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" drant]*^ begins at home : " it is the duty of each elector to study, firstly, Jiis own interests, that of his family, and that of the community to which he belongs. L saving aside all petty questions of nationality, religion, or even political colors, let 'each one ask himself honestl f the question : Which party has been the most economcal ? which has fulfilled its promises and redeemed its pledges the most faithfully? which has sought the interests of the Pro- vince, and which worked for the pers >nal views of its individual members despite the confide ace of the j^eople, which it forgo fc to recognize once elevated to power ? One party sacrificed itself and each member of its body for the good of the people that they were elected to represent ; tho other made use of the popular vote, stimulated by numberless promises to gain power, — and immediately, on reaching the elevation sought for, forgot their pro- mises, and acted in direct contradiction to their pledges. Before the election, after it, and ever since, the Conserva- tive party has been consistent. Before the election, tha / ■ National party filled the air of the Province with number- less promises ; once in power and the dangers of a mena- cing political contest over, they forgot completely to fulfil even one of those pledges given to the public. Read the Facts, reflect upon them, and act accordingly. THE TWO REGIMES COMPARED. Truth needc no set phrase of speech ; figures are more eloquent than words ! The following comparative tableau will give an idea of the manner in which the Q-overnment, so-called National, has practised economy :— - conservative: riSgime. 1884-85. 1885-86. Legi8lali(^n $185,217.98 $181,987.75 Civil Government - 187,874.1 2 183,675.41 Adminiatration of Justice 356,646 48 363,746.48 Police 14,090.00 14,090.00 _itorie8,etc 55,000.00 70,000.00 Inspection (jf PuMic Offices 6,838.97 6,337.33 Arts and Manufac\uK>3- 6,000.00 9,000.00 Public Works and gildings 68,928.81 ,^2,584.40 We will now Hance at the table of expenses under the Liberal (or National) Regime during an equal space of time LIBERAL REGIME. 1887-88. 1888-89. Legislation 1..^ $213,065.32 $190,850.00 Civil Government \ 207,958.67 219,776.00 Adminii^ration of Jus. (ce 438,168.95 385,170.00 Police k 19,090.00 17,316.00 Reformatories, etc ... 1 90,452.00 84,452.00 Inspection of Public Offices 7,600.00 9,000.00 Arts and Manufactories 9,500.00 15,000.00 PubHc Works and Buildings 145,522.61 97,300.76 Let the intelligent elector compare these two tables. For 1889, the current year, we have but the estimates ; but we can easily presume that they will be» exceeded, as last year the existing government has expended $180,- AAQ nQ VjTT <3»-jjif»iol ■waf raTifo. over and above the estimatss :ti.X (. 8 i voted for that year ; and even as the figures are, they exceed the sums expended under the Conservative regime. It is not surprising that such a Liberal as Mr. Q-eo. W. Stephens, should have addressed to the Gazette of Mont- real, a letter dated, July 19th, 1888, in which he said that he desired to convey the idea, " that if the* policy of economy ai^d reform professed by the Liberals, in opposi- tion had been carried out, the revenue from ordinary sources v/ould have sufficed for the needs of the Govern- ment." Mark especially the items for administration of justice and public works in the above tables. Eead, and then ask yourselves, — Where is the vaunted economy that Mr. Mercier so loudly proclaimed " from the house- tops," from the beginning to the close of the election ? It has all vanished, "like the baseless fabric of a dream." Mercier iu Opposition and Mercier in Power are two different persons. The Liberal (now National) Party before an election, and the same party, with contr^^Vof the treasury, are completely distinct. But, we will go further ! Examine a few of their pledges, and mark how they have never been fulfilled ! Mark the inconsistency of the First Minister of our Province! In 1882, when the Conservative Government proposed to reduce the number of Cabinet Ministers from seven to six, Mr. Mercier, then in opposition, said, (see Hansard) : '* I regret that the number has not been fixed at five. It is not necessary that we should have a Commissioner of Bail- roads, when we have no railways to operate. The Prov- ince of Ontario finds five Ministers enough, and I think we could get along with the same number. We should content ourselves with Jive Ministers, awaiting the crea- tion of a Minister of Education, as has lately been done in the sister Province." Once in power, the same Mr. M^ercier not only refuses to reduce the number of Ministers from six to five, but, for the sake of petty party influence, he did not reduce that number, but he creates a seventh portfolio, and names Col. Rhodes Minister of Afirriculture. 4/ The one who, in opposition, v^ished, lor the sake of economy, to reduce the number of Ministers, now that he is in power, builds up a new office, adds one more Minis- ter to the already too numerous six, chooses Col. Rhodes as that Minister, and selects Megantic as the constituency to help him in his object. Let Megantic be the catspaw. Col. Rhodes the instrument, and the advocate of economy and five Ministers becomes the recognized and honored political spendthrift, with a Cabinet of seven. Let Megantic pay for ic, if Megantic is willing ! Mr. Mercier promised, should he ever gain the position that he sought, to reduce the fearful expense imposed upon the province by the employment of sessional em- ployees. Let us refer again to figures. SESSION OF 1885— CONSERVATIVE. 42 Sessional Clerks employed, daily salary being $78 00 ^ SESSION OF 1886— CONSERVATIVE. 68 Sessional Clerks employed, daily outlay being $123 00 SESSION OF 1887- WITH MR. MERCIER'S REGIME OF ECONOMY IN FULL BLAST. 141 Sessional Clerks employed, daily salary being $224 00 It will be thus seen that Mr. Mercier, the advocate and promissor of economy, spent $100 per day more in ses- sional expenses than the Conservative aovernment in 1886, and $146 more than his predecessors. Between the increase in messengers and other branches, the session of 188t cost $31,000.00 more than the year previous. Mr. Mercier, in opposition, told us that the Legislative Council was useless and dangerous ; but Mr. Mercier as first minister stated to the Legislative Assembly, in 1887, that he gave up the idea of wiping out the Legislative Council. : Not only so but he even went as far as to name new members in an assembly that was once obnoxious to him. Useless to allude to the traffic of seats in that Coun- cil : for example, the questionable manner in which Mr. r'> •"'> Webb gave up his seat, and Uis reward. " Consistency thou are a jewel " ; but Mr. Mercier has no room for thee in his casket. On coming into power he began by the act of a bully ; he directly insulted all those who had opposed him. Unaccustomed to authority, he imagined that tyranical conduct was the best evidence of political sagacity. He attacked his opponents, pointed out to them the greatness of their fall, and finally he undertook to " boom " our province by an inter-provincial conference in which secession was admitted to have a voice, and Nova Scotia's voice of dismemberment was heard ; which con- ference resulted in a fiasco ; the whole costing |10,000, despite that Mr. Mercier said it would not cost a cent. He sought to raise our credit by negociations of a loan, in New York, which permitted the Americans to ridicule and laugh at us, he groped around in tL 3 tangles of his own unravelled policy, to find something sensational that might attract the sympathies of the people. In the mazes of his confusion he struck upon the Jesuit question ! Here, he imagined that he had a two-edged sword ; and so it was ! To the Jesuit Fathers and the Catholic clergy he posed as the one whose influence and exerHons had se- cured for them the 1400,000 : to the Protesiant electors, (for example in the Eastern Townships), he excused him- self by saying, that the Conservative policy had forced him into this groove. And yet, La Verity, one of the Castor organs, one of Mr. Mercier's mouth-pieces, tell us, only the other day, that the Jesuits could expect nothing from the Conservatives. A liberal reward to any one who can explain such flagrant contradictions. Again a fresh contradiction. Last year, in the Legisla- tive Assembly, Mr. Mercier insulted directly the Rev. Cure Labelle, accusing him of being a political intriguer, and in less than one year after, he took him as deputy Minister of Agriculture. He blamed Cure Labelle for ex- ercising his influence in politics, and to-day he makes use I \1 6 of him, all through the province, for the advancement of his own political prestige. Mr. Mercier may have a square head upon his shoulders ; but there is a face on every side of the square. No matter what the instruments may be, he 18 prepared to use them. Power he wants and he cares' not how that power is tr be obtained. Promises broken, pledges unfulfilled, increased expenditure, augmented taxation, religious duplicity, national prejudices,— all, all are the same to him, provided the object of his ambition can be attained. A worthy follower he has found in Col. Rhodes ; and to-day, the premier, with his unfulfilled pro- mises and broken pledges ; the candidate, with his record of past injustices to Megantic, come before you and solicit your sufira^es. Judge between the stranger and the man of your county; between the one v^rho formerly betrayed you for his own aggrandizement, and the man who has a stake and an interest in your constituency; judge 0>t}tween Mercior, his false promises, demagogic appeals, Rielite platform, and the man vrho desires to have the true, real and honest interests of Megantic fostered and protected. Vote for Col. Rhodes, that he may buy some new railway terminus and cast you aside when his con- tract is signed ; vote for Mercier, who has raised creed and national prejudices throughout the whole Province, or— vote for Mr. Johnson, a son cf your soil, one capable of representing Megantic with dignity and with honor. Choose between them, and if you bow to Mercier's big^ otry, Rhodes' avaricious and grasping ambition, and that you again find your county laughed at and scoffed at by a rejection on the part^of that man, you will have but to strike your own breasts and say, " Through my fault." The warning note is given ! Megantic, beware ! Vote for your own candidate and crush out, once and forever, all religious, national and political prejudices in your good community. CANADA Sr. Read the following letter, which appeared in Montreal Daily Star of the 15th inst. :— COL. RHODES. the Who Has Selected the Rbpeesentative of the Engush Speaking Peoplb IN THE Local Cabinet? Sir: It now appears that Col. Rhodes, of Quebec, ha^ been aken m as a member of the Local Cabinet to represent the English-speaking people. Many are anxious to know who chose him. Was it the English-speaking people of the Province or of the County of Megantic. or was It the National element in the Cabinet ? The lact local elections gave Mr. Mercier power and no doubt the main factor in doing this wa^ the Riel question. Dr. Cameron, who did not fall in with the Riel more- ment, was returned, and has given his allegiance and support to Mr Mercier ever since. Why has he not been called to the Cabinet ? Again, there was an election in Missisquoi, an English- speaking county. Mr. McCorkill, a young man of tflent and certainly acceptable, had been defeated by Mr' Spencer, but succeeded in having the election voided and ran again. Why did not Mr. Mercier take him as a mem- .f f 1 , ^^^'""^^ ^""^ ^^* ^'"^ ^^ *^« representative of tne iinghsh-speaking people ? There was further ar election in Shefford, and Mr Noyes, a man of ability, and who would have been acceptable to the English, offered himself. This was a Liberal county. Did Mr. Mercier take up Mr. Noyes and l^Zu'^^.^r'"'^'''!'' ^""^ ''^^ *« *^ ^""Slish Minister? No. the National " element in the Cabinet would not nave him. Still yet, the electors of Megantic met and decided on ur. Ihompson as thei^ candidntp Woc, i,^ i_j i.„ $ Mr. Mercier ? No, Dr. Thompson wa.^ brought to Quebec last week and made to resign in favour of Col. Rhodes. "Why then has Col. Rhodes been chosen, and by whom 1 Let us see what the organ of the Government, La Justice, says of him : — " As for us we, are very happy over the entry of Col. Rhodes into the Ministry, and the National element may congratulate itself upon the choice which has been made. Col. Rhodes is one of those Englishmen, who, at the time of the Riel affair, took an attitude which recom- mended them to the sympathies of the 'French Canadian people. He took part in the general meetings held for the purpose of protesting against the crime which had been perpetrated at Regina, he even presided over an assembly at Sillery, and did not shrink from censuring the Federal Government in that matter." Col. Rhodes is then chosen, not by the English- .speaking people, but by the Nationalist element in the Cabinet, and his qualification is that he was the only English-speaking person in the whole Province who got up on a public platform and denounced the execution of Riel. Are the English-speaking people of this Province or Megantic going to accept this candidate ? Certainly, he has not been accepted by the English- speaking electors of Megantic. Yours, Several Electors of Megantic. '\ [From the Daily Witness of the 15th Dec.] COLONEL RHODES AND RIELISM. To the Editor of tlie Witness. Sir: In your issue of Dec. 11th you pay a just tribute to the " unquestionable business ability " of Col. Rhodes, the new Minister of Agriculture in Mr. Mercier's Cabinet. Jl No one doubts his ability for the office, bat can he find a seat? He is distasteful to a large majority of the Protestants of the Province by hie endorwement of Mr. Mercier's Biol platform. With the example jet by such staunch men as the Hon. A. G. Joly, Dr. Cameron of Huntingdon, and many other good and true men, on that unfortunate question, I venture to predict his defeat in Megantic by a rousing majority. If Col. Rhodes expects to get elected in a Protestant constituency in this Pro- vince (and such seats are scarce) he will have to let poor Riel peacefully sleep in his prairie tomb, and not keep rattling his bones every time he mounts the hustings. Col. Rhodes should remember the fate of George Wash- ington Stephens, ex-M.P.P. for Montreal West. If Mr. Mercier is as anxious about Protestant representation as he pretends to be, he will have to give us a true Liberal — one who will represent the Protestant majority— and that majority, it is well known, is opposed to that -rotten^ plank, which he takes pains to make the most of " Rielism." J C P Sherbrooke, Que., Dec. 12, 1888. Sir WANTS A LOGIL MAN. To the Editor of the Witness. Col Rhodes may be a member of the Mercier Cabinet, but I assure you it will not be as member for Megantic. The Liberals of Megantic have already chosen Dr. Thomp- son as their man ; one who is a native of the county, and one who has an interest in it, and a man capablo in every respect, — and I do not know what upon earth would induce them to throw him overboard for an old Quebec politician who has no interest in the county whatever. Quebec has already three representatives in the House, and it is not likely we are going to givr them another. If th(3 IflftdnrR nf fho rkorfTT f-ViJnV fV.»^ ».A .~^j~^ i.. 11 J.I.. electorate of Megantic round their fingers in any way they think fit, they are miserably mistaken. If Ool. Bhodes comes to Megantic, he will make plain and easy sailing for Mr. Johnston, the opposition candidate, as the most of the old country Liberals will either vote for him or refrain from voting altogether. A Leeds Liberal. What Mr. James McShane, lately a member of the Mercier Government, thinks of him : — COLONEL RHODES IN MEGANTIC. Montreal, Dec. 12. — UElecteur, of Quebec, would do well, while the Liberal organ has its hand in, to inter- view Hon. James McShane regarding the mighty wisdom displayed by Mr. Mercier in calling Col. Rhodes to the Department of Agriculture. The late Minister is a keen observer of men, and when asked by the Empire corre- spondent this morning : "Do you think Col. Rhodes will be elected?" he replied : " It looks as if he would be licked out of his boots, and he deserves it. The Orangemen will vote against him, and the 180 Irish Catholics will do the same." " Your people, I presume, will oppose him because of that speech in which it was said that it was not safe to put arms into the hands of the Irish ?" -" Certainly. Do you think I would take the stump for a man like that ? Talk about him representing the Eng- lish Protestants ! The idea is ridiculous in the extreme." K. Read what Col. Rhodes thought of this country ten years ago. Compare his opinions then with his utter- ances to-day to the electors of Megantic. Now he wants their votes, then he wanted to leave the country : — 11 *» THE PARTING SHOT. To the Editor of the Morning Chronicle. Sir: As T Jeave to-night for California, I cannot remain any longer to help these poor Quebjec people to battle for their rights, and I may also add their British liberties. To me personally it does not make much difference where I live, so long as I reside under a free constitution, which I am afraid the Province of Quebec is rapidly losing under the present G-overnment. The future of Quebec certainly looks " blue !" with every prospect of a French domina- tion, with a French cure. We all know what this means, "Dragonades " on one side^ "Revolutions " on the other. The quicker and more thorough we exclude the English element from our G-overnment, the more rapid shall we pave the way for the families of the extremists, but let no British subject be afraid of our old motto, " Dieu et Droit." I have been looking amongst my old pape the North Shore Railway, and I find in a " supplemen- tary report of the engineer-in-chief upon the value of the land grant to the company, dated 30th November, 1872," illustrated by a map showing a through line traced to Ste. Theresa, and a branch line via Bout de I'lsle to Montreal, it is stated : Block A, containing 1,827,000 acres of land, was valued by Mr. A. J. Russel, the Crown Timber Agent, Ottawa, at $2.80 per acre, This block of land was granted by the Legislature to the North Shore and to the Montreal Northern Coloniza- tion Railway Companies. The sht-re of this grant belonging to the North Shore Railway Company was, in round numbers, 1,200,000 acres, which at $2.80 gave $3,360,000 The municipal debentures of the city of Quebec valued at 1,000,000 $4,360,000 1^ / fl- These values the North Shore Railway handed over to the Provincial Government, who contracted to have the railway for $4,t82,387, consequently Quebec may say she furnished nearly the whole values for the construction of the present road, and her interests ought to be perma- nent. This right we now know we are being jockeyed out of, and to benefit no Quebec interests, except that of a party who have got possession, for a brief period, of the reins of Government, and who are sacrificing the city to benefit themselves. Let every man look into his own family to read the history of the future ; what does mine teach me ? I have five sons, men who were not afraid to go into the workshops of the land and learn the use of their hands as well as of their heads ; they have all gone from the Province of Quebec, and I am left to vegetate and grow flowers to decorate the graves of the dying C ,.^becers, or travel west, like the old Indian in search of n.-'appy hunting grounds. The great misiake of my life was settling in Quebec, but this I am not repeating in the second generation, as a man may pay too dear for beautiful scenery ; but when almost every man is so reduced that he is not ashamed to borrow money, it surely is time to make one last efibrt to save the city from losing her share of the western trade, so I advise Quebec to battle along the whole line and not allow herself this time to be cheated out of her legitimate rights and her just expectations. I am, sir, Your obedient servant. Quebec, 16th February, 1878. W. Rhodes. * n