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r. r 
 
 THE 
 
 POLITICAL SITUATION. 
 
 -o J.^aLKCssl^5a•£;:=-t>- — 
 
 i^'EiEaia: 
 
 DELIVERED BY 
 
 THE HON. GEO. E. FOSTER, 
 
 MINISTER or FINANCK. 
 
 In the Mechanics Institute, 
 
 ST. JOHN, N. B., 
 
 J..%S 
 
 1 
 
 L 
 
 A-. 
 
 fl'Omitammmiim^iit'^assim 
 
¥, 
 
 I 
 
 k k I Foster, 
 
 3V-1I3>TISTER. OF FUST-A-XsrCJE. 
 
 The meeting in the St. John Mechanics Ini- 
 titute.on the nif^htof the lath reminded oneof 
 the gatherings there during the campaign of 
 March last, which calmiuatod in the elec- 
 tion of three aupportera of the dominion 
 government. The eleotorR met to hear one 
 of the members of the government, Hon. 
 Geo. E. totter, the minister of finance. The 
 building was crowded to the doors, in fact 
 many were unable to get in at all. A large 
 number of prominent citizens occupied seats 
 on the platform, among whom were the fol- 
 lowiDg: 
 
 J. D. Haxen, M. P.; E. McLeod, M. P.; 
 C. N. Skinner, M. F.; Josiah Wood, M. P. 
 for Westmorland; K. D. Wilmot, M, P. for 
 Runbury; A. C. Smith, M. F. P.; A. A. 
 Stockton, M. P. P.; James Rourke, M. P. 
 P.: Hon. F. Woods, of Queens; Hon. Sena- 
 tor Boyd, H. A. Powell, M. P. P. for West- 
 morland; Rev. Jas. Spencer, Rev. J. W. 
 < ;iark, AlH. R. R. Barnes, Aid. W. W. 
 Allen, 0. E. Bnrnham, Josiah Fowler, A. 
 Malcolm, W. M. Jarvis, Dr. Inches, R. W. 
 Grookshank, A. G. Bow^, C. A. Palmer, 
 C. H. Fairweatber, J. R ^oodburn, James 
 McNichol, Aid. J. i. Seaton, Robt. 
 Cruikshank, Aid. J. A. Chesley, 
 G. F. Tilley, S. L. Br!ttain. T. 
 Denovan, J. D. Chipman of St. Stephen, 
 Harris Allan, P. R. Titus, J. R. Armstrong, 
 Dr. F. McFarlane, Rev. Dr. Wilson, James 
 Robinson of Lancaster, Dr. Bayard, J. D. 
 Underhill, Geo. J. Oulton, Robe. Marshall, 
 J. G.RobertBon, Alfred Markham, J.A.Wat- 
 son, John D*ley |of Digby, John E. Irvine, 
 y. Murdoch, D, McLeod Vince of Wood- 
 stock, Dr. Jas. Christie, Aid. Wm. Lewis, 
 J. A. B'lyea, S. S. DeForest,W. H. Thorne, 
 G. R. Coker, Ge'*. McLeod, W. H. Rourke, 
 Dr. Daniel, Joh H. Parka, H. IT. McLeod, 
 of Greenwich, Kings Co., 
 B. White, J. H. Hamil- 
 W. M. McLean, S. Hay- 
 
 Councillor Be' 
 D. W. Clark, ^ 
 ton, Z. Adams, 
 ward. 
 
 At eighfc o'clock Hon 
 
 Mr. Booster, accom- 
 
 panied by Chas. A. Everett, ei-M. P., came 
 ferward. The minister was given a rousing 
 reception. 
 
 When the applause had subsided, Mr. 
 Everett made a very short speech, express- 
 ing pleasure at seeing so many present and 
 pointing out the desirability of having ad- 
 dresses from time to time from the members 
 of the government. He bespoke for Mr. 
 Foster an attentive hearing. 
 
 Hon. Geoi:ge E. Poslor, 
 
 whe was ref eived with greetings of applause, 
 ramgled with oheers, which lasted for some 
 time, said 
 
 Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I 
 desire in the first place to echo the senti- 
 ment of the chairman in introducing ma to 
 this magnificent meeting tonight I think 
 
 an excellent thing — good for the body 
 politic and for the general good government 
 of the country — that the representatives of 
 the people imd the people themselves may 
 get an opportunity of meeting each other to 
 discuss the various public questions which 
 from time to time engage the attention of 
 the country, and it is with that purpose in 
 view, not from any desire make a speech, 
 but simply to have a plain and square and 
 sensible talk with the electors of this oity, 
 and of the counties surrounding it who have 
 oome in here tonight — a talk over, not all, 
 because that would be quite impossible — but 
 over some of the principal points which are 
 today in discussion in this country. (Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 Much has happened in the ten months or 
 thereabouts that have elapsed since I last 
 had the honor of standing on this platform 
 and speaking to the people of St. John. 
 Since that time the greut contest which was 
 waged from one end of the country to the 
 other, in which we all took ao keen an 
 intereutv, and which was at that time just 
 commencing has been fought out, has 
 ended, and has ended in the defeat for the 
 fourth time of the party in opposition in 
 this country, and in the sustaining for the 
 fourth time of the government and the 
 party which has been in power since 1878. 
 (Applause. ) It may be remembered that at 
 that time I was bold enough to ata«u my 
 convictions, that when the polls were closed 
 and the ballots of the people of this country 
 had been placed in the boxes it would be 
 found that the policy of the government was 
 sustained by the country. (Applause.) 
 That has proved true. ( Renewed applause. ) 
 Ithasprovedtruo iromno other circumstance 
 more than from the fact that the trade policy 
 enunciated by the opposition and upon 
 which they went to the country, was a 
 policy which in its prinsipleand in the ulti- 
 mate results which seemed necessarily to 
 fiow from it, did not commend itself to the 
 people of the country, and, consequently, 
 was not sustained by tiiem at the polls. I 
 make no apology fct saying to the people of 
 this, the commercial metropolis of New 
 Brunswick, that a large part of my address 
 tonight will be devoted to a discussion of 
 the trade question. But, before I approach 
 that subject there are one or two points 
 upon which I wopid like to touch, and that 
 at some length, with reference to other 
 points and anbjecta of disousaion. (Gheer« } 
 
F nt I may refer— and I refer to It here m 
 it hfts been referred to upon other platform*, 
 and I refer to it with sorrow — to the great 
 )o«8 which the liberal oonaervative party 
 •BBtained in the death ol that leader, who 
 formed more particniarly lbs link that 
 booad the generation of the past and the 
 generation tif the present together, who 
 bound the politicn of the olden time with 
 the politioB of today, who waa 
 
 THK CUOSEX AND TRUSTED LBADEB 
 
 of the liberal conservative party, and who, 
 more than that, was for many years a rep- 
 resentative and distingniahed figure in the 
 Silitioal history of the world. (Applause.) 
 o one who was not a member of parliament 
 and sitting in parliament on those eventful 
 d»ya, when the life uf the great leader was 
 trembling in the balance, knows the aoxi- 
 iety, the stress and the strain which was im- 
 plied in those days, full of mingled hope 
 and fear; and, sir.when at last the ^ell that 
 tolled late in the night said that the great 
 man's last moments had ebbed away — wh^n 
 the telegraph wires bore to every part of 
 this dominion, yes, and to every part of the 
 world as well, the tidings that the faithful 
 and long-serving subject of her majesty had 
 paMed away, there waa sorrow, there waa 
 regret, there was a deep feeling of tkereave- 
 ment not only in the hearts of the liberal 
 conservative party of this country, but in 
 the heart as well of every (;eneroua and 
 sympathising and intelligent opponent of 
 the policy and of the personality of the 
 eader of the government. (Applause.) It 
 bad been an article of belief in the creed of 
 the opposition, it had been taught in all 
 their literature and promulgated from all 
 their platforms that when Sir John A. Mac- 
 donald died, the party— which, as they 
 said, wao held together by the diatingoished 
 and unique personality of that great leader— 
 would fab to pieces and the government 
 would retam again to the hands of the 
 party in opposition. Sir, that was not only 
 the creed, very largely of the 
 party opposed to the govern- 
 ment, but a belief which had often 
 impreijsed the hearts of liberal conservatives 
 and was more or less current in their 
 thonghtf, even though unacknowledged or 
 unexpressed bjf them in words. But, sir, in 
 the very front cf battle, with the guns of 
 the enemy trained full upon us, with our 
 leader falling in our very arms, the liberal 
 conservative party closed up their ranks, 
 faced their opponents and citme out from 
 that long and arduous struggle a compact 
 body, without one single defection in their 
 namber, and with, I believe, the unimpaired 
 confidence and fall trust of the country in 
 their principles aitd policy. (Applause). 
 This, sir, is only out* more example of a fact 
 which all history teatthea us, that however 
 great the personality, however unique may 
 be the influence of a great leader, that after 
 all the party and the priaoiples upon which 
 a parMvja based us stronger than any per- 
 sonalmj and may be said tu be independent 
 
 of, and to a large extent creative of, the- 
 personalitv which for the time being leads 
 and comes to be the (mhodiment in the 
 leadership of the party. And so with that 
 great loss the liberal conservative party 
 based upon certain principles, made their 
 lines staunch and strong; and closed np their 
 ranks, and have gone into the fight for good 
 government and for the great policy which 
 they represent, the policy of progress and 
 development have t^one into it with good 
 heart and with, I believe, tUe confidence 
 of the people unimpaired in them. (Ap- 
 plause). 
 
 Sir, this had scarcely happened when 
 there was opened out a method of warfare 
 which had a basis, which had a purpose,and 
 yet which has l>een carried to an unwar- 
 ranted extent. So far as it had a 
 method which can be adjudged to 
 be right, so far as it possessed a 
 purpoue which acjuared with justice and 
 the sense of fair play — so far I find no fault 
 nor, I think, can any intelligent person find 
 any fault with it, nor oould he blahie the 
 present opposition in taking hold of /hat- 
 ever examples ma> ^ave come to their notice 
 of lack of probity and lack of trust -worthi- 
 ness, in publio servants or in the pnbUc 
 service of the country, to purge it so far as 
 their efibrta could go and make the public 
 service what it ought always to be and 
 what we ahunld always strive to make it, a 
 service noted for its purity and its capabil 
 ity. (Gheertf.) And, so what has been gen- 
 erally denominated as the soandals csameout 
 to the oonntry^oame out through parlia- 
 ment and have for the time being obscured 
 the greater issues of the day, and towered 
 al)ove the trade policy and the discussion of 
 that great subject. They have become, as 
 it were, the great engine for party efieot of 
 the opposition and have been, from the 
 time the first one was broached in Ottawa 
 up to the present time, relied upon to dis- 
 credit the liberal conservative party, to 
 discredit the government and to a oertubin 
 extent, as I have stated, the country aa 
 well. 
 
 NOW, APAB* FBOM ALL THOSE METHODS, 
 
 which we may denominate fair in the pro!) 
 ing of these matters, in bringing out the 
 wrong and in purging the publio service of 
 this country, apart from all that which w»j 
 justified, which we can find no fault with e < 
 long as it proceeds on just and fair methods- 
 there has been imported into this a partisftn 
 spirit), a desire to make of this more 
 than there should h% and a 
 tendency to exaggerate and to uko 
 them as a means to disoredit the pairty aed 
 the government and so gain political power. 
 Now, sir, what are those scandals? For 
 ten months they have been talked about. 
 AU kinds of exag^rated atoriea have been 
 started, have bean given earrency to, natil 
 BO much has been stated and so mnok exag- 
 geration has been ttted that today, as was 
 very fairly and eloquently said by the min- ' 
 ister of justice at Perth it needs nothint;^ 
 
3 
 
 cd when 
 ' warfare 
 rpote.and 
 ku unwar- 
 t hail a 
 idged to 
 iBPBBod a 
 iBtioe and 
 d no fanlt 
 leraon find 
 »la>ne the 
 of -hat- 
 heir notice 
 i»t-worthi- 
 )he poblic 
 It BO far as 
 the public 
 to })9 and 
 make it, a 
 ta capabil 
 « been fren 
 da oame out 
 igh parlia- 
 { obscured 
 nd towered 
 BCUBBion of 
 gecome, aa 
 ly effect of 
 from the 
 Ottawa 
 to die- 
 B party, to 
 to a certain 
 country as 
 
 I out the 
 ' service of 
 . which wa3 
 ault with eo 
 r methods— 
 B a partiBRn 
 thia more 
 and » 
 to neo 
 pjrty aEd 
 tical power. 
 daU? Fof 
 Iked about, 
 have been 
 cy to, nntil 
 tnuoh ezag- 
 
 »y. »• "^.^ 
 ^ the mm- 
 
 eda nothing 1 
 
 in 
 ran 
 
 0Mre than a4impla, a calm, and a truthful 
 ■tatement of the aaie to refute that which 
 for the lait few niontha hai been passing 
 current throughout; the country to the de- 
 triment of the public service and to the de- 
 triment of the country as well. 
 
 The first of these we will take up and ez- 
 asaine for a moment was what occurred in 
 the interior department. Now, what waa 
 the nature of that irregularity? It waa 
 simply this and nothing more: that in the 
 interior department from 1875 up, there 
 grew, and grew apace, and grew more rap- 
 idly in the years 1883. •4,-5 and 6, from oir- 
 cumstanoes of which I will speak, the prac- 
 tice of giving extra work which had to be 
 done, but which by the law should have 
 been done by temporary clerks and not by 
 permanent clerks, it had become customary 
 to give that work to the permanent clerks 
 in the service and to pay them for the over 
 time which was spent in the performance of 
 that work. Two things are necessary to be 
 borne in mind while discussing thin subject. 
 First, that thia extra work had to be done, 
 was thrown upon the department by the 
 events which took place from time 
 
 given to the feinporary clerks. The chief 
 reason that induced the officers in the de- 
 partment^ to allow that prootioe, even 
 though contrary to law, was that the regu- 
 lar clerks of the department having the 
 full run of the department, and 
 
 HAVING A FULL KNOWLIDGK 
 
 of the work of the department and of the 
 books and documents of the department, 
 could do it more expeditiously and more 
 satisfactorily than the temporary clerks who 
 were taken in from time to lime for that 
 purjJose. So it was testified before the 
 public accounts committee over and over 
 again that although the law was violated by 
 the course adopted, yet the finances of the 
 country were thereby saved to a large ex- 
 ten4 aa the work was more efficiently and 
 more expeditiously done. That is all it ia, 
 all the talk about boodling and corruption 
 and wroDg-doing in the department of the 
 interior notwithstanding. 
 
 Next we will uke up the printing depart- 
 ment. What happened there? It happened 
 there that Mr. Bronekill, who waa a chief 
 officer in that department, after he had con- 
 ducted business on the regular contract 
 
 to time, and waa more than the pnoea and contract rates with ontside sup 
 . .-_L_ i_ ..L... .__ u ij piief, fop the department, in two instanoea 
 
 waa guilty of doing this: A gentleman from 
 whom purchases had been made for the gov- 
 ernment at oontraot rates, at the lowest 
 rates which were prevalent, after the trans- 
 action had Doen finished, and sometime 
 thereafter, said to Mr. Bronskill, "Your 
 family not being well, should go to the sea- 
 side. I will give you $200 to take your fam- 
 ily to the seaside." That was one summer. 
 The next summer the same man did the 
 very same thing, and made biro an advance 
 of $200 to take his family to the seaside, 
 taking his note in that instance therefor. 
 That is, $400 as a gift or advance were given 
 to Mr. Bronskill by a person who had sup- 
 plied goods to the government at contract 
 rates and that, at aa low rates as they could 
 be aupplied elsewhere. That you may say 
 waa a trivial fault. Whether that or not, 
 it was a fault that could not be overlooked. 
 
 regular clerks, in their regular hours, could 
 by any means overtake. The law made it 
 an offence for a permanent clerk to be em- 
 ployed over-time and to be paid for that 
 overtime. Yon may question ttae wisdom of 
 such a law; the reasons that led up to it are 
 obvious; it is not necessary for me to speak 
 of them tonight; but whether obvious or 
 not, they were reasons that were thought 
 sufficient when the civil service law waa 
 framed to cause it to be enacted that regu- 
 lar clerks in the regular employ of the ser- 
 vice of the country should not be allowed 
 pay for any service they did over-time, and 
 that for over-time and extra services extra 
 clerka were appointed, and these did the 
 work and received the pay. The whole thing 
 that occurred in this department of the in- 
 terior waa this: that instead of giving the 
 work it was necessary to do to the extra 
 temporary clerks it wu? given to the clerks 
 
 in the regular service. They did double and t lie government of the country and the- 
 
 work; they received double pay, but there public service of the country cannot afford' 
 
 was no intimation, there has been no proof, ^q have an officer in its employ and dealing; 
 
 and there could not be any prot.''thatthe work ^[^h contracts and supplies w ho will accept 
 
 was not fairly and honestly pt formed; that presents from those who supply the gov- 
 
 the pay was anything more t -» a fair re- ernment, even after the supplies have been 
 
 ward for the work that was donj and that 
 the government received for every dollar 
 that it paid out an equivalent service in its 
 just and full measure. It was a technical 
 violation of the clause of the law that no- 
 body should perform that work in the ser- 
 vioo, but there was in it no such thing as 
 what is now termed "boodle." They did 
 ■the workj they received the pay, the gov- 
 had no money taken from their 
 
 furnished and the goods paid for. (Ap- 
 plause. ) It opens up a suspicion of wrong 
 dealing, and the object of the parties giving; 
 the presents is simply this, that they may 
 get the sympathy and good will of the offi- 
 cer in order that these supplies may bo con- 
 tinued afterwards, even it so done at con- 
 tract prices, and Mr. Brcnskill's offence was 
 that, and for that offence he waa diamiaaed 
 and remains dismissed from the servko. 
 
 The other waa Seneoal. Mr. Seneoal waa 
 the man who had charge of th^ printing de- 
 
 ernment baa no money 
 
 coffers wrongly; for all the money that was 
 
 paid the service and the necessary service ^ _^ 
 
 was performed. The teehnical violation of partment, the buying of the ma'chiney "and 
 
 the law was that instead of it having been uipplies for the printing department. Mr. 
 
 given to regular clerks It should have been ^eaecal's offence was that after machinery' 
 
bftd been bought at the lowest contract 
 ratea, at the lew oat market ratea, 
 he waa in the babir, after the billa had 
 been paid, of represeDting to the gentletneb 
 who bad aupplii'd thrao'Kood: that he waa 
 in needy citcumatauceB and that it would bo 
 very agreeable to him if a preient were 
 given to him, and ao preacnta were given 
 and over and over and ovor again, until ao 
 far aa we linow, about $15,0M), of preaenta 
 wero give to Mr. Sonecal, not out 
 of government funda,but by contractora who 
 had Hupplied the government at the lowest 
 contiact or market rates and who confessed 
 before the committee that the reason why 
 they gave these prtaonts waa that aa thia 
 waa a large de*>artment and as machinery 
 and type and the like would have to be re- 
 newed and bought again and aga!l they 
 wished to keep the good will of Mr. Senocal 
 in order that they might get other ordera at 
 market ratea. But, air, the government 
 thought, aa the people of the country did, 
 that auch conduct is not auoh aa befita pub- 
 lic officers, and ho waa not only disminaed 
 but is today being prosecuted in the oonrta 
 for the recovery of money — not taken from 
 tho government — but taken wrougly againat 
 his oath of office and against his duty to the 
 public service, from contractora who had 
 Bupplied the government. (Applause.) So 
 much for Mr. Senecal. (Laughter). That, 
 sir, is all the irregularity that was brought 
 to light in the department of printing. 
 
 WE NOW PASS TO THE RAILWAY DEPARTMENT. 
 
 A chief clerk in the railway department 
 had eight years ago certified to the account 
 for daily work of his son, his son not being 
 at that time In the department, and not be- 
 ing in a position to give work to the de- 
 partment or value for what he received. The 
 officer certiQed that the work was done and 
 the money was drawn from the govern- 
 ment's eoflfers and it was paid to the boy or 
 to himself, for he was the father of the boy. 
 Now that waa eight years ago. It waa a 
 case whioh caused pain and regret to every 
 friend of that officer, but it was a case which 
 could not be overlooked. It wa^ ao much 
 money taken from the coffers of the 
 government ivithout any equivalent ser- 
 vice having been given for it and by a 
 certificate which asserted that something 
 was done that was not done, and although 
 pity, regret and sympathy were felt by 
 every member of the government, yet it be- 
 came the duty of the government, in the in- 
 terests of the public, to dismiss that officer 
 from the public service, and ha is now no 
 longer an officer of the government. 
 
 Passing to the public works department, 
 two [men, Talbot and Dionne, appeared to 
 faave couapired together with a merchant 
 in the city of Ottawa whereby they 
 were to receive supplies for them- 
 selvoa and their households and pay 
 waa to be given by checks, certified to 
 by one of those offioera who waa a certifying 
 clerk, that certain goods were supplied to 
 the public worka department, attd theee 
 
 ohecka were then ptaaod to the private ao- 
 oount of thcBo two men. The evidence was 
 most contradictory, and the whole afTair, aa 
 brought out before the committee, retted in 
 ooniiderable doubt, ao that the committee 
 aimply turned it over to the minister of jut> 
 tioe to be dealt with. Both these men have 
 lieen diamiued from the service, and actions 
 have been brought against both, and at pres- 
 ent one of them liealn jail awaiting hia trial 
 at the coming aaaizes. (Hear, hear and sp- 
 plause.) Then there waa the case of Mr. 
 Amoldi, who, though not proved to havj 
 defrauded the government, waa guilty it 
 conduct unbecoming a public aurvant, haa 
 been diamfaaed from the service and ia being 
 
 Srosecuted beforo the courts for that charge, 
 ut the most serious charge oi all was that 
 preferred againat the publio worka depart- 
 ment and against the minister of that de- 
 partment, aa also against Robert McGreevy, 
 a member of parliament. Tiiese were taken 
 before the special committee of privileges 
 and elections. The charges were examined 
 into in a moat thorough way. The minister 
 of justice himself sat at that committee 
 every hour that it sat, and with perfect im- 
 partiality, and with the single desire of 
 getting at the rights of the case, to 
 punish the wrong-doer whero it should be 
 found wrong-doing had taken place. That 
 committee aid its work and brought in its 
 report and aa a result — whilst neither sec- 
 tion of that report, neither the minority nor* 
 the majority report, fonnd the minister 
 guilty of wrong doing, aa far as taking pub- 
 lic money to hia own service, to hia own 
 private use, were concerned — they found 
 that Robert McGreevy had prostituted hia 
 privileges aa a member of parliament for 
 gain for himself. They found that the pub- 
 lio « . ka department has been lax in sev- 
 eral instances and that some of its officers 
 had been guilty of wrongful acts. The re- 
 sult of that inveaiigiition had been that Mr. 
 McGreevy haa been expelled from parlia- 
 ment, that the officers who were implicated 
 have been dismissed from the servico and 
 that actions in oonrt are now pending for 
 the recovery of the moneys wh?ch it is be 
 lieved were illegally taken by contractors, 
 covered up V)y false recurns and false certifi- 
 cates, and for work represented to have 
 been done which was not done; and if there 
 IS any power in the courts to compel the re- 
 turn of the r^oney to the government which 
 was illegally taken by their contractors it is 
 the aim of the minister of justice and of the 
 government to have that money returned to 
 its rightful place , ir the publio treasury. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 This, air, is a resume, fair, simple, and 
 comprehensive, although not perfect in de- 
 tail of what is understood by those scandals. 
 Let me ask you to note the position of the 
 government in reference to it. In the first 
 place, from the very first moment they were 
 imputed, the government placed at the dis- 
 posal of the committee and of 
 the prosecntora of those charges, 
 
hU 
 for 
 
 pub- 
 aev- 
 
 &ctra 
 
 e re- 
 
 cMr. 
 
 Birlia- 
 
 oated 
 and 
 for 
 
 i'sbe 
 
 utori, 
 rtifl- 
 have 
 Lhero 
 e re- 
 hich 
 8 it iB 
 f the 
 ed to 
 Bury. 
 
 and 
 In de- 
 iD^aU. 
 oi the 
 firsc 
 were 
 |G die- 
 ot 
 ItarKes, 
 
 every facility in ita power. There ii no 
 aingle act of the government on record 
 which can be fairly produced before Boa- 
 tible men at an attempt of the government to 
 in the least degree burk any enquiry or pro- 
 vent any method which waa adopted and 
 which wan fairly reasonable for the forret- 
 iflg oat of those wrong-doers and their pun- 
 ishment. 
 
 IT 18 NOT MY INTENTION TONIOUT 
 
 to go into the details of the method of the 
 proaecution and enquiry. I have made a 
 Mtatoment; it is a true atatement, and one 
 which will be borne out by the records in 
 the course of the inveatigatioua. As any 
 wrong doing was brought to light, what 
 happened ? Punishment baa followed 
 wherever wrrn^-doing has been proven. In 
 the case of the men in the interior dopart- 
 meut who wore guilty of a technical viola- 
 tion of thd . law every one of them 
 bi\i bad to submit to a fine and 
 a chief o£Qcer who waa .guilty of 
 iillowirg the irregularity to go on has been 
 degraded from hia high poaition aa deputy 
 minister, and consequently has not only 
 been fined but haa also lost the position 
 which be formerly held, and now ocoupiea 
 bat n, aeoondary position. It waa telt by 
 the government that although the work waa 
 duly done and paid for, and a proper equiv- 
 ulnnt returned for the money given, that 
 yot the oflenoe waa an oiTouce againat the 
 law, and coneequently a puniahment had to 
 be indicted, and this puniahment is aurelj 
 Ruftiuient in the minds of fair people thia 
 broad dominion through. (Applauac). 
 Wherever wroner-doing was found which waa 
 wilful, and which resulted in an official be- 
 coming unfitted tu occupy a public position 
 Hud properly fulfil a public duty, that per- 
 v;on baa been dismissed. Wherever it baa been 
 proved that money haa been taken by the 
 oiiicer, he has been dismiaaed, and in addi- 
 uon legal prooeedinga have been brought 
 into play, and are at preaeut being 
 prsased on by the ablcat lawyera 
 in the dominion of Canada with the view to 
 the puniahment of the wrong-doer, and the 
 reutitution of what waa illegally taken. 
 This, air, tinishea my abort and true recital 
 in reference to what is called "the acan- 
 dtth." 
 
 ^ I am here tonight to protest that it ia not 
 right, and will not be oonaidered so by the 
 fair-minded people of the country, that be- 
 cause one man in the public service has been 
 dhuwn recreant to hia duties that therefore 
 the whole civil service should bo declared 
 recrflftnfc and corrupt and unworthy of the 
 coofidenoe of the country. It ia not fair 
 thut becauao in one department irrcgularitiea 
 of 80 grave a character were found to exiat 
 that the minister, although he waa exoner- 
 ated by parliament of any taking to his own 
 benefit, accepted the due measure of min- 
 isterial responsibility, and on account of these 
 irreguliiritiea, tendered hia rasig nation and 
 sniforod that puniahment which, after all, is 
 a grave and a heavy one for a public mania 
 
 this country, to step down fron the poaition 
 which he occupied after many and long 
 yeara of faithful and good service to hia 
 country. (Cheeru and applause.) Yes, sir, 
 I protest against the spirit manifested by 
 the liberal press of making the whole aer- 
 vice answerable for the sins of the few 
 wrongdoers, for of the thousand civil aer- 
 vanta in Ottawa bow many of them have 
 been convioted ? Yuu could oount the wil- 
 ful wrongdoers on the tingera of your two 
 hands. (Applanse.) Of the raembera of 
 the government, how many of them have 
 been charged with oHencea which would 
 soueiga them, if proved, to oblivion? But 
 one, and the charge waa unproven in that 
 caae, and it ia unfuir to aet up the plea and 
 urge it before the country that on account of 
 the irregularities and nialfeaaance in the few 
 casea that iherofore the whole governmental 
 and public aervioe of this country muat be 
 branded as corrupt and aa full of wrong- 
 doing and corruption, 
 
 Thero ia a motto adopted by the oppo- 
 sition preaa and it runa in thia way : 
 
 "TURS TICK KAS0AL9 OUT." 
 
 (Applause.) I like to hear that sentiment 
 applauded. I believe in that "turn the ras- 
 catsout." (Applause.) But I do not be- 
 lieve it to be just that becauao a few have 
 been found guilty of wrong-doing the cry 
 must ba raised tbat the whole aervice ia cor- 
 rupt, that the whole party ia bad and that 
 the whole government muat go and the op- 
 poaition must come in. (Laughter,) And 
 thero is another motto that I might add, 
 which would bo of equal force — if any 
 one hero thinks it is good doctrine 
 and that ia that it is equally important to 
 "keep the ratcala out." (Prolonged cheers.) 
 And now amidst all this persistent effort 
 that has been made to blacken the whole 
 government and the whole party, and in the 
 process to blacken the good name of the 
 whole country, it is I think pertinent to the 
 time and the occasion to gu back a little 
 way in the history of thia country and ask 
 ourselves whether or not it ia best, from the 
 cry that haa been raised and from the mO" 
 tivea which underlie it, to turn out the pres- 
 ent government and put the preaent opposi- 
 tion into power? What is written is of 
 record, and it is well for .ua today to go 
 back a little over the paat and juat at this 
 particular time examine the record 
 of the oppoaition, ita record in 
 the more remote paat and in 
 what may be termed the recent paat. (Ap- 
 plause). The opposition had their day of 
 power, and from ^873 to 1878 they ruled 
 thia country; and this country haa not for- 
 gotten the broad featnrea of their rule, their 
 policy and what reaulted from it. (Laugh- 
 ter). Going back over that period of their 
 administration, what do we find to have 
 been the lines of policy upon which it pro- 
 ceeded? The prime neoeaaity then was to 
 aocomplish the unity of these different pro- 
 vinoea, without which thia confederation 
 could never be auoceasfal or great; and U 
 
6 
 
 WM the rooit iraportknt ItDe of policy of all 
 govennnentu whioh bave exiat«d from 1867 
 down, to oonneut the different proviocea, to 
 weld the diiF«reut remote portion* into on^, 
 and to make, in the oonru of time, and ae 
 speedily ai possible, a united and 
 oonsiatent confederacy of tho dif- 
 ferent provinces which oame to be 
 its memoers at the first. What was the 
 policy of the opposition In that respect 7 
 The very first tniDg tbut was necessary to 
 weld the provinces together was to give them 
 lines ot transport so tliat oommnnication for 
 passengers, freight, products, thought and 
 dOmmeroial life should be easy and swift 
 ttoa* one part of the country to the other, 
 and that the oonrsiog of these through the 
 different parte and members of the con- 
 federacy should be like a common life blood 
 eanstng nniform growth and promoting unity 
 in all parts of the body politic. (Cheers.) 
 The policv ot the opposite party, while in 
 power, failed in that respect, and these lines 
 of oommunioatioL which were essentially 
 necessary failed to be built. Between 
 British Colombia and the other provinces 
 there was to remain the impassable 
 barrier of the Rocky Monntains, for 
 the policy adopted by that government 
 was not that they should be pierced or sur- 
 mounted by a line of railway, but that they 
 should lie there for a generation, separating 
 large and important parts of this country 
 from the other, whilst portions of railway 
 should be built upon the other side and a 
 part should bo built upon this side. I ask 
 you, judging iu the light of the facts which 
 have developed since then, what would this 
 dominion have l>een today, in comparison 
 with what it is, if those mountains had re- 
 mained impassable and there had been no 
 swift,, steady and sure line of commuuica- 
 tion between this part of the country and 
 our Pacific province? There was no line or 
 system developed to join the provinces in 
 the eastern part of the dominiou with our 
 wide heritage of the Northwest. There 
 was a mongrel policy ot mingled railway 
 communication and water str^ches which 
 was to exist in some incomprehensible way 
 between Lake Superior and Winnipeg, and 
 . after Winnipeg was reached, if ever it were 
 reached in that way, there w»b to be the 
 building of a few miles of railway toward 
 the west year by year as population followed 
 along in its wake and justified the coustruc- 
 tioo. A communisation was opened 
 up by way of United States ter- 
 ritory, but all this wa^ insuf- 
 ficient, %nd I ask you in the light of the 
 facts of today what would this confederacy 
 have been if that policy had been adhered 
 to and instead of the roagaificient line of 
 eonunnnication now carrying us from St. 
 John and Halifax out through the great 
 Northwest and across to British Columbia 
 there bad been these Inierrnptiona for seven 
 
 long months ia every yaar In tha oommoni- 
 
 oatioas through our own territory and in 
 
 the othar fire ntonths • rente of laborloni 
 
 travel by means of mingled water snd rail 
 communication with numerous portages and- 
 
 FRKQUKNT TBANSyEBKmJKS? 
 
 Then, sir, industrial life in this country 
 from 1873 to 187B showed sad signs of nee<^.« ' 
 Ing a vigorous and sustaining policy, a« fe 
 well known by many of the gentlemen who 
 sib around these boards tonight. But what 
 do we find? We find that two great forces 
 were brought to ttoar upon Ic, not as help- 
 ing but as retarding the industrial develop- 
 ment of the country— first, the heavy hand 
 of competition from without, and, second, 
 the burden of a taxation of millions upon 
 millions from within. So that the industries 
 of the country in that time were ground be- 
 tween the heavy hand of outsido competi- 
 tion oontinnally growing stronger and the 
 burden of extra taxation applie<l from within 
 which rednoed it to that condition in which 
 the people found it in 1S78 When the Iod^ 
 discontent broke out into political revols 
 and the govornment were swept from power 
 and replaced by the party which at present 
 leads tna country. (Applause.) So much 
 for the broad lines of policy. Let us now 
 come to their administration and its re- 
 sults. 
 
 From 1874 to 1878, under that regime, 
 the total tradn of the country diminished 
 by $05,000,000, while the total debt of the 
 country increased by 140,000,000, and in ad- 
 dition, sir, an extra taxation was pat upon 
 the country of |3,000,000 by the finance 
 minister of that period. And yet with all 
 this the state of the country 
 was not improved, deficits oc- 
 curred regularly, and capital had to be 
 called upon in order to help out with the 
 ordinary expenditure of the country year 
 after year. So much with reference to their 
 administration, and, sir, if we were to go 
 further tonight and ask ourselves as to the 
 particular acts of that admistration, and as 
 to the personal political record of inflHential 
 members of the party, we eeuld fiod much 
 to ofiset the imputations of .the present cam< 
 paign against the liberal ooiuservative party, 
 much to offset it and much to help the peo- 
 ple of this country to decide whether or not, 
 judging from the past records, it were bet- 
 ter to let the opposition, with its past re- 
 cord in power or to keep the presunt gov- 
 ernment in power with its policy nnder its 
 methods of administration. (Applause.) 
 Now, let us come nearer to the present. 
 Let us ask what has taken place within the 
 last ten months. What was the allegation 
 of the liberal party on the hnttiaga? It 
 was thnt we pursued our campaign by meth- 
 ods of corrnptioc, that|we bought the people, 
 that we used bribes and promises and the 
 like of that That was the accusation, and 
 it was made by those gentlemen, and made 
 with such a parade of high political virtue 
 as to lead ^on to think they would 
 never deal in any objectionable meth- 
 ods themselvee. Bat what had 
 happened since, sir? Ihe election courts 
 hare been at work, snd some strange things 
 
hftTe b«en brought out. On« thiag with re- 
 ference to the proviooe of Ontario— let me 
 call your etteutioa to it. Hot oqly atnoDg 
 the rank and tile were btie methods u«ed, 
 but if we go to the city of Toronto we find 
 in that city the central grit organization for 
 the province of Ontario, we find there the 
 party '• reform auooiation with its regular 
 organiBer, Preaton, reoosoixsd by the re- 
 form party; there flourienee the reform club 
 of which Sir Richard Cartwright ii a *oad- 
 ing light, and there wo find the Globe newa- 
 paper, the chief mentor and profeavod mor- 
 aliat on the aide of the liberal party. And, 
 Kir, while ail this protMtatioD wa« going on, 
 and all this profession of purity in party 
 poUtica,tbe courts have brought out tha.fitot 
 that Mr. Preston, the organiser of the 
 party, that the reform club, including in its 
 memlwrship the highest leaders of that 
 party, and that the Globe newspaper, the 
 preacher and moralist of the party— every 
 one of them was up to the very elbows in a 
 scheme which was deliberately planned, de- 
 liberately carried out, and that, with the 
 knowledge of all these parties, to debauch 
 the electorate in a wholesale manner, as testi- 
 fied by the bill produced in the oonrt showing 
 the sum of ^,000 still owing for tickets 
 supplied by the Grand Trunk railway, and 
 which brought the astonishing fact to the 
 people of tbU country that in the face of all 
 their professions that they had entered into 
 a deliberate plan to debauch the electorate in 
 Ontario, by distributing free tickets bought 
 from the Grand Trunk railway and gt»ve 
 them as an inducement to voters to go and 
 vote for the different liberal candidates. 
 
 Let us go ^ the province of Quebec and 
 ask ourselves as to the attitude ot 
 
 THB LKADEB OF THAT PABTT, 
 with reference to the campaign and the 
 (»mp iif^n methods lately closed. Against 
 Mr. Laurier's manners, his eloquence and 
 h 8 general ability, I have nothing to Bay; 
 bnt, air, in this political warfare it is rigbt 
 and proper for the people of this country to 
 see thing* as they are, and we mvnt ex- 
 amine a little into the methods of the leader 
 ut the opposition party, his political 
 methods, before we come to the concluBion 
 that it is best to deliver the doitlnies of this 
 oountry into the bands of him and his party. 
 Mr. Laurier is a citizen of the province of 
 Quebec. Mr. Laurier joined hands with 
 Mr, Mercier over the Reil trouble and 
 the two of them became' from that 
 time out as twin brothers in jointly 
 prosecuting their difiTareqt political cam- 
 
 i)aignB, for the province on the part of Mr. 
 klercier aud for tha dominion on the part of 
 Mr. Laurier. Let me not be understood as 
 saying tbis simply as a matter of assertion, 
 bat let me ask yon to listen to what Mr. 
 Laurier said of Mr.' Meroier, and what Mr. 
 Mercier said of Mr. Lanrier, as regards the 
 opinion they hold of each other. On ^he 
 27 ch aaanary, 1891, Mr. Meroier at the Club 
 National banquet said of Mr. Lanrier: 
 "Mr daty and my plaoo ia known. I shonld 
 
 bo al the side of ray esteemed nhicf.the lIoa.W. 
 Laurier, should he bo desire 11, and I will he 
 (here whatever may happen. If Uod permltSb" 
 
 On the llth of March, 1801, ha says: 
 
 "I have no doubt that If Hob. Ur. I^urlnr 
 hocoTUoe tlrst mintitorof the dominion this 
 pruvince will get whatever It asks." 
 
 These are two samples of what Mr. Mer- 
 cier thinks of Mr. L»urier,and there are two 
 others expressive of what M r. Lanrier thinks 
 of Mr. Meroier. Mr. L«nrier, at Club Le- 
 tellier reception on Nov. 7th, 1887, said: 
 
 "For twenty yc!\rn I have known Mr. Mor- 
 cipr and my admiration is aa ((reat lodar as it 
 lias ever been rIcco I first knew him. I need 
 not pronounce hlB ciilngy. but I must say ttiat 
 he made one onifRHion in liia speech, for he 
 spoke about everything but Mr. Meroier. I 
 Rtate fraakly. and without any reserve, that 
 Mr. Morcier is the greatetit Canadian we have 
 had since the days of i'apineau." 
 
 On June 5, 1890, at St. Sanvear, Mr. 
 Laurier said: 
 
 "My politics are Mr. Mercier's. I am of 
 the old srhonl of Knglish lltierals. Mr. 
 Meroier 1b the chief of the nationa" t party. 
 I come here to work witu you that tao cause 
 of Mr. Mercier may triumph (n the oomlDg 
 elections." 
 
 That shows that these two gentlemen have 
 had and still havethe highest opinion of each 
 other and that they worked together in 
 politics in the province of Quebec, 'x'iie 
 most significant statement made there is 
 Mr. Mercier's statement that if Mr. Laurier 
 becomes prime minister thi>n Quebec will 
 get whatever she asks. Well, sir, it seemed 
 that she would, for in the progre«i, ot the 
 fileotion and when uncertainty was every- 
 where and every man was BtraioiDp; t^ ^tre 
 effect to his party views and part^ canvass, 
 Mr. Mercier spoke in the city of Montreal 
 and declared that Mr. Laurier should be 
 elected, for if he were, the province of 
 Quebec would get whatever she asked, and 
 in relation to the subsidy, which she asked 
 to make up for her the loss which 
 had accrncid from reckless manage- 
 ment of her finances, he stated 
 that if Mr. Laurier was elected the 
 province of Qaeheo would get increased 
 subsidy of several hundred thou'iand dollars 
 and to make good his word he telegraphed 
 Mr. Lanrier and received his reply in which 
 Mr. Laurier said that if elected he proposed 
 to carry that out and to have the increased 
 subsidy given to the province of Quebec. 
 8o that Mr. Laurier, iu advance, and during 
 the course of an election pledged himself to 
 Mr. Mercier that if he came into power fae 
 would add some f2,000,(KM) to the suhsidiea 
 paid to the provinces of which QueiMO 
 should get the larger and lion's share. Sir, 
 there Is a good deal of talk made by the op- 
 position about pledges made at the time of 
 election as to expeodes to which the country 
 should not be committed, but yon may re- ' 
 view the ntteranoeii of party leaders for all 
 years in oonntriea governed by oomttito- 
 tional principles and you will not find mi 
 such examination snoh an ntteranoe of a 
 leader as we find here, who, on the eve of 
 an election, eommita himself and the oonntiy 
 
8 
 
 to the iooreaaed yearly expenditure of 
 t2,0U0,000 before he had consnlted parlia- 
 snent and who had then no warrant uxcopt 
 the leaderabip of the party to mako that 
 pledge and that promise. Bat, nir, 
 
 ' THE EliECnOH WENT ON 
 
 and after it was throngh certain in veetiga- 
 tiona were set on foot and the Baio doi 
 Chalenr railway matter was brouzht be- 
 fore the senate of Canada. Certuia 
 eworn evidence was given &nd it 
 oame out in the course of thai; sworn 
 evidenca that Pacaud— one ot Mr. Merciot'a 
 intimates and cue of Mr. Jjaurier'a friends, 
 and the organizer par excelleace of tho lib- 
 eial party in Qacocc under Mr. Laurier and 
 Mr. Mercier— that this gentleman had ac- 
 tually stood at the receipt of cnatcma and 
 had filched from the public treasury at one 
 haul $10(),00C of h«trd cash, and that of this 
 stolen money a part was ;][{ven to the elec- 
 tion fund, a paro to pay the debts of minis- 
 tarH, a part to build tho boaso of a minister 
 and a part of it to put up the deposits neces- 
 sary in oontested electiuox thruughoub the 
 dififerent constituencies of tho province of 
 Quebec — put up for the purpose of conteet- 
 ing the seats held by. geutlemen opposed to 
 
 Eat, sir, although this is ucjusc it is not so 
 reprebensible as the second style of war- 
 fare which is engaged in today, and has 
 been i^v some years past, by the liberal 
 party through its pr«as and upon its plat* 
 forma, but mainly through itsi prens, and 
 that is the continued and relentless depreci- 
 ation of tho country carried on not only in 
 the cities and large localities, but in the 
 whole country, and sysiematically pursued 
 by telegram and correspondence iu Great 
 Britain and the United States. I nmlce thJa 
 statement (snowing fully the gravity of what 
 I say, and if you ask for proof take the lib^ 
 eral press from the Toronto Globe down to 
 the lowest of the organs which are near by 
 you and tead them over, if you can do so 
 without becoming a confirmed political dys- 
 peptic, day after day, and note the constant 
 and reiterated teaching that your country is 
 declining, that tidngs are going rapidly to 
 the doga, that there is everywhere general 
 decadence and impending ruin and that hope- 
 lessness and despondency and despairare fast 
 down upon us. If you tax them with this 
 they reply that the truth must be told, and 
 point out* bits of truth in the general make- 
 up of falsehood. I do not at all deny the 
 
 Mr. Laurier in the federal parliament., doctrine that the truth when it is uecesaarv 
 
 That came out, that was known, that has 
 been stated over and over again in 
 the evidence givr-n lieforo the commission in 
 the province of Quebec, and yet, sir, I ask 
 of this audience has Mr. Laurier, with a 
 knowledge cf these facta, ever yet in press 
 or in parliament or on the hustings uttered 
 one word of condemnation or repudiation 
 for that abominable transaction? To this 
 day he works hand in hand with these gen- 
 tlemen who have stolen and used public 
 money; to this day he has profited, and is 
 profiting, because that money has gained 
 and is now contesting eleciions in the prov- 
 ince of Qaebec in his interests. When, sir, 
 tfata leader of a party links himself with such 
 allies and uses such methods, and ahhough 
 appealed to again and again by papers in 
 the lii>eral interest— notably the Montreal 
 Witness — to come out with a public con- 
 demnation of these methods and to clear his 
 skirts from that charge, he has not to this 
 
 must be told, but, cir, it should be the 
 whole truth and not distorted portions, and 
 I do protest against this constant dwelling 
 upon all the points in locality or country, 
 which can be brought up asbeineof anaturc 
 to cause discouragement and to p<'event 
 hopefulness, and this general silence upon 
 what is cheering and hopeful. (Applause). 
 As we take op this press and read its articles 
 from time to timo we find, as I stated be- 
 fore, a constant tendency to put before the 
 public every point in disfavor, everything, 
 local or general, which tends lowards dis- 
 appointment, and to keep in the background 
 entirely all that is bright and hopeful in re- 
 gard to the country and itn future 
 and its progress. (Cheers). You hear 
 them hay, . tor instance, tliat the 
 shipbuilding industry has gone down, 
 utterly regardless of the fact that the 
 change has taken place because of the in- 
 troduction and substitution cf iron in the 
 
 day opened hia mouth or uttered one word of pi^ce ot wood, utterly regardless of the fact 
 
 repudiation of such allies and such methods 
 Therefore I say if we take the records of the 
 two parties and look at the record of the 
 opposition close hy us it is well that you 
 should remember the motto that I gave you 
 and that you should not tnrn out the gov 
 
 that commerce is not dependent upon wood- 
 en ship-building, and that the tonnage, in- 
 coming and outgoing, of Canada is rapidly 
 increasing year after year. They teli ub 
 that the trade of some port is not either in 
 its import or export as great as it used to 
 
 eroment or seek to put men in power whose be-for in'itance the port of St. John— and 
 
 methods ure of the kind and of the quality ... .. 
 
 which I have stated ^to you tonight. ( Ap- 
 plauee. ) 
 
 Now, sir, I wish to notioe very briefly 
 what is the 
 
 SECOND PLAN OF CAVFAION 
 
 they do thif' utterly regardless and oblivious 
 of the fact that an immense change has 
 taken place in the methods of doing busi- 
 ness; that tho means of distribution are 
 now manifold; that the trade of the prov- 
 ince is immensely greater than it was years 
 
 of the opposition. First, the ventilating of aeo, bnt that instead of its going in one 
 
 the MMmdala in exaggerated language and channel or mainly in one channel it now 
 
 aa endeavor to impute them to tho govern- enters and leaves the province 
 
 ■MDt and the liberal ooneervative party in a hundred channels of vart"«s 
 
 order to depreciate them with the public, kinds. They tell yoa Uiat the debt 
 
 » 
 

 of the co'iotry ha* increaaed since confeder- 
 aticn, but they do Qot kesp before the pub- 
 lio the great worka of nebenity and utility 
 wbioh have b( en bnilc rp in this country, 
 and [wbioh are absolutely necessary and 
 essential to ice progreai and development; 
 nor do they rnention the fact that though 
 the debt has inoreascd, the rate of interest 
 has decreased nearly half, so that the coun- 
 try can now sustain a debt double that of 
 1867 and feel i*; no Hioro thaii the half was 
 felt in 1867. They tell yon that the census 
 of the country baa been disappointing, with- 
 out bringing the fact before ihe public mind 
 that in no country this present year=— no 
 Auglo Saxon country — has the osnsua been 
 else than disappointing; that the expecta- 
 tions which were formed in' the U. "^-t in 
 Great Britain and in this country, have 
 equally faijpd to be realizeri, and 
 that in all there, has bsen a disappoint- 
 ment with the progress as between the 
 expectations and the fulfilment. They tell 
 yon that people are Icaviag this country and 
 are going to the states or other countries, 
 but tbty do not bring before your mind tho 
 fact that the i-ame phenomena is taking 
 place in every Anglo-Saxoa country in tho 
 world; that you may go over into the United 
 States of America and take whole stretches 
 of cpuntry, situated as wo are here, and 
 there they are having the same story to tell 
 and the same state of things to acconut fur. 
 All this reveals the existence of wider 
 oauae^ than those assigned by them, causes 
 which are world wide, and it is folly, and 
 wrong as well, to try to impute all this to 
 governmental policy and not take cogniz- 
 ance of those deeper and world wide reasons 
 which exist for it. They tell you that the 
 people are leaving their farms in this coun- 
 try and going int3 the cities, but forget to 
 state that this is seen everywhere, that it is 
 true of Great Britain, it is true of the 
 
 OLDER STATKS OF THE UNION, 
 
 and yon have to loojt wider and deeper tor 
 the causes than the e:$istenc9 of a protective 
 policy in this, or free trade in another conn- 
 try. They tell you that the expenses of tho 
 country are larger than they were at the 
 time of confederation, or in 1873, but they 
 ought as well, in fairness, to way that this 
 country has developed immensely since that 
 time, and that its services are immensely 
 greater. But if its services arc immensely 
 -greater, if its taxation is larger, it is also 
 true bhat its.roturns are greater, as shown 
 in the general prosperity and in the trade of 
 the country; and these expenses are as 
 easily borne today in the larger prosperity 
 M they were 20 years ago in the smaller. 
 (Applause). They tell us, sir, with reference 
 to the great fisher; questions between us 
 and the adjoining country that we are in 
 the wrong and they are in the right. In all 
 these negotiations which have gone on with 
 reference to the Atlantic fisheries and the 
 Behrivg sea fisheries we have had to meet 
 in tho negotiation with tho United States of 
 America the sayings of the party preas in 
 
 this country echoing arguments against v.a 
 and our position and in favor of oar oppoa- 
 eats — our adversaries so to speak in these 
 negotiations. For some years it has been 
 the earnest doaire of l<hia government to de- 
 velop our trade with the West Indies, and 
 yet frcm their desire to disparage and ob< 
 struct there ia acaroely a liberal paper in 
 this country whish has not thrown cold 
 water upon the scheme of the government, 
 and John Qharltoo roBe in the parliament of 
 Canada and declared that it was as abonrd 
 to attempt to develop a trade with the West 
 India islands as with the Eaquimo— the 
 fiaqaimo who live on blubber, who reside 
 in ice houses and who drcca themselves in 
 bear skios, and the West India Islands, 
 whose total trade amounts to about $80,- 
 000,000, a larffq proportion of which is in 
 products which thia country producea as 
 well and as cheaply as any other country in 
 the world. (Applause.) 
 
 Today thero is trouble between us and 
 
 Newfoundland, a trouble (o Ims regretted, 
 and yet I read last night in the Toronto 
 Globe a long leider, every sentence of 
 whioh was mesnt to convt^.y tho impression 
 that the position of Knwfonndland wae 
 ri^bt as against the government of Canada. 
 What are the facts in the cuse? Ever since 
 1880 there has bern on the statute book a 
 law by which the products of Newfound- 
 land, its fish products, coming into thia 
 countiy were taxable. It has, how- 
 ever, been suspsnded, because along 
 with that was a proviso that 
 whenever the government of Newfound 
 land would give us certain compensatory 
 privileges in' her market so long this olaute 
 should be suspended, and from 1880 down to 
 the present time Newfoundland has given 
 no compensatory privileges, but her larger 
 neighbor, Canada, has held those clauses in 
 suspense, and her fish has come free into thia 
 country against the provisions of the enact- 
 ment. And when two years ago the Island 
 of Newfoundland passed a law declaring it 
 would not allow bait to be sold to Canadian 
 fishermen without a license and large fees, 
 the government of Canada protested, and 
 received a written pledge from tho then gov- 
 ernment of Newfoundland that the legisla- 
 tion should not apply to Canada hut to the 
 United States and French fishermen alone. 
 But when the next government came in 
 they applied thai legislation to Canada, and 
 for the last year or so there has been no 
 time when a Canadian fishing vessel oould 
 get bait free and without licence, and 
 within the last few months there 
 has been an absolute prohibltian 
 againat a C/aoadian trader or a 
 Canadian iishermau buving a single onnoe 
 of bait in the whole colony of Newfound- 
 land, while United Statei vessels have got 
 their bait without lot or hindrance. In the 
 Ufiited States ncarket, when a Newfonnd- 
 lahder aeqda hia fiah ha pays one and a half 
 eenis duty, wbilat in the Canadian market 
 np to the pr«a«Bt tima be haa paid nal a 
 
!• 
 
 otnt of duty. Such have been the aiaterly 
 dealinf<8 of Canada with the neighboring 
 colony of Newfoundland, bat when it oomea 
 to the point that thoy declare oommeroial 
 non-intaroonrae with ub in the matter of 
 bait and herring trade, and yet aak ns to 
 keep suspended the clausna which allow 
 their iiah to come im here free, and whilst 
 ehe has the right of her fishing vessels to 
 IWh on the coast of Canada and buy bait 
 free, and yet refnses us the ordinary baiting 
 privileges in their island, it beca:ne necea- 
 mry in the interests of the Canadian fifiher- 
 man and the public generally and due to 
 that sett respect that every governnent 
 owes itself to adopt a policy which 
 
 SHOCLD BKIKO VSWVOVJXVI^VH, 
 
 if passible, to a calm consideration of the 
 question involved and, I hope, to a better 
 frame of mind and more fair dealing. (Ap- 
 lanse. ) So. air, in all those things this con- 
 stant iteration of a powerful press going 
 into nearly half of the homes of the coun- 
 try, daily harping upon our disadvantages 
 and misrepresenting our position before the 
 people, constitutes a danger to our futare 
 and operates a bar to our progress which 
 ean scarcely be exAgor^rated. Hut, eir, if Ik 
 is the part of the li^ral press to take that 
 course with reference to this country, to de- 
 clare that there is no Balvation for as except 
 in an impossible arrangement with 
 the United States of America, to 
 declare that the policy which is at 
 present pursued and has been since 18S0 
 has depleted the population and blighted 
 the oonntry, then it becomes the pleasant 
 duty of the Iib«ral conservative party to 
 raise the other side of the shield and pnt be- 
 fore the eyes of the citizens of Canada what 
 are the broader and the brighter features, 
 and appeal to tho hope and the heart and 
 courage of the people to make of Canada a 
 great and prosperous country. ( Applause. ) 
 >¥hat is the trouble With this Canada of 
 ours, or has been since 1880? Have we in a 
 fliilgle broad line failed to l>e successful and 
 failed to be progressive? How has our new 
 heritage in the Northwest been opened since 
 litSO? Then, air, the number of bushels of 
 wheat that were raised, the number ot peo- 
 ple in that country, were almost as nothing. 
 Today what do we find? That this present 
 year there has been reaped within Mani- 
 toba and the Northwest a total of between 
 sixty and seventy millions of bushels of 
 iprain. ( Applause and oheers.) And this has 
 been rendered possibU — hew? Because of the 
 opening np of those broad landa by the en- 
 Bghtened and progressive railway policy of 
 the Dominion of Canada (ohecre), and today 
 as a result we have 70,000,000 bushels of 
 grain in an area a few years since unutiliMd. 
 (Oheers.) What does it meanf It pieans 
 more than twelve bushels of grain (or every 
 nan, <*oman and child in this l>road coun- 
 try of ours (Hear, hear, and oheers) raiMd 
 OB a soil whioh ten years ago was almost 
 worthies* bsoause there was not the mean* 
 of getting to It or getting frott it the pre 
 
 duct when once it was raised. Have our 
 internal facilities for transport shown a lag- 
 ging course these past ten years? Let me 
 read to you a few statistics, and they shall 
 not be tedious. In 1880 we bad 6,484 miles 
 of railway, today we have 14,000 in opera- 
 tion, an advance of 120 per cent; then we 
 carried 6,500,000 passengers, today that haa 
 been increased to 13,000,000, an increase of 
 100 per cent ; then there were carried eight 
 and a third millions of freight in tons, 
 and this year there were car- 
 ried 21,000.000, an iucrease of 
 160 per cent.; then there was two tons to each 
 soul in this country carried; now there are 
 four tons carried to each head of the popn- 
 lation; then the railway earnings were $20,- 
 000.000; today they are $48,000,000, an in- 
 crease of 140 per cent. ; then the canal sys- 
 tem, not in its infancy, it !a true, was yet 
 far below the needs of the country, while 
 today tho great ohannel of tho St. Lawrenoe 
 haa been deepened to twenty-seven and a 
 half feet, so that tha greyhounds of the aea 
 go np into the interior of the country as far 
 as Montreal, and the last finiahiog touches 
 are being put upon the canal system of this 
 country; and when they are finished, about 
 two years from this, they will allow boata 
 to go on in uninterrupted progress from the 
 sea into the farthest of the lakes, a distance 
 of 2500 or 2600 miles, with a carrying depth 
 of 14 feet, and when the Soo canal is built 
 and finished upon our own aide, then 
 we shall have a complete ayst«in of water 
 communication in Canadian waters and via 
 Canadian territory. (Vociferous applause.) 
 Our trade has increased as well. In 1873 
 our total imports were $128,000,000; in 1879 
 they had fallen to $81,000,000, while today 
 they are up to $122,000,000; the total ex- 
 ports were $90,000,000 in 1873, and went 
 down to $72,000,000 in 1879, and are now 
 $97,000,000 - a large increase; and in all this 
 tale of woe and ruin — (laughter)— ib is our 
 pleasant duty to interpose tills one sentence 
 that in this last year trade has developed as 
 shown by tha returns to the extent of 
 $7,500,000 of imports and $7,000,000 of ex- 
 ports over the year whioh immediately pre- 
 ceded it and touching high-water mark in 
 the history of the trade of this country. 
 (Cheers. ) We must recollect when campariog 
 figures of 1873 with the present that we are 
 comparing values and not volume and the 
 value now as compared with 1873 ia less, it 
 has sunk about 30 per cent — so if we apply 
 that rule to gauge it we will find that our 
 aggregate trade is far in excers of what it 
 has bee. in any preceding year in Canadian 
 history. (Applause.) But, sir, we must 
 not forget one thing with regard to trade 
 when talking about it. From 1870 down to 
 the present time iuter-provincial trade has 
 vastly extended and dereloped amongst aor 
 different provinoea. 
 
 I LBATI n TO THE BTTSIKKSS UKX 
 
 wbother I am right or wrong, or whether I 
 am exaggerating in my estimate when I Bay 
 that each family from ono end of the ooun- 
 
11 
 
 try to thfl other coBsumei $500 worth of 
 Btcfifcaoh year— outsido the imporced stuff 
 that comet in throagh the cQBtomH hotue — in 
 lood, in clothing and laxariea, taking fam- 
 ily for family and averaging them. Is that 
 too high an estfmai'e of the average? If not, 
 make the calonlalion — distribute that over 
 the million oi homes in this ooaHtry and 
 yon will have a grand total of $500,- 
 000,000 worth of stuff which is raised 
 or prodaced, and maoh of it carried baok- 
 wurds and forwards, and which goes to make 
 up this great and uuinterrapted stream of 
 interpro'vinoial trade, in comparison with 
 which onr foreign trade, as in the United 
 States, sinks into insignifiooknoe. Every 
 year that trade is increasing. And in con- 
 nection with the faoilicies for transport the 
 government has not found itself, and the 
 policy of the party has not been confined to 
 internal means of tranE>port, bat i! has been 
 thQ policy of the government to extend !ta 
 lines of transport to foreign countries, and 
 to make, after the foundation has been well 
 and truly laid in this country, that pros- 
 perity the basis of an extended 6xternal and 
 foreign commerce. Today, as & result of 
 the government's policy from 1880 to the 
 present time, not only has the C. P. R. been 
 built from ocean to ocean, bat from ii« 
 furthermost terminus a line of veesels, well 
 equipped, well built, and with the most 
 modern improvements, ply between that 
 terminus and the great east and 
 earry their monthly loads of freight 
 and passengsrs. The other day by 
 that means Europe, but especially Eng- 
 land was startled by the receipt of nails in 
 London from Yokobsma in less than '21 days 
 from the time they left the wharf in that 
 far I distant . eastern city. For some time 
 past it has been the desire of the govern- 
 ment to add to that external service cno 
 across the Atlantic -what is familiarly 
 known as the fast Atlantic service — and par- 
 liament has in furtherance of that idea gtven 
 the government authority to expend $500,- 
 000 a year for ten years for a satisfactory 
 fast service. Tenders have been called for 
 and replies received, but up to the present 
 time no offer has come within the reasonable 
 means of the government. Two different 
 provisional contracts have been made and 
 both from one cause or another were not 
 carried out, the last one mainly for the rea- 
 son that the chief promoter died and the 
 monetary troubles .in London made it im- 
 possible at that time for the scheme to 
 be floated. These two then have failed 
 but the government today, in pursnaaoe of 
 their policy, is again asking for tenders and 
 within a month will have, I hope, ann^crs 
 to these calls, and I hope as well, thoivgh no 
 one knows, that these will be within the 
 reasonable means of the government, so 
 that the servioe may be settled and may be 
 tha supplement of those which are existing 
 
 and imare to the farther benefit of tha 
 eonntry. But one thing must b« ander- 
 atood, I think, that there is a point beyond 
 
 which it will not pay even the Dominion 
 of Canada to ^o in order to obtain a fast 
 Atlantic service, but if it is within onr 
 power we ought to go to, and the govern* 
 ment is prepared to go a long way in order 
 to establish across the Atlantic the comple- 
 ment of that great line of commnnichtions 
 whiob shall he as creditable to Canada as 
 the lines g ag to New York 
 and Boston are creditable to th« 
 eonntry in which those cities are 
 situate. St. John has an intereet in that, 
 and if it is possible for the finances of this 
 country to permit it that service shall b« 
 one whose terminus, on this side of thb 
 water, shall be in Canada itself. {Cheers i 
 Hitherto the lines which have held the 
 contract for " the transit of our 
 mails, and which have been for some 
 years nnsatisfaotory in respect to speed, 
 hare gone to cities of the United States, 
 stopping at Halifax in winter for the mails 
 and going to Quebec in the summer, but it 
 is the desire of the government that tho 
 time may prove to have oome when this 
 country is able to sustain a mail line of its 
 own, a line of fast vessels which shall have 
 their terminus in this country and this 
 alone — (cheers) — and as regards Halifax and 
 St. John it is the aim of the government to 
 do whatever it reasonably can to render 
 ec^ual justice to both, (Applause,) 
 
 I AH KOT A CITIZEN OF ST. JOHN, 
 
 and it is probably going beyond my Hoe to 
 say what the city ought to do, but I do have 
 something as a member of the government 
 to do witn St. John, and I want to say to 
 yon tonight what is my opinion, and which 
 has arisen from my intercourse with business 
 men and negotiations in this line, that the 
 great thing against the city of St. John to- 
 day is that in its harbor it does not possess 
 the facilities that a city of this size and a 
 harbor of this capacity cught to puenees in 
 order to draw trade and fit it for the term- 
 inus of such a line of steamerf. 
 
 A voice — Why don't the government come 
 ^down and build up the harbor of 8t. John ? 
 
 Hon. Mr. Foster— Why? Because it is 
 not the province of the government to do 
 that. In the city of Montreal millions of 
 dollars have been spent upon the harbor of 
 Montreal, but it has been done by the citi- 
 zens of Montreal themselves, unaided to the 
 extent of a single dollar by the government. 
 The great channel of the St Lawrence haa 
 been deepened by public money, but the 
 harbor of Montreal itself has been improved 
 by the people themselves and out of the 
 taxes of the city itself. In the oity of Que- 
 bec harbor improvements hav« been carried 
 on. They h»ve been so carried on by com- 
 missioners who have borrowed m<»ney from 
 the government, paying them interest, as 
 does the harbor of Montreal, upon the 
 amount so borrowed. On the city of Hali- 
 fax the government has expended no money. 
 Upon the terminus of the I. C B,, which is 
 for the conduct of the business of the I C. R. ,lt 
 has expended money, as it hasinyonrowa 
 
 I 
 
12 
 
 city luid to the extent which seemed necos- 
 cary to aooommodate the buBinesa and they 
 will oontiane to do the same ia this city. 
 In regard to the city of St. John in the 
 time of Sir Leonard Tille;$>'8 ministry in 
 1882, 1 think an act was passed in the par- 
 liament of Canada ofl'ering to this city the 
 very same couditiona which were offered to 
 the iiity of Montreal, which ware o£fered to 
 the oity of C>.iebec, namely, to loan tl^iecity 
 if it would pat its harbor in onmmiH»ioo,the 
 money at the lowchl) r*t9 of interest in order 
 that its harbor might be pat into k condition 
 to draw and to keep and to ac-omniodate 
 the trade which should be brought to it. 
 In tho wisdom of the city St. John has 
 not seen lit. to take advantage of that offer 
 and the commission has not been named and 
 the money has not been called for; but 1 am 
 here t.might to say to you that that act still 
 romainu apon tho statute book, and it is 
 still withiu the call t'f this oity, if it deems 
 it right, to say it wishes to use the means 
 which the government put3 at its disposal, 
 aa it did with other harbors of the country for 
 the improvement of thespme. (Applause.) 
 Sir, as to the revenues and the expenditure 
 of the country, they tell you in their papers 
 that the expenditures are leaping up mil- 
 lioqS upon millton<i, but it ia only fair to go 
 to the records and show that for the last 
 six years the expenditures of tliis country 
 have been on an average just about the even 
 sum of f 36.000.000 per year. Then with 
 reference to . the ory that "taxation is in- 
 oreased," I want to call your attention to 
 this fact, that a new government just going 
 into power with all those large expenses of . 
 the public service upon it have done this 
 year what no government in Canada ever 
 did before, namely, taken off the people 
 of Canada $3,500,000 of taxation 
 with one stroke of the pen. (Vociferous 
 applause.) And I am able to tell you now, 
 when the year is half through, that we have 
 been able to do that, and by the practice of 
 the most diligent economy we will oome out 
 at the end of the year even, without a deficit, 
 and that too after this very large reduction of 
 $3,500,000 of taxation. ((Jtieers. ) When Sir 
 Richard Cartwright was fioance minister, 
 when the people asked for help what did he 
 do? Ho put $3,000,000 of taxation upon 
 them— (laughter)— and real taxation it was 
 too. In the first year of the present gov- 
 ernment it remitted a tax to the amount of 
 $3,500,000, and put no additional burden 
 npon the mass of the people in order to 
 make up that sum. So, sir, the sober maa, 
 tb« hard working man, the man of luxury 
 and fortone, iiyon will, have placed upon 
 them no tax oompensatory for thut large' 
 redaotinn in their taxation— a reduc- 
 tion which ia felt in every home 
 ia Canada, in the home ot the poor as well 
 as in the home of the rich. (Cheers.) 
 Ib addition we can point to the diminished 
 rate of interest paid. In 1868 on the aver- 
 »ge 4j^ por cent, was paid, while leu than 3 
 per oent. is paid today on the 
 
 PUBLIC DEBT 0*" TUB COUNTRY, 
 
 and measured by its incidence upon the peo- 
 ple of the country the amount per capita 
 paid on the public debt was in 1879, $1.59, 
 while you have today to pay but $1.65, or 
 an iocrcaie of a paltry six cents in the 
 burden for interest after all these great pub- 
 lic DxpcndituroB have been incurred from 
 1879 up to the present time. 
 
 Then, sir, our savings show no signs of 
 falling off, and Sir Richard Cartwright 
 himself is authority for the doctrine tiiat 
 the savings cf the people are a fair index of 
 the progress and prosperity of the 
 country. On the 3Ist May, 1879, 
 the savings were $170,000,000; on 31st 
 May, 1880, $177,000,000; and on the 3l8t 
 May, 1891, $190,000,000, and on the last 
 day of October $197,000,000- (applause)— 
 shewinc; that with all that is said the sav- 
 ings of the people are constantly inoreasiog, 
 an index of the progress and condition of 
 the country. 
 
 Then as to our commercial starus, who 
 has a word to say about that? After all the 
 hard times that have been— and we have 
 had two or three years of hard times— can 
 you j^oint to any country whose monetary 
 institutions are in better shape than our 
 own? Witliin the last two or three years 
 moneta.y troubles have convulsed the mar- 
 kets of London, of Berlin and Paris, aa also 
 in the United States. For the last year 
 what news has txten more frequently carried 
 over the wires and spread out before as in 
 the morning papers than that in the United 
 States this bank and that bank has broken 
 and the public trust been deceived and the 
 people's savintrs taken from them, while 
 in the Dominion of Canada there 
 has been no such straio. The 
 circulation of bank notes unerringly in- 
 dicates the progress and condition of trade, 
 and this showed an inoreace of over ^'3,000, 
 000 in the month of October as compared 
 with September, reaching the hi^heat ex- 
 pansion from the first of July to first of 
 October of any year within the last ten 
 years, an indication so important that the 
 Monetary Times is moved to make this re- 
 mark: 
 
 "The bank statement ot tho present month 
 rellects a highly satiflfictory condition of 
 affair? Konerall). The poeition is one of great 
 promise, and there is every prospect of :i good 
 wiutor's trade." 
 
 With reference to what was thought to 
 have been effected by the MoKinley bill, 
 after all the dire calamities that were sup- 
 posed to result to us ('anadians from that j 
 bill, what has been the experience of thoj 
 
 ople ? Sir, taking all in all, we have had 
 
 Z 
 
 or a long time no more prosperous year 
 than the half year just passed, and no better 
 prospects than we have in the year aoan 
 to be entered npon. (Applause.) TheMcKin- 
 ley bill.was to attack us in many points vital- 
 ly, aa betweea us and the United States. 
 Gentlemen, compare the prices and say 
 what yon think of it for yonraelves, how do 
 
13 
 
 they CQmpart? Are their expectations re- 
 alized? I was present at » great meeting in 
 Perth not long ago; the farmeri there were 
 challenged as to the effects of this bill on 
 them, with what resalt? In the conversa- 
 tion that ensued they admi&ted that the 
 prica of lamba was never better in all that 
 section of the country than during the pres- 
 ent fall. Consult your own prices for eggs, 
 aik what aro the prioes of poaltry in your 
 own tnarkec and does it not appear favorable 
 with that of precediag years, all of which 
 carries out the aasertio^ which was made 
 over and over again by the Uberal convur- 
 vative party and press that 'although the 
 McKinlev bill would cause a displacement 
 of trade and would cau' e some diaturbance 
 of trade that in the end it would be founJ 
 that trade would neck itb remunerative aud 
 certain markets and that the progress of the 
 oountry would not be essentially retarded 
 by even the McKinley bill. (Cheers and 
 laughter). 
 
 The egg trade was laughed at when dc- 
 velopemenb in the British market was moot- 
 ed, yet today I have the authority under my 
 hand for stating to you that the egg trade 
 is growing to be an important trade with 
 Great Britain and is now becoming more and 
 more settled upon a firm basis and that 
 there is no reason why it should not be re- 
 munerative and progressively extended just 
 the same as our trade iu cheese, just the 
 same aa our trade in cattle and in many 
 other products and other branches of 
 industry or production natural to 
 this country, aud which sprang from 
 nothing but which has now beeq developed 
 to Bucb great proportions iu the British mar- 
 ket. In poultry there were last year experi- 
 mental shipments made, and aa a result I 
 have myself Keen contracts for this season 
 entered into to supply the British market 
 with hundreds of tons of poultry, and agents 
 aro at present in this country, 
 
 AS ALSO m THE OLD COUNTRY, 
 
 and arrangements are being made by msans 
 of which the poultry trade shall be carried 
 on remuneratively and progressively between 
 this country which produces and Great 
 Britain which annual' imports a large 
 quantity of poultry, as also an unlimited 
 nnmber of eggs. So with respect to these 
 different points it seems to me that 
 taking them all into consideration, it 
 is the pleasant duty of the liberal 
 conservative party to point to all these facts 
 as real evidences of the progress of this 
 country, facts upon whioh onr hope is 
 founded, and in whioh we shall not be 
 daunted; that the future will continue ta bo 
 as progressive, and will continue- to be as 
 prosperuuB as the past ten years of liberal 
 conservative government have been. (Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 Now for a little, allow me to ap- 
 prbaoh the trade question. Several doubts 
 have been eleminated in this discussion 
 sinoe we met at the last campaign on this 
 platform and on the different platforms of 
 
 the country. There was then difference as 
 to what was meant by the policy applied to 
 trade which was enunciated by the Uberal 
 party; but, sir, there is very little doubt 
 about it today. (Cheers.) There is vnf 
 Httlo room left for doubt today 
 after the enunciation of the liberal 
 party in parliament, to which they 
 were driven by close questioning 
 and after this latest enunciation by Mr. 
 Laurier in Boston there is no room for doubt 
 as to what is the policy of the party aa de-^ 
 finod by the leaders and of those gentlemoB 
 who follow those leaders and who are 
 called by their political name. Mr. Latiri^r 
 stated before his Bobton audience: "0*tr 
 policy is to have reciprocal freedom of trade 
 of all products of the two countries, natural 
 or manufactured, without any restriction." 
 Let me ask your attenti'^n to this. What 
 does it mean? That i:he natural products of 
 Canada shall go into the U. S. free of duty 
 and the natural products of the United 
 States shall come into Canada free of duty 
 aud that everything made from a Canadian 
 product shall go into the United States free 
 and everything made of United States pro- 
 ducts shall come into Canada free of duty? 
 There is a lice of ac Jcles which is not in- 
 cluded in either of theso categories, which 
 for instance we do not {produce in tho raw in 
 this country but which we bring in in the raw 
 state and manufacture tiere.but they are not 
 included in the above definition. Will you 
 bufiincES men notice how this consideration 
 embellishes this precious idea ot unrestrict- 
 ed reciprocity as there defined. For in- 
 stance cotton is a raw product raised in the 
 United States. It would come In here free, 
 but Canada grows no cotton. We manu- 
 facture from cotton brought in in a raw 
 state — a foreign product— ii< cannot; in that 
 manufactured state go into the United 
 States free of duty, because it is not tho 
 manufacture ot a Canadian product. What 
 happens ? The cotton manufactured in the 
 United States, being maunfacturcd from a 
 product of the United States under that 
 precious system, will come into Canada 
 free of duty, while our cottons, 
 being manufactured from a foreign pro- 
 duct, will l>3 liable to a heavy — I might 
 say an enormous duty iu the United States 
 markets. (Applause.) I ask you what the 
 effect will be upon the cotton manufacturers 
 of Canada? Tho very moment such a policy 
 is inauguralod every spindle stops and 
 every laborer in the cotton manufactories of 
 this country is thrown out of employment, 
 and wo are to get our cottons entirely from 
 tbo United States market, for while we got 
 no market there for our cottons, wu give 
 free ingress to their oottooB. 
 
 The same happens with wool. Wool Is 
 grown in the United States, although they 
 also import a great deal; wool is not grown 
 in Canada to at all a sufficient quantity to fill 
 the requirements of our manufaotarers, and 
 we have to import foreign wools. As a con- 
 equence, the woollen goods made in Canadai 
 
 ' :'■■ i 
 
14 
 
 \ 
 
 being Urf(ely in»de from foreign wools would 
 hava to ^y a duty in United States mar- 
 kets, while native United States woollen 
 goods would coma in here duty free. This 
 transaction is as one-sided as the other, and 
 would ruin even woollen manufacturing in 
 Ganada. The same takes place with refer- 
 ence to sugar, tobaooa and other 
 manataotured goods of which we 
 do Dofe ourselves raine the raw 
 niit«>ntii'. and consequently the trade which 
 would ^3 '>uilt !ip on nnoh a hyntem as that 
 would bo thd moat unfair and unjust sys- 
 tem of trade which was ever sought to be 
 introduced into any country. I want bosi- 
 oess me. of ihis country lo look carefully at 
 such a system c't reciprocity. There is also 
 another doubt rumoved. Last year we had 
 to face the deolar .rwn of Mr. WeMon, we 
 had to face tLd declaration of Mr. 
 Ellis, and of the other liberal 
 candidiftes, that no discrimination was 
 meant against Great Britain that their 
 party did not intend to discriminate, and 
 they canvassed votes upon that declaration. 
 How is it today ? When Mr. Lauiier and 
 Mr. Gartwright stood in parliament last 
 winter they had to acknowledge that unre- 
 stricted reciprocity meant diecrimination. 
 And when in Boston the other day, to his 
 foreign audience Mr. Laurier, speaking of 
 this policy, says: 
 
 "This Involves that we should offer to ...e 
 American nation advantages denied to the 
 rest of the world. Ho It does, and it is a cause 
 of bitter reproach to us by tho conservative 
 part}^, who charge ua with disloyalty to i£ng- 
 
 And the Toronto Globe a day or two 
 afterwards states: 
 
 "To secure free trade with the United States, 
 for ne limited measure Is available under ex- 
 isting circumstances, it will be necessary for 
 us to discriminate against British goods." 
 
 Is there any doubt as to their position 
 today? None in the least, and every man 
 when he votes and gives his political 
 allegiance has from this time forth on this 
 basis to make his election and choice as to 
 whether he wishes to import into this conn- 
 try for a fanciful advantage alleged to ac- 
 crue from it, a oommercial policy which 
 shall discriminate against Great Britain and 
 every other country in the world, while it 
 opens its market free to the United States. 
 We know now where we stand and I object to 
 a policy of disorimination, because in the 
 first place it is unnaturaL A father brings 
 up his children in his home, at cost of money 
 and the infinitely greater cost of love and 
 protection. 
 
 WHKH THI3 CHILD OBOWS DP 
 
 to be able to care for itself would it not bo 
 unnatural for him to say to his father after 
 all that has been done for him that all 
 favors and compensations shall go to the 
 stranger without the gates, but against him 
 within whose home ha had been nurtured 
 h«, should put up a wall of diaorimiaation. 
 i'OteAt Britain oooupies towards us the 
 fosition of a father to bis children, of a 
 
 mother to the daughter. (Applause) She 
 is the conntry out of whose loins we have 
 sprung, who guarded us whan we were un- 
 able to guard ourselves and who has pro- 
 tected our rights. Every institution that 
 we have today and under which we live, we 
 have because English blood and English 
 brawn has been spent in order to gain iu for 
 u?. Every foot of land that we enjoy in ptiaco 
 and security today we enjoy beoanse Britain 
 bought it for na with hei i/ood and treasnrc^ 
 and hao, given .s to ns }•• fe'j simple. (Ap- 
 
 tilause,) Every bit cf secrrity that we ha-e 
 Q our national life which they \\ould fain 
 take from ns is derived from the great 
 strength of the British navy and great brav- 
 ery of the British army; and yet, after Eng- 
 land has toiled and bled and poured out ker 
 treasure for her colonies, is it natural or 
 right for those colonies, for this colony, to 
 turn round and ay that the ad rantages 
 which are your jatural and acquired right 
 we deny to you but we will give them with- 
 out stint to the foreigner and the alien? 
 ( Applause. ) But, sir, I am against discrim- 
 ination because it is impolitie. Their papers 
 say we are restrictionists. That is what 
 they term ns without knowing the purport 
 of tho name. ^ e are restrictionists, are 
 we? Let us pause to see to what extent they, 
 are and to see which are the bigger. 
 We are restrictionists because we wish to 
 place a moderate protection where it will 
 give to our own people a chance to develop 
 their industries. So far we are retriotion- 
 iste, but over and above that we say to the 
 whole world, come into the country and 
 trade with our people on equal terms with 
 each other. Whether French or Belgian, or 
 Dutohmaa or Englishman, when you bring 
 your wares into this market you bring 
 them in fair competition and on an equality 
 with each other. This is the corrective to a 
 protective system, that from all the great 
 martsof industry in foreign countriesproducts 
 come across the moderate barrier in competi- 
 tion with the home producer to prevent him 
 charging the prices of the extortionist. But 
 what are these other restrictionists doing? 
 They are going to restrict us in our trade al- 
 most entirely to the higheat protectionist 
 country under the sun. (Hear, bear}. And 
 yet they are free traders. I have heard 
 them talk about their free trade and 
 yet they are willing and seeking- 
 to restrict their markets to a conntry hav- 
 ing a tariff of 60 per cent, and scout the idea 
 of the modest 30 per cent, tariff which we' 
 have. I have beard them talk about buying 
 in the cheapest and selling in the dearest 
 market, and behold today the proposition is 
 that they shall fenoe this country off from 
 the whole world except the United States, 
 no matter how cheap the markets of Great 
 Britain may l>e — and in many instances they 
 are cheaper than the United States markets 
 — but however cheap they may be, you mask 
 not buy in that cheap market, youmust buy in 
 the mott highly protective country in the 
 world. Aooording U^ the theory they have-. 
 
IS 
 
 nvet 
 
 bad ainc« 1878, the ooafc of prodaotion ti en- 
 hanced aooording to the measare of proteo- 
 tioQ, and yet they would restrict uh to 
 bay in the nfiost protected oonntry,and where 
 therefore the prices are most mhanoed. 
 Again, I object to discrimination booaaae it 
 is dangerous. Wh^T Beoanso disorimina- 
 tion invites retaliation. You cannot pat 
 yonr tarifi against Franos and against Bel- 
 ginm and age.inst GeTTiany ai>d <-«{ri^mst every 
 other country in tha world, and debar their 
 giMids from equal creatn:bnt with the goods 
 of the United Sta*eB} unleuyoa i^ase re- 
 taliation agrin:it this or untry. Ttia feeling 
 of injustice comes firtt, then 
 
 LEGISLATION IS DEMANDED, 
 
 and retaliation is ultimately brought into 
 play which will discriminate against our 
 exports into their markets to an equal de- 
 gree as we are discriminating against them; 
 and it is dangerous for another reason, and 
 I pat this to any level headed business man. 
 If you adopt this policy yon thereby 
 compel the trade of the country to leave its 
 present and plow into other and new channels. 
 At present a great part of our imports come 
 to na by the way of the long-established 
 connections with Great Britain, with France 
 and with other European oonntriei. Uni. er 
 the plan of nnrestrioted reciprocity these 
 connections must be at onoe almost com- 
 pletely severed, and the trade which now 
 oomes in these channels be directed into 
 n«w ones to be opened up with the United 
 States. Here results at onoe a great and 
 expensive change on the part of our business 
 men. Then let this treaty run for a few 
 years, the course of trade will have set in 
 she direction of the United States and our 
 ovmmeroial intercourse with the rest of the 
 world will have been reduced to a minimum. 
 Ruppoae that when this had taken place the 
 United States should some day propose to 
 nsake important tariff changes, in its own 
 interests, but which should appear to be de- 
 trimental to Canadian interests. Canada 
 would protest, bnt would bo told that the 
 interests of 65,000,000 people must prevail 
 over the interests of 5,000,000 and that the 
 changes would be insisted on. Canada must 
 either submit and be injured, or refuse to 
 sabmit and brilak the arrangement. Would 
 she dare do the latter, with all her import- 
 ant trade channels running in the direction 
 of the United States and her old conaectiona 
 with the rest of the world practically destroy- 
 e IT To do the latter would be to court a com- 
 mercial panic and business stagnation which 
 would ruin the country. The result could 
 only be that Canada would submit rather 
 than faoe commercial ruin, and the decis- 
 ive step would be taken which would com- 
 plete oar commercial vassalage to the United 
 States. Once take this step there is I l>e- 
 lieve for us no returning; the oonrse mnst be 
 p«rsned on to its ultimate and necessary 
 consequence of political absorption. 
 
 I object to this policy also beoanse it is 
 aapatriotic— and I mean this equally as re- 
 gards oar aliegianoe to Canadian and im- 
 
 unpatriotic, and 
 sense bnt in a 
 unpatriotic and 
 
 perial int«reets. The ory will be raised 
 again that I am flying the old dag. Tlwt 
 does not trouble me. The old flag is wav- 
 ing now over Canada and it will loot,' con- 
 tinne to float b<»ee as the emblem of C*na- 
 dianand imperial unity. The opposition may 
 sneer at loyalty and fling wide their jeers a& 
 the old fitkfi, but the liberal conservative 
 party can aSord to smile at such methods. 
 Ard may I remind them that hereafter they 
 a-aui linolude in their list the name of Mr. 
 .Mowa\ who in a recent and significant let- 
 ter baa declared with decided emphasis in 
 favor ot the old flag and the maintvnlinoe of 
 British connection, even though to do this 
 Canada may have to forego any 
 supposed advantages of reciprocity 
 with the United S'^atea. 1 
 
 deolsre this policy to be 
 not now in an imperial 
 strictly Canadian sense, 
 against the best aspiration? of Canadian liffl 
 that we should join ourselves in a oommer* 
 oial union with the United States ont of 
 which there is no escape from ultimate poli- 
 tical nnioA. Read the letter of the Hon. 
 Edward Blake, who was for a long time 
 the real and ideal leader of the liberal party. 
 although be no longer takes any active part 
 ■la the doings of the party, driven from it an 
 he was by this insane project of unrestricted 
 reciprocity with the United Stat«a. (Ap- 
 plause.) In that letter, which he withheld 
 until the fight was concluded, against his 
 better judgment and at the earnent entreaty 
 of old party men, lest his letter if sooner 
 published would result fatally to theoanvass 
 of the liberal party;. in that letter what does 
 he say? He says: 
 
 "The tendency in Canada of unrestricted fre» 
 trade with the state's, high duties being main- 
 tained againRt the Unitea Kingdom, would be 
 towards political union, and the more succeae- 
 ful the plan the sironger the tendency." . . . 
 "Commercisd union, he said, "can only come aa 
 an InddtrUt, or at any rate as a well understood 
 precursor of political union, for which, indoedL 
 we should be able to get better terms before 
 than after the surrender of our commercial in- 
 dependence." 
 
 That is strong language, bnt it is true 
 language in my opinion, and it bears out 
 what I say, that no matter what plea Mr. 
 Laurier may urge to conceal and befog 
 
 THE EKAL QUESTION AT ISSDK, 
 
 you cannot adequately discuss nnrestrioted 
 reciprocity without first discussing the ques- 
 tion of the political future of this country. It 
 is absolutely bound up with it and he is a 
 child and not a statesmen who would plead 
 that we should first and blindly take the 
 step of commercial union and utterly ignore 
 the greater question of the political future 
 of this country and the allegiance we owe it. 
 I object further to nnrestrioted reciprocity 
 beoanse it involves a uniform tariff, 
 
 When Mr. Laurier was in. Boston he 
 acknowledged there was a difficulty in this 
 respect, . bnt he trusted that the United 
 States, althongh 60,000,000 to oar 6,000,090. 
 would not bear hsjfd upon as. (Laughter.) 
 
16 
 
 Are we f^olag into a commeroial unioo, into 
 a great trade experiment, oa the va^^uehope 
 of a leader that the dominanb party will not 
 be hard upon as? We want in black and 
 white what the arrangement of the tariff ia 
 to be. Ia it ponsible to have nnreitricted 
 raoiprocity and eaoh country to maintain 
 oontrol of ita own tariff? Mr. Laurier aays 
 i'u in, but he niak<!(> no attempt to solve the 
 politioal diffioultieu whish wonld arise 
 therefrom. He dsala ir bimple assertion. 
 In the United States, however, t lere is one 
 opinion on that point and only one, and 
 I defy any man to show me the utterance 
 of any newspaper in the United States or of 
 any public man in the Unitad States which 
 does not either certainly imply or absolutely 
 declare that any scheme uf commercial union 
 or unresttioted leciprocity is impossible ex- 
 cept on the {^rouud of uniform tariff— and in 
 that the greater oumbcr of the people must 
 have the greater voice — which means that 
 t^e United Stitea will settle the tariff. 
 But a uniform tariff ia the necessary condi- 
 tion of any practical scheme. Mr. Lanrier 
 says that an soon as he comes into power he 
 will offer the United States free access for 
 their mannfaotnres to our markets on the 
 condition that the United States give us 
 
 ▲T THE BISK OF WKABYiKO TOU 
 
 I must atk your attention in conclnsioa to 
 OQO or tn o remarks in reference to late de- 
 velopments in thtt methods of party politioa. 
 The leader of a great party in this country, 
 after years of patient incubation, .las at last 
 evolve-1. a policy vhich he believes will 
 f rove of great service to his own party, and 
 which he professes to believe will prove of 
 great benefit to Canada. He is intoniely 
 anxious to gain the adhesion of the people 
 of Canada to bis views— of Canada a British 
 colony, largely peopled with the descend 
 ants of British citizens and thtoughout ani- 
 mated with becoming sentiments of loyaHy 
 and affection to the motherland. How doe? 
 he set about it? Scarcely is the parliament 
 of his country prorogued when, without 
 deigning to address his felldw countrymen 
 and take them into his confidense, be hies 
 away to a foreign country, surronnded by a 
 retinue of his party followers, and before a 
 Boston audience launches hit revised and 
 perfected policy and appeals to a foreign 
 audience to make it prevail. Well, sir, if 
 that ia to the taste of Mr. Laurier and 
 his Canadian followers I do not know 
 that I should find fault. If they look to the 
 United States for the *'8ign by which they 
 
 free access to their marketf. The bargain is 'are to conquer," that r'a their bnsinesf. But, 
 
 made we will say. The compensation gain- 
 ed by the United States is a free market in 
 Canada — free to them as competing with 
 others. For instance, we imported into 
 Canada last year a large amount of hard- 
 ware, part from Great Britain and part from 
 the United States. The United States ar- 
 gues in this way: "Lost year the greater 
 part of the hardware supplied to C*nada 
 came from Great Britain. Under unrestrict- 
 ed reciprocity we will get that market and 
 supply the whole, and that will be part of 
 oi!ir compensation for allowing Canadian 
 products free into our markets." 80 the 
 treaty goes into effect and the United States 
 hardware men send in their hardware. If, 
 OS Mr. Laurier contends, each conntry is to 
 have its own tariff control, what is to hin- 
 der us from making British hardware free, 
 amd allowing it to come into Canada to com- 
 pete on equal terms with the United States 
 products? In that case, where is the United 
 States compeneatJon? What have they 
 gained by the treaty? And if we could do this 
 as regards hard ware, we ooulJ do it in regard to 
 every other manufactured product, and so 
 introdnce the cheaper goods ot Europe to 
 eempletely drive the United States from 
 the markets, for the enjoyment oi which 
 they had paid us by free entry for our pro- 
 ducts into their markets. Does even Mr. 
 Laurier think that the United States would 
 enter into a treaty of reciprocity on such 
 conditions? Fixity and uniformity of tariff 
 is an absolute necessity of any system of 
 reciprocity such as is proposed, cmd as be- 
 tween Canada and the United States, it is 
 easily seen which would have the preponder- 
 ating voice in saying what that tariff should 
 be. 
 
 pir, there were certain statemouts m<\de at 
 that Boston meeting by Mr. Laurier to 
 which too strong exception cannot be taken. 
 And first he declared in effect to the whole 
 people and to the administration ot tha 
 United States that they should defer all ne- 
 gotiations with Canada for reciprocity until 
 he and his party came into power, for when 
 they cai;ne into power they would give the 
 United States all they asked, &Qd would 
 not confine themselves to the more limited 
 scope proposed by the prcRent government , 
 a) a basia of negotiation. Note the effect of 
 this. For years Canada has been willing 
 to negotiate for a fair reciprocity with the 
 United States, and only within the last year 
 has the United Stat|BB consented to a con-< 
 ferencc upon our proposed basis of making 
 all natural products free and adding thereto 
 such manufactures as may be mutu- 
 ally agreed upon. Mr. Laurier and his party 
 have professed their belief that such u' 
 treaty would be beneficial to Canada and 
 have espreescd their willingness to assist 
 in obtaining it. And yet in the very midst 
 of the negotiations, before their result conld 
 be known, Mr. Laurier goes to the United 
 States and practically nullifies all our efforts 
 by offering tree markets in all products, and 
 by endeavoring to produce the impression 
 that he will soon be in a position to ipake 
 good his offer. The very first effect of such 
 a course of action must be to embarrass ex- 
 isting negotiations, to poetpono them, and 
 BO far as the influence of Mr. Laurier And 
 his party goes, to completely nullify all the 
 efforts of the gover..tt)ent to obtain for Can- 
 ada an arrangement whioh all agree wonld 
 be most beneficial. Is lach the action that 
 should be expected from » patriotic Oao«- 
 
'^ 
 
 17 
 
 year 
 
 con- 
 
 kking 
 
 jereto 
 
 lutu- 
 
 Iparty 
 
 Lch a' 
 
 and 
 lassiet 
 midst 
 jooold 
 Fnited 
 ifforta 
 Is, and ' 
 leBsion 
 
 i\i»ke 
 |{ Buoh 
 
 and 
 And 
 111 the 
 Ir Can- 
 1 would 
 W that 
 Cao«- 
 
 dbo earnestly desiring the best for his ooun- 
 tryT Hiw constitutional novernment come 
 to that in Canada, that an opposition must 
 set forla its case in an alien country and 
 there evolve the strength necessary to 
 defeat the desiKns of the oonntry's chosen 
 jtovb-omeiii, and to promote its own? 
 Wonlci such a cocrse be tolerated else- 
 wherel T-ike, for lasranoe, Britain. Mr. 
 Gladstone, it isr/ell known.has widely diver- 
 gent vie^HfrcT!:i Lord S^Usbury on thequestion 
 of Ea({li8h oooupation of E^ypt. Ho inclines 
 towards a speedy evaouu'iou, Lord Sdlisbury 
 doos not, and the question of today is a par- 
 ticularly sensitive one for Epglish and 
 French diplomatic treatment. Soppose on 
 the eve of elections in England Mr. Glad- 
 stone, acoompftnied by a retinue of his par- 
 liamentary supporters, were to hie away to 
 Paris, and there before a n ..ional audience 
 were to practically declare his policy of 
 speedy evacuation of Egypt and promise its 
 fnltillment when he acceded to power, and 
 persuaded the French people that his 
 prospects of such accession to power were 
 excellent. Would not the effect be to em- 
 barras present nesotiaione, to ■ postpone 
 them and to make tne course of the Englioh 
 government a most difficult one? Could you 
 imagine Mr. Gladstone doing th»it? You 
 might, but if so, you could be certain that 
 although he found it easy to cross the chan- 
 nel to Paris, the sense of justice and fair 
 play inherent in John Bull would make it 
 very advisable for him to wait in Paris for 
 the storm to blonr over. (Applause.) 
 
 But Mr. Laurier went further than that. 
 He endeavored not only to "spike the guns" 
 of the government in the reciprocity nego- 
 tiations but he underto'>k to curry favor 
 with his chosen audience and the people of 
 United States generally by launching un- 
 called for and false accusations against 
 Canada and England. Listen to hia lan- 
 guage: 
 
 "In my opinion the conduct of England, of 
 Canada during the war was a. disgrace to the 
 clvlHzattnn of Kngland and of Canada . . . 
 It was gHlling to the United States that rebel 
 refugees could find shelter in Canada and 
 there with impunity p!ot abommable crimes to 
 help seceesion." 
 
 Now, sir, it was not neoees%ry for Mr. 
 Laurier to have libelled his own country at 
 all. It was a gratuitous msult that he 
 should convene a foreign court, predisposed 
 by prejudice and animated by feelings of 
 rivalry, and before it make and uphold an 
 accusation as false as it was unwarranted, 
 aa utterly without foundation as it was nn- 
 patriotio. Did not Mr. Laurier know.at least 
 it was his business to have known that such 
 was the conduct of the Canadian govern- 
 ment on that occasion, so in accordance 
 with the rules of intern»tioDal comity that 
 the arohives in Washington and Ottawa 
 contain today a cordial and expreu letter of 
 thanks despatched from the United States 
 government and expressing the gratitude of 
 the United States governmeDt for the pru- 
 dent and preventive course adopted by the 
 
 Canadian government in the interests of the 
 union cause. 
 
 But Mr. Laurier, forward to acooM lili 
 own country, took no occasion to 
 
 BBMIND Uia BOSTON ADDIBNOB 
 
 that, in Canada's crisis- when alarm and 
 terror reigned along the border, and rumors 
 of invasion of her territory long-continued 
 grew into real and blooiiy facU— the United 
 States government permitted knowingly, 
 without a semblance of effort to prevent it, 
 and amid the public encouragement of PT^w 
 and people —permitted bodies of armed Fen- 
 ians to drill in their halls, to parade on 
 their grounds, to collect munitions of war, 
 and fir ally, in lull panoply of war, to march 
 boldly into our territory to shoot down 
 Canadian citizens and burn Canadian homes. 
 Why had the patriotic Mr. Laurier no word 
 of condemnation for this manifest lack of 
 international good feeling and conduct ? He 
 could falsely accuse his own country, he 
 could conveniently excuse a foreign one. 
 This is liberal patriotism, ! But, sir, Mr. 
 Laurier went still further. Whatever may ba 
 said as to the feeling on the other side of the 
 line as to Canada, her annexation or her in- 
 dcpendunce, this thing is certain, viz: That 
 the prevailing and predominant sentiment 
 in the United States is that Great Britain 
 should not concinue to have and exerciiie 
 dominion on the North American continent. 
 Thoy ardently denire that British influence 
 shall be driven therefrom whatever may be 
 their feelings as to annexation of our terri- 
 tory or our independence. What more 
 grateful tale could be poured into williug 
 ears than to predict the speedy passing away 
 of British influence from North American 
 soil. That talc Mr. Laurier gleefully told 
 them. Listen to his words : 
 
 "Already Canada and England have inter- 
 ests which are wide anart, and the day must 
 come, will come, when Canada and Eng- 
 land will have to separate and saver." 
 
 This severance might come sooner or later, 
 but come it would and must. 
 
 I protest with all my power, and I believe 
 in the name and on behalf ot the overwhelm- 
 ing majority of Canadians against that sen- 
 timent. It'is abhorrent to every true Brit- 
 ish Canailan, and to every true French - 
 Canadian, alike, and it might well have 
 been left unsaid Viy the leader of a great Ca- 
 nadian party at anytime, buu when declared 
 under tne circumstances and surroundings 
 of the Boston meeting, was simply unpar- 
 donable. The sentiments of pride, of in- 
 terest, of desce^nt and affection which bind 
 us to the mother land, and which find a dear 
 and aacred resting place in the broad heart 
 
 ojLthe new Canadian life, are all shocked by 
 such an utterance, and throw it back upon 
 its author with sadness and with scorn. And 
 we may as well advise the liberal leader and 
 bis party that Can3ida has no governing 
 place for the embodiment of the severance 
 and disintegration of the British empire. 
 Mr. Laurier may have obtained the plaudits 
 of his foreign audience, but he has assuredly 
 
18 
 
 D«»t ((&iu«d'freth foothold with true Cankdian 
 
 OitiZODH. 
 
 And, in oonclaBioa, let me call yoar attnn- 
 tion to another utteranoe of Mr. Laurior 
 in which he embodiea the poUtioal moral 
 creed of hia party— an atterance aa astound- 
 ing aa it ii unsound and whioh I believe hai 
 only to be stated to Imi loprehended. For a 
 
 Eart of his Boston address he 
 ad been dallying with the ob- 
 jeotions to unreatrioted reciprocity in the 
 line of its political effect — as to what would 
 be its ultimate result upon the political re- 
 lations of Canada and the United States. He 
 noticed the objection aa to annexation, but 
 refused to disouss it — put it o£fas it were aa 
 being something to be decided after the first 
 step of unrestricted reciprocity bad Jiesn 
 taiien, and enunciated the following strange 
 doctrine: "It were childish for any one to 
 be deterred from a oourae the immediate 
 oonseqaunoea of whioh would be manifestly 
 beneficial because of the possibility of re- 
 mote consequences whish might not be in 
 aaoordanoe with our conception 
 of what thinse ought to be." 
 I commend this prolession of political mor- 
 ality by their leader to tlie liberal party as 
 their new profession of faith. In it every 
 consideration of right, of principle, of na- 
 tional life, of national allegiance is thrown 
 to tbe winds and the dime becomes the 
 •ymbol of the party faith. Paith, loyalty, 
 patriotism, love of institutions, national 
 pride and hope all lower their flags before 
 the almighty dollar. 8how a preecat mani- 
 fest tiade benefit, and we must embi ace that 
 though it be followed by oouacquencea 
 
 which do not aqaare with oar cfbnoeption of 
 "what things ought to be." I venture to 
 say that no statesman of any great country 
 since the principles of modern government 
 have been established has ever so far lapsed 
 into the old doctrines of the savage ages, 
 has ever so suliordinated right to a present 
 expediency as has Mr. Lautier in this new 
 confession of his poHtical faith. Nor will 
 it be tor oaa moment accepted in Canada. 
 Here we will go upon tbe old fashioned 
 principles that sacrifice of present 
 advantage is preferable to violation of "what 
 onght to be" — that the question of our na- 
 tional allegiance, the iDStitutions which are 
 to be ours, the forms of government we shall 
 live under, and the flag ihat shall wave 
 above us, are more important than fanciful 
 trade advantages; and tnat these must be 
 first settled, and surely settled, before we 
 adopj the trade schemes of any politician. 
 
 And I apprehend that the people of Can- 
 ada will so determine. (Applause). 
 
 And now I thank you for your kind hear- 
 ing. I have endeavored to disouss some 
 points of interest in a plain way. Contrast 
 the polioy<%>f tbe government with that of 
 the opposition and ohoose which you con 
 sider best; and I have no doubt that now, 
 aa on the 6th of last March, yoo and the 
 country will decide for the party which 
 propoaea to pursue the policy of developing 
 our industries, opening up our resources, 
 protecting our interests and trading with all 
 countries on fair conditions, with no dis- 
 or imination against the motherland. (Pro- 
 longed cheers). 
 
 - 
 
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 ry 
 
 nt 
 ed 
 
 Ml 
 
 mt 
 
 ill 
 
 in. 
 ed 
 
 )Dt 
 
 la- 
 B^re 
 lall 
 kve 
 iful 
 
 be 
 
 wo 
 
 1. 
 
 an- 
 
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 raat 
 1 of 
 :on 
 ow, 
 the 
 [lioh 
 ping 
 •ces, 
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 dis- 
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 locsl. Its Hin'cial tclesnuuR and <'orrpsi)o)idoMOf lue 
 a marked fiiaturi-. . 
 
 K-ldMifilu'din 1S7.>^ it lia.s incivasud m '■uvul.-ition 
 and iMnnilintv caili vcar. 
 
 Aflvfrti-ins Utiles furnishod on appli'-atiou. 
 
 Till; TJAiiA bf.N -i flints yur copy, ■•^.'5.00 \wv year. 
 
 JOB printing'If all kinds 
 
 IIIRAIM.Y AND rHOMni.Y UO.NK. 
 
 Addrkss: ALFRED MARKHAVI. 
 
 Manaokk, 
 
 lUlLV .\NU WrjEKLY SfX, 
 
 Sr. .loiiN. N. H. 
 
 
 V 
 
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