, no home nor country. He is subject abso- lutely to the will of his superior. Such a system, such an order, being subject to an irresponsible power, must be dangerous, as it always has been dangerous, to every com- munity in which it has existed." Mr. Rykert followed in a somewhat vigorous defence of the Jesuits, by quotations from Macaiilay, Parkman, and others. Perhaps the most important part of his address was the following extract from a letter written by the Very Rev. Principal Grant, of Queen's University, Kings- tor» : " If the matter was to be settled at all, let us remember that Tiie great majority of the people of Quebec are Roman Catholics. I do not see what else Mr. Mcrcier could have done than require the sanction of the Pope to !he bargain. It may seem astonishing to Protestants that Roman Catholics should acknowledge a man living in Rome as the head of their Church. But they do. Protestants must accept that fnct in the same spirit in which all facts should be accepted." The delicate satire of the last sentence or two is simply inimitible. Mr. Rykert also referred to the Pope's interference in Irish matters, solicited, as it was upon more than one occasion, by the British Government, and notably, to his denunciation of the Plan of Campaign. Mr. Barron went back to the days of Elizabeth, to statutes passed regarding foreign potentates and prelates at a time when England had been in serious danger from SIR JOHN THOMPSON. m the attempted invasion of Philip of Spain. He claimed that the Act of Supremacy remained as much a living force in the Canada of 1888 as it had been in the England of 1554i, and quoted Todd in support of his contention. He also instanced the Royal instructions to the Duke of Richmond when appointed Governor of the Canadas in 1818, and in reference to the people of Quebec: " It is a toleration of the free exercise of the religion of the Church of Rome only, to which they are entitled, but not to the powers and privileges of an established Church. . . . It is our will and pleasure that all appeals to a correspon- dence with any foreign ecclesiastical jurisdiction, of what nature or kind soever, be absolutely forbidden under very severe penalties." He claimed that the Jesuits' Estates Act was an usurpation of the right to make denominational grants, which had never yet <^een allowed a Prov ince ; and strongly denounced the Incorporation of the Jesuits in Quebec in 1887. Mr. C. C. Colby, of Montreal, afterwards for a short time a member of the Government, made an eloquent and effective appeal for moderation and toleration. He referred to the many instances of it in Quebec, where for some time the Hon. H. G. Joly de Lotbiniere, a Protestant, had been Premier and the representative of a Catholic constituency ; where the Hon. J. G. Robertson, " a good old orthodox Presbyterian," had for years been Provincial Treasurer under the Conservative regimd ; where even at the time of speaking two Provincial Ministers out of seven were Protestants. Not long before, Cardinal Taschereau had presided over a mixed meeting, held for the advancement of temperance. And, in concluding, he expressed very strongly his opinions as a Protestant along lines which will be interesting to many in these times of unrest : " The Roman Catholic Church — I will not speak of it Il;i 128 LIFE AND Work op as a religious body — I look upon from a political stand- point as one of the strongest, if not the strot gest, bulwark we have in our country against what I conceive to be the most dangerous element abroad in the earth to-day. The Roman Catholic Church recognizes the supremacy of authority ; it teaches observance to law ; it teaches respect for the good order and constituted authorities of society. It does that, and there is need of such teaching ; for the most dangerous enemy abroad to-day in this land and on this continent is a spirit of infidelity ; is a spirit of anarchy which has no respect for any institution, human or divine ; which seeks to drag down all constituted authorities, emperors, kings, presidents, from their seats, the Almighty from the throne of the universe, and to lift up the Goddess of Reason to the place of highest authority." The Hon. Peter Mitchell then spoke briefly, and was followed by Mr. D'Alton McCarthy. It is impossible to do justice here to the able efibrt of the Equal Rights leaiier. He was forcible, and sometimes, in view of the manifest unpopularity of his position so far as the House and its members were concerned, became almost bitter. And it would have been impossible to have denounced any body of men more strongly than he did the Jesuit organization. Mr. McCarthy, in commencing, claimed that he should have been allowed the privilege of a reply to some one of the \Iinisters, and evidently did not like the idea of being followed by Sir John Thompson without previously know- ing the lines of Ministerial defence. He was, however, unwilling to let the occasion go by without explaining his reason for having to separate himself from "the political friends with whom it has been my pride and pleasure to act up to this time." He then went into the history of the Jesuit claims, and of the limits of religious toleration and privilege accorded by the British Government from the SiK Adolphe Caron, K.C.M.G., M.P., Poatrnaster-Oeneral of Canada g SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 131 days of the cession to the present time. I(engthy quota- tions from various sources were ^iven to show that finally the estates in (juestion were surrendered by the Crown to the Province for educational purposes and nothing else. But there were other grounds. " I say," declared Mr. McCarthy, " that either this Act is unconstitutional, that it is ultra vires of the Province, that it ought to have been disallowed upon that ground, because it violates a funda- mental principal of this country that all religions are free and equal before the law ; or, if that be not so as a legal proposition, then, Sir, I claim that there should have been exercised that judgment, that discretion, that policy, which would at once stamp out, in whatever Province it reared its head, the attempt which has been made to establish a kind of State Church amongst us." Mr. McCarthy took his seat after a speech which those who heard it could not but ad- mire, even while many of them disliked the speaker and had at every opportunity passionately denounced his views. It was a clear and cutting arraignment of the Government and the Opposition alike, and it made him immensely popular with the element in the country which had been recently stirred up to boiling point by various religious cries. Sir John Thompson had a most difficult duty to per- form in his reply, and that he was brilliantly successful from the logical and constitutional standpoint was after- wards almost generally admitted. In making his first great speech in the House he had been obliged to win his way to success over an audience to which his personality was un- known and against an antagonist whose place was thought too great and secure for successful attack. Upon this second occasion he had to face the bitter prejudice which only reli- gious differences can arouse, and which is often none the less real because it is concealed beneath a nominal support if: I! 132 LIFE AND WORK OF and even a favourable speech or vote. He fully recognized also, the gulf which it would place for the time being be- tween himself and many cf the people, by saying in a, few introductory remarks th«.t he \70uld h«.ve to speak " under a sense of the faict that with one large portion of the people of Canada nothing that I oan oay will be satisfactory, and that with another, and I hope the greater portion, no de- fence of the Government is necessary." But ar in the Riel question, he did what he thought his duty and no man can do more. The Minister of Justice began by pointing out in ;'efer- ence to Mr. McCarthy's charge of unfairness, that it was the place of the ministry, and especially of himself, as the minister most largely responsible, to hear the charges that were to be brought before making a reply. He compli- mented the member for Simcoe upon his " admirable ad- dress," and then pointed out that Mr. McCarthy, in a three hours' speech, had presented a very learned and complete case for the purpose of " proving that the Jesuits of Quebec had lost their title to the estates in question — a fact which is admitted in the preamble to the Act." He analyzed the Treaty of 1763, and summed up its provisions and their relation to the Act of Supremacy as follows : — " Obviously His Britannic Majesty (in granting the liberty of the Cath- olic religion to the inhabitants of Canada) meant that there should be perfect freedom of worship in the newly ceded country, subject only to the legislation which might be made upon this subject from time to time by the Parlia- ment of Great Britain, certainly not that it was subject then to the laws as regards freedom of worship in Great Britain ; for let me remind the House that instead of there being any such freedom at that time, the exercise of the Roman Catholic religion then amounted to the crime of high treason ; and no ( issenter under the risk of being im- prisoned, could enter a conventicle or a meeting-house." SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 133 Sir John then proceeded to summarize the conespon- dence between Mr. Mereier and the Pope, and pointed out that the latter'a interventioii really only consisted of a mediator's part between two rival claimants who acknow- ledged his moral, spiritual and legal authority in any mat- ter pertaining to the church, and that his " consent " to the Quebec Government retaining the pr':ceeds of the sales of disputed property, was merely on behalf of the two othi^r claimants and subject to a future settlement of the ques- tion. And then he hit at Mr. McCarthy's religious refer- ences and the abuse of the Jesuits which had been introduced into the debate, by a remark regarding "the theological questions which my honourable friend from Simcoe and I are to join issue on, with a view to the House passing judg- ment as to which is the better theologian forsooth, and as to whose advice on the subject of theology His Excellency the Governor-General, as the supreme theologian, is to take." He pointed out as a matter of business in this transaction, that the Premier of Quebec had stipulated that before the Pi evince should be asked to pay over one dollar of the money, it should have a conveyance of all rights and titles, legal anu moral, to the disputed lands; in the first place from the Society of Jesus, in the second place from the Pope himself, and in the third place from tin.- Sacred Col- lege of the Propaganda and the Roman CathcOic Church in general. Sir John Thompson did not attempt, nor did he desire, to defend the manner in which the preamble was drawn up, or the loose way in which the correspondence had been carried on, and in which a power seemed to be recognized that did not really exist. But he did point out that all further claims in this connection were made impossible by the terms of the arrangement. And he also declared that in the history of the scores of Canadian Statutes. i,-3allowed :ti!l| m 184 LIFE AND WORK OF in the Mother-Country, there was not one instance o2 a pre- amble to a bill bein^ considered a reason for such action. As to the supremacy of the Queen which Mr. McCarthy had just proclaimed " with gravity and force and elo- quence "to be seriously undermined by the Act, Sir John observed : " It does not, I submit, place the public money of the Province at the disposal of a foreigner ; it sets aside a sum of money for the extinguishment of a claim upon the public property of Quebec, and then calls upon those who are litigants in regard to it, to abide by the decision of tlieir arbitrator in the matter. ... In the ordinary co\irse, it (the .$400,000) would be paid to one of the claimap* ju the property ; but as there happen to be two, it is paid in the hands, or held subject to the order of, the person who has to settle disputes between them." Upon the subject of Provincial powers in legislation the Minister of Justice spoke with no uncertain sound. " I say that within the limits of its authority and subject only to the power of disallowance, a Provincial Legislature is as absolute as is the Imperial Parliament itself." He pointed out that thirty-soven years before — in 1852 — the Parliament of Canada had actually incorporated St. Mary's College, Montreal, a body of the Jesuits, and that the division list on that occasion ohowedin favour of the action 29 Protestants and 27 Catholics. He referred to Stoney- hurst and other great Jesuit institutions in the Engli,nd ol today as showing what a dead letter the old religious laws of Elizabeth had become, and pointi^d out that not only had the Jesuits been incorporated by the Quebec Legislature in 1887, but that the whole body had been incorporated by the Dominion Parliament in 1871. He claimed that a society of teachers and preach- ers is not a church, and that money paid to the Jesuits could not, therefore, be the endowment of a Church. And SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 135 in conclusion he declared with emphasis and earnest- ness that " whenever we touch theae delicate and difficult questions, which are in any way connected with the senti- ments of religion, or of race, or of education, there are two principles which it is absolutely necessary to maintain, for the sake of the living together of the different members of this Confederation, for the sake of the preservation of the Federal power, for the sake of the good-will, and kindly charity of all our people towards each other, and for the sake of the prospects of making a naticii, as we can only do by living in harmony and ignoring those differences which used to be considered fundamental ; these two piinci- ples surely must prevail, that as regards theological ques- tions the State must have nothing to do with them, and that as regards the control which the Federal power can exercise over Provincial Legislatures in matters touching the freedom of its people, the religion of its people, the appropriations of its people, or the sentiments of its people, no section of this country, whether it be the great Province of Quebec or the humblest and ^vriallest Province of this country, can be governed according to the fasliion of 300 years ago.*' Mr. Alex. McNeill, the Hon. David Mills, Mr. Charlton, Mr. Mulock, Mr. Scriver, the Hon. Mr. Laurier, Sir John A. Macdonald, and Sir Richard Cartwright followed, and upon a division, the attitude of the Government as well as the view taken by the Minister of Justice, was endorsed by a non-partisan vote of 188 to 13. The speech of Sir John Thompson had been a mngnificant success. At its close Mr. Edward Blake crossed the floor of the House, and amidst general applause congratulated him upon what had Tiuuoubtedly been his greatest effort in Parliament. As an argument of sustained power, delivered by a brilliant lawyer with all the " cold neutrality ' of an impartial judge, 1 1 i I 11 f 136 tlPE AND WORK OF it will remain a monument of oratorical and legal ability. From a party standpoint there was perhaps one blemish upon its success. A defence of the Jesuits was hardly required from the Minister of Justice, and no matter how strongly he might have felt, as was undoubtedly the case, that they were grossly misrepresented, it was unnecessary and under the stormy circumstances of the moment, worse than viseless, for him to try and change the popular preju- dice of Ontario and other Provinces. But none the less was the action admirable, and it can only be properly appreciated by the supposition that at some critical moment in the future political development of Quebec, a Protestant member of the Government there should feel it his duty at whatever risk to his personal popularity, to defend some branch of his church from h, long sustained and powerful attack made on histoiic grounds. The Toronto Mail, of course, denounced the Minister of Justice and his speech with great vigour ; the Qlohe declared it to be " a combination of masterpieces. . . . In part a masterpiece of reasoning, in part a mas- terpiece of casuistry, and on the whole a masterpiece of audacity." Sir John Thompfon was in fact singled out for most of the attacks which marked the ensuing Equal Rights campaign. Sir Fhank Smith, K.('.M.G., Sknator, Miniitt'r uKthout Portfolio. SIR JOHN THOMIWOil. 139 CHAPTER VIII. Equal Rights, the Fisheries and the French Languaqk The phenomenal majority given by Parliament to the Government in connection with the Jesuits' Estates ques- tion, proved to have by no means silei) r-l the agitation. Both political parties had hoped it would have that result, and both were sincerely anxious t»j get rid ot' the question before the general elections should loom upon the horizon. But religious sentiment had been aroused ; racial prejudices had been stirred up ; and just as it had been impossible to control the storm in Quebec over the execution of Louis Riel, so now it was found impossible to check the anti- Jesuit agitation in Ontario until it had run its course. On the very day that Colonel O'Brien's resolution was proposed in the House of Commons, a mass meeting had been held in the Pavilion at Toronto, with Mr, W. H. Howland as Ciiairman. The Jesuits' Estates Act was condemned in no measured language, and the speeches of men like Rev. I). J. Macdonell, Mr. J. J. McLaren, Q.C., Principal Gaven, and others, were fervent and denunciatory. The last motion was proposed by Mr. J. L. Hughes, and appointed a Committee to extend the movement throughout the Dominion against all who had supported or (Condoned the legislation in question. This was the beginning of tlip E(nuil Rights Association of a few months later. On April 22nd another large meeting was held in the Granite Rink in Toronto, and resolutions of approval and congratulation were tendered to the ".noble thirteen," who had. as the i m Mill m 140 LIFE AND WORK OP ili phrase of the moment put it, stood up for civil and religious liberty, for the people against the politicians, for true British liberty, and against any union of Church and State. Mr. McCarthy delivered the principal address and accused the Minister of Justice of having adroitly mixed up the divisions of the question so as to create confusion in the minds of the people. " He had been perfectly amazed at the speech of the Minister of Justice. He had heard speeches in which the hairs were split very freely, but he had never heard any arguments more specious, misleading, and, at the same time, so captivating, as those used by the Minister of Justice." In accordance with an address issued by the Citizen's Committee to the people of Ontario and an approving resolution passed at this meeting, a Provincial Convention was held in Toronto on June 11th and 12th. It was largely attended and very enthusiastic. The Equal Rights Asso- ciation was duly organized, with influential officers, and with Mr. McCarthy as the Parliamentary leader and the real chief. Meanwhile action had been taken in Montreal by Mr. Hugh Graham, who petitioned the Governor- General to refer to the Supreme Court of Canada for hear- ing and consideration an inquiry as to the constitution- ality of the Incorporation Act and the Jesuits* Estates Act. This was sent to the Minister of Justice for advice, and eventually the request was refused. A most able State paper was published in August, giving Sir John Thomp- son's reasons for recommending His Excellency not to grant the appea. It was an exhaustive document, both in its wealth of legal learning and in ihe number of precedents produced. His reasons were apparently very strong, and may be concisely summarized : L The petitioner was duly r6presented in the legisla-' u SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 141 ture by which these enactments were adopted, and his representatives there seem to have concurred in the adop- tion of both these statutes almost with unanimity. II. He had the right of petition and remonstrance against the adoption of both these enactments, but does not appear to have used it. III. Ample opportunity was afforded for such pro- tests or petitions as are now being made, before the Lieut, - Governor of Quebec was informed thai the Acts respectively would be left to their operation. There was an interval of several months which was not taken advantage of in any way, and Mr. Graham's petition was not presented until by lapse of time in the case of the Incorporation Act. as well as by the obligations of public faith and honour in regard to both of them, it had ceased to be in the Governor- General's power to interfere with their operation. IV. The petitioner still possessed the opportunity of calling the attention of his Provincial Government to the desirability that the statutes referred to should not be acted upon by the transfer of the public money and pro- perty being completed. V. The petitioner also possessed the right to call upon the Attorney-General of his Province to take legal proceedings, in accordance with the law of Quebec, to test the validity of the Act of Incorporation. " If that Act should be decided to be invalid and unconstitutional, there can be little doubt that the second Act will be nugatory, as the grant of money and land which the second Act autliorizes is, by its terms, to be made to the • orporation, established by the Incorporation Act." Here was an opening for action pointed out with distinctness by the Minister of Justice himself. Had Mr. Graham and his friends taken the course indicated, it ^ould have been a turning of the tables indeed upon Mr. H I ll li I 142 LIFE AND WORK OF Mercier and his Mi istry, but the idea was not followed up. The object of too many of the Equal Rights advocates in both Provinces seemed from the beginning to be the embarassment of the Dominion Government, and not the genuine pursuit of equal laws and equal privileges as between race and race, religion and religion. Later on in Ontario, as Mr. McCarthy has so bitterly complained, this was indicated by the partisan conduct of Mr. Charlton and Principal Caven in the Iiocal elections of 1890. Sir John Thompson summed up his advice to the Governor-General in the following words : " The Acts referred to in the petition relate only to the Province of Quebec. They do not conflict in any degree with the powers of the Parliament of Canada, or with the rights and powers of Your Excellency. They do not concern in any way Your Excellency's officers, and they do not afloct the revenue or property of Canada or any interest of the Dominion. They should, therefore, in the opinion of the undersigned, be left to the responsibility of those whom the Constitution has entrusted with the power to pass such enactments." Previous to the publication of this Report, though some time after its submission to the Governor-General-in Council, His Excellency had received, on August 2nd, a deputation at Quebec, which presented an Ontario petition 160 yards long, and containing 156,000 signatures ; another signed by the members of the recent Equal Rights Conven- tion to the number of 860 ; and one from Montreal and the Province of Quebec bearing some 9,000 names. The peti- tioners asked for the disallowance of the Jesuits' Estates Act. Principal Cav.en was the chief speaker for the deputa- tion, and the r^rjly of Lord Stanley of Preston was listened to with deep interest and attention. As the Liberal jour- nals throughout the country claimed in the discussion SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 143 which ensued, that the Governor-General spoke practically from a brief handed him by the Minister of Justice, it is important to note how substantially his views really did harmonize with those of Sir John Thompson. He declared that in his opinion the introduction of the Pope's name in this case had not in any way weakened or assailed the Queen's authority. He spoke from his personal experience as a one-time Secretary of the Treasury in England, regarding the frequency with which a moral claim is recognized when no legal one exists. He declared as a matter which had been carefully investigated, that in this nineteenth century, the Society of Jesus were not less law-abiding and loyp.l citizens than were the majority of people. He pointed out how utterly unconstitutional it would be for the Governor-General to disallow a bill in face of his Minister's advice, and in the teeth of a large Parliamentary majority. Such were the conclusions pre- sented by the Hovernor-General, and endorsing the position assumed by his Minister of Justice. The delegates had nothing to say at the moment in reply to His Excellency's refusal to interfere, but later on they met and formally protested, urging at the same time that a more vigorous agitation and organization for the promotion of Equal Rights should now be pushed forward to a successful issue Some tino after this occurrence, in February, 1891, Mr. (now Sir) Mackenzie Bowell was addressing an audi- ence at Madoc, Ontario, and stated that prior to arriving at a decision " Lord Stanley had telegraphed to the Imperial Government, and asked the law officers of the Crown whether the Act was within the power of the Province of Quebec to pess it, and three days later the answer came that it was strictly within the purview of the Legislature of Quebec, and further, that there was no necessity to refer it, as the petition which had been i .St ' 144 LIFE AND WORK OP 1 m \i received suggested, to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.'* This particular step was therefore not advised by Sir John Thompson, but it is very probable that Lord Stanley was more or less influenced in his general conclusions by the clear and forceful reasoning of his Minister. There is absolutely no ground, however, for believing that the latter actually prepared the reply which was given to the Equal Rights deputation. Shortly after this, the Protestant Committee of the Quebec Council of Public Instruction — 25th September — passed a resolution accepting in the name of the Protes- tants of the Province the public trust imposed upon them to distribute the $60,000 given under the terms of the Jesuits' Estates Act. Certain conditions were made to which, however, Mr. Mercier, as Premier, agreed without hesitation, and on the 5th of November, the closing scene in a memorable drama took place in the City of Quebec. Here, amid a large gathering of the Provincial Ministers, the Roman Catholic clergy and sundry Protestant repre- sentatives, the $400,000 was paid over in the manner decided upon. A check for $160,000 was handed to the Jesuits ; $40,000 went to Laval University ; and the rest was distributed in sums of ten and twenty thousand amongst the different dioceses. In accepting the check on behalf of the Jesuit Order, the Rev, Father Turgeon, S. J., made a rather interesting remark : " I also thank Mr. Mercier as a Canadian. Thanks to God first, then to him and the Legislature, we are now recognized as citizens. In becoming a Jesuit I still remained a Canadian. Ancient Rome, I must say, conferred the title of citizenship for less than has been done by our fathers. Our Order has glorious pages in the history of this country. Our fathers have shed their blood for the country, and they surely abrogation of the Washington Treaty by the United States, the Canadian Government had offered to extend the operation of the Fisheries' clause until the cl(3so of the season. When the Opposition press urged that the United States would not accept this ofier for fear of claims to future indemnity, the Government had asked Great Britain to inform the United States that it would give the use of the fisheries without stint or price. " Now the cry is that we folded our iiands and did nothing." The Minister of Justice then went on t>o siiy that " the SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 161 one supreme difficulty which the nec>otiators5 had to meet with in Washington last year, was the conviction which has gained ground in thb United States, that we were perishing for reciprocity, and were raising the Fisheries' question in order to obtain reciprocity." He stated that the proposal made to the American Government was to con- sider the whole question of the fisheries, and in order to get a broad and liberal settlement of the question, " we throw open the fishing grounds as well as commercial privileges to the American fishermen for the remainder of 1885, on the assurance of the President of the United States, that he would recommend to Congess that a Com- mission be appointed to consider the fishery interests of the two countries." After six months enjoyment of the Canadian fisheries, together with the right of obtaining supplies, transhipment, etc., the President sent his Message to Congress, and the Senate replied by passing a resolution that such a Commission was not worthy of receiving a vote from Congress for its expenses ! And only seventeen members voted against the motion. When, owing to the vigour with which Canada pro- tected its interests during the following period, a Treaty was eventually negotiated (as previously described), another Tnodus vivendi was oftered and accepted. The Senate received the courteous and generous offer of Canada by throwing the Treaty out, and thus once more disarranging the entire relations of the two countries. " Yet we are told that we have made no concessions to these people, and that every fault in the whole negotiations of the last tw(mty years has been with us." In referring to the Pre- sident's Retaliation Message, which followed the Senate's rejection of the proposed arrangement. Sir John Thompson declared emphatically that " while no one would regret the enforcement of an Act of Retaliation by either of the two ; p ■— — mss BR 152 LIFE AND WORK OF countries more strongly than I would, or cpnrehend more seriously the consequences than I would; if any such danger and difficulty should come, the Canadian Government would be able to leave its record to the judgment of any man of fairness, honesty and probity." And since then, owing to the wise, yet strong, administration of the Cana- dian fisheries, there has been no serious trouble with the American Government, and matters have adjusted them- selves satisfactorily to the general terms of the Treaty of 1818. Such difficulties as have arisen were upon the Pacific Ocean and not on the coasts of the Atlantic In the following Session of 1890, a question which had been intermittently discussed for some months past was brought before Parliament. The dual language system in the North-West Provinces was one of those issues which must always have a rare charm for the agitator. It involved a stirring up of race sentiment and the revival of many of those old prejudices, and even animosities, which help so greatly in the agitation of any specific question amongst the people of a mixed community. And whatever else may be said regarding the debates in the House of Commons during the period in which Sir John Thompson's influence was felt within its walls, no charge can be made that they lacked interest. The Riel debate produced a score of eloquent speeches covering the whole ground of international la.v, and of experience in the punisyanent of rebels and the treatment and trial of political prisoners. The Jesuits' Estates agitatior in the same way had been the cause of much oratory of a high rank and was conspicuous for research into the older history of Canada and into the constitutional powers once vested in the French King, then transferred to the mon- urcliy of Britain, and now held in the main by the Government of Canada or the Executive of its Provinces. ' MP Ml \'j Hon. VV. E. Sankoru, Dowinion Senatvr. If?' SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 155 As studies in history, in constitutional law, and in the duties owed to one another by partners in a Federal compact, these debates may have been illustrative of the fact that good does sometimes come out of evil. Perhaps it would be more correct to say however that the evil which might have come out of the agitations in question, was to a considerable extent averted by judicious action on the part of men who were Canadians first, Provincialists second. And the discussion of the questions introduced into the Dual Language debate of 1890, was not less interesting and valuable in this educational sense than were the others which had been dealt with. The question in itself was an inevitable product of the race and religion cry which had been commenced by the admirers of Louis Riel, promoted by the assaults upon the Jesuits' Estates legislation, continued in the French language discussion and terminated, it may be hoped, in th(i Manitoba Schools' case. As had been forshadowed by speeches during the Equal Rights agitation, it was Mr. McCarthy who moved in the matter. On the 22nd of January, 1890, amidst considerable excitement in political circles, he introduced his measure for an amendment of the North-West Terri- tories Act, abolishing the official dual language system in that portion of the Dominion. His speech was afterwards the subject of very wide comment, and without at present going into the reasons for the ut that the records, the journals and the debates of the Assembly should be referred to the control of the next duly elected Territorial Assembly. His amendment read as follows, and was carried by a vote of 117 to 63: — ( k i s Hon. William B. Ives, M.P. President of Privy Council. Mi . 1 'I ■ I •»;. 1 , I , , - 1>1 SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 163 "That this House, having regard for the long con- tinued use of the French language in old Canada and to the covenants on that subject embodied in the British North America Act, cannot agree in the declarations con- tained in the said Bill as a basis thereof, namely, that it is expedient in the interest of the national unity of the Dominion that there should be unity of language amongst the people of Canada. That, on the contrary, this House declares its adhesion to the said covenant, and its deter- mination to resist any attempt to impair the same. I hat at the same time this House deems it expedient and proper, and not inconsistent with the covenants, that the Legisla- tive Assembly of the North- West Territories should receive from the Parliament of Canada power to regulate the proceedings of the Assembly and the manner of recording and publishing such proceedings." This settled for a tmie a question which in itself was insignificant, but in its environment was exceedingly unpleasant and disastrous to the good feeling which ought to exist amongst all races and creeds within the Dominion of Canada. IP' ' HI 164. LIFE AND WORK OP CHAPTER IX. The Elections of 1891. The conflict at the polls which commenced by the dissolution of Parliament on the 4th of February, 1891, was in many respects tue most momentous in the history of Canada. In 1874 a general election had overthrown a Government charged with corruption, and, whether right or wronof in this particular application of the principle, had clearly demonstrated that Canadians will not endure even a suspicion of dishonesty in their rulers. In i 878 protec- tion to national industries had been proclaimed emphati- cally as the national policy of the country, and in 1882, amid the fair weather of good times and abounding pro.^- perity that policy had been confirmed and strengthened. In 1887 a dangerous racial and religious agitation in Que- bec had been rendered almost harmless by the patriotism of its people iii rallying to the support of a Government which, whatever its faults, had acted in the best interests of the Dominion by allowing the law to take its course in the case of Louis Riel. Eat four years later a new question had arisen and one which involved a clear and distinct issue to all who would honestly read the signs of the times. Leaving to one side all partisan cries and strictly partisan statements ; accepting as a fact the loyalty of the great mass of the peo- ple in toth parties ; waiving ^)ic8ent consideration of the utterances of men like Wiman and Farrer : it yet seems perfectly plain that the couiitry had to consider duriii;^ II rj^i TP? ■I Sm JOUN THOMPSON. 1C5 that campaign the principles of British unity, British commerce, and British sympathy, as against Continental unity, Continental trade, and Continental sympathy. There were side issues, of which the cry for Ecpial Rights was by no means the least, but tliis question of the British Empire versus "the Continent to which we belong," was the dominant and absorbing matter submitted to the consideration and decision of the people. In stating this fact there is no intention of charging any one, whether leader or follower, with annexationist sentiments or with personal disloyalty. But in dealing with the principles which during this important contest, Sir John A. Macdonald defended with such vigour as to fatally undermine his health ; which Sir Charles Tupper came from England to help in supporting ; which Sir John Thompson aided by many a speech and with all the force of his clear and logical eloquence; which other Conserva- tive leaders joined in urging with a passionate earnestness unusual in Canadian politics, it must be made clear that there really was some great underlying element of serious import. Apart, therefore, from specific utterances and part}' charges, the great issue lay in the tendencies of the two policies. Everyone knows that a new country, like a young man, should have some high ideal, some great ambi- tion, some future hope which constitutes in itself a living principle of conduct and a substantial basis for present action. During the dozen years in which it had held power, the Conservative party, with all its sins of omission and commission — and no public organization is devoid of them — had evolved an 1 placed before the people some such principle and plan of national dexelopment. It was in this that Sir John Macdonald had shown his supreme ntates- inanship. Without the sentiment which surrounds the ^. 11 IGG LIFE AND WORK O*" ideal of Canada for Canadians within the British Empire, the National Policy would have been a mere fiscal experi- ment, lasting as long as the good times continued, but blown away like chaff before the first storm of depression or financial difficulty. But when the people clearly recognized that the whole tendency of this new policy was to build up the resources of Canada, by the development of trade, inter-communica- tion, and investment within the Empire : when they heard and accepted the claim that it was none the less British for being Canadian : that it was safe from the charge of dependence on either Great Britain or the United States : and that it combined national sentiment and progress with a distinct tendency towards closer Imperial connection in the future ; the natural effect was a strengthening of the protective system by the support of a large element of the people who considered loyalty of the first importance in conducting the affairs of our rising nationality. On the other side of the political fence there had been, however, for several years, as Sir John Thompson pointed out in several of his more important speeches, a tendency to deprecate sentiment in the conduct of public affairs: to denounce loyalty as unimportant, or, at the best, of second- ary importance : to place alleged material interests first, and national ideals and aspirations second. And as the campaign developed, this distinction between the parties came out even more plainly. The Commercial Union advocacy of the Toronto Globe and Miil in previous years ; the unfortunate speeches of ' r. Laurier and Sir Richard Cart Wright in Boston; * 3 mixing up of the party papers and leader "^ the annexationist ideas of Messrs. Wiman, Farrer, an',1 •-• «t; the scarcely disguised support given to the principle of discrimination against British goods, if necessary, in order to obtaiui American reciprocity; al] SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 167 . Jt combined to add strength and inspiration to Sir John Maedonald's famous Manifesto and to his equally vigorous fV^nunciation of the alleged disloyalty of the Liberal leaders. On February 4th, the Government gave to the press a despatch which bad been sent by the Governor-General to the Colonial Secretary, on Dec. 18th, ]8t^0, outlining the terms of certain negotiations into winch his ministers desired to enter with the United States' Government. It was proposed that a Joint Commission should be formed similar to that of 1871, and with power to deal with the following questions : I. Renewal of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, with necessary modifications. II. Re-consideration of the Treatv of 1888, with respect to the Atlantic fisheries, with a view to reciprocity in fish, and in the privileges o£ buying bait, transhipment of fish, etc. III. Protection of mackerel and other fisheries on the Atlantic coast and in the inland waters. IV. Relaxation of the seaboard coasting laws of the two countries, and also of the coasting laws on the great lakes. V. Mutual salvage and saving of wrecked vessels. VI. Arrangements for settling boundary between Canada and Alaska. It was stated that the i)resentation of these proposi- tions arose through the negotiations which had for some time been going on between Newfoundland and the United States, and in which Canada insisted upon having some- thing to say. The United States Government at first demanded separate negotiations, but eventually Mr. Blaine expressed a willingness cO discuss matters, and a desire to know the basis up »n which the Dominion Government 'J n '3 i 168 LIFE AND WORK OP desired to act. Lord Stanley's despatch was tlie i-e.^-ult, and its publication at this moment had the effect of making it a campaign document, and of taking the reciprocity wind to a certain extent out of the Opposition sails. Naturally the Liberals were taken aback, and many were exceedingly angry at the clever political stroke. It was an instance of " the Old Man's strategy," which could be fully appreciated at the moment. And the terms of the preliminary announcement were strongly criticised. It was claimed that the American Government had never consented to negotiate ; that the whole thing was a fraud intended to deceive the electorate ; and that after the campaign was over nothing more would be heard of it. Strength was added to this view by the publication of a letter from Mr. Blaine denying that he had ever made any overtures in the matter, and asserting that only the very widest reci- procity v/ould be considered by the American Government. Upon the other hand, Sir John Thompson declared emphatically at the great mass meeting in Toronto, on Feb. (jth, which practically opened the campaign, that " we had the proposition which was submitted to Mr. Blaine; the answer that Mr. Blaine made to us was that he was willing to enter upon a preliminary discussion to precede the more formal commission ; he was willing to enter upon that discussion, and to consider all points embraced in it, but would not bo prepared to do so until after the 4th of March, when the term of the present Congress expires." It is !!afe to say in this connection that v/here the personal statements of a Canadian and an American leader disacrree. the Canadian people as a wliole prefer to believe the former. And that was about all that could be said upon the subject at the time. The Toronto meeting was a groat success, besides being the occasion of Sir John Thompson's first appearance t^ I Hon. a. R. Angeks, Senator, MiniHter of Agriculture, il SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 171 before an audience in the Queen City. He had already been down in Nova-Scotia, accompanied by the Hon. C. H. Tupper, and had paid a hasty visit to Antigonish, where the Liberals had been raising a storm by attacking Bishop Cameron, and where the Minister of Justice had once more to meet the bitter feeling aroused through denunciation of clerical activity in elections. It seemed, indeed, as if it were his fate to encounter everywhere this religious preju- dice, and to meet sectarian questions in every portion of his political career. The only thing which marred the success of the great gathering in the Toronto Auditorium was the rude interruption of some one in the gallery who shouted out the word "Jesuit" when the Minister of Justice was half-way through his speech. It appeared to have an unexpected effect upon the apparently cool and collected speaker, and to have considerably shortened his address. The fact is, that he was more easily moved upon these points than the public would have thought possible, and his calm exterior gave no indication of the passionate feelings and sensitive disposition of the man. None the less was his speech a success and the impres- sion made, a most favourable one. The other speakers were the Hon. Mackenzie Bowell, the Hon. G. E. Foster, the Hon. Frank Smith, and the Hon. John Carling. The Minister of Justice dealt largely with the Reciprocity question. At the first he spoke of himself in a character- istically plain and dignified manner : " Let me say at the outset that I am no orator, and that even if I had the gift of eloquence it would not be useful to me to-night in the task that is before me, because we are not here to carry away your feelings or to influence your passions by eloquent appeals, but to make a plain statement as behooves public men placing an issue of the greatest consequence before this country." He described the attitude of the A;. 172 LIFE AND WORK OP I) Opposition ; reviewed the history of Canatlian relations with the United States ; and defended the Government in its dissohition of Parliament. Upon this latter point he said : "If you and the people of Canada accept the policy thab we put before you now, we will go to Washington with a Parliament behind us, and we will be able to treat with Mr. Blaine with the assurance that the Premier of this country has the renewed confidence of the people of Canada." He pointed out that the Ijiberals were everywhere criticising the Government's Reciprocity proposal as impossible of success. " Well, Sir,, if it should fail, I will tell you why. It will fail because the followers of Sir Richard Cartwright have put on record whole volumes against Canada with regard to the necessi- ties of this country, and with regard to her bankruptcy if she cannot get better trade relations with the United States. If it fails, it will be because of the cloud of witnesses he has produced against his country. The records of debates on Reciprocity in the House of Commons, the record of evidence given before Committee after Committee of Con- gress at Washington, have the names of these men appended as indicating that this country can be starved into sub- mission." Sir John Thompson concluded his speech with a very clear-cut definition of what the Government would do and would not do : " We appeal not to the sentiment of the United States. We do not, in the words of the gentleman who presided at the banquet in Boston, and which Sir Richard Cartwright addressed, look to them for the sign by v/hich we conquer, but we appeal to our Canadian fellow- citizens, and if they sustain us in the policy I have stated to you to-night, the negotiations will proceed in March for a fair extension of the trade of this country — not for Unrestricted Reciprocity, not for any surrender of our tariff SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 173 control, not for any discrimination against Groat Britain — but for a fair line of interchange that will be beneficial to both countries." The campaign was now in f J.U swing, and it soon proved to be the most bitter contest ever fought in the Dominion. Sir Charles Tupper brought his forceful eloquence to bear upon the result, and at Toronto, Windsor, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Halifax and Quebec dealt sledge-hammer blows against the policy of the Opposition. The publication by Sir John Macdonald of the correspon- dence between Edward Farrer, Congressman Hitt and Erastus Wiman, follor/ed by his eloquent and pathetic appeal to the British sentiment of the people, had a great effect. In his manifesto he characterized the policy of the Liberals as being veiled treason, and denounced it as involv- ing discrimination against the Mother country ; as necessi- tating direct taxation to the extent of $14,000,000 annually; p.nd as inevitably resulting in annexation. Mr. Blake, after having resigned the Liberal leadership in 1887 into the hands of Mr. Laurier, now retired from Parliament alto- gether, and thus weakened his party by the defection of one whom all respected, whether they were in harmony with his views or the reverse. The Conservatives however, did not have things all their own way. A manifesto was issued by the Equal Rights Association vigorously denouncing the Government for its action in connection with the Jesuits' Estates and French language questions. Mr. Laurier delivered a num- ber of addresses in Ontario, and made the most of his power of persuasive eloquence and his personal charm of manner. On the 13th of February he published a manifesto dealing with Sir John Macdonald's charges and explaining his position regarding Unrestricted Reciprocity. He accepted the National Policy as the one issue put forward by the ^iJ 174 LIFE AND WORK OF Conservatives, and declared the platform of the Liberals to be " absolute reciprocal freedom of trade between Canada and the United States." He denounced the premature dis- solution of Parliament, proclaimed the loyalty of himself and his party, and arraigned the protective tariff as a public curse. A strong point in the Liberal speeches was the effect which the McKinley bill might be expected to have upon the farmers, and the claims that these anticipated evils could be averted by giving the party a free hand for the negotiation of a wide reciprocity treaty with the American Republic. Another source of aid was the influence of Mr. Mercier in Quebec. He had made every preparation to leave for Europe in order to float a loan of $10,000,000, but deferred his trip, because, as he declared at a mass meeting in Mon- treal on February 9th, " his place was beside his esteemed chief, Mr. Wilfred Laurier." It is not unlikely that he hoped to make a portion of the proposed loan unnecessary by thus helping into office a leader who was pledged to carry out the increased subsidies to the Provinces proposed by the Inter-Provincial Conference of a few years before. *' Mr. Laurier accepted the resolutions," declared the speaker, " and promised to carry them into effect if he came into power. He (Mr. Mercier) had telegraphed asking him if he would ratify this declaration and Mr. Laurier had re- plied ' I accept the declaration as the expression of my policy.' " The Rykert scandal in the scarifying hands of Sir Richard Cartwright was also an element of substantial help to the Liberals, while the severe criticisms of tne Toronto Mail and a speech or two made by the Hon. Oliver Mowat were of additional service. As much can hardly be said of the assistance which Mr. Goldwin Smith tried to render. His letter to the New York Times of February Sth, stating that the Tories "seek SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 175 to make Canada the engine of the Conservative aristocracy of Great Britain for averting the triumph of democracy in the New World," was merely regarded as a renewed effort to prejudice American public opinion against any Conservative attempt to obtain a fair and reasonable Reciprocity Treaty. And his subsequent letter to a Toronto paper denouncing the National Policy, only helped those who were trying to affix the disgraceful stigma of anuexationism to the Liberal party. His aid was indeed an injury to the Opposition in this campaign as it might have been to the Conservative party had the distinguished English writer remained after 1878 a supporter of Protection and a follower of Sir John A. Macdonald. Meanwhile Sir John Thompson had been making a speech or two in Nova-Scotia, and attending so far as was possible to his own interests in Antigonish, where his old opponent, the Hon. Angus McGillivray, was once more run- ning against him. As his majority had only been 40 in the campaign of 1887, care was required at this juncture, especially in view of the somewhat unscrupulous nature of the contest on the part of the Opposition in the constitu- ency. Mr. McGillivray was a man of considerable ability and standing. He had been first elected as a colleague of Mr. J. S. D. Thompson in Antigonish, to the Local Legisla- ture, and had been re-elected in 1882. Three years' later he became Speaker of the Assembly and continued to hold that position until appointed a member of the Local Gov ernment in 1887. In this latter year he had for the first time opposed his old friend and fellow-Conservative in the elections for the Dominion House. In doing so he came into conflict with Bishop Cameron, which was not a very wise thing to do in that constituency, and had been beaten: though not by a very large majority. It had long been a matter of course in Antigonish ■ j' Vi m "1 M ft a "^M !? If " 176 LIFE AND WORK OF and a custom whicii the people regarded with respect, for the Bisliop to intervene in the elections. Usually, several Uitholics would be in the field, and he would express a preference for the one or the other. Then upon several occa- sions one Protestant would be returned to the Local House and one Catholic, showing clearly that there was no bigotry in the matter. When the close friendship, which has now become historical, grew up between the future Premier and the Bishop, it was not, therefore, surprising that the latter should help his friend, and it v.'as not considered anything unusual ki the constituency chiefly interested. In his earlier elections, Sir John Thompson had been greatly aided by this influence. In 1887, Mr. McGillivray, how- ever, had allowed his supporters to spread abroad tlie impression that the Bishop's sympathy and support were no longer with the Minister of Justice, and that a letter to that effer.h was in existence. These statements brought out a characteristically vigoroas manifesto from His Lordship, addressed to the electors, and urging them to support his friend. \n extract from it will be of interest and impor- tance, as showing the very substantial and eflectual manner in which Bishop Cameron stood by Sir John : ** To the Electors of Anti<]oiv<^h County . "Gkntlemen,— I did :.ot expeot t' at designing politicians would dis- turb you by organizing a factious opposition to the return of the Hon. Mr. Thonij-ron at the ensuing election, much less did I apprehend that oif her the factionic^s or tlieir Oi. jos would take sucli liljcrty wi a my own name as to «>bligo me in honor publicly to repudiate their misrepresentafons of my views and seutinjents regarding the present uns; amly contest. In ti)ia and some of the neighbouring bounties it is apsortod, urged and coii- fideutlj reiterated that my estimation of the Ivli.iistcr of Justice Ims undcigone such a change that T bsve decided not to suppt rt him any more ; t!;at fur from disapproving of his being ignon.iniously discharged by you, J havo furnished Mr. A. McCtillivray with an assurance of my entire unconcern ; nay, that he had in l.ia pocket a letter pledging me to strict neutrality. (It is 80ftrG(-!y necjpsary * > remark tiiat suoh a statement was nevor made either by Mr. McGillivray or any roui frioud ot iu«,) i Hon. John F. Wood, M.P., Coinptrollei' of Inland Revenue. t» '^rr,---:: '■iifcjiwJ.i-^*"^'''''* I ! m SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 1'79 til uA *' Gentlemen, no such Iftter exists, no such assurances liave been given ; while my estimate of Mr. Thompson is even far greater now than when I last had the honor to ask your suffrages in favor of his election in 1885. " About seventeen months ago, you chose him as your representative in the House of Commons, and you have since had abundant <;vidence oi the wisdom of your choice. You have seen that he has proved himself to bs one of the most gifted, moat honoured, most influential and most irre- proachable statesmen of the Dominion, and you have felt that his unequalled success is a source of legitimate pride to yourselves and to all Nova Scotians. You have seen, also, that while honouring yo'' «o highly by his eloquence in debate, and his wisdom in council and comn.iotee, he lias never neglected your more immediate public interests — nay, that he lias promoted them with a success altogether unprecedented. ■' Seventeen months ago yo;i needed postal communication and facilities in various localities, and already you have no fewer than five new post-offices opened, 'besides more frequent mails in several other places. You needed improvement in our railway tariti"; through Mr. Thompson's strenuous efforts you have obtained it. You needod money to repaii most useful public works, fallen into neglect and decay, to com- jilete othei's and to originate morc^ and already no less than $.S4,34G has been placed at our disposal for that purpose ; yet this nai:.gnilicent sum is doubtless but an instalment of the amount which we may expect under the auspices of this most efficient benefactor, to be expended for our advantage. Lastly, he has been maiidy instrumental in persuading the Cabinet to undertake to build a railway through Cape iUeton, as a Gov- ernment measure, and already forty-five miles of h are under contract'*, ind in course of ccstruction. He has thus conferred an inestiuuible boim (lu Kiislern Nova Scotia as well as on that fine island in whose prosperity \M^ all feel the liveliest interast. '•To give him his discharge, in existing circumstanceH, would bean act -if sonselesa ingratituile, a public calamity and a lasting difigraco, for uliicih I I t you will never be guilty of making yourselves answeialile. Ill I word, to do yourselves full iredit, you ought not only to return Mr. 'l'li(iiii]i,s(in, but to r'llurn him by an overwlM-lmiiig majorit y, since you hiivi> n"t been allowtid the privilege of ole(!tinj; him as he dcserveil, by a' 'liimalion. "Tlic above i^ my reply to tliose wlm have unathonlativel*' dragged my (liuiir into the contest, and now, geuLh'.mun, I conliih-ntly leave the iHSUu in )iiin hands, and remain, " Your devoted well-wisher and aoi vant in ('hrist, "John Camkuon, •• li^kojt q/' AutiyrhiMh. "Aiiiigonifih, Feb. 11, IHS7." './■Lv* It::: _.».■;. i-"! =^^w 180 LIFE AND WORK OP 1^: 4k Dnrmcr the canvass of the constituency which took place in the elections of 1891, Mr McGillivray came out with a vigourous attack upon the Bishop, and in reply the Rev. Father Macdonald of Stellarton accused the former of having personally made the very statements which BisliOp Ca^rtieron in the above circular charitably disbelieved. Archbishop O'Brien also came to the support of His Lordship, and indirectly of Sir John Thompson. In an address delivered at Halifax, he eloquently defended clerical intervention under certain conditions and in certain circumstances : " The interest of the country and the fond, proud love of his country find a place in the heart and engage the attention of the true priest. Hence, should a candidate for Parlianient advocate, say Unrestricted Reciprocity, and should a prelate conscientiously believe that to be the first step towards annexation — should he have good reason to beliave that its promoters had that result in view, namely, to destroy our fair Canadian nationality and make of this country the battling ground of carpofc-baggers and traitors — shouM he not advise, exhort, entreat, aye, and command, his people to vote against such a, candidate ? " Needless to say in a Catliolic constituency like Anti- gonish it was not surprising that the influence oC such appeals and the personal popularity of a prela,te so respected and esteemed as Bishop Cameron, should have had great weight, and liave prepared the way for the majority of 227 with which, the Minister of Justice swept away his antago- nist on March 5th. Before that final result of the cam- paign occurred, however. Sir John Tliompson delivereil two important addiosses in thr, Province — one at Halifax in conjunction with Sir Chmles Typper and the Hon, C. H. Tupper, on February litlt, and the other at Kenbvillo, four days la.ter. The Hnlifax meeting was a great domonstra- IS SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 181 tion. Sir Charles Tupper in one of his old-time ringing speeches, stirred up the loyalty and enthusiasm of his audience to an unprecedented degree, and was followed by Sir John in a speech which seems to have been instinct with unusual earnestness and vim. He handled the Lib- eral party without gloves. Referring to the Reciprocity policies — restricted and unrestricted — he declared that " the Liberals made no offer to negotiate, b:i* The result, however, was the sustaining of the Con- servative party, policy and Ministry by a majority oi between twenty and thirty. Two members of the Gov- ernment, Mr. C. C. Colby, and Mr. John Carling, were defeated, while the Opposition lost Mr. A. G. Jones, Mr. Peter Mitchell and Mr. Weldon. And thus ended the most desperate fiprht in the history of the Dominion, and one which was destined to indirectly cause a greater loss to the Conservative party and to the country than any which had yet taken place. Sir John Macdonald, against the advice of his physicians, had taken a wonderfully active part in the campaign." The " Grand Old Man," with an energy perfectly phenomenal in one of liis years and physical weakness, seemed to be everywhere urging on the battle ; putting life and soul into his supporters; arousing the enthusiasm of vast .audiences as only his magnetic person- ality could do ; and giving to the struggle that swing of victory which was necessary to overcome the many adverse circumstances. Without him, indeed, it is not unlikely, that the party would have been defeated, and of this he was quite well are. Taking, therefore, his life in his hand, Sir John acdonald had gone into the conflict determined to win one more success for what he believed to be the fundamental principles of Canadian nationality and progress — British connection and loyalty to the 'close and li(>roural)le union of the Dominion and the Empire. But his elForts in managing the campaign and addressing immense audiences almost daily for weeks — upon one day ho spoke five times — were too much for his feeble fraiuc, and after success had been achieved the inevitable reaction set in, an 1 the laurels of victory instead of contributing to a new lease of power and influence, could only be used to crow i the tomb of departed greatness, SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 18J CHAPTER X. Death of Sir John Macdonald. On the 24th of May it became known to the public that the illness of Sir John A. Macdonald was somewhat serious. He himself did not appear to regard it in that light, however, and during the next day or two improved considerably. On the 29th, when the fatal stroke fell upon liim, he had been dictating letters ; holding a long conver- sation with Sir John Thompson upon questions of public policy and party tactics ; and receiving a visit from the Governor-General. But shortly afterwards the paralytic seizure came and stilled the busy brain, numbed the mar- vellous faculties, and silenced forever the voice which had so long been the voice of Canada. During the week of anxious waiting which followed, a sorrowing people, a, sympathetic Empire, and a Queen, who is as great a woman as she is a sovereign, watched beside the sick-bed at Earns- clift'e, where the greatest of Colonial statesmen, the Father of Canadian confederation and the champion of Imperial unity, lay fighting his sad and hopeless battle. As days and hours went by, and the great leader was passing slowly away, people began to realize what enor- mous consequences might follow. Sir John Macdonald to manj/ minds seemed the actual embodiment of Canadian Conservatism. To them he was the party, and without him t.lu.: party was nothing. Others, who understood more ch.iiuly the condition of affairs, knew that tliero were several men quite able to take the leadership, and that fore- most uinongst them stood the Minister of Ju.stice. Outside of Can.ula, however, there is no doubt that the name of srnii- ■*' H m 184 LIFE AND WORK OF ^ Sir John Macdonald was at that time the only one which could be said to bear an international or imperial reputa- tion. He had ^rown up with Canada. His policy had made itself felt abroad, and his name, in many places, was synonymous with that of the Dominion. His death, there- fore, might involve political chaos, it might result in the disintegration of the party he had formed and led so long, it did undoubtedly imply serious political difficulties. Parliament promptly adjourned upon the news of the Premier's fatal illness, and from that time till the end came, upon the memorable 6th of June, 189 J, the pulse of the Canadian people was stirred as it had never been before. Publicly, of course, there could be no vserious dis- cussion as to the future leader, as to the future of the party or of the country. But privately there was a great deal. Ottawa was disturbed as it had not been since the days of 1873, when the fate of Sir John Macdonald's first ministry hung in the balance of a gieat parliamentary ^trial, Letters from all over the Dominion poured into the capital, rumours of a hundred kinds were current, consid- erations of all sorts were discussed. It was recognized ■Jjiien, and in the week which followed the Premier's death, that Sir John Thompson, by force of ability and political service, was the inevitable leader — if not at once, then in the near future. Had there been an impression that Sir Charles Tupper would have cared to take up political life again, the opinion of the party would have probably united upon hira, but the circumstances being otherwise there seemed a large majority of sentiment in favour of the Minister of Justice. Here, however, the sectarian element intervened. His reli- gion it was claimed, in connection with the Jesuits' Estates and other questions, would fatally prejudice the chances of the party in certain portions of the country and it would be in *% f ^ Hon. Sir John Carlino, K.r.M.G., M.P., MinUtar without Portfolio, w 4 I II -w I '»;^ -n SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 187 better if, for a time at least, the Premiership of tho Domi- nion were placed in the hands of someone who, in the exist- ing crisis, would be able to unite all sections of the Conser- vative forces. The name of the Hon. J. J. C. Abbott was suggested, and his private correspondence at the time, as well as that of Sir John Thompson, illu: trates the utter unselfishness whicli in this connection characterised the two men. In a letter written to an intimate friend on the 4th of June, and only two days before Sir John Macdonald's death, Mr. Abbott commented very frankly upon the proposal that the leadership shou!'\ fall to him. He said : "I have heard from many people lately very similar ideas of tho situation to yours — but from none whose opinions I should place more confidence in. But I hate politics, and what are considered their appropriate motUo3s. I hate notoriety, public meetings, public speeches, caucuses, and every thing that I know of that is apparently the necessary incident of politics — except doing public work to the best of my ability. Why should I go where doing honest work will only ma,ke me hated and my ministry unpopular; and where I can only gain reputation and credit by practising arts which I detest, to acquire popu - larity ? Besides breaking up all my family arrangements in which I have settled down and hope to spend any time I may hope to have left, now that I have reached the allotted span. No doubt some such arrangement as you iU( ntion would be the best solution of the crisis — but there are lots of men better known than I, and better capable of working out the political problem ; and who would be glad of the chance. My own impression is that Thompson is the man to be sent for, and I should think he could carry the work through, though of course I am not familiar with the feeling in Ontario. " Yours sincerely, J. J, C. AjJBOTT," :'U 1i IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) r//„ / O &?- /C6 4& :/.. 1.0 I.I <-iiM ,50 '""^ 1^ 12.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ■* 6" ► ^ -m * <.* 33 WEST MAIN STREtf WEBSTER, NY 14580 (716) 672-4503 ^^ 6^ rr 188 LIFE AND WORK OF Such a letter, written by an old man who in shortly afterwards assuming the heavy duties of the Premiership, accepted a burden too great for his years and strength, has a pathetic ring in its every line. Little wonder that he hesitated to surrender his quiet home Ufe, t-nd in his de- clining days take up such a task. But none the less it was an honour which many would have liked to receive and a duty which few ambitious men would shrink from accept- ing, even in succession to such an unequalled leader as Sir John A. Macdonald. Writing to the same gentleman on the memorable Cth of June, Sir John Thompson breathed very similar sentiments : - " I am much obliged ! or your letter. At this crisis any member of th d Government must feel grateful for the fifank advice of sincere friends as I well know you to be. 1 fear, however, that you have conceived the idea that I aspire to lead the party, now or in the future. No greater mistake could be made. I am not willing to take that position now, or to enter on a period of probation with a view to that end. I hope that the [)arty can be much bet- ter led, nud I am willing to serve or to retire as may seem best to the man who shall take up the reins which have fallen from the hands of Sir John Macdonald. " Yours sincerely, " Jno. S. D. Thompson." The death of the great Conservative leader on the very day this letter was written compelled action while for the moment interdicting discussion. Sir John Thomp- son had moved the adjournment of the House after brief speeches from Sir Hector Langevin and others. And the eloquent tribute paid upon that occasion to the iviemory of the dead statesman hy the Hon. Wiltrorl Laurier is one of tlxe bright spots in the record of Canadian |)olitical struggle. SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 189 Then followed the proloncred State funeral, amid such evidences of sincere national grief as are very rarely given to a public man, no matter now great he may have been in character or achievement. Sir John Macdonald was finally laid away in the distant cemetery at Cataraqui, amidst surroundings of almost unique sorrow : " Muffled peals and drooping banners, Bated })reath and measured tread, Emblems of a nation's mourning For her great and noble dead." With tl ) passing of the Chieftain, came the imperative necessity for the selection of a new leader and a new Pre- mier. Lord Stanley of Preston, had postponed action for six days and until the funeral v is finished, but on the 1 2th of June, it was announced that His Excellency was in com- munication with Sir John Thompson and the Hon. Mr. Abbott. Meantime the intrigue and speculation customary in Cabinet crises had been going on. Sir Hector Lant^-evin, as the member of the late ministry who hi*d served the longest time in office, and who by virtue ot his leadership of the French Canadian wing of the party, really had strong claims to consideration, was being strenuously urged for the Premiership by Le Monde and other journals of Quebec. Unfortunately, however, he was resting under the shadow of the Tarte charges, and was in a position which Sir 'John Thompson iiad declared in his speech ut Halifax during the j^jeneral elections, made an investigation absolutely necessary. Mr. Chapleau was also vigorously opposed to him, and publicly urged the claims of the Minister of Justice to the position. " I regard Sir John Thompsot) " said he, on June 12th, " as the only man who can give the quality of stability in the re-organization of tlie Government. He may moot with Opposition from Ontario, but wo believe 1 Hl[ i wK^>i i -% if 1 r. ft 1 t { 1 ^ im I i:ii m jr 190 LIFE AND WORK OF that our Ontario friends will re' men had picked up the threads of power *^;s they fell frum the nerveless hands of the Chieftain, and his words uttered in Toronto on Dec. 18th. 1884!, had assumed life and form : " I am satisfied that whoever may be chosen as my successor, he and those who act with him will move in the same line, will be governed by the same principles, and will be supported by the same party." The first Session of the seventh Parliament of Canada resumed its work with a most satisfactory Budget Speech I'rom Mr. Foster, following upon a motion of Mr. Laurier, which showed a Government majority of only twenty. The available surplus was placed at $2,100,000, and the removal of the sugar duties to the extent of $3,500,000 was met by an increased excise and a reduced expenditure. On May 20th, the interminable Franchise Act came up for discussion, on a Liberal motion for its repeal, as being inconvenient, cumbersome, and inefficient. Sir John Thompson ohowed how usdess these continued debates were : " In 1885 we had a most elaborate discussion on every principle involved in the measure ; in 1886, when I had occasion to introduce some amendments, we had a very i; 200 LIFE AND WOUK OF I ri : long discus?3ion, not only of the principles, but as to the expediency of repeal ; in 1887, I think in 1888. and cer- tainly last year, we had every argument exhausted and every argument reviewed." He then pointed out that the motion would make it necessary to fall back upon the franchises of the various Provinces, which change con- stantly and are never alike. As it is, the Act " aids in securing uniformity. In some of the Provinces there are revisions by municipal authorities ; in others by municipal officers ; in others by sheriffs who are officers at pleasure of the Provincial Governments. . . . There is no pretence at uniformity ; there is no attempt to secure any kind of legal qualifica- tion in the officers appointed to do the work of revision ; whereas the Act now under consideration establishes a qualification for the office of revising barrister second to none required for any public office connected with the administration of any law ; second only to that required for filling the highest judicial offices." On May 29th, Mr. Laurier moved on behalf of the now aggressive and hopeful Opposition, a vote of censure upon Sir Charles Tupper for having taken part in the recent general eloctiona whilst holding the post of High Commissioner in England ; for having imputed treason against his opponents ; and for having assailed the Grand Trunk Railway. Sir John Thompson in his reply made a vigorous defence of his old-time colleague and friend : — " S.r Charles Tupper in one place after another has shown that while certain persons had put themselves forward to promote the welfare and the designs of the Liberal party in this country, but really to subvert the institutions of this country — before the Liberal party could venture to go to the polls, they were compelled to dissavow all connec- tion and all sympathy with any such designs or with Ligh s of ogo SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 201 individuals who were promoting those desisfns." Far, therefore, from imputing disloyalty to the Lil)eral party, he had simply shown that without this repudiation they would have been annihilated at the recent elections. The Minister of Justice went on to point out that while the Opposition Leader made this general charge of imputing treason against Sir Charles Tuppe.*, he had not laid on the Table of tho House one single bit of evidence, or one solitary extract. Sir John then sketched the posi- tion and duties of the High Commissioner. " He is not a foreign ambassador. He is simply the Agent of this Government, living in London. His Excellency, the Gov- ernor-General, ifl the medium of communication between this and the Imperial Government. It is only when special views are to be passed or influence used that the High Commissioner comes into action. ... It is necessary that he should be the confidential agent of the Government he serves ; should be in sympathy with its policy ; should strive to carry out that policy ; should be the depository of its secrets. To be competent and efficient he cannot help having political sympathiee." After speaking of the Grand Trunk and Sir Charles Tupper'a very moderate request that It should permit the employes to vote as they liked ; Sir John referred to the general issue at the election in vigorous style : — " I think the Leader of the Opposition is somewhat mistaken in the choice of his expression when he declares that Sir C. Tupper ' stooped ' to take part in those elections. Con- sidering that the fate of this country was at stake, con- sidering that the trade relations of this country were being discussed and fouglit o .'er, and that the issues with regard to those trade relations were perhaps the most important ever submitted to the British North American Provinces, I do not think that anybody could fairly be >:iii It! 202 LIFE AND WORK OP said ^c^ have ' stooped ' in order to take part in that con- test." The motion was, of course, voted down, as had been the previous one in reference to the Franchise Act. But the majorities all throunrh this difficult session were small — averagins; about twenty — and requiring a most watchful care in debate and division on the part of the Leader of the Honse. In September the adjournment came after a prolonged surfeit of scandals. It was the longest session but one in the history of the Dominion, and the worry and work which it entailed upon Sir John Thompson no doubt laid the foundation of the physical troubles which were tc eventually carry him off. But he came through it all with flying colours as a Parliamentary leader, a debater and a minister. He proved himself capable of holding together a weakened, almost shattered party, in the face of a terri- ble pei'sonal loss ; in the teeth of serious and injurious charges from a strong and united Opposition ; in spite of a small and shifting majority. It was indeed a severe trial, but as on previous occasions, he had risen to the emergency. Hon. T. Maynb Fjaly, M.P. Minister of the Interior. I il^Bf' "C ! £} ^ H '^ lM^ ^w s«Jti3^ 4 * «#4Bf ■fiffil '^fj ri &m JOHN THOMPSON. 205 CHAPTER XI. The Scandal Session. No country in the world can boast absolute purity in politics and administration. Few in this respect have stood as high in the scale as Canada. Elections in the Mother-land are known to cost millions ; the constituencies are carefully " nursed " for years by would-be candidates at great persoiual expense ; contracts upon occasion have notoriously been given to inefficient concerns upon very in- sufficient grounds. Yet no one will call England a really corrupt country. In the United States unfortunately there can be no doubt about the matter. There is corruption in the Presidential elections, in the Congressional elections, in the State contests, in the Civic governments, and m the city elections. It is a far cry from the Pension Bureau to the Lexow inquiry, but in all the varied departments of Ameri- can politics between the one and the other, there is proba- bly boodling to be found in a greater or lesser degree. It is a matter of deep regret that the Dominion has not been able to keep its skirts altogether clean in this connection. But there are degrees of oftence in this as in every other case. And, during the period now under con- sideration there were two parties to the charges of corrup- tion. Quebec had covered itself with disgrace by allowing its Government to fall into the hands of a small clique of men who, under the brilliant but erratic and dangerous leadership of Count Mercier, had pillaged the Province without pity or remoiao ; had enjoyed for years a deficit of i!k. ffl I; i : I I 206 LIFE AND WORK OP over a million dollars annually ; had increased the debt by- some $15,000,000 ; had rioted in luxury, in costly houses, in expensive horses, in journeys and fotes. The Bale de Oha- leurs' case brought much of this home to the Provincial Premier and his Ministry ; the Royal Commission did more in developing the investigation; the Lieut.-Governor finally gave the people their opportunity by dismissing his advisers and calling in new men and a new party. The elections which followed closed the drama and restored the Province to its former honorable position, while forever burying under the all-powerful ballot-box, the men who had dis- graced its name and temporarily blackened its repute. The Dominion case was different. The charges made against members of the Government were claimed by Sir John Thompson to be bitterly partisan ; were proved, so far as personal corruption was concerned, to be without foundation ; and dealt in the main with a system rather than with individual actions. Where charges were specified and proved against officials, punishment was swift and sure, though never merciless. Where they were vague, as in the case of Sir Adolphe Caron, every eflbrt was made by Sir John to bring them to a point suited for investigation. Where they v^fcoe, however, mere fishing expeditions, intended only for the purpose of throwing partisan mud in the hope that some would stick, he very properly refused to aid them or allow of their being carried beyond a certain limit. But none the less the session which followed upon the death of Sir John Macdonald was a severe strain upon the heart and mind of a man such as the Minister of Justice. It may as well be frankly admitted that the great Premier whom Canada had just lost forever, was not afraid to use methods and means in building up the Dominion which would have been absolutely impossible to Sir John Thomp- SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 207 son. They were necessary in the government of a new country, having crude and ir defined institutions and strong internal opposition ; permeated in many parts with lack of confidence in its own powers and resources and opportunities ; and possessed of an immense area together with small available means for the management of great party conflicts. In England party government is reduced to a science, and the vast sums of money required to manipulate elec- tions are never seen or perhaps heard of, by the heads of the organizations, except in the most vague and general way. But in Canada the barest expenses can hardly be met, and money for the most legitimate and necessary pur- poses is difficult to obtain. Ministers here are more or less the party managers — though the fact is to be regretted — and it is therefore easy for some of the money contributed by strong supporters to come, without corrupt intent or consequences, from men who have receiv ed, or might receive in the future, an interest in government contracts or appointments. During the general elections the most wholesale and unfounded oharg\;s had been made as to the " boodling '' pre- valent at Ottawa. It was alleged that the Departments were permeated with corruption ; that vast sums had been obtained by members of the Government during many years past from contractors and others in order to purchase the constituencies ; that the Conservative ministers, mem- bers and the government officials were all alike corrupt. Mr. J. Israel Tarte was elected for a Quebec seat in order to ventilate his charges against the McGreevy's and Sir Hector Langevin, and the Rykert scandal was used as an illustration of what was alleged to be tlie prevalent state of affairs. There was literally no end to the rumoura cur- rent when the House met in April, and possibly the worry !: ij 'I 208 LIFE AND WOKK OF connected with this situation had a natural effect upon tlie already enfeebled frame of the Premier. Be that as it may however, his death postponed for a time the action which had been commenced .egarding the Tarte enquiry. There is no doubt that Sir John Thompson s treatment of the Rykert case during the previous session was approved by the country. Mr. J. G. Rykert had long been a popular and respected member of the Conservative party and it was hard indeed for the Minister of Justice to admit the unfor- tunate position in which the member for Lincoln had placed himself. But he did his duty in this as in subsequent cases. Sir Richa-rd Cartwright had moved on March 11th, 1890, that Mr. Rykert's conduct had been " discreditable, corrupt and scandalous." It was claimed by him that the member for Lincoln had applied for and obtained certain North- West timber limits in the name of one Joha Adams. The latter in consideration of this service was alleged to have agreed to aissign to Mrs. Rykert, one-half interest in the limits, and to pay one-half of all the proceeds from the sale of timber thereon. And it was further stated that on January 16th, 1883, the sum of $74,200 was paid over in accordance with this agreement. Receipts, letters and other documents were produced in proof of the charges. This in brief was Sir Richard's case, and he presented it in what the Minister of Justice termed a most " inflammatory speech." Sir John Thompson defended the Government from the charge that this was a part of any general system and showed that so far as they were concerned there could have been no more corruption in granting Mr. Rykert a tract of 100 miles for a friend, than there had been upon one occa- sion under the Mackenzie administration when 200 miles had been similarly granted on the recommendation of Sir Bichard Cartwright himself. A few days later y^h^er^ the I the and lave 3tof )cca- liles Sir the Hon. John G. Haggart, M. P. Mininter of liailwayt and Canaln. H SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 211 debate was resumed, and after a brief but able speech by Mr. Blake, the Minister of Justice spoke out plainly and to the point ; describing the affair as " a case in which the honour of Parliament is most deeply involved. I regard the authenticity of those letters as having been substan- tially established ; I regard this correspondence as a most shocking correspondence, and one which appeals to the House as strongly as any case could appeal to its considera- tion for justice, as strongly as it can appeal to the mercy of this House. ... I say that in the statements made by the member for Lincoln, he has failed to exonerate him- self of the censure which, the resolution of the member for Soitth Oxford makes him subject to." He concluded by moving that tne matter be referred to a committee, and so strongly had his preceding remarks convinced the House of his desire to do entire justice in the case, that Mr. Laurier supported the motion and added a ion ewhat unusual compliment : " 1 de-sire to say that after the strong declarations which have been made by the Minister of Justice, I am somewhat inclined to modify the conclusions at which I had arrived." Eventually the Committee reported, and so unfavourably to Mr. Rykert that he resigned in order to avoid the threatened expulsion. He was re-elected, but did not stand again in the ensuing general election. This case is of interest only as showing that no matter how strong might be the personal and political reasons against a given line of action, Sir John Thompson was prepared to do his duty in the beginning of this regrettable series of scandals as well as in the end. Of course, it was impossible that he should please his party antagonists during the Session of 1891. Not'hing but the expulsion of half the Conservative members of the House, and tho retirement and prosecution of most of the Cabinet Minis- 212 like: and wouk of I' ters, would have satisfied enthu liasfcic Liberals such as Tarte, Lister, McMuUen, Edgar, C'artwright and Charlton. But moderate men were pretty well satisfied that the abuses which had undoubtedly grown up during a dozen years of power would be rectified if the Minister of Justice could have his way. And after Sir John Macdonald's death there was no one in the Government who was pre- pared to dispute his practical, if not nominal, supremacy. So that the appeal made by Mr. Abbott in the Senate a couple of months after his accession to the Premiership was looked upon in the country as a fair indication of the new Government's policy : "I would ask the hon. gentlemen opposite to join with us in trying to find out what the facts are abcut this alleged rascality. We ask them to give us the benefit of their experience in this enquiry, to assist us in ascertaining the facts and placing them before the public, in order that they may be dealt with properly, and, if found guilty, that summary vengeance may be exercised upon those who are found guilty of appropriating public money — stealing — be they high or low." The charges against Mr. Thomas McGreevy, M.P., were of a very serious nature.- They were important because they affected the reputation of a prominent Con- servative member of the House who had been the party's treasurer for many years in Quebec, and who was known to be a brother-in-law and intimate friend of the Minister of Public Works. They were important as indicating that Sir Hector Langevin had been either careless or criminal in a portion of his long administration of that Department, and as showing much looseness of principle to be prevalent amongst certain Quebec politicians. Sir John Thompson had already declared at Halifax tint r"3ither he nor the Government would defend Mr. McGreevy, or excuse him if guilty. SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 213 Mr. Tarte in this matter was a man with a mission. He had not always been so, and had at one time been under the ban of the Liberal party as an alleged ' Tory corruptionist." The public interest, however^ in his first speech and motion had been very great for some time, and the galleries of the House were crowded when on May 11th the slenderly-built, wiry little man, with glossy black hair, and wearing a fashionable costume, rose to his feet. Briefly summed up, the charges may be found in the following paragraph from his speech : " Since 1882 or 1883, the secrets of the Department of Public Works have been penetrated and divulged for money considerations to public contractors by the hon. member for Quebec West, Mr. McGreevy, and according to the evidence I have got in my hands, money has been paid year after year on contract after contract, large sums of money ; that during that period of time he has used bis influence as a member of the Quebec Harbour Commission against the public interest on numerous and important occasions." , Various documents had been obtained through a quarrel bet\7een the brothers, 'J'homas and R. H. McGreevy, and were certainly very damaging in their nature. The claim was made that Sir Hector Langevin was implicated, and that large sums received from the interested cojitrac- tors had gone into the campaign fund of the Conservative party. Mr. McGreevy, of course, denied the charges, and the Minister of Public Works demanded the fullest inves- tigation. By permission of the Government, the whole matter was relegated to the Committee on Privileges and Elections, and the ensuing inquiry was most thorough — both sides showing every disposition to get at the truth. The Government retained Mr.' B. B. Osier, Q.C., to help in the examination of witnesses. Finally, on the 25th of ^1 W \i -s'.* 1! 214 LIFE AND WORK OP August, the Committee met to consider their report, and its preparation was referred to a Sub-Committee composed of three Conservatives — Sir John Thompson, D, Girou&rd, and Michael Adams ; and two Liberals — the Hon. David Mills and the Hon. L. H. Davies. Naturally, they could not agree, the chief point of difference being the amount of responsibility which ought to be borne by Sir H Langevin in the scandalous trans- actions proven to have taken place. Ultimately, a majority and uiinority report were presented to the House. The former, prepared largely by Sir John Thompson, concluded with the statement that " the evidence does not justify them in concluding that the Minister knew of the conspir- acy before mentioned or that he willingly lent himself to its objects." The latter alleged that the fruits of the frauds went into the pockets of the contractors, towards the funds of the Conservative party, or to the support of Le Monde, Sir H. Langevin's paper. Both reports were considered by the House on Sept. 21st, and, after a prolonged debate, the majority one was carried on a party vote of 101 against 86. An amendment moved by Mr. McCarthy, acquitting Sir Hector of connivance but finding him guilty of inex- cusable neglect, was voted down. The expulsion of Mr. McGreevy followed upon the motion of the Minister of Justice, and a little later Sir Hector Langevin practically closed a prolonged political career of much useful service to his country, by resigning his place in the Ministry. Prosecutions were afterwards instituted by the Minister of Justice against those concerned in the frauds, and several convictions were obtained. Speaking at Perth on the 2l8t of November following, Sir John Thompson declared that the Minister rt Public Works had no knowledge of the robbery which had been going on, but that he had fully accepted the doctrine of SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 215 i responsibility for what took place in his Department by resigning his position. And then he strongly denounced the Opposition, and at the same time explained the difficult position of the Government in attempting to do its duty under circumstances which would have been, from a party standpoint, greatly improved by a restriction of enquiry and a stifling of investigation . " While our attitude was that of challenging investi gation, inviting investigation even to the extent of paying the expenses of counsel who conducted the investigation on behalf of our opponents, what was the attitude of the Opposition ? Why, during the discussion of these matters in the House of Commons, instead of feeling themselves impressed with the responsibility of judges, and the responsibility of being fair between man and man, every insult that could be heaped upon the accused member waar rang out amidst the wildest cheering of the Opposition. When they were deliberating upon the question of whether a man should be found guilty of corruption or not, every incident of his political career, or the career of the men associated with him was flung in his face; and the tribunal of the House was lowered as it never was before. As time went on and public feeling was aroused and excited by the reports of these scandals, finding that opportunity was given by the Government for wide investigation, they became bolder in their charges, and towards the close of the Session it came to this, and it has been in this state for some time past, that a public man has only to be accused in order to be adjudged guilty." A lot of minor departmental scandals were unearthed, and considered by different committees. It soon became evident that a very loose idea of public morality had pre- vailed I'or a long time in various branches of the public service. But there was really nothing personally corrupt 5'ii ^11 H'i 216 LIFE AND WORK OF proved against the Ministers, though in one or two cases, carelessness in looking after their subordinates was very clearly indicated. The light that was shed upon the whole system of Departmental Government was so keen and searching, that the session, disgraceful as its results were in a certain sense, unpleasant as they were to the Govern- ment and the country, could not but do a great deal of good in purifying the service and lopping off the excre- sences of corruption which had developed during a long term of office. Sir John Thompson, as leader of the House, gave every possible aid to the investigations, and it is probable that had the desire of the Opposition to obtain political capital not been so keenly exhibited, even greater good would have resulted. As it was, many officials were dismissed or suspended, and others prosecuted and punished upon conviction. But the tierce party feeling which was aroused by the Liberal method of pushing charges in all kinds of directi(ms, often with very little proof, and chiefly with a view to picking up something damaging to the Government, was so exasperating that the Minister of Justice often found it difficult to keep his followers in line. As an illustration of this, the charges against the Hon. Mr. Haggart, then Postmaster-General, may be mentioned. Mr. Lister, of Lambton, whose fighting characteristics were fully exhibited during this stormy session, rose from his place in the House on the 23rd of September, and stated that to the best of his knowledge and belief, Mr. Hjiggart had been interested in tho profits of a contract obtained by Alexander Manning, Alexander Shields, and others in the year 1879,'for the construction of a branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway from Port Arthur to Rat Portage ; that while a member of Parliament he had received large sums of money from these contractors which he had used for political purposes or had permitted the company to pay to •9 . i 'I id. W. l\. MEKKDrTiT, Q.C., M.P. l.endrr of the OpponUum in the l.cfjidatvri' of Ontario, —now ChieJ Justice 0/ the Province. .^4- ,1 iiiu i III I.J Iji II SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 219 other members of the Government for the same ohject. It may be readily imagined that such a wide and far reach- ing inquiry as was thus asked for in the dying days of a prolonged session Wfis almost too much for the weary legislators to endure. Mr. Haggart gave a prompt denial, and stated that the same charges had been made in 1880, when a Ruyal Com- mission was appointed to inquire into all matters connected with the C. P. R. In the evidence given before that body he had aworn positively that no such sums had ever been paid to him, or that he had any personal interest whatever in any contract with that railway. Mr. Peter McLaren, in whose name his stock was said to have been kept, had made at the time a similar declaration under oath, and they were both ready to repeat it. Sir John Thompson pointed out that Mr. Lister had so worded his charge in requesting a committee of investigation, that no responsi- bility would lie upon his shoulders in the event of his being unable to prove the statements made. He added that the Independence of Parliament Act could not be considered as infringed by a matter which had occurred during the lifetime of a Parliament long since superseded, and went on to claim that the whole thing was a mere scheme to fish up a little mud from the bottom of some old pcHtical stream : " Here is an accusation laid as the basis for an investigation o ^ to things which occurred twelve ycarp ago, against a Government, only one member of which sits in the House, and awiinst that member there is not the slijjht- est insiimation in this case. Under these circumstances, lot us consider whether there must not in reason be some limit to the extent to which we are to go back." The motion was rejected by the u.'uial party vote, and two days later Mr. Haggart laid on the table a statutory declaration by Mr. Peter McLaren, in which he swore to ''"»fji m r i' 220 LIFE AND WORK OP the truthfulness of the Postmaster-General's statements, and explicitly denied the charge of corrupt payments to the Government. A little before this the Cochrane scandal, in which the member for East Northumberland was accused of having trafficed in Government offices in his con- stituency, had beert. investigated, and the majority report had admitted improper transactions, but cleared Mr. Cochrane personally. The inquiry into the Printing Bureau management resulted in the bitterest and most disgraceful wrangles of the whole session. It is almost impossible to discern the rights of this matter amid the partisan storms by which Mr. Chapleau's connection with it was sur- rounded, and in any case it would be useless to attempt it here. The brilliant French-Canadian orator has done his country splendid service in his day, despite any looseness of business management which can be charged against him in this connection, and he may do it still more. But all these complicated questions, violent discus- sions, prolonged committee investigations, and the per- sistent abuse in Parliament, and in a portion of the press, Qiade this session the most arduous since Confederation for the Leader of the House. The air became somewhat purified after the adjourn- ment, and much good was expected from a bill introduced by the Premier in the Senate, and carried through both Houses early in September, providing for the suppression of frauds against the Government. So also from the Royal Com- . mission appointed to enquire into the working of the Civil Service. It must, however, have been an immense relief to Sir John Thompson when the murky cloud which had for so many hot and weary months rested like a pall over Parliament Hill was at last removed, and he was able to give to his department and to public business, time which had so long been given to debate upon most disagreeable subjects, and to party tactics which he never liked. nm SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 221 CHAPTER XII. Redistribution and the Bye Elections. To the people of a young country the census is always an interesting consideration. To the politicians in Canada, where a redistribution of the seats takes place every decade, should the movements of population warrant a change, it is of special interest. Much was expected from the census ot 1891, and the disappointment which followed was natural, though not altogether justifiable. A few pessimists expected it to show a steady drain of population from the country, a decrease in the total number of its inhabitants, a lack of progress in manufactures, and in all the elements of prosperity. But optimists, on the other hand, hoped it would show a population of six millions at least, and a tremendous industrial development. An army of 4,300 enumerators and commissioners had been employed under the command of Mr. George Johnson, Dominion Statistician, and it was announced that the regu- lations respecting absentees, and the rules to prevent dupli- cation, would be unusually stricJt. In England it may be said that 40,000 enumerators, and in British India nearly one million men, were employed in the same work. The difficulties encountered in taking a Canadian census are by no means small. The immense area of the Dominion had to be traversed by every conceivable method of locomotion. A steamer amid the islands and indents of the Pacific coast ; pack-horses in the Rocky Mountain valleys ; dog- trains on the plains of the Saskatchewan ; canoes and port- ag|p in the great lake and river district to the north of 'ii ii: y Hi 'ii 222 LIFE AND WORK OF Lake Superior ; buck-boards and boats on the prairies and in the rivers of Manitoba; a schooner in the Gult* ot* St. Lawrence ; slow and toilsome pedestrianism in Algonia and other districts. Three montlis, however, sufficed to give to the public the full returns. A summary of the results showed that the population of Canada had increased from 3.686,000 in 1871, to 4!,:324<,000 in 1881, and thence to 4,829,000 in 1891. The increase, therefore, during the preceding decade had only amounted to .504,000, and there was naturally a good deal of disap- pointment and dissatisfaction expressed. A section of the press was, if such a phrase may be used, almost jubilant in its sorrow. The census seemed to reveal a complete fail- ure in the vigorous efforts which had been made to promote immigration and to keep the people in the country, while by implication it was made to prove the absolute failure of the National Policy of protection. But second thoughts are proverbially best, and it was not long before people saw that there were two sides to the question. Upon reflection, it seemed clear that population, follow- ing the universal trend of modern society, had during the past decade drifted into the cities. In protectionist Canada as in free trade Britain, people had flocked to the centres of population and industry. The larger cities of the United States had attracted many in spite of the inferiority which most Canadians believe to exist in American institutions, customs and modes of life. The introduction of agricul- tural machinery had further helped to deplete rural popu- lations by doing away with much of the hired help for- merly required, whilst the decrease in the price of cereals had in all countries enhanced the tendency to prefer city work to farm life. Just as in many portions of the United States population had decreased through the movement to other parts of the country, so in, Canada many sections Jiad KOI SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 223 been influenc ;d by the proximity of the United States, and it must be added, by the praise of everything American, which has been, as Sir John Thompson more than once said, so often heard from the lips of certain Canadian politicians. To Mr, Abbott's Government the local increases and decreases of population brought the unpleasant embarass- ment of a necessary redistribution of seats, and upon Sir John Thompson as leader of the House of Commons during the busy Session of 1892, fell the burden of the work in connection with this difficult and never popular matter. He was compelled to alter the representation in some places by cutting off a member altogether, in others by adding one, and again in others, by a re- organization of the electoral limits. Abuse in such a case was inevi- " table, and he had to bear the brunt of it. The Redistribution Bill was presented to the House by the Minister of Justice, on April 24th. He commenced his speech in a jocular vein, which was rather unusual with him, and chaffed the Opposition upon their expectations of a pronounced gerrymander, a prolonged debate and a lengthened Session. " I am happy to know that the time of departure is very remote, indeed, and that there will be ample opportunity to consider all the merits of this Bill, and there are nothing but merits in it, I can assure my hon. friends opposite." Sir John then pointed out the necessity, under the terms of the British North American Act, for the redistribution of seats, and gave the figures of the census returns as follows : l^S^- 1891. Ontario ISS?? 2,120,989 Nova Scotia 440,572 460 S^'l New Brunswick, 321,233 921*294 Prince Edward Island 108,891 inu'nMS Manitoba 62,260 mT^ "British Columbia 49,459 Q9'7fi7 g North- West Territories 26,616 67,554 i III f-r I S ' il ;!• i'l 224 LIFE AND WORK OF Under the provisions of the Act, therefore, the repre- sentation would have to be changed in several Provinces as regarded numbers, and in all of them, so far as the arrangement of constituencies was concerned. Ontario was entitled to retain its 92 members, and Quebec its 65 repre- sentatives. Nova-Scotia, with 21 members was now only entitled to 20 ; New Brunswick, with 16 representatives, had to be cut down to 14; Prince Edvr^ird IslanI, vrhLh had six, could only retain five ; Manitoba having tive, was entitled to seven ; the Territories would retain their four members, as would BritirJi Columbia, its old number of six representatives. But . '1 ovor the Dominion population had fluctuated ; many cities had increased enorn.(>usly in size ; and some rural districts had become entitled to increased representation, whilst others had decreased greatly in population. Beginning with Prince Edward Island, Sir John Thompson described the various changes, in a detail which it would be wearisome to repeat. Following the township lines in the Island, tive constituencies had been formed averaging 22,000 of a population each. The only change in New Brunswick was the taking away of one member from the combined City and County of St. John's, which had formerly possessed two ; and the joining of the Coun- ties of Sunbury und Queen's, which together, only boasted a population of 17,000 souls. In Nova-Scotia, the two Counties of Queen's and Shelliurne — one with 10,610 people, the other with 14,954 — were united, leaving the Provincial unit of population to a constituency, about 22,000. A number of changes were made necessary in Quebec, by the growth of Montreal. The Govemmc it's proposal was that Montreal and its suburb, Hochelaga, with a united popula- tion of 203,000, should have seven instead of four members ; that a portion of the old constituencies of Montreal aud ■P » % ipW It M\. f-^ % ,**'-^H 1 jW" ^^srE^^^r^^^^^ I Hon. N. Clarke^Wallacb, M.P. Comptroller 0/ Customs. ::i 1' »5 SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 227 Hochelaga should be added to the Counties of Jacques Cartier and Laval, so as not to increase the metropolitan representation unduly; and that the County of Ottawa should have the two members to which it was entitled. In order to make up the new constituencies, t'lose of Three Rivers and St. Maurice were joined, and other changes were made in the thirteen counties lying north of the boundary of the Province of Quebec to the County of Nicolet. They were only entitled to nine members, but were allowed to retain ten. Napierville and Vercheres were absorbed in surrounding counties, and St. John's and Iberville were united. Then the Minister turned to Ontario and remarked that very few changes were proposed. Dr. Landerkin here interposed one of those interruptions for which he is so well known in the House, by saying, " They are not needed," Sir John faced his opponent, and amid choirs and laughter rejoined : " I think there are some changes needed, at least in the representation of constituencies in this House. But we have decided to leave that in the hands of the electors who are doing it so admirably." As the Conservatives were just then sweeping the bye-elections, this little hit told. It was «osolutely necessary to give Toronto another repre- sentative — in the city itself there was a strong demand for more than one — and to also give an additional member to the rapidly growing population of Algoma. This was done by giving West Toronto two members and creating the con- stituency of Nipissing. The two new seats thus given to portions of Ontario, were obtained by a re-construction of the constituencies in the Niagara Peninsula. It so happened that there were in that district six seats contiguous to one another, and each smaller in popu- lation than the ordinary unit of representation — about 22,000. Monck had in round numbers 15,000 people; 51 ; f< ■: '•ml i i 44 •; 1*1 li ■;■ xl\ 1, !\ 228 LIFE AN J) WOR OF Haldimand, 16,000; North Biaiit, 17,000; and South Norfolk, 17,000. The Government, therefore, pr. posed to wipe out North Wentworth, which returned a Liberal to Parliament, and Monck, which was represented by a Con- servative. The four constituenci^ s remaining were re-con- structed so as to give an average of 23,000 people to each one of the four representatives, instead of the previous average of 16,001) to each of the six representatives. Othei changes were made throughout the Province, but none of very great importance. Sir John Thompson claimed that those undertaken were all in the direction of equali- zation, and along lines which would make as little in- terfe^'^nce necessary with existing electoral divisions as was compatible with justice: "The reconstruction which will take place is confined to Toronto, and in the group of districts about Lake Ontario, and every effort has been made to interfere as little as possible with the representa- tion as it exists at present on geogra-phical lines." In Manitoba, Lisgar was changed by name into Selkirk, as being more historically appropriate ; the City of Brandon was made a constituency; and Marquette was divided, one-half being made into an electoral division under the appropriate name of Macdonald, after "the s^aLosraan who devoted so much of his life to the development of the territories out of which the Province of Manitoba has been created." Some changes were made in British Columbia, by which the New Westminster district was enlarged geo- graphically and given two representatives, while Yale and Cariboo were joined to Kootenay and allowed one member. Vancouver kept its one representative, and Victoria retained the two it had previously possessed. Such is a bare outline of the measure. To either defend or criticise it is useless. It seems indeed to be the fate of all redistribution measures in Canada to possess such &,i environment of partisanship ansa SIR JOHN TH(3MPS0Jf. 22d gco- as to make fair discussion almost an impossibility. Only combined action by the leaders of both parties would produce a generally accej^table arrangement, and that would involve an abrogation of ministerial responsibility which puts it out of the question. Sir John Thompson's proposals resulted in a long and acrimonious conflict. The Conservative politicians and press lauded them as faii, moderate and equitable; the Liberals did the reverse. The Montreal Herald, for instance, denounced the bill as " a plan for deliberately s^^^iiling the voice of the people/' while the Toronto Mail {.ablished perhaps the severest criticism of the Minister of Justice which had yet appeared in Canada. And accord- ing to the conclusions of the same paper, the Conservative party under the redistribution measure stood la gain eleven seats, and to lose only four at the next general election. In the House the discussion was prolonged in speech, and minute in debate. Every one had something to say, and usually from entirely different standpoints. The address of Sir John 'S'honipson upon the second reading of the bill, was a closely reasoned and fair defence of the Government's position and of his own measure. Rising from his place on June 2nd, after an energetic speech from Mr. L. H. Davies, he first pointed out that the bill had been introduced by tiia Government in the dis- charge of a compulsory, though unpleasant duty. " It was not intr xliiced, nor was it proposed with any • the elections of 1891, Mr. Blake had announced his retirement from political life, and the day after the election a lengthy document addressed by him to the electors of West Durham, but really to the people of Canada, was published. In it he vigorously denounced the Government's policy of protection, as might have been expected, and also — as was not expected — repudiated the Opposition policy of Unrestricted Reciprocity. He de- scribed the latter as involving direct taxation ; a uniform tarit' with the United States ; discrimination against Great Britain ; and every probability of ultimate annexation. Such a manifesto, proving as it practically did, the asser- tions made by Sir John Macdonald and the Conservative SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 287 I by pie need been the de- orm reat tion. ^ser- itive party as to the meaning of the Opposition platform, was really a staggering blow to the popularity of the Liberals, although it did not immediately effect their position in the House or still the buoyant hopes which soon arose of bene- fiting by the scandals of the succeeding Session. But even this latter solace was taken away by the revelations which came from Quebec. The corruption of the Mercier Ministry was the Conservative opportunity. It soon became a case of fighting dirt with dirt, and the very violence of the Liberal charges at Ottawa brought about a corresponding reaction in public opinion, when it was clairae 1 that the very men who were posing as politi- cal puristF at the national capital had received and used during the la,te elections large sums of money from the fund provided by Quebec boodlers. And it is safe to say that whether people believed or not the charges that Mr. Laurier had benefited in a political sense by these expen- ditures, they did very greatly dislike his refusal to repudiate Mr. Mercier in the Provincial elections which ensued, as well as the practical support which he gave to tb') culprits in urging the people to vote against the Conservative candidates, and "against Lieut.-Governor Angers," because of the latter's dismissal of his recreant ministry. These two causes contributed greatly to the marvellous success of the Conservative party in the elections, which resulted from the unseating of numerous candidates in the Courts, And added to them was the wave of sentiment created by the death of Sir John A. Macdonald, and the accompanying manifestations of popular affection and sorrow. The first of the bye elections had not, however, been very favourable. Richelieu went Liberal, and in a speech delivered at Halifax shortly afterwards, on the 16th of January, Sir John Thompson explained the result as f '1^ ] 1 •i 1 1. 238 LIFE AND WORK OF |! i due to the McGreevy influence, which in connection with the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company controlled some 300 votes in the constituency. " We found," said he, " as the result of that election, what we might have told you before, that you cannot prosecute a man in the Courts of Justice, and at the same time ask him to walk arm in arm to the polls with you. . . . My friends of the Opposi- tion, we can afford to make you a present of Richelieu." On February 2nd, however, the victories commenced with Soulanges — which came back into the Conservative column — and was followed rapidly by the gain of Prince Edward County, the capture of Lennox, the carrying of East Elgin by 494 of a majority, the winning of South Ontario and East Hastings, the really remarkable victory of the lion. J. C. Patterson in West Huron, the gain of East Simcoe, the election of Mr. Carling in London, and the capture of Two Mountains in Quebec. Such was the partial record of a month, followed by the unexpected capture of South Perth, which for eighteen years had been Liberal without a break ; the change in Monck from a minority of 260 to a majority of 323 ; the victory in West Northumberland after a keen and bitter contest ; and the winning of East York after its vacation by the lamented death of the old-time and much respected Liberal leader the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie. Many other seats were won in different parts of the country, and the Government of the Hon. Mr. Abbott found that instead of a fluctuatint^ Parliamentary majority of about twenty, it possessed one of between sixty and seventy. And on the Queen's Birth- day of this year, the Premier who had sacrificed so much of ease and comfort and health to the cause of his party and the country, was created a K. C. M. G., at the same time that Mr. Mowat, the distinguished Liberal Premier of Ontario, received a similar and deserved honour. 9IB JOHN THOMPSON. 239 :\ ' -I CHAPTER Xm. Sir John Thompson becomes Premier. ■1; For some time previous to the retirement of Sir John Abbott it had become clear that he could not remain at the head of the Government very much longer. The Minister of Justice was during this period the practical chief of the Administration, as he had been the real leader of the Con- servative party since the death of Sir John Macdonald. And this can be said without in any way reflecting upon the great services undoubtedly rendered by Sir J. J. C Abbott in a time of trial and supreme pairty difficulty. But Sir John Thompson was leader of the House of Commons and his forceful character had so impressed itself upon the country while he held that position, and events had so clearly combined to make him the central figure in the politics of the hour, that it was not at all surprising to find him'accepted by the publi^ as the next Premier, long before the Governor-General had sent for him to form a ministry. The logic of circumstances is sometimes irresistible, ana the rise of a strong man in politics, as in most other matters, is occasionally aided by the absence of qualifications which to many people may have appeared absolutely essential. Though gifted with rare ability Sir John Thompson pos- sessed one defect which seemed almost fatal to his success as a party leader. In ordinary cases a man who aspires to control a democratic electorate and a complex political ma- chine, must possess the capacity of creating enthusiasm amongst his party followers and of stirring up a sentiment ': t >' i'\ m ill fTTf 11 I 240 LIFE AND WORK OF of warm personal allegiance. This tlie incoming Premier did not even pretend to or attempt. Yet it ^ probable that his dignified and reserved manner, combined with his repu- tation for honesty, kept at a distance the corrupt elements which instinctively seek the political centre here as in otiier countries, and helped his party through the critical scandal session and other unpleasant occasions, as no qualities of geniality, and mere personal graces of manner could have possibly done. Up to his time it is also very questionable wht.ther a Roman Catholic could have maintained himself in the Pre- miership of Canada. Before Confederation it had been pos- sible, but under very different circumstances as regards population and balance of religious power. And the pecu- liar fortune which had compelled him to deal with such important issues in connection with race and creed, had apparently augmented this difficulty. But in reality it all tended to bring into prominence a question which the nation — if it were to be a nation — could only ansAver in one way. And that answer was greatly facilitated by the very strength of Sir John's convictions and the pronounced nature of his stand upon the subjects with which he had had to deal. For Parliament, the party, or the press, to refuse under such crcumstances to recognize him freely, fully, and honestly, as the heir to a position so well earned by ability and service, was to put out of court one third of the Canadian people ; shake the very basis of Canadian national life; and place the country finally under the fatal influence ^i. bitter sectarian strife. It is therefore probable that the absence of* the very qualifications which might have seemed most essential to Sir John Thompson's rise in power and position, contributed rather than otherwise to his success in public life. But, of course, only the certainty of his great ability could have enabled him to make these hostile circumstancos. i^^bi^eirv- r D'Alton McCarthy, Q.C, M. P. I6 ^ '.' 'f? Mil SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 243 lent to personal use. Otherwise, his cold manner would have involved Parliamentary unpopularity and loss of in- fluence as a leader, while the religious difficulty would have hopelessly prejudiced any inferior man with a strong sec- tion of the people. On November 25th, 1892, the retirement which had been imminent for some time was announced, coupled with the fact that Sir John S. O. Thompson had been summoned by His Excellency the Earl of Aberdeen to form a new Cabinet. A correspondent of one of the papers went forthwith to interview the new Premier and in the course of the evening found him at his house in Lisgar St., Ottawa. He describes a children's party which was being held, with the usual merry-making, home-made taffy and other delights of childhood, and expresses surprise at the fact that Sir JoLn was spending the evening at home " in the most ordinary domestic manner imaginable." During the next few days the usual rumours filled the air with every variation of political speculation and partisan criticism. The newspaper correspondents were kept busy telegraphing surmises as to the personnel of the new Cabinet. In one case it would be Mr. Meredith as Minister of Justice ; in another, Mr. Christopher Robinson, Q.C., of Toronto ; in another, some suggested arrangement with Mr. D'Alton McCarthy. One paper thought Mr. R. S. White, M.P., was going in ; another alleged that Mr. W. B. Ives, M.P., was to take Sir John Abbott's place as the ropr(!sentative of the Eastern Townships and the Protestant minority of Quebec ; another believed Mr. D. Girouard, M.P., was coming in, and the Hon. Mi. Chapleau was going out. Finally, the new Qoveriuaent was announced on the Gth of December as follows : i > 11 I Wr .J] il; il 244 LIFE AND WORK O/ Premier and Minister of Justice . . . .Sir Johu S. D. Thompson. Minister of Trade and Commeroe. . , . Hon. Mackenzie Bowill. Postmaster-General .Sir Adolphe Caron, K C. M..Q, Secretary of State Hon. John Costigan. Minister of Finance Hon. George E. Foster. " " Marine and Fisheries. . .Sir C. H. Tapper, K.O.M.O. " ** Railways and Canals. . . .Hon. John G. Haggart. '• " Public Works Hon. J. Alderic Ouimei. *• " Militia and Defence Hon. J. C. Patterson. " " t!ie Interior Hon. T. Mayne Daly. " " Agriculture Hon. A. R. Angers. Without Portfolio Sir Frank Smith, K. C. M. GL Sir John Oarling, K.C.M.a President of the Council v .Hon. W. B. Ives. (In the Ministry but not in the Cabinet.) Solicitor-General Hon. J. J. Curran, Q.O. Comptroller of Customs Hon. N. Clarke Wallace. Comptroller of Inland Revenue Hon. J. F. Wood, Q.C. hi r 1 ^ i There were a number of important changes in connec- tion with the new Government. The proposed re-construc- tion of the Department of Customs, the establishment of a Ministry of Trade and Commerce, and the appointment of a Solicitor- General to relieve the Minister of Justice of some of his too onerous duties, now came into effect. No better selection foi.- head of a department dealing with the trade of the country could have been made than that of Mr. Mackenzie Bowell. His long control of the Customs and his interest in trade questions pointed him out as specially adapted for the post. The elevation of Mr. Curran and Mr. Wood was the reward of long party service which no one could dispute, and gave them positions which they were eminently fitted to fill. The appointment of Mr. Clarke Wallace was a stroke of political wisdom on the part of the nev Premier. It not only bronght to his side in the Governiuent the recognized head of the Orange order in the Dominion, oat it placed in control of the Ci^stoirs a SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 245 business man whose administration has since been both able and popular. Mr. T. M. Daly, the genial member for Selkirk, Man- itoba, had succeeded Mr. Dewdney as Minister of the Interior a month before Sir John Abbott's resignation, and he was confirmed in his place. Mr. W. B. Ives, M. P. for Sherbrooke, was a politician of long standing and bore the reputation of being a clear-headed and eminently successful business can. The retirement of the Hon. Mr. Angers from the Lieut. -Governorship of Quebec made room for the appointment of Mr. Chapleau to that position, and for the entry into national politics of one of the most interesting and honourable men whom Quebec has produced. Mr. Angers united culture and honour in public life with the fullest courage of his convictions, as he had shown in deal- ing with Mr. Mercier. The brilliant qualities of the Hon. Charles H. Tupper and his honest, straightforward administration of the Department of Marine and Fisheries pointed to his remain- ing in that position, while the financial skill of Mr. Foster was retained in the Department whose dry details and principles of management he had enlivened with such genuine eloquence. Circumstances caused the retirement of Mr. Carling from a post to which he had devoted much time and patient labour, but if he was no longer Minister of Agriculture, he had shortly afterwards the honour of receiving Knighthood from Her Majesty the Queen. So, with Sir Frank Smith, whose business shrewdness and experience made his advice invaluable to any Cabinet. Sir Adolphe Caron had not long before left the Department of Militia and Defence, in which he had done such really strenuous service during the rebellion, and ho once more accepted the Postmaster-Generalship. Such was the composition of the Government which ! ' • ■-• r -ft? .' V fttfi 246 LIFE AND WORK OF I I m " ' t I Sir John Thompson was now to lead airs'.d the shoals and rocks which are always strewn so plentifully before the ship of state. Hi.s accession to nominal, as wail as real, power was well received throughout the country. The French-Canadian Consei vative press was a unit in praise of the man and his record, his ability and his services. The Ottawa Citizen spoke of him as " a statesman of the weightiest calibre, deep in his knowledge of human nature and human affairs, of extensive reading and accurate pnd varied information, an orator and a tactician above all." It described him as one in whom the country had full faith. The Toronto Empire declared that " in every duty to which the necessity of the hour has summoned him, Sir John Thompson has been a conspicuous success. He has been a brilliant Minister. He is the absolute master of the House of Commons." The Toronto Qlohe announced that the man who by " pre-eminence of ability commands the Premiership," had at last got it, while the Montreal Herald with all its strong Liberal prejudicfs declared that " He has rendered the Conservative party more valuable service since Sir John Macdonald's death than perhaps any other living man could have done.' The Maritime Provinces were enthusiastic in express- ing pride at the success of the leader from Nova-Scotia, and the press was almost united in praise of his personal quali- ties and admitted abilities. But the unpleasant religious issue refused to be entirely suppressed, and the opinion of m'litant Protestantism was voiced by the Toronto Mail of a short time before his accession to powor, and by the Montreal Witness of the day after. The former declared it " difficult to believe that the political manap-^rs of the Orange order will be able to induce the order for the sake of spoils to trail the fi^gy of William III. behind apolitical confederate of the order of Father Petr©." The latter :H-| nji ■ SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 2i7 announced that " Sir John Thompson, nomine© of the Archbishop of Halifax and disciple of the Jesuits, has become by the people's permission, absolute ruler of Canada." It seemed useless to argue with this sort of spirit. It was pointed out that a Catholic Premier would be apt to hold the scales of justice very rigidly in connection with those of his own religion so as to prove his entire freedom from bias or bigotry. It was urged that no man in a Canadian Cabinet, however strong might be his influence, could in these times of suspicion either counsel or practice an injustice towards any race or creed. But it was, of course, little use placing such consider- ations—to say nothing of facts regarding a statesman's honourable character and career — before men who did not believe that a Roman Catholic could possess any qualities, good or bad, which were not subservient to the will of his C.iirch. Perhaps in this connection the brightest and best indication of whut was really the opinion of a vast majority of Canadians found expression in the Globe's further com- ment upon the new Premier: " With the fact that Sir John Thompson is a Roman Catholic, we have nothing to do. It would be a poor tribute to the liberaHty and intelligence of the Canadian people if it were laid down that a Roman Catholic may nob equally with a Protestant aspire to the highest office within their gift, and any attempt to arouse sectarian prejudice over his appointment will not make for the dignity of Canadian politics or the welfare of the country." In assuming the responsibilities of his position, how- ever, the new leader was quite well aware of the difficul- ties before him. Canada will never be an easy country to govern, and whether its popular ruler be a Catholic or an Orangeman, an English-Canadian or a French-Canadian, he will have to encounter questions of the most conflicting i ; til '■, ■',;■■, ■■HII t li 2-18 LTFE AND WORK OF interest, and the most embarassino^ import. And in speak- ing some time after this with reference to the arduous work which had been done by Sir John A. Macdonald, the new Premier gave a striking description of the labours re- quired in the position which he was then himself filling. Day after day, he declared, was occupied by increasing toil, unwearying watchfulness and painful devotion to details. Night after night when men in all other occupations were enjoying rest in their homes, he would be at his work in the House of Commons, seldom leaving until early morning, and often boginning a long and arduous effort after midnight. This was the work which Sir John Thompson had now taken up in all its fulness, and that he never shrank from any portion of it, is writ large in the history of the next two years. Meantime the four new Ministers had gone to their constituents, and been re-elected by acclamation; Mr. Vv'^allace, in West York, Mr. Wood in Brockville, Mr. Ives in Sherbrooke, and Mr. Curran in Montreal Centre. The speech delivered by Mr. Clarke Wallace in the village of Weston upon the occasion of his re-election, on Decem- ber 2l8t, contained an interesting explanation of his rea- sons for accepting office, and concerning certain Orange objections to the new Premier. '* Sir John Thompson," said the speaker, " is the Premier of Canada to-day, and some people have objected to him, not on account of his lack of ability, for he is one of the ablest men in Canada ; not because of his want of integrity, for no man's reputa- tion is more unblemished; not because of his want of devotion to the interests of his country, but, and I will put it plainly, because he is a Roman Catholic. I do not view it in that light. I do not consider that an objection to a man's becoming Premier of Canada." He then went on to say that he was an Orangeman, and was proud of it ; that he bad been one for almost a quarter of a century ; and Hon. John Costigak M. P. Secretary of State mm} 1 !i '1 .1 '■ )', ^ ; il i ! ! !i , lil ! I iili SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 251 that he had been elevated to the highest position within the gift of the Orangemen, not only of Canada, but of the world. But nowhere in the principles of the Order could be found word or line which would prevent a Roman Catholic from the free exercise of his national privileges : " Sir John Thompson is a loyal Canadian. He has the same light as any man in this Dominion to accept the office of Premier, and as an Orangeman, I am bound to support every man in the exercise of his constitutional rights. Therefore, I stand here to-day, on my obligations as an Orangeman, consistently, squarely, and I believe properly." This manly speech by Mr. Wallace did much to place the new Premier in a better and truer light before a portion of the community which had been inclined, perhaps naturally, to feel considerably prejudiced against him. During the Session of 1892, immediately preceding Sir John Thompson's assumption of the Premiership, two events had occurred which are worth being recorded. Reference has already been made to the Redistribution measure, to tho Elliott case, and t(j the Caron charges In his motion regarding the Crown Prosecutions, instituted as a result of the Tarte-McOreevy investigation, and in the speech which accompanied it, the Minister of Justice amply vindicated his own position and that of the Government. His resolution as presented to the House, on April 12th, was to the effect that all statements, admissions, and evidence produced before the Committees of the House, during the Session of 1S91, should now be available for use in the Courts ; that all clerks, stenographers, and other officials in the service of the House should l)e eligible as witnesses ; and that all books, papers, and other documents which had been previously produced should be once more brought forward, and used in the trials now being insti- 252 LIFE AND WORK OP tuted. The cases named were those against Connolly and McGreevy for conspiracy; against John R. Arnoldi for malfeasance in office; against Talbot and Larose for con- spiracy ; and against eleven other persons or firms for the recovery of money. Some opposition was made upon constitutional grounds, but the motion was, of course, carried, and enabled the Government to have everything that was possible done towards the conviction and punish- ment of those who had defrauded the country. On the 28th of June an incident happe"ved which delighted the Convervative members of the House beyond measure, astonished the country and the Opposition, and perhaps surprised the Minister of Justice himself. Some days previous to that date, Sir Richard Cartwright had announced that he was going to say something which he wished the Leader of the House to hear, and intimated that he intended to address him personally and particularly. When the time came he made a characteristically strong speech; denouncing the judiciary in connection with the recent election trials ; the ~ "ople for their action in return- ing so many " corruptionists " to the House in the bye- elections the Government for renewed evidences of boodling ; the Minister of Justice for having, as ho alleged, purchased a seat in Parliament, by obtaining in 1885 the appointment of Mr. Mclsaac, to a County Court Judgeship in Nova-Scotia. If the speaker had intended to "draw" Sir John Thompson, he was for once successful. To the amazement of its members, the House listened to a speech which was absolutely stormy in its character, bitter in its invective, and personal in its application. It was a perfect whirl- wind of denunciation from a man upon whom the Commons was accuGlomed to look as the embodiment of dignity, of reserve, of suppression in language, and of moderation in SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 253 tone. But the delight of the Oonservatives was corres- pondingly great at the revelation of this new side to the character of their leader, and in its particular application to an opponent whom many disliked personally as well aa politically. The Minister of Justice commenced by endeavoring to find some reason for Sir Richard's effort in the dying days of the Session. " Perhaps," he said, " in ransacking his speeches of the past, he had found that there was some adjective which he had missed, and he wanted to get it before the House." Then he referred to the address just delivered, as " one of those war, famine, and pestilence speeches which have so often carried the country for the Government." He denounced the Liberal leader who had turned and pointed at him as having shown an intimate knowledge of criminal law, and as having, no doubt, been a successful defender of dangerous criminals. " Sir," said the Minister of Justice, " I decline the hon. gentleman's brief." Sir Eichard Cartwright here interrupted with the remark, " You must have the fee first," and brought upon himself the following onslaught : " I have had some experience, both in defending criminals and in prosecuting them ; I have never shrunk in my calling, as a member of the Bar, from taking any man's case, no matter how desperate it might be, for the purpose of saying for him what he might lawfully say for himself ; but I have sometimes spurned the fee of a blatant scoundrel who denounced everybody else in the world, and was himself the most truculent savage of them all." This last fierce sentence was long remembered by those who heard it, and is still cherished by the many who have suffered personally from Sir Richard's own powers of invective. Then Sir John Thompson went on to declare that the hon. gentleman would rather any day abuse his PQt i ¥■ I i • 254 LIFE AND WORK OF country and defame it than eat his breakfast. " 1, as a member of the Liberal-Conservative party, owe him such a debt of gratitude that if it shall be necessary to retain his services in the party which* he does not lead, and which would not have him for a leader, and which barely tolerates him as a supporter — if it be necessary in order to retain him in that capacity, I, for one, will propr;-6 a subsidy to Parliament to keep him there." He defended the Judges of the Dominion ; referred to the pride which Sir John Macdonald had always taken in keeping the Judiciary free from the stain of partisan appointments ; explained clearly but briefly the reasons for the transfer of Mr. Mclsaac froiii Parliament to the Bench, and his own recommendation of the selection, aside altogether from his personal elevation to a position which he had twice refused before finally accepting it ; and vigourously denied the fitness of Sir Richard Cartwright to sit in judgment upon the Judiciary — " He above all others made in the same mould, which, thank God, nature broke when she cast him." Such, in a nutshell, was the famous speech which Mr. Laurier characterized in reply as a descent from " the language of Parliament to iue invective of Billingsgate." No defence of Sir Richard Cartwright is required in this connection. He can always take care of himself. Nor is it necessary to criticise Sir John Thompson for the unique character of this utterance. That it was unusual is suflS- cient evidence of the tremendous provocation under which it was delivered, and that it was instinct with all 'he vigonrous invective of a strong and generally sup] nature, simply proves that the Minister of Justice a man and not a saint, and that while his passions were as a rule thoroughly controlled, yet they could at times burst out and show his opponents that he wa.'^ well able to answer fire with fire. ^m 1 1 sill John THOMPSON. 255 CHAPTER XIV. Manitoba Schools' Legislation. »1 )0 I to Manitoba has contributed several difficult problems for national solution. It produced Riel; it developed a hot agitation for Provincial rights ; it has given the Dominion a separate school question. Struggles over religious educa- tion are, of course, by no means uncommon in Canada, and the one which Sir John Thompson had to deal with has been neither better nor worse than difficulties in the same connection which most other countries have at times had to face. Prior to 1863 Ontario was torn with dissensions con- cerning its educational system, and the Hon. George Brown led in an agitation against Roman Catholic separate schools, which was as earnest as it was finally ineffectual. The result of this prolonged conflict was that it became tolerably clear, for good or ill, that it was impossible to harmonize Protestants and Roman Catholics upon the question of education, and that it only remained for the framers of Confederation to effect some compromise by which a Protestant minority in Quebec and a Roman Catholic minority in Ontario should be provided with a secure system of separate schools. This was achieved by •giving them in each case a constitutional guarantee of all rights and privileges existing at the tim.e of the Union. They were, necessarily, subject to the jurisdiction, in other respects, of the Provincial Legislatures; and, curiously enough, the concessions made to the supporters of minority sc^ 'ols in each of these two Provinces have been the cause of jmplaints from the religious majority. The separate ll ■■MMHSHi 256 LIFE AND WORK Ot schools, therefore, have had nothing to complain of in either Ontario or Quebec. But in Manitoba it has been very different;. The sys- tem was not the same as elsewhere ; the Province did not enter the Dominion under similar conditions ; and the fate of the schools has since become involved in tbo general and complex question of Provincial rights. Manitoba entered the Union in 1870. The population was about equally divided, between Catholics an'I Protestants, and as a large influx of French Canadians w.is expected in the future, it was at that time very generally believed that the balance would be more evenly preserved than has been the case. Under these circumstances the Dominion Parliament had to consider the power which it might be desirable to invest the future majority with, and, following the precedent of thb Confederation Act, authority was given to the Legis lature over edmiatioxi, subject to the preservation of rights existing at the time of the Union. And it was afterwards claimed that the privilege of an appeal to the Govemor- General-in- Council was also allowed in the event of any of those rights being infringed. It has been since admitted that no law, ordinance or regulation existed at the time of union with respect to edu- cation. The point of the future dispute turned, therefore, upon how far the " practice " then prevalent was a privi- lege and right under the laws. Archbishop Tache, whose evidence in the subsequent Barrett case was accepted as ' accurate and complete, states that there were a number of effective schools for children, some of them being regulated and controlled by the Roman Catholic Church, and others by various Protestant denominations. The means required for the support of the Catholic schools were supplied partly by fees and partly out of funds contributed to the Church by its members. During this period neither Catholics nor ,VVm. Patersox, M.P. Brant/ord, lis 1 i 17 ,rfii. SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 259 Protestanis had interest in or control over any scjiools but those pertaining to their respective beliefs. In 1871, shortly after joining the Dominion, a law was passed by the Manitoban Legislature which established a system of denominational education in what were then called the common schools. By this act twelve eh^ctoral divisions, comprising in the main a Protestant population, were to be considered as constituting twelve Protestant school districts, under the management of the Protestant section of the Board of Education. Similarly, twelve dis - Mcts, made up chiefly of a Roman Catholic population, were constituted an equal number of Catholic school dis- tricts, and were placed under the control of the Catholic section of the Provincial Education Board. Each school division raised the contribution required in addition to the amount given from the pviblic funds, as might be decided at its annual meeting. And without the special sanction of its section of the Board of Education, only one school could be established in each district. Changes suited to the differing proportions of the popu- lation were made in 1875 ; but the general principle was still maintained. And the system cannot be said to have worked badly, or to have caused any very serious trouble be- tween the religious divisions of the Province. In 1890, however, a portion of the sectarian wave which had failed to engulf Ontario, overcame the Protestants of the Prairie Province — now in a large majority — and the Premier, Mr. Tliomas Greenway, with his able lieutenant, Attorney-Gen- eral Martin, seized' the favourable and popular moment to establish a common school system. By the Act then passed, all scliool taxes, whether derived from Protestants or Catho- lics, were appropriated to the support of the new public schools, and the old arrangements constituting two Boards of Education, were of course repealed. Needless to say the 260 LIFE AND WOUR OF Roman Catholics all over the Dominion were seriously aroused by this action. It seemed to threaten their rights everywhere as well as those they claimed in Manitoba. Strenuous pressure was brought to bear upon the Dominion Government to disallov/ the Act as infringing the rights of the minority. A petition dated 6th March, 1891, and signed by the Roman Catholic Archbishops and Bishops of the Dominion, was presented, stating that both the Schools' Act and the one abolishing the dual language ays- tem in Manitoba were "contrary to the dearests interests " of a large portion of the loyal subjects of Her Majesty ; con- trary to " the assurances given during the negotiations " which determined the entry of the Provinces into Confed- eration; contrary to the terms of the British North America Act, and of the Manitoba Act ; contrary to the principles of public good faith. A little later, on April 4th, the French press of Quebec, published a pastoral letter, issued by Cardinal Taschereau and the hierarchy of the Province, which was read in all the Catholic Churches, and claimed that the legislation in question would " destroy the faith of the Catholic children " of Manitoba, and would " despoil the Church of its sacred rights." It urged once more " the control of the Church over the education of Catholic children in the schools," and called upon all Catho- lics " to pray and to work for justice." Following, however, the precedent set in ihe Jesuits' Estates Case, the Public Schools' bill was allowed by the Government to go into operation, as well as the one abolishing the official use of tl ■ Fronch language in the Pro- vincial Legislafaire. B' ' m tho case of the Schools' Act the Government '~\timatea it-s willingness to pay the expenses involved i ing the constitutionality of the measure. Meantime, .Aj^^peal had been entered by Mr. J. K. Barrett, of Winnipeg, in the interest of the local Catholic ratepayer, SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 261 if and against two city by-laws which imposed a rate of taxa- tion upon Catholics and Protestants alike, for the support of the public schools. He claimed that the old law was still in force, and based his case upon the 22nd section of the Manitoba Act, under which the Province entered the Union, and which states that " Nothing in any such law 'Provincial) shall prejudicially affect any right or privilege, with respect to denominational scliools, which any class of persons have by law or practice in the Province at the Union." The Manitoba Government maintained, as against this plea, that a Separate School system was not really in exist- ence prior to the Province entering the Confederation and that consequently the Roman Catholic minority possessed no guarantee whatever. On the 2nd of February, 1891, the Court of Queen'B Bench in Manitoba had sustained tlie validity of the Act, three Judges being favourable and one opposed. Chief Justice Taylor gave an able review of the case, holding in substance that the general educational in- terests of the people had been dealt with under the dispu- ted legislation and that no rights or privileges possessed before confederation had been affected. Mr. Justice Dubuc — a French -Canadian — dissented and upheld the Catholic contention. The case was at once appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Towards the end of October judgment was given by the latter body declaring the Act ultra vires, allowing the appeals, and quashing the city by-laws. Chief Justice Ritchie in presenting the unanimous decision of the ( 'ourt hild that the Act of Union prohili ed t^e abolition of Sep rate Schools by Local Legislatures, There was, of course, great excitement in Winnipeg over the result, and the Local Guv.'rnment anncn c d its intention of at once appealing the case to the Imperial Privy Council At the ';!• Ill f S HI F"?^ 26^ LIFE AND WORK OF Siime time a similar test case on behalf of the Church of England in Manitoba, and claiming' the right of that body- to have separate schools, on the ground that the Episcopa- lians had possessed parochial schools prior to the Union, was also sent forward on appeal. Late in July, 1892, the decision of the highest British Court of Appeal upheld the Manitoba Courts, declared the legality of the Act of 1890, and reversed the judgment of the Supreme Court of the Dominion. Meantime, in advising the Governor-General- in-Council to allow the Act in due course, Sir John Thomp- son as Minister of Justice, submitted a Report on March 21st, 1891, which has since been the cause of considerable controversy. He reviewed the admitted legal powers of the Provincial Legislature with regard to education, and the questions of fact, of practice, or of privilege which he declared it would be wiser to leave to the decision of the Courts, than for any Government to attempt to deal with. "If the appeal should be successful these Acts will be an- nulled by judicial decision and the Roman Catholic minority in Manitoba will receive protection and redress." He then pointed out that if on the other hand the legal controversy should result in the Manitoba Courts being sustained the time would come for consideration by the Government of the various petitions which had been presented on behalf of the ministry, under the terms of a portion of Section 22 of the Manitoba Act which reads: "An appeal shall lie to the Governor-General-in-Council from any act or decision of the Legislature of the Province, or of any provincial authority affecting any right or privilege of the Protestant or Roman CaH^iolic minority of the Queen's subjects, in rola- t'on to education." . . . Parliament may make remedial laws for the due execution of the provisions of this section, and of any decision of the Governor-General-in-Council." It has often been said since, that Sir John Thompson StR JOHN THOMPSON. 26.1 ' ■ '*>'' expected the Schools' Act to be declared ultra vires, and did not anticipate that this right of appeal to the Govern- ment would ever be asked for or utilized. But his language in concluding this Report does not seem to admit of two meanings : " Those sub-sections contain in effect the provi- sions which have been made as to all the Provinces, and are obviously those under which the constitution intended that the Government of the Dominion should proceed if it should at any time become necessary that the Federal powers should be resorted to for the protection of a Protes- tant or Roman Catholic minority against any Act or deci- sion of the Legislature of the Province or of any provincial authority, affecting 'any right or privilege' of any such minority ' in relation to education.* " Upon the decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council being announced, the agitation for an appeal to the Government and for remedial legislature was renewed, and, of course, drew increased strength from the Report just quoted, although Sir John afterwards claimed, and especially in the House during a debate on April 26th, 1894, that he only referred to the petitions received at that time and took this method of indicating that they could not then be considered while the matter was still pending in the Courts. Strong language was used upon both sides in connection with the possibility of executive interference. The Toronto Mail declared on August 2nd that " the tribunal of last resort has pronounced Manitoba free ; and free bhat Province shall be if the English population has any voice in the government of this country." Mi*. Mercier, speaking in Montreal on February 2t\vd fallowing, urged with equal emphasis upon the people of Quebec that " we must put aside all the divisions and hatreds of the past, and join in a fraternal union to place two millions of French Canadians against the (.ippresaian of the other Provinces." J^ i Rrrssii rr if ' 264 LIPI) AND WORK of I!: ^1 Meantime the Dominion Government had appointed a Sub-Committee of Council composed of Sir John Thomp- son, the Hon. Mr. Bowell and the Hon. Mr. Chapleau, to hear the appeals which had been previously presented, and to listen to Mr. John S. Ewart, Q.C., of Winnipeg, on behalf of the petitioners. On November 27th, Mr. Ewart intro- duced his case and made a stronsf deliverance, and on January 6th following, the Sub-Committee reported to the Governor-General-in-Council a synopsis of the whole matter, prepared, in all probability, by Sir John Thompson, and recommending that another hearing should be given in which the Government of Manitoba might be represented. The Provincial Ministry refused, however, to consider the question as in any way open or to send a representative. The Report also indicated certain bases for consideration as to whether the Governor-General-in-Council really had the power to grant remedial legislation under existing circum- stancea These suggestions were subsequently brought before the Supreme Court in the form of six questions, and were dealt with on February 26th, 1894, by a judgment of interpretation, which held that the Roman Catholics had no ground upon which to ask for such legislation. The Court stood three to two upon the question, Mr. Justice Sedge- wick not taking part in the case as he had assisted in its preparation while acting as Deputy-Minister of Justice. Curiously enough, Mr. Justice King, who, as Premier, had many years before assisted in abolishing the New Bruns- wicls: Separate Schools, supported the Catholic contention, while Mr. Jus^'-e Taschereau, a French Canadian, opposed the claims of his own co-religionists. Incidentally, this illustrates the high character of the Canadian Judiciary. From this decision the minority once more appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and it was not SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 235 until after the death of Sir John Thompson that a decision was finally reached by that distinguished body, declaring that the Dominion Government under the British North America and Manitoba Acts did possess the right to grant the remedial legislation which had been so clearly fore- shadowed as constitutionally possible by the Minister of Justice's famous Report in 1891. Following upon the Government's assumption of judi- cial functions in connection with the hearing of the peti- tions, and prior to the submission of the new phase of the question to the Imperial Privy Council, an interesting debate took place in the House of Commons on March 6th, 1893, which was engineered by that master of political fireworks, Mr. J. Israel Tarte. The member for L'Islet had just returned from a campaign in his constituency during which he had vigourously abused the Judiciary of Quebec, and threatened innumerable revelations of Tory and national corruption. He was, therefore, in splendid trim to fight on behalf of the Manitoba minority, or in fact, upon any other question which might injure the G(wem- ment of the day. His motion expressed " disapproval of the action of the Government in dealing virith the Manitoba school question, and in assuming to be possessed of judicial functions conflicting with their duties as constitutional advisers of the Crown.** His speech was, as usual, rather interesting, and intro- duced, as was also generally the case, a new charge. He declared that in December, 1890, when the general elec- tions were coming on, Mr. Chapleau had beecr- sent as a delegate from the Government to see Archbishop Tach6, who was tiien in Montreal, and that during the interview which took place he made distinct and formal promises as to Conservative policy in the Manitoba Schools' question. The impulsive Frenchman then pointed triumphantly to i !66 LIFE AND WORK OJ* m I i the report of the Minister of Justice in the month of March following, as being the public pledge resulting from the private promises. Of course, this statement aroused con- siderable discussion, although Mr. Tarte's tendency to make rash and irresponsible charges at a moment's notice, hardly made it a matter of importance. In a subsequent criticism of the member for L'Islet, Mr. Lariviere, a Conservative member from Manitoba, was decidedly witty. He declared that Mr. Tarte "had belonged to all parties, past and piesent (and he was going to say, future) in Canada. He had said that he came to the House as a Conservative to make the party pure, and what was the result ? Mr. Tarte was the first man to be out of the party." Sir John Thompson in his reply made a lengthy and elaborate defence of the Government. It cannot be said that he had a sympathetic audience. However wise might be the action of the Ministry in exercisipg care ; in giving every side a fair and full hearing; in having every legal security for its policy in the premises; the delay could hardly be popular with the great body of ministerial supporters from the West or from Ontario. They wanted the question out of the way, as did the Opposition mem- bers from the latter province^ and disallowance was so against the current of thought and sentiment in Ontario that the principle of full justice to a minority hardly obtained fair play, so far as individual feeling was con- cerned, though receiving it in practice through the votes and passive support of the members. Upon questions of this nature Mr. McCarthy would have been naturally the leader of hh Province, had he not in so many ways estranged (conservative sympathy. And perhaps, in the interest of Canadian unity, it is as well that such was the case. The Premier claimed that Mr. Tarte and Mr. McCarthy, m "I Rev. Du. Carman. Superintendent oj the MethwUat Church in Canada. ^ SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 269 though as opposite as the poles in their opinions, were in this motion working together against the Government. He referred to the New Brunswick school case and to that of Prince Edward Island, and pointed out that in both, cases the Roman Catholic minority had appealed on the ground of its rights being prejudicially atFected. Parlia- ment had then laid down the principle that such questions ought not to be settled by disallowance, and this position had been further sustained by the action taken in the Jesuits' Estates question, although the latter dealt with a Protestant minority. In dealing with Mr. Tarte's charge regarding the alleged promise to Archbishop Tach6, he " denied that any such promise had been made, or that any Minister, or any other gentleman, or any living person was sent or delegated or authorized by the Government of Canada to go upon any such mission." Archbishop Tachd " knew, as the Government knew, the folly of exercising disallowance in such a case." Replying to the question whether the decision in the New Brunswick case was not sufficient in its general application, without new appeals, Sir John pointed out the obvious fact that the rights of the respective minorities rested on different statutes. Then he continued : " In con- sequence of the phraseology of the Supreme Court Act, the Government had no other alternative than to submit the case the way it did, but they were far from being influ- enced by any desire to assail the province. The litigation which went to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was from first to last on the subject of the validity of the statutes complained of. The question as to what rights the minority might have in an application by way of appeal to the Governor-General for redress, had nothing to do with the question decided there in the first appeal, and the litigation had nothing to do with it." ,[rf|>l! 270 LIFE AND WORK OF fi s: III He spoke of the ground taken by Mr. Blake in 1890, when calling the attention of the House to these very- matters, and claimed that his arguments &i that time " applied with powerful force to this particular question ; that Sir John Macdonfild accepted the resolution submitted by Mr. Blake in the sense in which it was -put forward ; and that in the following year it was assented to by the whole of Parliament in being embodied in the Supreme Court Act. The exact machinery which the Government had followed in the Manitoba schools' case was that which Mr. Blake had suggested and Parliament had adopted." A vigourous defence of the right of the Govornment under the constitution to receive petitions in a judicial, and not a political sense, was made, and the Premier instanced as a case in point the duties assigned by Act of Parliament to the Railway Committee of the Canadian Privy Council. He concluded a strong speech with the expression of a belief that Manitoba as a constitutional province would " obey the du'tates of the highest Court of the Empire as to what its constitution was." Mr. McCarthy on the succeeding Jay replied to tliid defence, and soundly denounced the Government for its delay in settling this iiu'^h vexed question. The decision, one w^y or :ho other was vita!. " It was whether the Province of Manitoba, with a population of 150,000, of whom not aor« than 20,000 were iloman Catholicn, v/as to have imposed upon it against its will, a Separate School system." He declared thai; three-quarters of the people in^jQntario wore altogether opposed to that method ox edueati.jn, and thought "nothing more dangerous, noth>:ng more subversive of the principles of our constitu- tion, could be tolerated than that the Cabinet of the Dominion should assume to act in this or any othei* ques- tion, as a judicial body. l: ; r SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 271 Mr. Laurier made an interesting assertion in connection with a new claim from t-.e Manitoban minority to the effect that the limited religious teaching allowed in the public schools of that Province made them, in fact and reality, Protestant, and not national, schools. " If," said he, " this be infleed true ; if, under the guise of public schools, the Protestant schools are being continued and Roman Catholic children are being forced to attend these Protes- tant schools, I say, and let my words be heard by friends and foes over the length and breadth of the land, the strongest case has been made out for interference, and though mj?^ life as a public man depended upon it, I would undertake to say on every platform in Ontario and in Manitoba that the Roman Catholics of Manitoba had been put to the most infamous treatment." But the force of this utterance is somewhat modified by the fact that the genial Liberal leader afterwards visited the Prairie Province but refused to make any definite pronouncement upon the question of whether the schools were in any degree Protes- tant or were not. After three days' debate, the division was taken and Mr. Tarte's resolution was defeated by 120 to 71. There can be little doubt in an unbiassed mind as to what were Sir John Thompson's private views upon this question. It would naturally be one of sympathy with his v>o-religionists in the hardships they claimed to have suffered and in the injustice alleged to have been meted out to them, and which had been so vipourously pourtrayed by the hierarchy of his own Church. To tba sincere Roman Catholic, religious schools appear to be as vital and important »A is free speech to the agitator, liberty of wor- ship to the ProteKtant, or British connectioii to the loyalist. Publicly, his policy in this matter indicated the fullest intention to do his duty by the 0k,te whichever way the pi r i- i 272 LIFE AND WORK OF verdict of the Courts might eventually go, but it also pointed very distinctly to the expectation, if not hope, that some measure of remedial legislation would be ultimately found necessary, and thus harmonize duty and inclination. And who can blame an honest Canadian, be he Protestant or Roman Catholic, for desiring such an end to any vexed question ? So long as a public man and a statesman puts duty first and personal wishes second, he cannot be fairly criticised for hoping that the two may be eventually com- bined. Nor can Sir John Thompson be blamed by any honourable man for giving a Canadian religious minority every possible opportunity for obtaining consideration of alleged wrongs and the use of every available judicial priv- ilege. Looking at the question, therefore, from his stand- point as a public man, it was essentially a legal and consti- tutional issue ; one which, ought to be kept from the heated arena of party politics ; and one which might well be decided upon a non-pai-tisan basis of toleration and liber- ality. if i m-m\ ill Jk^ SIR John TH0Mt*80N. %n CHAPTER XV. Canada and the United States. Upon no question was the stand taken by Sir John Thompson more clear and distinct, more hone able and popular, than his position regarding Canadian relations with the United States. He was known to hold strong opinions as to American treatment of the Dominion, and concerning the policy for Canada to adopt in return. He despised any attitude of weakness or timidity ; he disliked all bluster or attempts at intimidation ; he was honestly anxious to be upon the friendliest terras with the great Re- public which might be compatible with the protection and development of Canadian interests. But he was firm as a rock in the refusal to discuss any reciprocity which might endanger national industries or give the slightest hostile treatment to British interests. For n any years past the American government has been apparently willing to come to some commercial arrangement with Canada which might give the manufac- turers of the United States control of t'tie markets of the Doir»'nion, and at the same time weaken British connection by the congenial process of cutting away the ground from under British trade and diminishing the Imperial sentiment in both Canada and England through a commercial System of discrimination against the ]>r<)ductH of the Mother-Country. To this oud the Commercial Union movement was aitled by Americtm influence and, according to party sttitcments, by American money. For this thinly disguised purpose, the fulminations of Mr. CJoldwin Smith agaiiist Canadian pro- i8 n- ii'lM:!: 'k ms\ h ■ it| "ft 274 LIFE AND WORK OP tection were joyfully welcomed by the enthusiastic support- ers of American protection. With this in view, resolutions favourable to commercial relations of the closest kind were passed by Confess, while limited reciprocity was abso- lutely refused by the Government. Now and then, when the success of other methods was recognised for the moment as impossible, threats were freely used against the Canadian Pacific Railway, attacks were made upon the Bonding system, or fiscal coercion was tried such as that embodied in the agricultural schedule of the McKinley bill. Yet it can be safely said that Canada has more than done its duty towards the United States. It has never abrogated a treaty, never broken an arrangement, never obtained American territory by playing upon the natural weakness of friendly negotiators. It has given much and received little. Many unavailing attempts have been made to obtain a fair measure of reciprocity. Friendly manifes- tations have been constant from the days when 40,000 Canadians served in the armiep of the North, to the time when all Canada joined the Republic in mourning for the murdered Garfield. The partial abrogation of the Wash- ington Treaty, the Behring Sea seizures, the Atlantic Fish- eries' dispute, and the Washington negotiations of 1892, occupy the otlier side of the shield. And not the least of the services ivhich Sir John Thompson lendered the Dominion was his share in the attempt made in 1892 to obt lin a. reciprocal trade arrange- ment with the United States. That last prolonged efibrt indicated miia results as clearly as language could express, the impossibility of obtaining a treaty such as Canadians could honourably accepi;. It proved to a demonatraiion that the American Government would consider no arrangement which did not discriminate against British goods, place a uniform tariff around the continent, and establish some 'M- Sir JOHN THOMPSON. 275 system of international receipts and excise, controlled by a Joint Commission. This statement, of course, applies only to a Republican policy. The Democratic party will make no reciprocity treaties with any country, believing that they do more harm than good, though no doubt it would negotiate upon the basis of annexation. On the 31st of March, 1891, and some three weeks after the general elections. Sir Charles Tupper proceeded to Washington in order to confer with the British ambassador. Sir Julian Pauncefote, concerning the proposed reciprocity negotiations. On April 2nd he visited Mr. Blaine, the Sec- retary of State, and explained the desire of the Canad^a^ Government to obtain some immediate basis for discuRi; ti. Mr. Blaine apparently received the proposition vith favour, and Sir Charles, returning to Ottawa, obtained the co- operation of the Hon. Mr. Foster, Minister of Finance, and Sir John Thompson, Ministei of Justice, who we'.e appointed to act with him at the informal interview which liad been arranged, and during the farther negotiations a liich were expected. The three delegates arrived in Washington on the morning of the 6th inst. only to find that they had missed a telegram from Mr. Blaine, asking for the postponement of the meeting on the ground that tlie President desired to be present during the discussion — which his engagements just then did not permit. However, aciiompanied by the British Ambassador, they waited upon the Secretary of State and were cordially received. The conference was, of course, very brief and the visitors left for home tlio same day. The New^York Herald very pleasantly announced that their return was " neither desired nor expected," and that " apart from his own reasons for not letting down the Mc- Kinley barriers raised against the introduction of Canadian live stock, aud farm and dairy produce, the President had ^^p 276 LIFE AND WORK OF excellent grounds for believing that the Senate would not ratify any reciprocity made with Canada." On April 9th following it was stated that the negotiations would be renewed on October 12th. At that date another postpone- ment took place on account of Mr. Blaine's ill-health, but finally the conference was held early in 1892, commencing on the 10th of February. The discussion which then took place between Sir John Thompson, the Hon. Mackenzie Bowell and the Hon. G. E. Foster, representing Canada ; Sir Julian Pauncefote representing Great Britain ; and the Hon. James G. Blaine and General J. W. Foster representing the United States ; was exceedingly important. An understanding was come to regarding the Alaskan boundary, the adoption of joint regulations for the protection of the fisheries, for recipro- city in wrecking, salvage, and towing in conterminous waters, and for the marking of the boundary-line on Passa- maquaddy Bay. But it was upon the question of trade relations that the hitch occurred and it was in the same connection that the results were so vital. The ofRcial min- utes of the meetings, from which a few extracts must be given, are signed by the three Canadian Ministers, and then in addition there is each day appended the statement *' 1 concur in the above minute of proceedings," signed by Sir Julian Pauncefote. Strong partisans might possibly dispute a statement supported only by the signatures of members of the Canadian Government, but no one with any knowledge of the honourable traditions and practices of Britisli diplomacy, and of tlie high rank and reputation held in it by the British Ambassador at Washiijgton, can for a moment doubt the accuracy of minutes endorsed by him as correct. During the conference which took place on the first day, Mr. Blaine pointed out that no treaty or arrangement ili by Ifirat lient rade H | >ame mk iiin- H t be ■ and H lent B by B ibly B !H of B vith B .icen m tion 1 can B {l.Jlj^ /yjf^'^^'kn^^ 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 1 1 m P' ! 1 J r, • - — Hon. John Christian 8chult/,. JAeut.-Governvr o/ Manitobi;^ ^Kliit SB ^^8 JS*^*^ ™'~^ ■■"'■ SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 279 could be made which did not involve the admission of American manufactures into Canada. Mr. Foster asked in return " whether the United States would insist on differ- ential treatment." Mr. Blaine replied "that the treaty would be of no benefit to the United States if the like treatment were given to other countries, especially as Great Britain was in active competition with the United States in almost every line of manufacture." On the following day " Mr. Foster frankly and fully explained the difficulties which prevented Canada from giving j,ny discrimination to America over British goods or of arranging for the admission of all products free from one country to the other. Revenue considerations, national sentiment, and trade reasons all intervened. Mr. Blaine was equally frank in his reply and declared that " he could easily understand why Canada was reluctant to enter into a treaty of un- limited reciprocity, but that it was clear to his mind that no other arrangement would suit the United States, and that it must be accompanied by discrimination in favor of the United States, especially against Great Britain, who was tlioir great competitor, and that it must likewise be accompanied by the adoption of a uniform tariff for the United States and Canada equal to that of the United States." Such was the announcement which might, have been expected to set at rest all question concerning reciprocal trade relations between Canada and the United States. But it was very far from doing so. The Budget debate in Parliament during the succeeding Session bore ample evidence of the fact that the Opposition proposed to adopt in this connection, and in its fullest meaning, the words " No surrender." After a number of speeches, protesting, urging, explaining and denying, Sir John Thompson took the floor on March 29th, and gave a very complete history 9U\ 280 LIFE AND WORK OF of the origin, procedure, and results of the nefrotintions. Their commencement had l^een very simple. In connection with Newfoundland's attempt to make a separate treaty in 1890 : " We requested Her Majesty's Government to ask that we should be included in any negotiation that took place between the United States and Her Majesty's Gov- ernment in regard to the relations of Newfoundland with the United States, and the answer of Mr. Blaine was that, while he was not willing that Carada should be included in negotiations in regard ^o the Tre^-ty with Newfoundland, he expressed a strong desire to conclude a wide reciprocity treaty with Canada" Then followed the basis for negotiations cabled to London, which also furnished the reason for the dissolution of Parliament in February, 1891. Meantime Lord Knuts- ford, Colonial Secretary, had wired the Governor-General to the following effect on Jar^uary 2nd of that year : " Mr. Blaine replied that to endeavour to obtain the appointment of the formal conunission to arrive at the reciprocity treaty would be useless, but that the United States Government was willing to discuss the question in private with Sir Julian Pauncefote, and one or more delegates from Canada, and to consider every subject as to which there was hope of agreement, on the ground of mutual interests ; if not, and to fun so grave a step until by private discussion he has satisfied himself that good ground existed for expecting an agreement by means of a commission. He added that he would be prepared to enter into private negotiations at any time after 4th March." In this despatch, Sir Jo'\n Thompson pointed out, there was no request, a^ there had been none in any of the pre- vious or following correspondence, for secrecy as to the fact of the negotiaiions taking place. The discussions were to be private, as a matter of course in all diplomatic lIBi' SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 281 negotiations, but there was apparently notliing to prevent the Government from making a public announcement in the matter. Hence his great surprise when iV|ijf! Blaine, on April 1st, and after the elections were over, complained to Sir Julian Pauncefote that a breach of faith had been com- mitted. It now transpired, said Sir John, that a serious blunder had occurred in the sending of the above despatch from London to Ottawa, and that in the place where it will be noticed a hitch in the composition occurs, a sentence was originally included asking that " all pultlic reference to the subject should be avoided." This explanation was received with satisfaction, and if proof were re(j[uired that the American authorities had long since understood the mistake it had been offered in the sitting of the Conference itself. During this year the Canal Tolls' question came up for international consideration. It was another illustration of the unreasonable demands made by the United States in circumstances where Canada was, in a very moderate way, following the example of the Republic and guarding its own interests. By the Washington Treaty of 1871, the American Government had engaged in return for the use of the Canadian canals on terms of equality with the citizens of the Dominion, " to urge upon the State Govern • ments to secure to the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty the use of the several canals connected with the navisration of the lakes or rivers traversed by, or contiguous to, the boundary line." This was never done, although in all the years that followed, the Americans freely used the canals upon which Canada and its people had spent over $50,- 000,000 in iftiprovement and enlargement. In every way the Americans and (IJanadians were placed in Dominion waters upon an equal footing. But of late, the Canadian. Government had passed regulations li^^ samasmgrnaa :mage evaluation test target (mt-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 m 11125 - Ilia IIIII2.2 1116 1.4 2.0 1.8 1.6 di <« ^1 ^^v^ ^ ^ v^^ ? OyjM % # PhotogTdphic Sciences Corporation m ^N^ i. 4^ :\ ^ \ ^ ^ <^ 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTEd, N Y I4S80 (716) 872-4503 ?^>N M 4' ^1 Q>. 282 LIFE AND WORK OP which granted a rebate of 18 cents per ton to any vessel of either co^^try which, coming through the Welland Canal an(^fmhout going to an American port fv r tranship- ment, should send her cargo via Canadian ports or canals to Montreal. Yet this little measure of legitimate protec- tion *o Canadian interests raised such a stir as to finally result in a Retaliation Message from the President, and in all i-inds of threatened complications. And this from a country which by some miserable quibble had got out of, the privileges granted in American canals under the sacred foriii of treaty obligations I President Harrison's proclama- tion of Angust 21st, compelled Canadian vessels to pay 20 cents a ton in pasBinrr through the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, and the same toll wao to be levied on American vessels bound for Canadian ports. Naturally this measure interfered considerably with the Canadian vessels, which in 1891 used the Sault Canal, and carried freight to the extent of 314,000 tons, and passengers to the number of 10,000. The Government did not at first feel like yielding a point in which they had both right and justice upon their side. Speaking at Petrolia on September 7th, Sir John Thompson declared that Canada had never adopted a hostile attitude towards the S'?t.es, or that the Government in this matter had acted ur*Cvirly or contrary to treaty obligations. He pointed out that the enormous sums wh ';h had been ' expended by Canada upon her canals had *' resulted as much for the benefit of the people of the Western States as for the people of Canada. Every foot which Canada had deepened her canals or widened them, and every additional lock or canal which Canada had built, helped the western farmer of the United States to roach hisk market, and enhanced iae value of hip products." He announced, however, that the Dominion would not I ?*.„.i.-L . '**Ar, « 'V" SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 283 "•"^ lid not meet the irritating enactments of the ILTnited States in a beli^erent mood, although the Americ^is had so long used these canals •' upon the same terms as^c^ own peopl©, bearing not one dollar of the burden which it hw-d cost to build them." What the Government had done in tl.a rr, nection was entirely within its rights, and consisted in tnt grant of " a bonus to our lake marine and shipping to cause them to seek our own ports." They had been urged to retaliate, as they well could do, but they were anxious to avoid quarrels even though, as he believed in this case, the spirit of the Canadian people would fully sustain them throughout. Hence the Government had said that " while the rebate system was not a violation of any treaty, ^hey were willing to diacontinue ^t after the present year, not bocause of any wrong m\ olved, but simply for the sake of peace and good neighborhood." There was, of course, some criticism regarding this apparent surrender, but it is toler- ably obvious in view of the rapid work then being done on the Canadian canal at the Sault — which would soon render the country entirely independent in the matter — that the issue was hax-dly worth a prolonged dispute with u a reasonabl e neighbors . Another subject of serious controversy in which the relations of Canada and the United States were more or less involved at this time, was the Bond- Blaine treaty. Mr. Robert Bond was a member of the Whiteway Govern- ment in Newfoundland, and like so many of the politicians in that unhappy island seemed to possess a narrowness of - view, and an inability to appreciate imperial considerations which it is difficult to understand, when united with the possession*, of admitted ability. He waf* exceedingly anxious to negotiate a reciprocity treaty with the United States, and does not appear to have cared very much as to the methods he might adopt in attaining the result, oi as !::!■ ; ' ¥ i II 284 LIFE AND WORK OF to the way in which the desired end might affect other countries with /^'hich Newfoundland was connected by the mutual tie "5;^ allegiance. \^'^ Early in October, 1890, Mr. Bond arrived 'ti Washing- ton with permission from the Imperial Government to enter upon negotiations, subject to the assistance of the British Ambassador, and, of course, to the final approval of the arrangements when completed. Hitherto, in 1854, in 1871, and in 1888, any ner; >ti;3tions concerning the fisheries, in which the .Maritime trovinces of Canada were almost as much interested as the people of the Island, had proceeded coiicun-ently. Necessarily, therefore, the Dominion Govern- ment was aroused to action, and Sir John A. Macdonald at once cabled to the High Commissioner in London : " Can scarcely believe Newfoundland has received authority from Imperial Government to make separate arrangement regarding fis'ieries. I he relations of all the North Ameri- can provinces to the United States and the Empire would be affected. Please represent strongly' how the fishing and commex'cial interests of Canada will be injured by such an arrangement as Bond is currently reported to be making. . . . Our diflficulties under the new American tariff are sufficientlj' great now." An elaborate report was also submitted to the Qov- ernor-General-in-Councll, signed by Sir John Thompson, Minister of Justice, and by the Hon. C. H. Tupper, Minister of Marine and Fisheries. It dealt with the history of previous negotiations and with the general condition of the fishing ijiterests which would be affected by the Bond- Blaine proposals. Then, in reference to the McKinley bill ; the infringement of the Treat;' of 1818; and ihe obvious fact that an arrangement such as that exhibited in the draft which had just been published ; would periiiit New- foundland to discriminate against Canada in favour of Ot ;1I ' SIB JOHN THOAtPyON. 285 foreign country, Sir John and his c511eague entered the following vigourous, effective, and now liistoric, protest : "The protection afforded by the Treaty of 1818 for , upwards of seventy years would thus be taken away from \^.,i Canadian fishermen and Newfoundland fishermen alike, but there would be special compensation to the fishermen of Newfoundland in the shape of removal of duties, while the Canadian fishermen would be made to pay enhanced duties under the new American tariff. While this would, perhaps, be the most effectual method of impressing on the minds of the Canadian people the lesson that they cannot be British subjects and enjoy American markets, Her Majesty's Government can hardly, on reflection, feel sur- prised that Your -Excellency's Government have not for a moment believed that Her Majesty's ministers would co- operate with the authorities of the United States in incul- cating such a lesson at the present timt , ' The report was accepted by the Cabinet anr*. sent to England. Although previously favourable to some arrange- ment, no British Government of the present day would act in the teeth of such a protest from Canada, and th» treaty was pi-omptly " hung up." Then followed the effort by the Dominion to obtain a joint ti'eaty o2 reciprocity, and its failure after prolonged negotiations. Meantiiae the indig- nation of the Islanders was v*?ry great, and the correspon- dence between their Government and tliose of Canada and England became peppery in the extreme. Newfoundland tried to retaliate by refusing to sell bait to Canadian fishermen, while giving Americans all they d^sii'<-d, and the Dominion i-eturned the compliment by putting a moder- ate duty bn fish coming from the Island. Eventually a Conference was agreed upon and in November, 1892, Sir John Tliompson. the Hon. Mackenzie Bowell and the Hon. J. A. Chapleau, representing Canada ; Sir William White- ■| 286 Life and work op Robert .-•^if^ way, the Hon. Robert Bond, and Mr. A. W. Harvey, representing Newfoundland ; met at Halifax to discuss a mutual arrangement, and incidentally, on the part of the Canadian Ministers, to see if the troubles could be settled upon a basis of confederation. The Canadian Minister of Justice in opening the dis- cussion, reviewed the history of previous negotiations ; pointed out that the Bond-Blaine Treaty would have resulted in a distinct discrimination against Canada ; and would have greatly restricted the rights and privileges of her fishermen. He suggested that the following principles should be assented to : I. That Canada as well as N»'v.^foupdland should have the right to take part in such treaties or any negotiations which would affect the interests of both countries. II. That at the very least, no convention should be concluded which both countries should not have the right to avail themselves of. Ho went on to say that * tLa efforts to obtain a fair arrangement with the United States were only relaxed (by Canada) when it was found that the conditions imposed would sow tho seeds of Imperial disintegration," and he thought that "any noparate arrangement such as the Bond- Blaine Convention would divide the hitherto united interests of the British American dependencies." Mr. Bond claimed that his Treaty did not involve any discrimination against Canada, but Mr. Bowell promptly pointed out that in flour and other articles it provided for admission into the States under lower duties than were granted similar Canadian products. Then followed a discussion of an informal kind upon Confederation. Mr. Bowell in an earnest speech urged it as the best and, in fact, the inevit- able, settlement of all their material difficulties, and as a meo.iis of btreugthening British power upon this continent. V Veky Rev. G. M. Grant, D. D. Principal of Queen's fTnivenity, Kitigaton, 1 1 -1 pp h fip'f^ ii fcli SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 289 Sir William White way expressed himself as favourable to the principle, but thought the time had not yet come. Sir John Thompson thought it ought to be carefully considered by the Conference, and might constitute "a solution of all pending difficulties." Mr. Harvey opposed its being dealt with at this time, while Mr. Chapleau dis- cussed the French Shore question. Eventually, an under- standing was arrived at with regard to many of the minor causes of friction, and a little later the Dominion and the Island substantially resumed their old relations. But the Canadian Government positively refused, spoaking through Sir John Thompson, to withdraw its protest against the Bond-Blaine Treaty. Thus ended, for the time, another incident in the external relations of Canada, .j if < 1 I ' I j ; 1 Itt M T9 290 LIFE AND WORK OF u if */' ,'i It!* * L Kl CHAPTER XVT. Connection with the Roman Catholic Church. Sir John Thompson was not a man who wore his reli- gion upon his coat-sleeve. In that respect, as in all other matters of daily life, daily routine, and daily action, he was unobtrusive and undemonstrative. But none the less was he firm and earnest in his belief, and strong in a life which practically embodied his deep sincerity. To him, as it is to many ethers, religion was a matter of the most vital personal importance, but it was one with which the public, or even his own friends, so far as he w^as concerned, hid nothing to do. It was in his estimation and as fa,r as can be judged, the guide to conduct in his private life ; an aid to right living and to right dying. But no man's religion ought to be a subject of political discussion or consideration. There can be little doubt that he even thought the topidne presence, he was in every relation of life an exceptionally good man in the best meaning of the word. I never expect to see in the public life of Canada, another such man, take him aU in all." What the exact process of reasoning waa by which he gradua iy, but surely, changed from Methodism to Roman Catholicism, is shrouded in uncertainty. Possibly the fri-^ndship in early days of a brilliant young Catholic litterateur and controversialist, long since deceased — James •Letter to the author, Deo. 19th, 1894. i'pffl ^i 294 LIFE AND WORK OP Foley — may have first turned his thoughts in that direc- tion ; undoubtedly the eloquent sermons, some years later, of Archbishop (?onnolly, had something to do with the final consummation. Probably also his own lack of im- agination, his dislike of the merely emotional in religion and life, his preference for precedence and power, over appeals to passion or prejudice, had an influence upon the result. And there is much in temperament. John V/esley, warm and impulsive by nature ; liking publicity and excitement, coulci not endure the cold religion of the Church of England, and the dull formalism, which in his time, obscured its worth and hampered its woi-k. He sought some brighter and more popular form of religion and found it in Methodism. Sir John Thompson, on the other hand, with his cold disposi- tion, his dislike of familiarity in tlie individual or ou the part of the public, his fondness for retirement, and rever- ence for authority, must have naturally found the Metho- dist Church uncongenial. One can hardly conceive such a man as he in the post of class-leader, or mixing in the pleasures of a congregational tea-meeting. Hence there is no great difficulty in perceiving the tendency of iihe man. And in his search after something upon which to rest his mind, and in which to obtain com- fort and release from perplexity, he seems to have been deeply impressed by the spectacle of the Church of Rome, based upon centuries of tradition, and building itself up in power and prestige from the mists of antiquity. It had a ready impressed and won over the great minds of New- man and Manning, and no strong reason exists why the same influences should not have modified, and finally controlled, tho faith of Sir John Thompson, The sense of spiritual exaltation a? experienced by many Protestants does not appear to have had great force with him, and strong as was his belief in a Divine Being, and in the prac' Slil JOHN THOMPSON. ^dS r>rac- ical support derivable from prayer, he was probably greatly helped in the earlier stages of his religious experi- ienee by the external aid of authority as voiced by the Church, with all its impressive forms and its many cere- monies. It took Cardinal Newman six years of mental difficulty and gradual development to become a Roman Catholic. Yet during the four years which preceiled the period of doubt, he tells us that he " honestly wished to benefit the Church of England at the expense of the Church of Rome." To Newman eventually, all the world outside of his Church appeared Irifting into atheism ; Catholic inquiry had in the course of centiiries been transmuted through the power of great minds into a sort of science ; revealed dogma as ori- ginally committed to the Church, and as declared by the Church to the world, had assumed all the charm and cer- tainty of infallibility. It was this that eased his mind of doubt, and enabled him without the spiritual sense required from a sincere Protestant, to throw himself into the arms of Rome, and to say some time after his change of faith: "I have had no anxiety of heart whatever. I have been in perfect peace and contentment." So it may have been with Sir John in his gradual cliange from Methodism. And it is interest- ing to note in this connection upon the authority of an intimate friend, who also served under him in a high posi- tion, that the Minister of Justice before finally deciding any important case — especially if it affected the life or the property of an individual — would spend a few moments in silent prayer. Observers of sectarian agitation and its baneful results may well ask how many of Sir John Thompson's critics along these lines could be said to have thus brought their religion into their daily life. There is much also to reflect upon in Archbishop Walsh's statement regarding the dP 'ili i ^96 LIFE ANr WORK OP Premier who had then just died : " In his search after truth, he but followed the Protestant principle of private judgment, and yet for daring to do that which Manning and Newman, and other brilliant, learned, and good men had done before him, he was abused, vilified, and de- nounced." There is equally a sad degree of truth in the assertion of the Hon. G. W. Ross upon an important political occasion at a later date, in the City of Toronto» that the late Premier of Canada, the greatest and ablest man in the Conservative party of the last few years, could not have personally carried in an election some of the wards in that Conservative centre It is at least suffici- ently near the truth to point a serious moral in support of civil and religious liberty. Sir John Thompson could not for a long time under- stand the motives or reasons behind the attacks of the Rev. Dr. Douglas. They were so fierce and unreasonable and grossly untrue, and yet emanated from a man so highly respected, so eloquent and admittedly sincere, that it is little wonder he was puzzled. The Methodist orator declared the Premier to be " a clerical creation " ; pictured him as " enthroned in order to manipulate with Jesuit art the affairs of this country" ; described him as "a lay Jesuit in the Government " ; spoke of " the contrast between the great Chieftain of the past and the man who now sits in his seat and wears the brand of pervert on his brow " ; gravely accused him of having " transformed Mercier into a political brigand," and seemingly endeavoured to make his hearers and readers and followers believe that Sir John Thompson accepted Roman Catholicism in order to promote his political chances, and used his political power in order to advance the interests of his Church. Such allegations concerning a man who notoriously lacked political ambition in the ordinary sense, and who possessed a sincerity and SIR JOHN THOMPSON. $o: strength of personal honour all too rare amongst public men, should have borno their own answer with them. But it appeared probable that Dr. Douglas must have received inspiration from some special direction in making these attacks. Sir John Thompson believed they were instigated by outside influence at a time when the brilliant intellect, or judgment, of the old man was somewhat weakening. Though a Liberal in his politics, it was never thought that the denunciation was dictated by personal par- tisanship. It is understood, however, that Sir John had ultimately every reason to believe that the information, or mis-information, supplied to the eminent divine came from a Methodist minister in Nova-Scotia who united with his sacred profession a very violent dislike of the Conservative party and its leaders. As illustrating the nature of other religious attacks, it may be said that after a certain series of bitter letters and miserable insinuations had appeared in the Montreal Witness, Bishop Cameron wrote from Anti- gonish saying that if one of the anonymous detractors would come out from his concealment, he (the Bishop) would prove his statements to be a mass of untruths. His Lordship's challenge was, of course, never accepted. Yet this was the treatment accorded in certain circles to the man who took his political life in his hand, and on behalf of the law, the whole law and nothing but the law, deHed in LS86 the prejudices of his co-reMgionists in Quebec, and saved the Government by a speef^h which embodied the truest doctrines of equal rights for ijl, under the con- stitution of the country. As he well said at London, Ont.. on Sept. 16th of that eventful year : " An attempt has been made, a you know, to deceive the people of the Catholic faith in the Province of Quebec and in the Lower Provinces by the assertion that the law was carried out in Louis Riel's execution at the demand of the Orange Adsociation :1 -i^ 29S tiFE AND WORK OP of Ontario. That statement we do not hear so much of in the Province of Ontario, but the slander that I was desert- ing my principles and evading my faith was made because I denied then, and solemnly deny now, that there was a particle of truth in that statement. The people of this country, whether they are Orange or Catholic, French or English, have the right to entertain or to exprc^^s any opinions they feel regarding the administration of public affairs." Anl the man who could thus defend true liberty of speech and the right of Orangemen as well as of Catholics to be heard npon important questions ; the man who, as a result of his stand upon the Riel issue, almost lost that alleged pocket borough of clericalism — Antigonish — in the elections, of 1887 ; was the object of these unjust denuncia- tions by Dr. Douglas and Dr. Carman, and of private insinu- ations which afterwards formed the basis of many a P.P.A. organization. This Association sprang into sudden promin- ence during Sir John Thompson's Premiership. It was the product of religious prejudice united with ignorant sincerity. It was formed out of the more violent and uncontrollable spirits o? Uie Equal Rights movement, and had been easily mould'. ;d into shape by American agitators upon the lines of the American Protestant Association. The organization obtained a marked success in the municipal elections of 1894, and carried two or three seats in the subsequent Ontario election. Its chief, the Rev. J. Madil!, won a brief period of prominence by sacrificing the trua piirjjiples of Christianity upon the altar of ambition or bigo :y. Speaking at Strat- ford on August ]6th following the Provincial contest, he declared that Sir John Thompson ' was not Premier by the voice of the people. It was Sir John A. Macdonald who carried the country, and Sir John Thompson was merely sin JOHN THOMPSON. 299 filling ill his time. He could not be elected as a Papist or a Jesuit, and no Papist or Jesuit would be allowed to rule at Ottawa. Before they would submit to that they would fight Derry over again and give them a taste of the Boyne." Such talk was to all sensible people simply demagogic and disgusting. Even the Huntinjdon Gleaner, the staunch .Protestant and Liberal organ of the Eastern Townships of Quebec, denounced it as inclining all fair- minded men to support the Premier in order to prevent him being " hounded down " in such a cowardly fashion. Organizations of this nature, however, do not last long. The P. P. A. served its apparent purpose, in causing diffi- culty to an honourable man in the pursuit of duty, and now that he has passed to the bourne whence no man returneth, it may rest in peace. In this connection it is interesting to note how often the word " Jesuit," was hurled at Sir John Thompson. Though intended to be offensive, it is question- able w.hether the epithet really was so to him, aside from the obvious motive. As a devout Catholic, he would naturally disbelieve most of the allegations made against the Society of Jesus. Indeed his admiration for controversial history was never very profound. Speaking in the House upon one occasion, and in reply to some inquiry (25th April, 1890), he said, with a simplicity which is worthy of com- ment : " I do not know. There are many facts in the history of this country, of which I am not aware, and a great many statements of facts in regard to history, I find controverted so often, that I am not able to state a positive opinion in regard to them," It was a couple of years after this that Cai dinal Moran, of Syduey, Australia, in dealing at length with the ques- tion of th*) Jesuits' Estates Act, defended the Canadian order with an earnestness far in advance of that shown by Sir John Thompson, during the famous debate in Parlia- 4 \ m 800 LIFE AND WORK OP ment. And they both agreed in expressing admiration for the services of the Jesuits in the early history of Canada. The Cardinal, in the course of h's address, also made a most interesting defence of his Churo'n as a friend of liberty, of science and of true progress. If, therefore, the political and judicial career of Sir Johr- Thompson has been a great service to the State, as everyone believes, his change of faith in early days, before the 'dture of power or success was dreamed of, has turned out an equal benefit. It has proved that despite limited but always noisy sectarianism, an honourable man can win his way to position and popularity in Canada. It has proved to the ignorant or indifferent or prejudiced that a Roman Catholic can do his duty in governing this mixed community as well as a Protestant. It has, through one man bearing successfully the brunt of vigorous and sus- tained attacks, done much to bring both divisions of the people together in the bonds of true brotherhood and real Christianity. And if a message of warning is still required for the future, it can be found in the absolutely accurate statement made by the Minister of Justice, as he stood at tliri threshold of the Premiership, on Sept. 7th, 1S92 : " The one calamity above all others which stands before this country is that political divisions should follow the division of race or the division of religion. The one danger which menaces the future of this country and the union of this country, now so happily being accomplished, is that men should stand arrayed against each other on the question of government, because they differ with regard to religion, l)ecause they differ with regard to race," SIB JOHN THOMPSON. 301 CHAPTER XVII. Fiscal Matters and Political Parties. The administration of Sir John Thompson assumed office with the intention of carrying on the historic policy of the Conservative party. The principles of that party under Sir John Macdonald, under Sir John Abbott, and now under the leadership of another statesman were an- nounced as being one and the same. They involved a con- tinuation of protection as applied to Canadian interests and industrifed. The " National Policy " was to be preserved and strengthened, and free trade opposed as impracticable in arrangement, and injurious in operation. But none the less was the air full of rumours, There was an undercurrent of serious agitation going on, caused in part by the success of the Democrats in the United States and in part by the first touch of the wave of de- pression. It was assumed by the Liberal par^y in all sections of the country that a free trade tide was sweeping over the Continent and that the success of Mr. Cleveland indicated pronounced American legislation along those lines, together with some sort of an opportunity for Cana- dian reciprocity. And it was argued that as hard times had so greatly helped the Democracy in the States, the same cause must also help the Liberals in Canada, The indications indeed seemed rather unfavourable to protectionists generally, and Liberal speakers and papers everywhere compared the National Policy to the McKinley Tariff, and prophesied a free trade revolution in Canada similar to that wMch had just stirred the Republic. Mean- 4: It 4 mn ^^ T ij ! '^ii l.'i. ■f ill ; S02 LTPii: AND WORK OF while the farmers began to organize in somewhat more serious fashion than had hitherto been the case. The Far- mers' Ir.dtitutes which had for a long time been under the friendly patronage of the Ontario Government, were formed in CO Patrons of Industry lodges and an order was estab- lished which its friends and members expected to see sweep the Province at the first ensuing Dominion elections. And its success in the Provincial elections of 1894 greatly en- couraged this hope. Mr. McCarthy" constituted another disturbing element in the political outlook of the new Ministry, To his other differences with them he had now added a tariff issue, and had come out squarely for lower duties upon English goods, and reciprocal terms with the United States as soon as that country might be willing to consider an arrangement which would include manufactures as well as agricultural pro- ducts and raw materials. But upon the question of discri- mination against the Mother- Country he was as firmly opposed to the Liberal policy as he was upon other issues to the Conservative platform. At Stayner on January 25th, 1893, he emphasized two points of opposition to the existing tariff The first was the alleged existence of numerous combinations which enhanced the prices of necessaries to the public, and the second was the sugges- tion that as the Americans were about to adjust and lower their duties, Canada should do the same. Accompanying this reduction however, was a proposal for the establish- ment of a maximum and minimum tariff by which the Dominion should discriminate to the extent of ten per cent, in favor of Great Britain. Tariff reform of some kind was therefore in the air, and when it was announced that Sir John Thompson would deliver an address at the important aniuul banquet of the Toronto Board of Trade on the 5th of January, much m§ TP SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 303 en- curiosity and interest was felt in the coming deliverance of the new Premier. It was a great occasion Always successful in these efforts, the Board of Trade seemed to have this time excelled itself in the providing of distin- guished speakers and guests. The Governor-General, Lord Stanley of Preston ; Sir John S. D. Thompson, the Premier of Canada ; the Lieut.-Governor of Ontario ; Sir Oliver Mowat; the Vb^cran Premier of the same Province ; the Hon. George E. Foster, Minister of Finance ; and Mr. W. 0. Van- Home, President of the Canadian Pacific Railway, were amongst those who graced the occasion, where were found " Again the feast, the speech, the glee, The shade of passing thought, the wealth Of words and wit- the double health. The crowning cup, the three-times three." It is needless to refer at length to the speeches. All were good, but that of the new Prime Minister was the most important and certainly the one which had been most looked forward to. Sir John Thompson commenced his speech by a jest which created much amusement. He referred to the fact that his Government consisted of sixteen gentlemen, thirteen of whom averaged 47 years of age. "Their youth and their robustness excited the imagination of a Toronto poet, who indited some verses to me and put into my mouth words which were put into Csoiar's when he said : ' Let me have fat men about me, sleek-headed men who sleep at nights ' — and I could, ladies and gentlemen, make you to-night a little boast about the girth and weight of my colleagues, if it were not that my friend Cassius here — the Finance Minister — breaks the record and utterly destroys the average." The Premier then handled in a more serious vein the national problems of the moment, and the first of these in his opinion was the Manitoba schools' question. He pointed . ITtT,: -Wi Jl !l 4^1 S04, LIFE AND WORK OF m ' out that moi' il an J rel^' tious problems which come home to the convictions of tho .'•opic are dangerous to the welfare of the State if approaclied in any partisan or political spirit The only safe ^uide to any safe result which he could see in such a connection, was the exercise of tolera tion and of concession, so far as it did not infringe upon principle. The Government proposed to be guided by the constitutional law of the country, and to obey its dictates. As to his personal position, he said in words which have the ring of true and manly sincerity : "I have no plea for toleration to make for myself. I want no sympath}^ through toleration in that regard. I am not occupying the responsible position which it is my honour to hold to-night through any effort of my own or any struggle of mine for political distinction. I occupy that position simply because those who were qualified to decide, and who were bound to decide, thought that I could serve the state occupying that position. I am nothing more than a public servait, and if I should succeed in serving the state well I shall have achieved the only ambi- tion which I have in public life." Amid the loud and constant cheerinor which inter- rupted and closed these sentences.. Sir John Thompson turned to consider the trade question, and first referred to the desire of Canada to be on the most amicable terms with the United States. In order to aid this object, the Dominion had practically given Avay upon tlie Canal Tolls' question, and had arranged the sugar duties, which had been a cause of uneasiness and complaint to the Republic : " We think that we hav'^ shown to them what the policy of this country is, and sha':l be for the future, in so far as I have the right to speak for it — a policy that will make us to the United States the best of neiirhbors, although, e shall never please God, be anything but neighbors.. The Ri(iUT Rev. .)ohs Cameron, D.D, P.H.D. Bishop of Antigoni^h, N.S, m 20 1^'-. f SlR John THOMPSON. oO? But he spoke with doubt regarding the attitude of the President, and indicated the jmssibility of his attempting some further evidence of hostility before making way for Mr. Cleveland. One month later President Harrison sent his message to Congress, asking for the abrogation of the bonding system, which, however, he was fated not to get The Premier went on to express grave doubts regard- ing the extent of the free trade legislation which the Democrats were likely to introduce, but announced the intention of his Government to take advantage of the experience of the United States ; to watch its tariff changes; and to " adopt the policy for this country which will be found best for Canada first, and best for the Empire next." Replying to some one who had asked him if he considered the National Policy perfect, and assuming for the moment that only the fiscal part of that policy was meant, he replied in words which were afterwards widely discussed : " I do not know of any tariff which has been perfec- tion, and I know of defects both in the framing and admin- istration of the present tariff which require a remedy. And therefore, sir, we do propose to take your good advice which this motto gives us, and 'lop the mouldering branches away.' " The speech was a decided success, but the occasion had its lim^'^ations, and the one which followed on January 14th, in the Toronto Auditorium, was of a kind more calculated to attract popular attention. The former was important as affording hints concerning the policy of the new Govern- ment; the latter v/as of intense political interest, as being the first address delivered by the new Premier to his party and the country at large. And the affect of the demonstra- tion was increased by the presence of ten other ministers. A feature of the meeting was the spontaneous and enthus- iastic reception accorded to the Hon. Mr. Angers, as a tribute 1^ 308 LIFE AKb WORK OF fm\ i 1 1 II ''-' 'V' 1 '' '■ ! ' 1 u ' ] 1 ! H \jE5,tjj ' n 1 1 1 Hifi i M 1 H MH 1 to his manly administration in Quebec. And the aggressive oratory of the Hon, C. H. Tupper was of a nature calcu- lated to stir up any Canadian audience. Sir John Thompson's speech must be read to be appreciated. Most of the great audience had never seen or heard the Premier and seemed to be somewhat surprised when the full, deep, satisfying voice wiilch seems to come only from down by the sea, as it breaks upon the shores of the Maritime Provinces, sounded through the building. As he wert on in grave, serious, but sincere, style, the interest deepened and there were few present when the speaker concluded, who did not realise that he was a man who would do what seemed his duty in any emergency and in face of any difficulties. And there was no doubt about the Conservatism of that speech. It meant to the assembled throng and to the myriad readers of the succeed, ing day, that the third Sir John was worthy to carry the flag planted by Sir John Macdonald, and supported by Sir John Abbott. It meant that he was going to stand by the principle of Canada for the Canadians, and the British Empire for all. Some portions were especially vigourous, as for instance, when he declared that a little while ago "we were taunted with waving the old flag ; and a lot of traitors, a lot of cowards who have not the courage to be traitors, although they have the will, would sneer at the old flag : sneer at the loyalty we inherited from cur fathers : sneer at the institutions which our fathers were so proud to leave us." This was sufficiently energetic language, and it cer- tainly pleased the audience immensely. But the memorable demonstration had its pathetic side, ag did so many other events in the last crowded years of the riemier's life. When President Armstrong of the Young Men's Conserva- tive Association introduced Sir John to the audience as one SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 300 wlio would provide " a j^reat future for the Conservative party, and would not only leo'islate for the demands of the hour, but for the demands of the future," it seemed as if the new leader presented the very picture of health, vigour and manliness. What a commentary upon assertions and ajipearances that future was destined to bel Parliament met on the 26th of January. The chief topic of political conversation was the tariff and the proposed changes. Several Conservative members had declared in favour of some amendment. Mr. Cockburn of Centre Toronto, Mr. Davin, Mr. Boyd, Mr. Calvin and Mr. Mclnerney of New Brunswick, all desired some altera- tions, though their proposals were not very radical. Mr. McCarthy, however, and his faithful colleague. Colonel O'Brien, were pronounced in their advocacy of lower duties. The Session commenced with an eloquent speech from the new Maritime orator, Mr. Mclnerney, who moved the Address and wound up his peroration by quoting lines eminently appropriate, not only in a general sense, but in a particular application to the statesman who was then at the head of the Government : " Build that those walls to coming generations, Your skill, your strength, your faithfulness shall tell ; That all may say as storms and centuries test them, The men of old built well." And, so far as Sir John Thompson was given the time, he did build well. Incidentally, Mr. Laurier in addressing the House four days later, referred in generous terms to the successful career of the new Premier. "There has been no public man in Canada at any time," he declared, "whose advancement has been so rapid. He came into this House at a comparatively recent date, preceded by a high reputa- tion for ability, which he ho.d earned in his own Province, which led everybody, friends and opponents alike, to expect (7 J i i *'.!| ■if 310 LIFE AND WORK OF a great deal from him, and that expectation has been realized since he entered this House." On the 14th of February following, Mr. Foster delivered his Budget Speech and announced the proposed alterations in the tariff. They were not numerous, and consisted merely in a reduc- tion of the duty on binder twine from 25 to 12| per cent., and the abolition of certain restrictions on coal oil. But it was stated that at the close of the Session a thorough inquiry into the tariff would be carried out by himself, the Minister of Trade and Commerce and the Comptrollers of Customs and Inland Revenue. Personal interviews would be had with the merchants, manufacturers and farmers; and a measure of Tariff Reform was promised for 1894) as the result of this investigation. As Sir John Thompson was required in Paris within a couple of months to fill the distinguished position of a British arbitrator on the Behring Sea Commission, an effort was made to have a brief session. Mr. McCarthy, however, came forward in March with a long tariff amend- ment and a long speech, each of which embodied very fully his views on the ever burning fiscal issue. He con- tended that the protective tariff had answered its purpose, and was now merely useful for the development of trusts and combines ; that it was becoming burdensome to the consuming classes and the farmers ; that it ought to be amended by the substantial reduction of cutoms duties in favour of the United Kingdom ; and that a light reduction might well be made in favour of the United States and of different portions of the Empire, where they were willing to reciprocate. Upon one point ho spoke with no uncer- tain sound. He was " absolutely and unequivocally opposed to any kind of so-called free trade, no matter wliether it gave us a continental niarket or not, which discriminated against the Mother-Land." Dr. Montague replied with SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 311 characteristic eloquence and ability, and the discussion eventually closed with a Government majority of 54». Another incident in which Provincial rights were involved took place during this Session. Early in the year certain important coal mirnos in Nova- Scotia had been handed over by the Local Government to an American syndicate under terms which were declared to be extremely advantageous to the Province. But many Conservatives opposed the arrangement, and a deputation of members of Parliament waited upon the Governor General, and asked him to disallow the measure on the ground chiefly that foreigners in control of the mines might fire or flood them in time of war, thus catting off" the coal supply of the navy, and proving of Imperial as well as Provincial injury. Constitutional questions of some interest were raised as to the propriety of individual members trying to usurp the power of the House as a Legislative body, and of the Government as an advisory and executive body. Mr. Mills brought the matter up on February 17th, and after some slight discussion Sir John Thompson stated that the whole aflair was a mere conversation and entirely informal ; that the Governor General had asked to have the matter put into such a shape that he could lay it before his constitutional advisers ; and that no opinion could be expressed as yet because the statute in question had not reached the Department of Justice. Eventually, Sir John took the ground that the mines belonged to the Province and that the Federal authorities were not entitled to interfere with them. The bargain might be bad, but it was for the people of Nova-Scotia to deal with the matter, and not the Dominion Government. Towards the close of the session, which, as expected, was a very short one, the Premier left for Paris and Mr. Foster acted as loader of the House. A couple of months if; Si j 312 LIFE AND WORK. OP after the adjournment on April 1st, a new departmental scandal developed itself and one which waa promptly dealt with. Summarized, it showed an expenditure of S:«?oO,()00 upon the reconstruction of the bridges over the Lachine Canal at Montreal, in place of the estimated cost of $1 75,000. A Royal Commission was at once appointed and Mr. Hag- gart as head of the Department of Railvviys and Canals had the enquiry pushed in every possible direction. It was soon found that the contracts had been fraudulently handled and that large sums had been wasted without the linowledge of the Minister. Of course the question imme- diately became a party one. the Opposition contending that the head of the Department should have knov/n something of what was going on and prevented it : the Minister and his friends declaring that the usual care was exercised in making tiie payments, but that the frauds had occurred through forged pay lists and gross misrepresentation on the pari/ of the contractors. The Engineer in charge of the worl,:s was Kuspemled and later on the Minister of Justice held a suit instituted against the contractor for $143,000. T' ere is no doubt that Sir John Thompson felt keenly such occurrences as this. They showed a tendency to carelessness or dishonesty in the connection of officials with the public business to a degree which would not be endured for a moment in the conduct of nny large private concern. Of course, a Minister cannot as a rule, go behind the properly certified pay sheets and documents of his de- partment, but a very clearly defined impression existed in the minds of the public at this time and had been growing since the scandals of 1891, that members of the Government should individually exercise more control over the choice and qualities ui th(^ir subordinates, as well as over the antecedi nts and '?haracters of the men who were given contracts, aad permitted to aid in the great and SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 313 necessary work of carryinfif on, or completing, the country's public undertakings. And it is safe to say that Sir John Thompson sympathized stroixgly with this view. Meantime tariff questions and politics had been com- ing more and more to the front throughout the country. The Ministers recently selected for the purpose started their inquiries ; the Patrons of Industry formulated their platform ; Mr. McCarthy announced his policy through the medium of a League and the employment of an organizer ; the Liberal party met in convention and passed resolutions both varied and voluminous. The Patrons declared them- selves in favor of British connection ; the abolition of t'le Senate ; the election of county officials, with the exception of County Judges ; a tariff for revenue adjusted so as to tax luxuries ; reciprocal trade with any countries which were willing to negotiate; prohibition of railway grants; and the preparation of the Dominion and Provincial voter's lists by municipal officers. The McCarthy policy has alieady been pretty well outlined, but the new organization had some very distinct planks regarding the absolute right of the provinces to control education, the necessity of having no interference with the Manitoba Schools' law, and the de- sirability of any future redistribution of scats being based upon an equality of population and upon county and city boundary lines. The Liberal Convention at Ottawa early in July was a great success, and the delegates certainly could not com- plain of the warmth of their reception. Rut though the weather was tropical, the work done in platform making and speaking was very jonsiderable. The policy finally evolved by a gathering which boasted the presence of nearly every prominent Liberal in the Canadian commu- nity, and which was representative in ability as well as in numbers, may be summed up as follows ; iN1^ m i vn ^htM 314 LIFE AND WORK OF 1. Denunciation of the protective tariff. 2. The necessity of low revenue duties. 3. Reciprocity with the United States in natural products and in a selected list of manufactured articles, 4. Arraignment of the Government as corrupt. 5. The necessity for great economy, 6. The repeal of the Franchise Act. 7. A Dominion plebiscite on Prohibition. 8. Reform of the Senate. About this time also the Protestant Protective Asso- ciation rose out of the ruins of the Equal Rights organiza- tion, and prepared to forward a mission of error and misunderstanding. So far as can be authoritatively gathered, its platform declared bitter opposition to Roman Catholicism as an element of political power ; denounced all religio-political organizations (except itself) as enemies to civil and religious liberty ; favoured one general unsec- tarian schojl organization and the taxing of all church property ; repudiated the use of public funds for any sectarian purpose ; and proclaimed it " unwise and unsafe to elect to civil, political or military office in this Dominion men who owe supreme allegiance to any foreign potentate or ecclesiastical power." Such, in brief, were the various political divisions and party policies which the Conservative Premier had to face upon his return from Paris late in August. A tour of the Province of Ontario followed with very favourable results to Sir John Thompson personally through an increased acquaintance with the people, and with useful results to the party through the promotion of public familiarity with its policy and with the new leaders who were so rapidly replacing those of a previous period. SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 315 CHAPTER XVIII. ■t. •! t -.*i The Behring Se\ Question. In 1886, the year following Sir John Thompson's entry into Dominion politics, news of a somewhat serious character had come from the far north of the American continent. While engaged in seal- hunting, out of sight of land, and in what is generally understood to be the open sea, three Canadian schooners were seized by the United States revenue cutter Gorwin and taken to an Alaskan port. There the officers were tried in the American Court for the District of Alaska, and condemned to fines and imprisonment, while their vessels were confiscated — on the general charge of contravention of the United States laws. This high-handed proceeding attracted immediate and wide-spread attention. Throughout Canada the feeling was one of indignation, though not altogether of surprise, as the people had some knowledge of the American tendency to claim everything in sight where international relation- ships were concerned. But- aside from any injury done to Canadian citizens and British subjects, these seizures-- which were continued from time to time durinar ensuino- years — opened up wide and important questions of Mari- time jurisdiction. It has been generally assumed that the law of nations gives complete territorial rights to the extent of one marine league (three miles) from the shore. In specific cases, by custom or treaty, the right of a nation to control a greater distance may have been admitted, but these were the exceptions wJiich are usually taken to prove the rule. On the Atlantic coast of Canada, the United m I I*. Pi .316 LIFE AND WORK OF States for years, both before and after setting up this claim >n the Pacific, had tried to break down the Canadian right to control even three miles from the shore. But whate»/er the local circumstances might be, this claim to jurisdiction, sixty miles from the coast, was practically an arbitrary assertion of a complete right to the ownership of part of Behring Sea, and it* sustained or allowed would have placed that great body of water, eleven hundred milc.« long by eight hundred miles broad, largely under the control of Russia and the United States. The charore laid against these vessels, their officers and owners, was that of being found " engaged in killing fur- seal within the limits of Alaska territ<^ry and iii the waters thereof, in violation of section 1956 of the Revised statutes of the United States." Obviously, therefore, to make these and subsequent seizures legal, a great part o' Behring Sea, or what was really a portion of the North Pacific Ocean, had to be included within the limits of American jurisdic- tion. And as the claim to this authority was as extensive as mii fli E ti i! *i I! ;'' lit, ■l 330 LIFE AND WORK OJ* if the Civic Council. But the compliment he most keenly appreciated in this connection was the banquet tendered by the St. James' Chib, Montreal, on November 2Lst. The commercial metropolis had alreaily on September 12th, done something in the form of public addresses and a public reception to welcome the Prime Minister home, but it remained for the St. James' Club dinner to complete the pleasant tribute. A large number of prominent political opponents shared in the demonstration, and it was this which so greatly enhanced the pleasure with which Sir John is known to have regarded this particular incident. Always disliking partisanship, it was to him like a green and beautiful oasis in a desert of political expediency and party considerations. An interesting feature of the occasion was a letter from Judge Davidson, of Montreal, regretting his inability to attend, and stating of the Premier that, " In a sense which is far away from and hv above the strife of parties, he deserves this tribute to his life and character as a public man, for to all of us Canadians he stands out as an example of the lesson taught by Demosthenes that ' man is not born to his parents only, but to his country. " Sir John Thompson appreciated these kind words so greatly that he wrote privately on November 27th to Mr. Justice Davidson in a style which indicates how much he really felt political abuse and misrepresentation: " My Dear Judge — " Our friend, Judge Wurtele, showed me your very kind letter tc him on the occasion of the dinner of last week at St. James' Club. 1 thank you most sincerely for this and all the other indications of your kindness which I have had. Thft banquet was a sy)lendid affair, and the cordiality of everybody was very charming. I owe more SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 331 thanks than I can ever give for such a splendid compli- ment. We, who are in political life, have to endure many insults and suspicions which we do not deserve, and must, therefore, be permitted to take v/ith equanimity kindnesses like these which far exceed our merits. Friends like Wurtele and yourself, and a few others, work out this law of compensation in such a way as to relieve public life of its cares and odium. " I remain, dear Judge, yours sincerely, " Jno. S. D. Thompson." At the banquet itself, which was presided over by Sir DonaM Smith, M.P., the Premier spoke strongly concerning the valuable results of the arbitration : " Canada received everything fehe would be glad to have accepted after a triumphant war, and she got them without any of the losses which war would have entailed. The lesson which bears on our future was to be derived from the attitude of Great Britain. Her forbearance and sagacity avoided war, and the treatment accorded Canada was an achievement of which we might well be proud. When we appear with Her Majesty's commission in our hands, no foreign diplomat dares to question our creden- tials." A few months later, on March 16th, 1894?, and during the debate on the Address, Mr. Laurier attacked the Treaty on account of the regulations, and accused Sir John Thompson of having returned home and spoken of the proceedings in a spirit of brag and bluster. Nothing could tee more incongruous with the known character of the Premier than such a charge, and his speech in reply brushed away the attack like cobwebs from a ceiling. He showed his complete knowledge of the intricacies of the whole question, and in a very short time demolished hie IP ! " fl ^ 1 ' i nr (I! jl 332 LIFE AND WORK OF opponent's fine-spun theories, concluding with the state- ment that : " I have professed great satisfaction at the upholding, in the most solemn way and before all the nations, of the doctrine for which we in this House have contended, for which we have contended in our correspondence with the Imperial Government, and for which no people in this country have so zealously contended as my hon. friend and those who sit beside hiai, namely, for the right of Canada to have a ruling voice in negotiations which affect her interests." T I J' ' 1 SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 333 CHArTER XIX. Sir John Thompson and Mr. McCarthy. During the comparatively brief, but important, period of what may be termed his national career, Sir John Thomp- son had no mean opponents to encounter and to overcome. Mr. Blake was a foeman worthy of any steel. From a purely intellectual standpoint he was probably the equal of any man in the House of Commons and the superior of most. Oratorically, he was not unlike the Minister of Jus- tice in the days when they were pitted against each other. They both had the same faculty for amassing information and convej'ing it to the listener in logical and well -sustained periods. But Mr. Blake does not appear to have been as ready in his command of language, and the toil which he used to bestow upon the preparation of an important speech and the committing of it to memory, is a familiar matter to those who knew him. As politicians all that can be said in a few words is that one succeeded while the other failed, Mr. Laurier was a delightful opponent, and no one appre- ciated his courtesy, tact, and natural graces of manner and oratory more than did Sir John Thompson. In many re- spects they were as opposite as the poles. The Liberal leader was apparently- open in speech and style, excitable at times as is characteristic of his race, impetuous, and somewhat changeable. Sir John was always a reserved man, and this tendency increased rather than diminished with additional responsibilities. He never appeared to be excited, or so rarely as to make it almost remarkable ; was 1 i ■i_ i I it; 334 LIFE AND WORK OF never rash or hasty ; and when once his mind was made up it was seldom changed. With Sir Richard Cartwright there was, of course, many a tilt, but on the whole Sir John Thompson appears to have rather admired the uncompro- mising political hostility of the Kingston ;ht. And this may be said in spite of the scathing ^ rliamentary attack of a certain memorable occasion. He is known also to have appreciated the ability displayed in the Budget criticisms, which during so many years, have helped to fill up the bill-of-fare in the House of Commons with a never failing raciness of invective and retort. In th's respect Sir Richard is probably the most powerful speaker Canada has ever possessed. Without the ruggedness oi George Brown he has a sarcastic style which seems to permeate not only his speech but himself, and which cer- tainly makes his invective the bitterest of tb of any man in Canadian public life. The Hon. David Mills was another opponent whose knowledge of constitutional precedents and deep reading in general history made him worthy of every respect and attention. Mr. L. H. Davies, of Prince Edward Island, has for a long time been one of the Liberal leaders whose place is secure in the event of party success at the polls, and his characteristic Maritime eloquence had been known to Sir John Thompson since the period of the Halifax Fisheries' Award, when they found themselves for the first time pro- minently opposed to each other. And so with many more — the eloquent Paterson of Brant ; Fraser, the forcible free- trader from down by the sea ; Lister, the fighting Liberal ; the fiery Tarte ; the iiTepressible Devlin. But the one man who stands distinctly out as the head and front of the op- position to Sir John Thompson during recent years is Mr. D'Alton McCarthy. Circumstances seemed to combine in order that the two men should appear in sharp antagonism SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 335 le op- Mr. to one another. Mr. McCarthy had refused to join the Liberal Opposition. He had declined to any longer sup- port the Conservative party. And his hostility to the Conservative leader, whether personal or political, was voiced in nearly every important issue which has come before the House or the country since 1887. The unquestioned ability and force which the member for North Simcoe displayed in his. speeches, furnishes, of course, all the greater tribute to the success with which Sir John Thompson surmounted the difficulties so greatly aug- mented by Mr. McCarthy's attitude and advocacy. And in the same way the high rank which so many of the Liberal leaders took in debate, oratory, and upon the stump illus- trated the qualities of courage, concentration and conviction which were needed to place a comparatively new man firmly in the saddle of political supremacy and to maintain him in power. It is safe t ^ay in this connection that the public life of Canada has ne r seen lwo men so diametrically opposed in convictions and characteristics as were Sir John and Mr. McCarthy, able to remain so long within the ranks of the same party ; working together in the interests of the same political leader. The one entered the national arena in 1885 under the local auspices, and with the warm co-operation of the hierarchy of his native Prov- ince. Though his appointment in it&elf was a tribute to personal ability and to judicial services, i . is none the less a fact that his environment was such as would have imperceptibly influenced any man not possessed of strong principles ai ^ ^ still stronger sense of duty. He reached Ottawa entirely new to his surroundings, to the leaders with whom he had to serve, and to the politicians whom he would b'( '-expected to lead. He came also heralded as a lawyer of high ability and a jurist of considerable reputation. II si 336 LIFE AND WOllK OF There he found Mr. D' Alton McCarthy establishcMJ as a politician of loUj^y standing, of experience, and of cabinet rank. A close friend and intimate advisor of Sir John Macdonald, he was in addition the leader of the Ontario bar, and it was currently and very correctly supposed that he had been offered the particular portfolio which Mr. Thompson had just assumed. Naturally too he had been consulted for some years past upon constitutional issues as being an eminenc lawyer, and upon political questions as being President of the Conservative Union of Ontario and the recognized party leader in that important Province. But when the new Minister of Justice forged to the front as an authority upon legal matters, and as one upon whom the Prime Minister in his growing physical weakness could confidently throw much of the burden of what may be called working government ; it was inevitable that the position of an outside supporter and friend should become, not necessarily less confidential, but certainly less influen- tial. And this might occur without reflecting in any way upon the ability and services Ox Mr. McCarthy. It was simply the inevitable result of a strong man tak- ing the place which the former might himself have filled with eminent success. For a time the two men worked together in apparent harmony, but it was not long before the diver- gence began to commence and develop. The Riel platform should have served as a mutual standing ground, but even here the contrast came out sharply. Mr. Thompson (as he was then) made a tour of the Province with the Premier during the elections of 1887. Everywhere he preached moderation ; justice and f airplay to all races and creeds ; toleration and a united Dominion. Meantime, Mr. Mc- Carthy — Barric February 4th — was paving the way for a very different policy : " Do you suppose," he declaied, " that the men of Ontario are willing to submit for a prolonged r Slil JOHN THOMPSON. 337 period to a condition of subjection to one race — and I speak not of Ontario alone but of every man outside of the French nationality ? . . . Do they mix with us ; assim- ilate with r.3 ; intermarry with us ; do they read our liter- ture or 'earn our laws ? No : everything with them is conducted on a French model, and while we may admire members of that race as individuals, yet as members of tiie body politic, I say they are the great danger to our con- federacy." Then came the Jesuits' Estates Question, and the differences along these lines became still more evident and distinct. Sir John Thompson did what he conceived to be his duty in a time of sectarian danger and sectional strife. He even went slightly out of his way to defend a religious body against which so many Protestants have been, and are, hopelessly and sincerely prejudiced, and which Mr. McCarthy attacked with much power. He endeavoured to throw a wet blanket upon the agitation which Mr. Mc- Carthy was stirring up and fanning into a flame. While the one was counselling moderation and talking of the rights of Provinces, the dangers of strife, and the necessity of governing a mixed community upon principles of toler- ation and kindliness to all, the other was telling the people of Stayner, and incidentally of Canada— July 12th, 1889 — that " now is the time when the ballot box will decide this great question before the people, and if that does not supply the remedy in this generation, bayonets will supply it in the next." And with the coming of the French language and Manitoba schools' questions, the divergence between the two lead3rs became ..i marked that in looking lack it is difficult to koc how thoy remained in even nominal alliance as long as they did. Necessarily, therefore, as Sir John Thompson grew into leadership, and as his views continued to have more 22 !"'M I ( i: n; 61 ft G I 338 LIFE AND WORK OF and more weight with the Conservative party, in opposi- tion, at least, to those ennun elated by Mr. McCarthy, a public political separation of some kind became inevitable. And at the last moment the thread became so attenuated that the friends of both leaders were simply awaiting the movement which should make it snap. As it happened, the initiative was taken by the Government party through the medium of the Toronto Empire. On December 30th, 1892, that paper in a brief, and not particularly impressive editorial, announced that " for some time past the political course of the member for North Simcoe has been a pro- longed and entertaining series of ' wobbles '." It declared that Mr. McCarthy had been holding quiet meetings in his constituency and warning his friends confidentially that he was about to leave the Conservative party. The article was sarcastic in tone, and was eminently calculated to be offensive to the politician who was the object of the attack. A wide political discussion was the immediate result. Mr. McCarthy seized the occasion to say that he had been "read out of the party," and really did not seem to mind the operation very much. Tlie importance of the news- paper deliverance turned, however, upon whether it was inspired by, or knoMm to, the leaders at Ottawa. Amongst those who understood the close relations existing between the Empire and the Government, there could only be one opinion, though it might not have been a wise one to announce at the moment. And now that this particular page of journalistic history is closed forever, it can do no harm to say that the political policy of the paper was guided very largely by the opinions and wishes of Sir John A. Macdonald, and of Sir John Thompson after the Chief- tain's death. Not that either of the leadoj-s would offer sugp-estions masked, but Mr. Creighiion, as the Managing Director, was very frequently in Ottawa, and waa always SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 339 there before any move of importance was made, either in politics o" in the policy of the Empire. Financially, it was not aided by advertising and Government patronage to even a fair proportionate extent, and certainly not by the individual help of Ministers ; although outside opinion seemed to think that a Government organ naturally lived apon the Government. However that may be, the denunciation of Mr. Mc- Carthy, while not inspired in its exact wording by Sir John Thompson, was without a shadow of doubt, approve! by him as a matter of party policy and party tactics. The severance was coming anyway, and at the critical moment the friends of the Premier might as well be allowed to take the initiative. And aside from any other authority, a comprehension of the close relations existing between The Empire management and the Conservative leader would show how impossible it was that such an important step should have been taken without the latter's knowledge. No doubt also this fact was fully appreciated and understood by Mr. McCarthy himself. Whether it was a wise step to take, or not, is a debateable question, but that the drifting apart of the two men would come to some such result had long been absolutely inevitable. After this occurrence their pul)lic relations were naturally not very friendly. That there was any personal hostility felt by Sir John Thompson towards his opponent and critic is altogether improbable. Neither by word or deed, in speech or document, with perhaps one exception, did he exhibit any anger or bitterness in this connection. At Belleville, during the demonstration in honour of Mr. Corby, the Premier made one significant reference, but it stood alone in the many speeches of that autumn tour : " The men who would divide the Conservative party, the men who would divide the country — for their ambition |ifi| i; 340 LIFE AND WORK OF -.'1 j 1 11 . ^'.i ll 1 1 . 1^ \iLi yi goes far enough to divide Canada as well as the party — thank God, have passed out of our ranks, and must pur- sue their nefarious work outside of them." When Sir John did allow himself scope he usually spoke strongly. Mr. McCarthy's position in his own defence, and in reply to The Empire was at first strong and dignified. In a letter published on January 2nd, following the famous editorial, he claimed as much right to belong to the party " if ser- vices and devotion count for anything, as any man now in public life." He then outlined the points upon which he differed from the Conservative leader : " 1. With reference to the Act respecting the Jesuits' Estates, which I thought, and still think, ought to have been disallowed under the veto power by His Excellency the Governor General, and I spoke and voted accordingly. " 2. With reference to the provisions regarding iVe North- West Territories, whereby the French language had been made ofiicial and put on the same basis as the English tongue, which, I endeavored, with a measure of success, to expunge from the statute book. " 3. The enactments as tc the separate schools in the North-West, which I have sought, and at times aided by some of those who are now Ministers of the Crown, to repeal. " 4. I did most strenuously object and protest against the scheme of redistribution of seats which the Govern- ment introduced last Session and which, shorn it is true of some of its most objectionable features, passed into law." But here came the statement which has made this matter historical, and which lends the personal element to what should have been merely a political incident. Mr. McCarthy goes on to speak of the National Policy, and points out that " Not having had any part, and not having been consulted in cither the formation of the Government Most Rkv. Alex A. TAcmfi, Archbishop of Manitoba. I 1 fli-l' H' SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 243 or the framing of its policy," he is unable to reach a satisfactory conclusion as to its tariff intentions. This sentence seemed to indicate a certain amount of personal feeling whicn under the circumstances, is not altogether surprising. And at the same time it proved that he regret- ted the causes which had so perceptibly and steadily driven him along a road which seemed to most people capable of only one termination. When, upon Sir John Macdonald's dep/oh, he had approached the Minister of Justice, in con- nection with the formation of v new Cabinet, it is obvious that he then believed himself as fully a member and leader of the party as was Sir John Thompson himself. The statement thus made was widely commented upon, and was practically repeated on the 25th of January following at Stayner : " It is not so much a question of policy that has driven me out of the ranks. It is the first time since I have been in public life that I have been ignored in the formation of a new Government. If I can- not be taken into the confidence of the councils of my party it is time to assert my independence." This asser- tion was followed up by the claim that the Government were responsible for the action of The Empire, and that the latter incident was a principal reason for his now formally withdrawing from the Conservative party for which in days gone by he had fought so brilliantly and well. There are two points which ought to be considered in comin"- to a conclusion upon this historical matter. One is that an injustice has been done to Sir John Thompson in supposing that Mr. McCarthy's opposition to a certain line of Government policy was the secret reason for a break between the leaders. It must appear from what has been said that such a result was inevitable, apart altogether from the one being a strict Roman Catholic and the other St4 LIFE AND WORK OF iti s=i,g having- an environment of stern Protestantism. The fact is, that inly Sir John Macdonald's leadership could have held such divergent sympathies in any kind of union. When Sir John Thompson became the practical leader in 1891, there existed no earthly reason for his consulting and working with Mr. D' Alton McCarthy. It might have been better had he tried tc do so, but only along the lines of party expediency, and even the wisdom of that was doubt- ful. The truth is, that Mr. McCarthy had so antagonized his own party friends, that it would have been almost impossible for a Prime Minister or leader to have asked his CO operation in those days of sectarian and sectional suspicion. But justice must be done Mr. McCarthy, in a state- ment which is made with all deference to his distinguished abilities and public services, he was hardly to be blamed for expecting consideration ard attention from the leaders who had succeeded his old chief. And there can be no doubt of his consistency and independence of thought and action in regard to French Canadian and Roman Catholic questions. For years he had felt earnestly and strongly that something must be done to check what he considered dangerous aggression, and a man who had really sacrificed the Premiership, or a very great chance of obtaining it, for principle, deserved as much praise as he very often received blame. As a matter of fact also the particular questions which he brought to the front — the Jesuits' Estates Bill, the French language, and the Manitoba schools — were never made really party issues, and he was therefore justified to a certain extent in believing himself still a CoMorvative. And this despite the fact that the whole tendency of these agitatiom was against the national unity and good feeling for which both the political parties were nominally struggling. SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 345 He probably thought the issue a personal one between himself and Sir John Thompson. For a long time indeed they agreed upon the fiscal question, and while that was the case, it is difficult to see how Mr. McCarthy could have been " read out " of the party unless he wanted to go. But finally that link went also, and the only thing which continued to evidence a bond of fellowship was loyalty to a common sentiment regarding British union, and objection to any touch of Continentalism in trade or principle. The personal element, however, showed itself more and more strongly as time went on, and this must be pointed out in order to illustrate the justice of Sir John's conclu- sion that they could not longer work together within the same party. During a speech at Toronto in April follow- ing The Empire episode, Mr. McCarthy referred to what he called " the maintenance of the dual lan^age iniquity and the separate school anomaly in the North- West," and asked if they constituted Tory doctrine. If so, then, " 1 am not a Tory. If it is a Conservative plank, I want to know when it was put in the platform. Was it when Sir John Thompson took charge of afiairs ? I think it was." Speaking on May 1st at Orangeville, he was still more explicit. He pointed out that he was " an older man than Sir John, older in political experience, and older, too, than most of the statesmen he had summoned." But the Premier had formed his Cabinet. " They had all seen it and perhaps they liked it. It was a wonderful organiza- tion, so nicely balanced between the orange and the green. The equipoise was so excellent that it could not move for- ward — it had no volition." This is rather bitter, and shows the tendency of the speaker. At Listowel, on October 12th he observed : "I am perfectly indifierent, politically speak- ing, as to what the future may have in store for me. I am not going to allow any man to silence me ; I am not going III: 346 LIFE AND WORK OP to bend the knee to Sir John Thompson or Mr. Laurier, or anyone else." Again, on Dec. 19th. at Millbrook, this feeling came out even more distinctly. Referring to the then recent Liberal victory in Winnipeg, he declared that his friends there had done much towards Mr. Martin's success, and concluded by denouncing Sir John Thompson for his somewhat famous phrase used about this time in describing the two Liberal champions of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism respectively, as " the Black Tarte and the Yellow Martin " : " Mr. Martin is the man who framed the law which repealed Separate Schools in Manitoba. Is he entitled to such an epithet for that act ? Martin will be remembered long after the Premier is forgotten." It is, therefore, evidently impossible, after a perusal of Mr. McCarthy's speeches before and since the event, to blame Sir John Thompson for his action in December, 1802, or to suppose that, so far as he was concerned, per- sonal or religions feelings had anything to do with the matter. Nor is it incompatible with sincere respect for the late Premier's memory, and regard for his great liZe-work, to feel that the Equal Rights champion was sincere and consistent both in wishing to remain within the p^^rty and in finally leaving it. And aside from the later developments in connection wi^h trade and tariff matters, upon which opinions will differ, boiG Sir John Thompson and Mr. McCarthy seem to have been honestly consistent, and honestly antagonistic. The one thought that in a country of mixed nationalities and creeds, the only possible and permanent union was a system of working by mutual sympathy, forbearance and tolera- tion. The other considered it absuhitely necessary to build a nation as you would a house, upon a foundation of stone unmixed with any other article — a basis of similarity in sentiment, uniformity in language and approximation in SIR JOHN TnOMPSON. 347 creed. The one was a man of iron will, with intellect and passions under stem subjection to his sense of duty. The other also possessed a strong will, but with a somewhat irada^^nous and enthusiastic temperament. The one was willing to work and mould existing material with the aid of time and patience; the other was ready to overturn existing institutions or policies on the chance of replacing them with something better. Both had great ability. One is gone from the land he tried so well to serve, the other has still the opportunity for great and useful service to his country and empire. ti ^48 LIFE AND WORK OF CHAPTER XX. The New Governor General and a Political Tour. I'll !' Immediately following Sir John Thompson's return from Paris he had the privilege of joining in the welcome extended to the Earl and Countess of Aberdeen, who had come to take up the reins of vice-iegal authority, and incidentally, to cement the warm friendship which had already grown up between themselves and the Prime Minister. Lady Aberdeen, in an a.rticle contributed to an English journal shortly after his death, vividly pourtrays the occasion of their first meeting Sir John. It was on the Parisian during a trip to Canada in 1891. " ' I want to introduce to you the Minister of Justice,' said another Canadian friend, himself a former Minister ; and but few words were necessary to impress one with a sense or confi- dence and ilrust in this quiet, strong, earnest-looking man, in whose eye, however, there played a twinkle, and whose smile lighted up a countenance full of sympathy and kind- liness. It was not difficult to accept his friend's description of him as ' the ablest man in Canada.' " Her Excellency then speaks of tl^ which he was endowed ; of his pownr ♦ ship ; of his constant and beaui ' the strong friendship which had ^ ae on them from that day until his sudden a id mournful death. And there was much in this case to create that bond of sympathy and mutual respect without which real frier - ship is impossible. Sir John Thompson's ideal in life the performance of duty, his chief motive the renderij >f ire with '^f le friend- s |i thers; of peii.ag between SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 34U service to his country and empire. The ideal of Lord and Lady Aberdeen, as exhibited in their innumerable public, political and philanthropical enterprises, was the improve- ment of the condition of the poor and the elevation of surrounding humanity in comfort, in education, in thought> and in that spirit of personal aspiration which contributes so greatly to the uplifting and ennobling of those engaged in the drudgery and routine of ordinary life. The Canadian Premier had sacrificed much of his time for domestic happiness, his chances of financial prosperity, and positions of ease and dignity, upon the altar of national duty. The Governor General and the Countess of Aberdeen, on the other hand, had for many years surrendered the time which might have been devoted to the enjoyment of bound- less luxury, and the pleasures of high position, in giving themselves to energetic and unceasing efforts for the pro- motion of the people's welfare in the different countries with which they had become connected. It is not, therefore, a matter for surprise that this warm feeling of friendship should have grown up and strengthened, until the cord was snapped by death. Lord Aberdeen's first public appearance as Governor General of Canada was most successful from every point of view. Upon arriving at Quebec on September 17th, Their Excel- lencies were welcomed by a large gathering of Cabinet Ministers and others, and on the following day Lord Aberdeen was duly sworn in. His address upon this occa- sion deserved aiid received the careful consideration and sincere respect of the Canadian people. Especially note- worthy was the definition of a Governor General's duties : " Aloof though he be from actual executive responsibilities, his attitude must be that of ceaseless and watchful readi- ness to take part by whatever opportunity may be afforded to him in the fostering of every influence that will sweeten '■1! ..Jl I': » ; i 350 LIFE AND WORK OF and elevate public life ; to observe, study and join in making known the resources and development of the country ; to vindicate, if required, the rights of the people and the ordinances of the constitution ; and lastly, to pro- mote by all means in his power, without reference to class or creed, every movement and every institution calculated to forward the social, moral and religious welfare of the Dominion." There i« a whole volume contained in this eloquent sentence, and despite the difficulties surrounding the posi- tion, and the occasional criticisms which are inevitable in any free community, the vast majority of the Canadian people feel with Sir John Thompson in some of his private correspondence, that Ijord Aberdeen has earnestly and suc- cessfully lived up to the aspirations contained in that open- ing speech, and that he has been nobly aided by Her Excellency. And it is interesting to note in this connec- tion that wherever the late Premier formed a personal friendship, the respect and admiration of those with whom he was thus intimate, became almost unbounded. Close acquaintance with his character seems indeed to have inspired feelings which show how true he was to principle, how unassuming he appeared to be, and yet how impressive he really was, in private as well as in public life. Famili- arity, instead of breeding contempt or indifference or modified respect, in his case enhanced every sentiment of trust and esteem. During the six crowded yeara following 1887, Sir John Thomt»son could hardly be said to have kept in personal touch wfth the important Province of Ontario. At that time he had campaigned with Sir John A. Macdonald, but it was as a new man, and in company with one whom many people almost worshipped. It is true that he then made a most favourable impression, and that his SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 351 join in of the } people to pro- to class Iculated J of the eloquent ihe posi- itable in .anadian J private and suc- lat open- by Her 3 connec- personal th whom I Close to have principle, ipressive Famili- rence or iiraent of i887, Sir kept in Ontario. J ulm A. any with true that that his treatment of the Riel case had ensured him popularity and respect, but still the public niemor}'' is fickle, and the pass- ing of a few years practi^^ally wiped that important tour off the slate. In the meantime, however, he had grown into the central figure of Canadian public life ; had developed an Imperial reputation ; and had pursued in regard to Provincial legislation, a certain line of policy which hh-d not conduced to popularity in portions of Ontario. Yet he was unknown personally to the bulk of the Canadian people. In a Democratic community he had in fact climbed to the top without the aid of so-called popular qualities, and without being in personal touch with the all powerful electorate. But it was now felt that a series of speeches was desii'able, and that the Premier should be made acquainted, so far as was possible, with the local leaders and the people of Ontario. Especially was this the case in view of the trade and tariff' conditions prevalent in the United States, and voiced in Canada by the various organizations ana proposed policies which made 1893 a period of such widespread fiscal discussion. He had, of courso, outlined the party policy during the first weeks of the year in Toronto, but six or eight months is a long time in politics, and much had happened since then, notably the financial crash in the States. Hence the interest taken in a tour wliich was immediately preceded by a great demonstra- l.ion and reception in Montreal on the 12tii of September. It was an occasion of considerable importance, and the address presented by the united Conservative clubs of the connnercial metropolis was so full and complimentary, and embodied so clearly the policy of the Premier and his party, that it deserves to be given here, just as it was presented to Sir John Thompson in the crowded City drill hall with its dense mass of cheering people : U ' 352 LIFE AND WORK OF HONOUBABLB SlB,— On this, your first public visit to Montreal since the representative of our Most Gracious Sovereign entrusted you with the formation of the Government, we desire, on behalf of the several Conservative organiza- tions of Montreal, to extend to you a most cordial and hearty welcome. We are proud to have the privilege of greeting you as a leader of the Conservative party, and in that capacity as the exponent of the principles to which we are cordially attached, through whose application in the administration of public affairs Canada has now, for many years, enjoyed a progressive prosperity in material concerns, contributing to the promo- tion of her status among the nations of the world, whilt strengthening and still more firmly cementing her attachment to the great Empire to which we are proud to owe allegiance. We are especially gratified at the opportunity of congratulating you upon the iiccessful completion of the important duty which you have just discharged as a member of the Court of Arbitration for the settlement of the dispute arising out of the control of the Behring Sea fisheries. We recognize in your appointment as one of the British arbitrators on the joint high tribunal not only the selection of one of the most able, astute and learned subjects of our Queen, but what is equally gratifying, an admission by the Government of the Mother Country of the right of Canada to a full and equal voice in the decision of all matters that iiearly concern our peculiar interest, and we may be permitted to add from the result of the deliberations of the court, of which you were so distinguished a member, that in common with Canadians we deeply appreciate the splendid services rendered by you to Canada in that capacity. In the conviction that the best interests of every class in our beloved country are wrapped up in the perpetuation of the cardinal principles of the policy upon which the administration of public affairs for the past fifteen years has been based, we beg to tender you the assurance of our continued devotion ta the cause of the Conservative party whose honoured leader you are. Its policy, we are well aware, has been assailed by foes within and foes without ; but we believe that the practical results flowing from the application of tliat policy have afforded so striking an object lesson to the electorate of this country, that when the time of trial comes, the principles we espouse will be once more triumphant. And that object lesson has beeii peculiarly emphasized duriug recent months by the happy condition of trade in Canada compared with other countries. We are persuaded, moreover, that the Government of which you arc an honoureil and trusted leader will continue as in the past to vindicate its claim to the confidence of the people of Canada by sliaping its i)oli(;y to meet the varyinp (londitions of trade, and by harmonizing every inteivst , whether labouring, manufacturing, agricultural, mining, fishing or other- :m^ SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 353 wise, anrl shaping all in unison to a common end — the advancement of the welfare of a'l classes in our beloved Dominion. In conclusion, permit us to renew the assurance of pleasure it affords us to welcome you to Montreal, and to wish yourself and Lady Thompson the richest blessings of health, long life and every prosperity. Signed on behalf of the clubs, Fred. C. Hensiiaw, President Junior Conservative Club. P. B. MiGNACLT, President Club Cartier, C. A. McDonnell, President Sir John A, Macdonald Club, 3. Adelard Ouimet, President Club Conservateur. Joseph H. Jacobs ; Beaumont Joubert, Hon. Sees. United Conservative Clvh8. The Pr*^.nner received this tribute, accompanied by Sir Adolphe Caron, the Hon. Mr. Anders, the Hon. Mr. Foster, the Hon. Mr. Ouimet and Mayor Desjardins. He spoke in reply first in French and then in English, the latter being of course the speech of the evening. In this connec- tion it is worthy of note that when Sir John first came to Ottav/a in 188G he could hardly speak a word of French. But recognizing the desirability of being acquainted with the language ot nearly two millions oi* the Canadian people he had devoted himself with characteristic energy, and amid all the innumerable demands upon his time, to its acquisi- tion. The address was delivered in his usual calm, delib- erate and judicial style ; every word being well weighed and every sentence well rounded. It was not, however, a stump speech, and from current comments it is question- able whether the effect was as great as the ability and honesty of the effort deserved. But it was the utterance of a statesman ; the matured thought and expression of an earnest and sincere mind. In his opening remarks Sir John Thompson spoke of what his 23 n m 354 LIFE AND WORK OP !;; ! predecessors had accomplished, and added : " I venture to express the hope, as the highest ambition I can have, that I should be worthy, at least in effort, at least in disintei - estedness, and at least in earnestness and zeal and purpose, of those great men." He then referred to the late Liberal Convention in a somewhat sarcastic way, and pointed out that the Conservative party did not require one because its policy and principles were known to all men, and had been over and over again approved by the people of Canada. But it was different with the Opposition : " They had great need of a convention because they were a party about to change their platform. They had done it very often before. We had seen them going to the country with even greater confidence than they expressed in Ottawa in convention, on other platforms altogether. They had declared for conti- nental free trade. They then had a platform of commercial union, and only nine or ten months ago their leader de- clared that on Unrestricted Reciprocity they would live or die." He went on to say that the protective policy was not a fixture in application, though regarding its general prin- ciples it was always the same. It was a fiscal method which permitted modifications and in fact made changes absolutely essential, in accordance with the constantly changing circumstances of the time. Hence the recent ap- pointmert of Ministers to investigate the condition of dif- ferent industries and interests ; hence also the promise of moderate tariff" reform during the next session of Parlia- ment. And : hen the Premier, amid great applause, eulo- gised v'.^ National Policy as a whole : " We think, while we admit that our policy in the past has not done all we hoped for, that it has ati ieved very great results for Can- ada We think i* has increased immensely the volume of Canadian trade both as regards our exports and imports. SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 355 We think it h.is succeeded in a marvellous degree in deve- loping the interests of every class of the working commu- nity. We think it has been marvellously successful in establishing public vi^orks all over this country, of which any country in the world might be proud, and which have made Canada envied by other nations. We think, and we know, that it has been the means of increasing inter-pro- vincial trade — of giving the home market to our people, to the industrial classes of different sections of the country, and thereby creating a greater sentiment in favour of union between the different provinces of this great Confederation." Sir John then spoke of the idle and breadless working- men who were being fed in the streets and public parks of the great American cities ; of the failures of innumerable banks in the United States ; of the great commercial, industrial and financial crash which had taken place in that paradise of the advocates of unrestricted reciprocity ; and pointed out that the Canadian artisan and Canadian interests were going along comparatively undisturbed by neighbouring disasters : " Every one knows that the social and commer- cial life of the people, the comfort of their homes, their abstention from crime and outrage, their obedience to order and to law, their respect for religion and authority, are a liundrodfold better — in this beloved country of ours — than in that boasted land from which these gentlemen sought to take their policy." He referred to the effect of free trade and the absence of protection upon the unfortunate farmers of England ; to the American depression in the prices of products and lands ; to the condition of the English artisan and labourer. He declared the policy of the Government to be the main- tenance of a homo mai'ket for the Canadian people and announced it to be their intention to write upon the tariff in broad distinct terms, that the industries of the Dominion 1- 1 1 I 356 LIFE AND WORK OF should " never be at the dictation of a foreign country." He claimed that under Mr, Mackenzie's Liberal adminis- tration the national debt had increased $8,000,000 per annum with little to show for it, while under Conservative rule it had grown only $6,250,000 a year, with the C. P. K and many great public works as a result. He stated that Canadian commerce had fallen off $20,000,000 annually under a revenue tariff, but had increased $28,000,000 a year under protection. The Premier then turned to the Manitoba Schools* question and discussed it freely, fully, and honestly. He referred to the charges made by Mr. Tarte, regarding a promise of remedial legislation said to have been given to Archbishop Tach6, and mentioned " the solemn denial in writing by the venerable Archbishop himself," He added his belief that the people of Canada w^ould accept the word of that " venerable and saintly man in preference to that of ten thousand Tartes," In reference to his own position he pointed out that " time and again I have been accused, with respect to this question, of pandering'to Catholic in- terests. Time and again in another province I have been accused of entering into a league with the Roman Catholic hierarchy for the purpose of subverting the constitutional rights of a province of this Dominion." He went on to deal with the problem historically and constitutionally ; handled Mr. Laurier without gloves for his charges of cowardice ; and then made a somewhat sig- nificant declaration regarding the Liberal leader's claim that if the public schools of Manitoba were de facto Protes- tant schools, then Federal interference might be necessary : " Once for all we have to decide, if the public func- tion is imposed upon ua by the Courts, not what the schools are, but what the citizens of the Province make them ; and, therefore, if the statutes of Manitoba do not make the SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 357 schools of the Province Protestant schools and do not justify the public schools of that Province being made Protestant schools, the Federal Government would have no power to interfere if any contravention of the law there, was made to the oppression of the minority." The Dominion, therefore, if given the power to inter- vene by the Courts, could only do so upon the legislation itself and not in connection with any system which might have developed in spite of, or through lax enforcement of, the law upon the statute book. The speech concluded with a vigourous denunciation of the Canadian independence idea and & rousing expression of loyalty to British connec- tion. This address gave the keynote for the ensuing tour of Ontario. At Belleville, a couple of weeks' later, perhaps the most important of these series of meetings was held — the occasion being a demonstration in honour of the popular local member, Mr. Harry Corby. It was an out-of-doors meeting and over eight thousand people gathered from neighboring counties to welcome the Premier and his visit- ing colleagues. Mr. Baldwin Falkiner, President >i tlie West Hastings Conservative Association, acted as chaij aian and an address was presented from the Associations of six ridings in the vicinity. Sir John Thompson was given a great reception and stated that though many of his collea- gues as well as himself, were new men and unknown to the audience personally, they none the less stood for old princi- ples. Andd great cheering he declared that " the ship of state has not been a ship lying to in the storm, but it is a ship whiclx has madci many prosperous voyages, a shi{) which carries the British flag still aloft, and now carries forward the hope of tlie young Canadian people, fuller of ambition to- day than it ever has been since the Union was formed." li I m^ p^»"^ ?■ n M ! I -j 358 LIFE AND WOltK OF Attention was drawn to the wonderful stability of Canada during a time of international distress : " We have seen the Australian Colonies swept by a whirlwind of disaster. We have seen the markets of Great Britain para- lyzed by financial depression, — and later still we have seen the Western States swept by a cyclone of disaster, which the President of that country officially declared was stopping every wheel of industry and turning thousands of men into the streets." He spoke of the McKinley bill having checked exports to the Republic by $5,000,000, during a year which had seen trade increase with the Mother Country to tlie extent of $17,000,000. He stated that although reciprocity in any fair and practicable degree had been declared im- possible by Mr. Blaine as representing the Republican party, yet his Government had informed the new Demo- cratic administration — opposed as that party was on prin- ciple to reciprocity with any country — that if it "was disposed to make fair tariff concessions based upon legisla- tion, such tariff concessions would be met by the Canadian Government in a proper spirit." More could not be done and even that much turned out to be useless. He denounced the Liberal party for its general pessimism and its constant changes. In this respect his words might well have brought to the minds of the audience those expressive lines : " Drifting, drifting, ever drifting, And never a harbour in sight. A pathless sea, a moonless night, And the clouds are never rifting." Other addresses were delivered by Sir Adolphe Caron, Sir (yharles Hibbert Tupper, Mr. Haggart and Mr. Angers. In the evening a banquet was held at which the Premier again spoke, together with Mr. Costigan, Mr. Daly, Mr. Clarke Wallace, Mr. Curran and Mr. Wood. On the morn- ing of September 25th, Sir John reached Berlin, accom- was r d i; Louis Henky Daa'IS, Q.C. Fovierly Premier of P. K. hland. SIR JOHN THOMPSON. :m panied by other ministers and visited many of its flourishing industries. In the afternoon they arrived at Ehnira, and were enthusiastically welcomed at both thj open meetiuL'' and the great gathering in the evening. The next day Clinton was reached and a large audience of farmers from all over the county, was addressed in the afternoon. Sir John concluded a brief &|)eech by expressing the hope that " the spirit of Canadian fellowship and enterprise, and of attachment to the British Empire may continue to grow. We are a determined, self-reliant people, determined to make a name for our country — the best half of this Continent.'' Extensive preparations had been made at Stratford to welcome the Premier and his colleagues. The skating rink in the evening was tilled to the doors with probably nine or ten thousand people, and the numerous addresses pre- sented to Sir John were — it is to be hoped — as satisfactory to him as were the speeches delivered in reply, to the people. At Palmerston, a warm welcome was given on the afternoon of the 27th inst., and in the evening the largest political demonstration which is said to have ever been seen in Bruce County, was held at Walkerton. The town was literally packed with people, and after the public meeting a banquet was tendered the Premier. On the following day, flying visits were paid to Tara and Port Elgin, and a banquet was received at Southampton in the evening. The mass meeting in the Tara rink was especially interesting, as evoking a declaration from Sir John in favour of woman suff"rage : " We look forward to it as one of the aims which are to be accomplished in the public life of Canada, because the Conservative party believe that the influence of women in the politics of the country is always for good, I think, therefore, that there is a probability of the fran- chise being extended to the women on the same property qualifications as men." 1 362 LIFE AND WORK OF Lucan was next visited, and then Durham. At the latter place Sir John asked, amid loud cheers and in refer- ence to the situation in the States : " Where would Canada have been to-day if the people of this country had accepted the Liberal proposition for Unrestricted Tleciprocity ? " At Mount Forest, Kenilworth and Arthur, Sir John Thompson and his colleagues were greeted with veritable ovations. At the latter place, and on behalf of the North Wellington Conservative Association, Mr. Wm. Kingston presented an Address, part of which v/as unusually inter- esting : " We watched your course during the lifetime of our late lamented leader with ever-increasing interest and respect. We learned to value the loyal support and energetic help you gave him while a member of his Minis- try. We feel that you, better than any man living, under- stood his views and policy, and are fitted to become the depositary of his traditions. New circumstances require to be met and dealt with, and we believe that you will meet and deal with them in an independent and masterful way as in the past. We belong to a party whose motto it is to live in the present — abreast of the times — not forget- ting our past, but connecting our policy smoothly with it." North and South Perth seemed to meet at Mitchell on October 3rd to do honour to the Premier. Owen Sound contributed a demonstration on the following day as great as that which had welcomed the new Minister of Justice and the old Chieftain in 1887. Markdale, Dunnville and Glencoe followed suit, and on the evening of Saturday, Oct. 7th, the tour closed at the last-named place. Sir John took the train for Montreal, where he was to meet Lady Thompson on her return from Europe, and the ot'ier Ministers returned to the Capital. The two weeks thus spent must have been most gratifying to the Premier. The SIR JOHN THOMPSOIJ. S63 innumerable addresses which were presented indicated the high respect and esteem in which he was held ; the con,',tant references to the Behring Sea Commission showed how the results of the arbitration, and his connection with it, were appreciated ; the receptions and banquets, the waiting crowds at the statioi's, together with the great processions in many places and the enthusiasm and interest everywhere exhibited, conveyed a popular tribute which could not fail to be satisfactory, even to a public man who cared so little for mere partisan applause as did Sir John Thompson. J S64 LIFE AND WORK OF i ' ^ Ml I'M CHAPTER XXI. As Minister of Justice. Sir John Thompson possessed in an eminent degree the mind, the training, and the aptitude of a jurist. And he was therefore especially well qualified to administer successfully the Department which he controlled for some eight years. However disparagingly opponents might speak of him as a politician, a diplomatist, a leader, or a Prime Minister of his country, they were compelled to respect the admirable judicial attainments, natural and acquired, which he was able at all times and under all circumstances to bring to the consideration of great legal and judicial problems. His career, in this sense, was curiously compact. Each important success seemed to fit into some future development and aid in furthering his interests, perhaps years afterwards. His first important case at the Bar was the deCence of a negro accused of some petty crime, whose acquittal he secured. His first appearance in the Supreme Court of Nova-Scotia was in 1874, nearly ixine yeirs af.er being called to the Bar, when ho acted as junior counsel with Mr. R. L. Weathorbe, now a Judge of that Court. He may be said to have mcde his reputation in pleading in the ceiel rated case of Woodworth vs. Tro >p et al., during the snme year. It was a case of Provincial and constitutional importance. The plaintiff was a memln'r of the House of Assembly, and in a speech made during the Session h^id charged the Provincial Secretary with having altered and falsified cert;iin public records and documents of the Oown I ands Department, after the signature of tlio Lieut.-Governor had been appended. A committee was nmmm SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 365 appointed to investigate tne charge and reported that there was no founda 'on whatever for it. The House then passed a resolution demanding an apology in the most abject terms from Wood worth — the plaintiff — which he declined to make. Another resolution followed, orderinof his ex- pulsion from the House, and the Speaker instructed the sergeant-at arms to eject him, which was done. Mr. Wood- worth then brought action against the Speaker and the members of the Committee. The whole question turned upon whether the Courts of the Province liad power to review the action of the Legislature. Mr, Thompson, and Mr. Macdonald, Q.C., acted for the plaintiff and carried the matter through the various Courus until it was finally argued before the Supreme Court of Nova-Scotia, in 1876. In the meantime, party feeling had been aroused and the whole Province had taken sides for or against. Then it \V'.s that the future Minister of Justice first displayed that remarkable knowledge of the riglits, duties, and prerogatives of Parlia- ment, which afterwards so greatly distinguished him. His argument vfbn the case and settled the (juestion of the power of the Provincial Legislature to punish for con- tempt. The force and ability thus shown is said to have surprised his friends, while the natural result was an im- mediate accession of public favour, and his subsequent appearance in many important cases before the Supreme Court of the Province. In 18V9 Mr. Ihompson became Attorney-Genc^ral of his Province and in the following year was gazetted a Queen's Counsel. In 1882 he was appointed a judge of the Sup- reme Court. He sat as a jiv^tice of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia untill 1886, wi.en he resigned from the Bench and re-entered political life, being called upon to pre- side as Minister of Justice over the administration of ; 363 LIFE AND WORK OF Canadian law and constitutional practice. His career in this high office appears to divide itself naturally into four distinct phases. The political control of ffveat constitu- tional issues such as the Jesuits' Estates act, the Riel case, and the- Manitoba schools forms one ; his attitude upon moral and legal reforms and upon minor and technical questions in the House is another; his policy regarding general Provincial legislation is a third ; and his efforts con- cerning important Parliamentary proposals and the initi- ation of legislation, such as the Criminal Code or the Copyright Law is a fourth. The first phase has been considered with more or less fulness. It is interesting to note in a general way how thorough the Minister was in everything connected with his work and the administration of his department. Not satisfied with the reports of subordinates, he himself visited most of the prison^i and penitentiaries under his jurisdic- tion. In 1887 he travelled through Manitoba, the North- West, and British Columbia for this purpose alone; making no speeches, and devoting himself entirely to business. In the House of Common?, the influence of the Minis- ter of Justice was all for good. It was a reforming, purifying, yet judicious power. He was incapable of legis- lating in a hurry, or of putting upon the statute book to- day reforms which woald have to bo modified or altered to-morrow. And he could be very sarcastic in dealing with the 58 who made proposals which did not commend theniEQlves to his judgment. Upon one occasion — June Gth, 1H88 — Dr. Sproule, a well-known member of the House, mo"ed that in view of the Jubilee celebration it was expedient to pass an Address to the Governor General, asking that clemency in different degrees be granted to all convicts whose conduct had been meritorious during their term of imprisonment. In his speech Sir John dealt both shortly and sharjjl^ witb the idea : SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 367 " The sentiments which actuate the hon. member who has brought the motion forward re, I find from the experi- ence which I have had in office, those which actuate three- fourths of the members of this House ; who are under the impression apparently that the unfortunate persons who are confined in the penitentiaries are confined there either through mistake or from some unforeseen misadventure which it was impossible for them to provide against. . . . I think if I may express the sentiment without offence to the gentlemen who are suppoi ig this motion, that the most unsuitable way we could devise of celebrating Her Majesty's Jubilee or attempting to confer any benefit upon the public, would be to let loose upon the community a class of people who have shown themselves able by long experience to inflict the greatest injury upon the com- munity." This was not a very conciliatory way of discussing the suggestion of a prominent supporter, but it illustrates the principle of justice which permeated the speaker's character. To him, divorce legislation was a peculiarly difficult subject. As a Roman Catholic, all divorce was objectionable; as Minister of Justice he had to guide the House in its decisions upon the divorce bills which came down from the Senate. In one case — June loth, 1887 — ho m.ade an able speech in favour of the divorce asked for, and one which Mr. Davies, who followed, described as " a clear and lucid opinion." It certainly showed a very complete knowledge of tiio law as voiced by decisions in the English High Court of Justice and the House of Lords ; hi the different American States; and in legislation during centuries past and gone. He concluded with the significant remark: "I only refrain from voting for this Bill for the nelsons that I should give for voting agivinst any Hill for the dissolution of the marriage tie." Upon another occa- I **?«?{ '^V; 868 LIFE AND WORK OF il sion — April 21st, 1 800 — he vigouronsly opposed a cer*^ain petition on grounds which were expressed as follows : " The proposition, then, is that we shall dissolve the maniago simply because she found that she was luarried to a person not able to support her as well as she hoped he would be. I cannot imagine a ground of divorce which would be more stigmatised in those countries where laxity of principles as regards divorce is prevalent ; I cannot imagine an application for divorce, the granting of which would do more dishonour to this Parliament than the passage of this Bill. I shall, therefore, apart from my objection to divorce on general principles, oppose this Bill from every point of view." Needless to say the " relief " asked for was not granted. Early in 188S, it was announced that the Government intended to take some steps to check gambling in stocks and merchandize and to control or aV^olish the "bucket shops," which were leading so many young men along the slippery path of speculation to ultimate ruin. Speaking upon the measure wiiich was finally carried through the House, the Minister of Justice declared that, " There is a limit beyond wiiich speculation becomes merely a vice and profligacy and a temptation to everybody to get riches quickly, even if they do not get them h( | \stly. . . . I know from experience that numbers of persons belonging to respectable classes in the community are in our different penitentiaries now, in conserjuence of buckt^t shop transa-ctions which led them on to embezzlement and fraud of different kinds." About the same time, the Minister moved an amend- mert to the law relating to the fraudulent marks on merchandize, which, a^ he said, was " an adaptation of the English Act to Canadian conditions." By this measure protection was given tlii'ough crimiDi,! process to registered SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 369 -stly. i;sons ire in nicket t and trade marks ; the burden of proving the absence of fraud was thrown largely upon the defendant ; all offenders became subject to summary conviction ; the law was en- larged so as to deal with false trade descriptions ; provision was made regarding search warrants, and for the seizure by the Customs authorities of goods which might infringe the law. And it is not likely that these and other enact- ments lacked severity in view of Sir John Thompson's well known hatred of dishonesty in all its forms. The records of Parliament contain a number of debates turning upon more or less legal issues, in which the Minister of Justice was, of course, the controlling fiq-ure. The Baird election case was one of these. On A:> 28th, 1887, the matter was brought up in the House, ■ 1 it was stated that G. G. King as the Liberal candidate in a Prince Edward Island constituency had recei/ed 1191 votes, whilst his opponent G. F. Baird, had received 1130. The returning officer, however, declared Mr. Baird elected on the ground that his opponent's nomination papers were invalid because of his deposit not having been made by a duly qualified agent. In his reply to Mr. Skinner, of New Brunswick, who had urg^.d the House to take action, the Minister of Justice feiatcd that it was not a matter for Parliamentary interference, but for the Courts to deal with. The prece- dents quoted had occurred previous to election cases having been transferred from Parliament to the Courts, both in CnYCiii Britain and Canada. All details, he pointed out, were now relegated to tlie Judiciary, the House only retain- incr the right to pass upon the qualification of the person returned as elected. In this connection he iuvstanced the case of O'Donovan Rossa, whose election had been voided in 1870, by the British House of Commons, because of his being a convicted felon. But this particular question was one for the Courts to pass upon, as it involved purely tech- nical and legal considerations. 24 ^-.mmmwF 370 LIFE AND WORK OF Later on, the matter came up acjain, though in a very different form. Mr. Baird had voluntarily resigned his seat and been re-elected. Prior to this the case had been taken into the Courts and had resulted in Mr. J. \V. Ellis_ M.P., proprietor of the St. John Globe, being imprisoned for abusivg language contained in his paper, and directed against one of the Judges. Meantime the returning-officer was broufjht before Parliament, but was eventually dis- charged. On June 6th, 1894, Mr Davies introduced a motion of serious censure upon the returning-officer, who had been dealt with by the House seven years before, and upon the Judge who had tried the more recent case. In- cidentally, he made a somewhat violent speech. Sir John declared in the course of his reply that " Judgv., have been censured for having left their business of judgment and having gone into politics. We are being asked to leave our business of politics and to go into the business of judgment." As usual, he urged the House to look after its own affairs, which were sufficiently onerous : "Our business is confined to the politics of the country — I use the word ' politics ' in its larger sense, as embracing legislation — and when we step out of our sphere and under- take to deliver judgment between subject and subject. much more when we undertake to reverse or to sit in review on the judgment of one of the highest Courts of the country, we lay ourselves open to the very condemn ition that this resolution would pronounce against the Court whose opinions it criticises." The Premier concluded by declaring that all " the abominations of the Star Chamber" were included in this one resolution. Needless to say it did not pass. Another case which came up — May 9th, 1888 — and was widely discussed as involving the rights of the press, was the imprisonment of J. T. ilawke, Editor of the f9 report >le ques- charac- ience of juatifieo I, and in ramittee made in > recom- e policy ^h-West railway eems to o be the ry mat- declared ;he veto Dus ten- cellency jf their a corn- measure eresting general SIR JOHN THOMPSOxN. 376 policy regarding disallowance. With Provincial legislation he never stood upon technical or constitutional objections where no apparent harm could result from allowance. Occasionally, however, Acts were vetoed by the Minister's advise, which glaringly infringed Dominion rights, or perhaps injuriously affected special interests, but such occurrences were rare. One of these was a Manitoba bill for authorizing external companies to do business within the Province. Another was "the District Magistrate's Bill," passed by the Quebec Legislature on the 2nd of Octo- ber, 1888. The Report of the Minister of Justice upon this occasion was a most elaborate historical disquisition, and it constitutes a valuable State paper. A very different case, with a different result, was the allowance of the Ordinance passed by the North- West Territorial Assembly in 1892. It amended the law respecting education and placed that subject under the control of a Council of Public Instruction. As in Mani- toba, the Roman Catholic minority appealed f-o the Domin- ion authorities, and were strongly supported hy Ar% '^>- IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^O {/ /<>".«* .^^^% ^j y #>. I 1.0 i.l •- IIIIlM 136 12.5 2.2 * 2.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ■* 6" ► *^ % o / '//a PhotogTciphic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y MS80 (716) 872-4503 # C/a % 376 LIFE AND WORK OF mm i I With Sir Oliver Mowat the Minister of Justice wa.< upon the most friendly personal terms, and their political or legal differences were conducted upon an unusually high plane. The former, in fact, has not hesitated to expresb his high appreciation of Sir John Thompson's business aptitude, facility for settling up matters long in dispute, and general legal attainments. Sir John was determined to get all the old questions at issue between the Provinces and the Dominion out of the way, and had initiated several suits against Ontario in connection with Indian claims and titles to land. An important case along these lines was that aris- ing from the treaties made with the Indians at Sault Ste. Marie on 3rd September, 1850, under which the Ojibe- ways surrendered to the Crown all the land north of Lakes Huron and Superior to the Height of Land, in considera- tion of certain fixed annuities. The treaty contained a provision that if the surrendered territory produced suffi- cient revenue to enable the Crown to do so, without incur- ring loss, the annuities in favor of the Indians would be augmented. This had since proved to be the case, and their claim had been pressed for consideration. Under Section 111 of the British North America Act ihe Dominion engaged to assume all the liabilities of the late Provinces of Canada, so that primaiily the Dominion was admitted to be liable to the Indians in this connection. Sir John Thompson, however, on behalf of the Government, claimed that Ontario having obtained the benefit of the land and the revenues received from it, should restore to the Dominion the moneys already expended and pay the whole of the annuities, past and future. Three arbitrators were chosen to deal with the question : Hon. J. A. Boyd, Chancellor of Ontario on behalf of the Province of Ontario; Sir Napoleon Casault, Chief Justice of Quebec, on behalf f t ■ m i Hi Hon. C. VV. Ross, LL.D., M.P.P. Minister (\f Eitucation in OnUrio. >. ~^ i>. . SIB JOHN THOMPSON. 379 of the Province of Quebec ; and the Hon. Mr, Justice Burbidge on behalf of the Dominion. As a laro^e sum of money was involved the result was awaited with much interest. And as ultimately decided it was very largly in favour of the Dominion ; partly in favor of the Provinces. Under the terms of another treaty made with the Indians before Confederation and dealing with certain territories west of Lake Superior covering thousands of square miles in extent, sundry disputes regarding jurisdiction had occur- red. Over two-thirds of the land in question was eventu- ally decided by the Imperial Privy Council in the St. Catharines Milling case, to belong to Ontario. Meantime, however, the Dominion Government at great expense to itself had extinguished the Indian title to these lands by incurring heavy liabilities for large perpetual annuities and by other payments during many years past, which alone had reached iSOOjOOO. Sir John Thompson ar. ; been given. But as so often happens, the public forget during a loader 8 fighting career to express their appreciation in a tangible manner or in one which a siensitive and sometimes greatly abused a vtesman can enjoy ; while political oppo- nents let slip many an opportunity to sweeten and render pleasq.nt, the surroundings of party stress and struggle. m IS- h i bl [< f -- ^- ' I li uP 392 Life and wouk (W CHAPTER XXIII An Imperial Sva^tesman. Sir John Thompson never appeared before the public as an enthusiast. The unwillingness to express his own strong feelings to others and intense dislike of those wl:o used patriotic phrases as a cloak for unpatriotic policies were dominant forces in his character. No Canadian was ever more earnest in believing that the maintenance of British connection and the development of Imperial unity were the greatest and wisest obje3ts for Dominion policy. But it was only by slow degrees that the people of Canada generally, came to appreciate the strength of this sentiment and then more by the practical results of his pvjlicy than by any special public belief in his loyalty or Imperialism. Where Sir John A. Macdonald, by phrase or precept, would embody the national regard for Britain, in a way calculated to arouse all the enthusiasm of the people, and thus aid him in the carrying out of an Imperial policy, Sir John Thompson would proceed first to plan, and then to quietly put his schemes in practice before inviting that public approval of which he was always reasonably assured. Yet his utterances upon these lines were by no means few, and as time went on the strength of his views would have become more evident and more widely known. Speaking, for iii5jtance, at the Ministerial Banquet in the Mansion tiousa, London, on Aug. (Jtli, 1890, and in response to the toast of the "Army and Navy nn I Reserve Forces," the Minister of Justice for (Canada— as he then was — referred to his pride as a colonist that " the dav tl SIR John tnoMPsoN. 39n bad come when friends and foes alike, in considering the strength of the Empire, had to take into account the strength of the Colonies across the sea." Upon all the questions which came up from time to time in regard to Canada's duty to the Empire, he spoke with no uncertain sound. The very idea of discrimination against British products in favour of American goods was abhorrent to him ; the advocacy of Independence he consid- ered dangerous to the Dominion, both in the present and in the future ; and the best policy to pursue was, in his opinion, one which would make the interests of Canada and the Empire identical, and gradually bring the wealth and power of the Mother Country into operation as sub- stantial factors in the development of Canadian territory. In resisting successfully the efforts of Newfoundland to introduce the wretched precedent of discrimination into the Colonial relationship, he did a great and perhaps not suffi- ciently appreciated service to the Empire. His action served as an ample protection against any discrimination in favour of American goods in the treaty afterwards made between the British West Indies and the Uiiited States. It will also prove an efficient precedent, and a reason for the use of the veto by the Imperial Government in the event of any future Canadian administration being so lost to a sense of national honour as to introduce the principle into a reciprocity arrangement with the American Republic. At the same time Sir John Thompson wps too thorough a Canadian to permit of his ever considering British inter- ests first ..and those of the Dominion second. The way in which he stood out for Canadian rights in regard to the Atlantic fisheries, and the Pacific Coast sealing interests ; the Copyright question, and the British treaties which limit the freedom of Canadian fiscal action; are proofs whicl sufficiently illustrate the fact. He believed in Canada iM 'i ti 394 Life and work of having the very fullest power compatible with its position as a State of the Empire, and had its interests come in conflict with those of England, he would have stood for Canada first. But he considered the whole matter in a very different spirit from that wb'ch must have actuated those who were always looking forward to such a divergence of destiny, and speaking of it as something inevitable, when in reality it was barely possible. National existence he considered compatible with British connection, one, in fact, being dependent upon the other. Speaking in Toronto on January 6th, 189*3, the new Premier declared that " every man who is a Canadian at heart feels that this country ought to be a nation, will be a nation, and, please God, we shall help to make it a nation ; but, sir, v^ do not desire that it shall be a separate nation, but that il will be a nation in itself, forming a bulwark to the British Empire, whose traditions we admire, whose protection we enjoy, and who has given to this country in the fullest degree the right and the power of self-government, and agreed to extend to the people of this country every facility which a self-governed and indepen- dent people could desire to have." At the great meeting which followed a week la,ter in the Auditorium, he proclaimed amid ringing cheers that "the very corner-stone of the policy which we have endeavoured to carry forward, which we will build our future upon, is British connection." He went on to say that it was the bounden duty of both Liberals and Cons?.ir- vatives to take care that the question of that future was not trifled with ; to see that Canada was developed as " a iinu, strong British nationality " ; to base polit'cal action upon confidence and not pessimism ; to spurn the annexa- tionist emissary from the door of every true Canadian ; to cease trifling with the idea of annexation " by paltering Sir John Thompson, Speaking in the Canadian Bou$e of Common*. 1 PI \ f. ' , '..JK'''^ *^ t; ^ lU SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 397 with independence.' It was not, he thought, an unworthy ambition to look forward to a distant possibility of inde- pendence when Canada might contain a great and populous nation, but "tc talk of it as being practicable or reasonable within the present generation, is to talk absurdity, if it is not to talk treason." At the present time, Canada was independent in the truest sense of the word, with the greatest possible liberty of self-government, and the protection of so powerful a parent that no one could menace that independence or hamper its free operation and development But in view of the immense power and intense aggressiveness of the United States " it required the fullest care and help of the Empire in order to keep the independence of Canada and to safeguard the rights of Canada." The man, therefore, who advocated independence while the Dominion was in this stage of national existence, advocated not only separa- tion from Great Britain, but practically the absorption of this country into the United States : " If the sentiments which animated the people of the Dominion were destroyed by British connection being severed, and the moral help and the prestige of Great Britain were withdrawn from it, the United States would have us at her disposal whenever she pleased," In an elaborate interview given the papers upon his return from the Arbitration Tribunal at Paris, — August 26th — Sir John Thompson was even more plain and for- cible : " The propagandism for Canadian independence is a direct and plain agitation in favot of annexation. Nobody in the country ought to be deceived about that. If anyone wants to know what fate Canada would meet in dealing with any international question standing outside of the British Empire, he had better read the record in the Behring Sea discussion. Great Britain stood by us nobly ' m I h I I- 398 LIFE AND WORK OF from first to last, and .^he guarded every interest, that she was necessarily j ^ked i'j guard, and she dealt with Canada in all matters of arbitrntion as fairly and as zealously as if Canada had been a part of the United Kingdom. Stand- ing alone by herself Canada would not have received one moment's consideration, and any discussion of rights would have been disposed of in dhort order." A few weeks later at the demonstration in Montreal, on September 12th, he denounced '* the wretched, feeble voices of the miserable creatures," who raised the cry of annexation, and declared that after closing their little office in Toronto, some of them had gone to the other half of the Continent " for which they have such a profound affection, but in which they will find the people have a profound contempt for renegade Canadians." lb will not be surpris- ing in this connection to those who appreciated the strong though suppressed feelings which characterized Sir John, to know that he entertained of late years sentiments of intense dislike to Mr. Gold win Smith, as the champion of views for which he felt the keenest aversion. He found it difficult, indeed, to understand how a cultured English- man and brilliant writer could hold such dishonouring and ignoble opinions. Turning to the Behring Sea matter, he pointed out that it had been a struggle of five millions of people against sixty millions, and that "it was not by chattering annexation and independence that Canada had her rights assured and maintained in the face of the nations." It was because Great Britain had thrown the majesty of her flag around the humblest craft which ploughed the waters of the North Pacific ; it was because the Mother Country gave Canada an equal voice in the deliberations of the Tribunal ; it was because the Queen of England declared that at the bar of international justice SIR JOHN THOMPSON. 399 lat she )anada y as if Stand- ed one would mtreal, feeble 1 cry of le office i of the rection, •ofound mrpris- ! strong r John, lents of pion of } found nglish- ng and )ointed ions of lot by Ida had I of the m the which because lin the JQueen justice the voice of able and eloquent Canadian counsel should be heard upon an equal footing with that of the great legal lights of Britain. And once more he pronounced the moral : " The people who are attempting to deceive you with the story of independence are just as renegade to every interest in this country as is the annexationist him- self." Referring again to those who spoke of it merely as a possibility in the distant future, the Premier continued : ' That is a worthy aspiration for those who may come after us, many long years hence, to contemplate ; but those who speak of independence in the present state of Canada, or in any condition in which she is likely to be within the time of you or your children, are not talking independence from the heart, but they are talking it with the lips, and with black treason in their hearts to every true Canadian interest to which we should stand firm." Yet, with all his strong feelings of loyalty and intense aversion to anything savouring of annexation or conti- nental ism, Sir John Thompson was extremely moderate and fair in his views of the every-day policy which should actuate Canada in its relations towards the United States. As an instance of tliis,''and apart from I is well known attitude regarding reciprocity, the Alien Labour Bill pre- sented to the House in 1890, and urged very frequently afterwards, may be mentioned. Fo'' years the United States had dealt in a harsh, almost brutal, manner with Canadian workingraen who had crossed the border to seek employment, who had perhaps obt