V IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) y> ^ /> #=^^ 1.0 I.I 1.25 lit 2.5 2.2 1^ 2.0 18 U IIIIII.6 i^ PI ."^ ^^ /W ifl^ ».' ^ J»' Vo* '?, /A \ iV :i>' :\ \ "^ a^ ^X'^^ "-<*l!V % ^ .: .: CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. 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The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire filmi fut reproduit grdce dt la g6n6rosit6 de I'^tabiissement prdteur suivant : La bibliothdque des Archives publiques du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul clich6 sont fiimdes d partir de I'angle supdrieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la mdthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 fioiise uf Commons Bebntcs FIFTH SESSION-EIGHTH PARLIAMENT. • SPEECH OF ! NICHOLAS FLOOD DAVIN, M.P. oy INQUIRY INTO ELECTION FRAUDS OTTAWA, WEDNESDAY, JVIARCH 14, 1900 Mr. NICHOLAS FLOOD DAVIN (West Assiiiiboia). Mr. Speaker, I am sure that the House has listened with a great deal of interest and edification to the speech which has fallen from the hon. member for North Norfolk (Mr. Charlton). Nothing could be more Interest- ing to this House, nothing more worthy of its attention, than to discuss its demeanour and efficiency. I am glad that the right hon. gentleman (Sir Wilfrid Laurier) was not in the House a few moments ago when one of his foremost followers declared that the conduct, the demeanour and the dignity of the House have fallen so low uuder the leadership of the right hon. gentleman that twenty-five years ago, when this country, generally, was not as advanced as it is to- day, it was far ahead of what it . is now, under the leadership of the right hon. gen- tleman. Mr. CHAKLTON. I must ask the permis- sion of my hon. friend (Mr. Davin) to set him right. I attributed none of the features I condemned to the management of the right hon. leader of the House. Mr. DAVIN, It is no point of order. My hon. friend took his cue of dignity from the right hon. gentleman, and nobody has a better right to talk, about dignity than the Prime Minister, because, I say, with truth, that nobody can assume an air of dignity better than the right hon. gentleman. But. what is the good of dignity and of demean- our, if, beneatli that dignity and u~ leanour there is no real manliness of public char- acter ? What have we seen here to-day ? When my hon. and learned friend here (Mr. Borden, Halifax) pleads for an opportunity of making an inquiry into the scandals con- nected with the Brockville and West Huron elections, the I'ight hon. gentleman first blocks him by stating that he is going to go on the line of red tape, of parliamentary etiquette, and then falls back on a declara- tion about his own dignity. Mr. Speaker, I wonder if you have ever seen the picture Dignity and Impudence ? I will say here, with all deference to the right hon. gen- tleman, that where a Prime Minister, in the face of such scandals as were revealed i liere last year, before the whole country i and before parliament, puts up his thin screen of dignity to block inquiry, impud- ence and dignity go very close together. We have had, in the history of this country, and in the history of all countries, speci- mens of dignity and of politeness where there was not much solidity of character. The exquisite urbanity of Charles II. has passed into a proverb, but the epitaph on Charles II. was : Here lies our muttan-eating king, Whose word no man relies on; He never said a foolish thing, t He never did a wise one. I I do not know whether the riglit hon. gen- '' tlemaa is fond of mutton, but I do know ' that he very seldom fails to say just the I right thing. 1 wish I could add that he never I failed to do the right thing. He never fails to say the right thing ; he never succeeds in I aoing it ; and certainly to-day he failed to I do the right thing, when my hon. friend (Mr. Borden, Halifax) asked for the oppor- tunity of doing that wliich is the great l)rivilege of a member of parliament. Why, Sir, what is the meaning of this parliament where we are speaking ? What is its great function ? It is not only the great consult, but it is the great inquest of the nation, and we are here to inquire into and to probe everything. I say here, Mr. Speaker, that not one of the many things that during these last four years have disfigured that government, and disfigured the reputation of that Prime Minister ; not one of tliein will do more damage to tlie government or impress tlie country more forcibly than when it goes abroad that when an hon. and learned gentleman (Mr. Borden) wishes to pursue an inquiry that was not completed last year, an Inquiry that showed there was a corpus delicti of the gravest sort, the right hon. gentleman should get up and say : My dignity won't allow it. Dignity ! What place has dignity in that connection? \V'liat is he doing V He is shielding rascals from exposure. That is all very tine for dig- nity. I do not like to use the comparison that rises to my mind when I hear these lip professions of dignity, and then whispering to the rascals behind : Never fear, 1 will shield you ; I will throw ai'ound you the weight of my high position ; I will Mr. CHARLTON. I rise to a point of order. The hon. gentleman (Mr. Davin) is Imputing conduct to the leader of th3 gov- ernment in the highest degree dishonour- able. He is asserting that the leader of the government tells his followers in the rear that he will protect them in their rascal- ity. Some hon. MEMBERS. Not at all. Mr. CHARLTON. I submit to you, Mr. Speaker, that such is not parliamentary language. Mr. DAVIN. Mr. Speaker, everybody knows what I was rel'erring to. I was re- ferring to these rascals that were exposed before a committee of which I am a mei?v ber. I was referring to rascals that hon. and learned gentlemen in this House did everything they could to shield, doing everything they could to prevent that in- quiry from being effective. And what did they do at last? Although we had nine wit- nesses there ready to be examined, they went back without being examined, because those gentlemen opposite would not sit of an evening. The hon. and learned member from Halifax (Mr. Russell), a strong lawyer from whom I would have expected some- thing better, he threw all his ingenuity, and the hon. member for Kingston (Mr. Britton) threw all his pettifogging in the way of anything like an Inquiry. The MINISTER OF MARINE AND FISHERIES (Sir Louis Davies). Order. I ask you if it Is parliamentary, Mr. Speaker, to acuse an hon. member of this House, a learned gentleman at the bar, of being guilty of pettifogging. I appeal to you. Sir. is that parliamentary ? Mr. SPEAKER. My Impression is that it is not parliamentary to apply the term petti- fogging to the action of a committee of this House. The MINISTER OF MARINE AND FISHERIES. It was applied to one mem- ber of that committee. Mr. DAVIN. Well, I can withdraw it. He threw all what in him is not pettifogging, and that is not a great deal. Now, Sir, tut'ie was another geutlomau in the liistory of England, chesterfield. He was the pink of politeness, but he had not a character tliat we would think a great deal of. Then we come to Beau Brummel, and then to George IV., the finest gentleman in Eur- ope. But we need not go to Thackeray's Four Georges to apprehend how much real respect he was entitled to at our hands, and after all, Mr. Speaker, when we are to judge the character of public men, that they can bow gracefully is not enough ; we want from them such de- meanour going to the root of action as will enable us to respect them. I agi'ee Avitli my lion, friend from Norfolk (Mr. Charlton) that this House has fallen with- in the last four years, and it has fallen be- cause my right hon. friend, who is, I admit, in so many ways a charming man, has not weight enough to keep liis followers beiiind him in order. The hon. gentleman (Mr. Charlton) accused the hon. member from York (Jlr. Foster) of having said he would block the business of the House. The ex- Finance Minister (Mr. Foster) said nothing of the kind. He (Mr. Foster) said that if the Prime Minister would allow his fol- lowers to weigh down the Order paper with questions such as have disfigured it from day to day, and which, as my hon. friend says, has disgraced it ; then the ex- Finance Minister said that two (;ould play at that game. If, Sir, the opposition wishes to resort to that sort of warfare, it would be an extraordinary thing if we could not bring something more like powder and shot, than these poor wretched volleys of soap suds that have come tbere in the shape of questions from day to day. And if we have to resort to it, it will not be soap suds we will send aci'oss the House, but we will send dum dum bullets that will explode in the bosoms of hon. gentlemen opposite and we will expose the mean heart that lurks beneath the st.nr. Mr. WOOD. That Is more Boer like. Mr. DAVIN. I love the hon. member for Hamilton (Mr. Wood) under all conditions, except when he tries to be witty, and then he loses for me that perennial Interest and that abiding beauty that are his chief characteristics. Mr. W^OOD. There are two of us. Mr. DAVIN. Now, Mr. Speaker, I must , say with all respect that I have had my- self a great deal of parliamentary experi- ence. I am now getting to be one of the old members of this House. I occupied a more elevated, and, T was going to say— but I will not say it, out of respect to my breth- ren of the hour— I was going to say the more dignified position of a seat in the reporters' gallery in the House of Commons In Eng- land. I say that the man who sits in the reporters' gallery— especially In England— one seHsiou is equal to a session and a half ot a member sitting in tlie House, because for one reason he is more there. Therefore, sitting there for seven years is equivalent to sitting in the House for ten years. I may say to you, Mr. Spealier, with great re- spect, tliat my hon. friend (Mr. Foster) transgressed no parliamentary etiquette here to-day. What he was indulging Injs what is called invective. You know. Sir, that so great an authority as Mr. Disraeli, after- wards Lord Beaconsfield, said : that invec- tive is the great ornament of debate, and without invective our debates here v.'ould be very flavourless. If those gentlemen oppo- site, who sometimes indulge in that sort of thing which has distressed the soul of my hon. friend from Norfolli (Mr. Charlton) to such an extent that all tlie dignity iu his soul is wltliered under the blighting influ- ence of what he sees around liim ; if those gentlemen opposite would seek sometimes to indulge in invective instead of whatev<>r indescribable thing they resort to, it would add greatly to the interest of our debates. Now, what wfis my hon. friend (Mr. Foster) saying when he was stopped ? He was us- ing language that attributed puerility or boyishness to the Prime Minister. And what did he mean ? He meant moral boyishness. He said it because he considered that the reason given by the Prime Minister for not acceding to the request of my hon. and learned friend, w;i s not a masculine or a manly reason, that it was consequently puerile, and he used strong language to ex- press that opinion, and showed himself in- dignant—and we all felt his indignation- why ? Because, Sir, the right hon. gentle- man who is at the head of this parliament, and who is the keeper of its honour and ef- liclency, had pledged himself to a policy which reduces by .W per cent— aye, by ninety per cent— its efficiency, as the great inquest of the nation. Why, then, should not a leading man on this side be indignant and vehement, and express his indignation, when the right hon. gentleman had taken a stand lamentable in regard to this parliament— and lamentable, I dare aver, as to the esti- mate the people of Canada will form of my right hon. friend ? Now, Sir, I want to ask the attention of the House for one minute to what occurred last session. We had in that committee room a meeting. Only five polls were inves- tigated. The principal polls investigated, were No. 4 of the township of Colborne, and No. 3 of the township of Goderich. Daniel Cummlngs was the deputy at No. 4. There were 125 ballots to the ballot pad ; 98 voted ; there were none spoiled ; and 27 were un- used. 68 were marked for Holmes, and 30 for McLean ; majority, 38. But of the 68 marked for Holmes, 14 were bogus— 14 dif- ferent from the 84 and 27, printed on differ- ent paper. An expert proved that the 14 were bogus ; but It needed no expert, for any man with half an eye, had only to look at them to see that they were bogus. But we had before the committee an expert, Mr. Harvey, whose evidence I have before me, and this man had with him an InSLniment called a micrometer, which he applied to measuring tlie ballots iu the ballot pad, the ballot papers and the counterfoils. He measured these 14, and what did ho say ? Q. And you have already given us the thick- ness of these ballots, 3—1 to 14. As a paper- maker you are familiar with all the processes of iJaper-maklng, are you not? A. Yes. Q. Is it possible, I ask you, that these four- teen ballots came out of these stubs? A. No, sir. Q. It is absolutely irap;;sslble? A. Absolutely. Then, Inter on. he was asked : Q. You are positive, then, that not one of thrse ballots of series three, including one to four- teen and all between, oould have come off these stubs? A. It is imp:sslble. Not only were these 14 shown to be bogus from their measurements, but tliey bore the initials of the deputy iu ink, whereas the remaining 84 bore his initials in pencil. I was a member of that committee, and was present, tliough I took no further part than that of a .iuror or judge. But my hon. friend from Halifax, who conducted the cafe, as- sisted by Mr. Powell, showed by cumulative demonstration, that this man Cummlngs, in- stead of destroying the counterfoils, as he was bound to do by his written directions, was accustomed to put them into his right- band pocket. What he did do, it is dear, was to put the counterfoil into his right-hand pocket, and out of an inside pocket take a ballot marked for Holmes. Mr. BltlTTON. There is not a word of that in the evidence. Mr. DAVIN. Tliere is not a word of that in the evidence ? Have I said there is ? Mr. BllITTON. It is just made up by yourself. Some hon. MEMBERS. Ord^r. Mr. DAVIN. I will not trouble you, Mr. Speaker, to call the hon. gentleman to order ; I win brush him aside myself. What I say is that it is a plain inference. How did these bogus ballots get into the ballot box ? This is the natural surmise, that when he put the counterfoil into his right-hanclaration of my hon. friend, that he has fresh evidence, and can probe these things still fruther, can any one be astonished that my hon. friend the ex-Finance Minister, felt indignant when the Prime Minister took the position that he would do all he could to block the inquiry any further ? What does It mean ? It means this. It means that here we have a number of criminals worse than the majority of men in any peni- tentiary, for these criminals are striking at the life of free institutions. These ballot pluggers and thieves are worse than any criminals in the penitentiaries. My hon. friend from Halifax wants to get at them, and here comes dignity in its most attrac- tive and powerful garb, the voice of tlie Prime Minister, who says : ' Stand back ; you must not touch one of these ; you must not Inquire ; we will not help you to inquire.' That is a very serious stand to take. I say It destroys the etaciency of parliament. Talk about some little defect in parliamen- tary demeanour, talk about some little looseness of language, talk about some violent invectives— why none of these things, not the most violent invective heard within the walls of any parliament, could do such harm to the morale of parliament as for the Prime Minister to declare that he was going to stand by rufflans of this description and shield them from discovery. J would to God that a man would arise at this hour who would put into words that could not die. the shame, the rage, the scorn, the con- tempt, which every man who loves free in- stitutions, must feel in our having a Prime Minister who seemed at one time capable of much better things, but who. under the in- fluence of the sluggers and pluggers and the Farrs in politics— Farrs not in name, but In act— who have climbed close to the seat of power, has sunk so }ow that he will stand up here and declare in a brazen manner that his dignity stands in the way of al- lowing an inquiry into this rescaldom of Brockville and Huron.