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 FACTS FOR MEGANTIC. ^ 
 
 KVKRY VAjVTTOR SHOULD YOTh: ; AND VOTK ACCOHD- 
 ING TO HIS OWN [K£h]RFj^TS.— (Phillips.) 
 
 POLITICAL TRUTHS, — DRAWN FROM THE PAST, APPLICABLE 
 IN THE PRESENT, IMPORTANT FOR THE FUTURE ! 
 
 Ill a country like ours, where difFereni nations flow in, 
 like streams into the vast Atlantic, and <to-mingle their 
 waves in the great ocean of a Canadian nationality ; 
 where all creeds are respected and all differences of opi- 
 nion conceded, it is the imperative duty of each true 
 citizen to frown down and to crush with all his power 
 aught that might tend to disturb that harmony, aught 
 that might cause disunion amongst the divers elements 
 that blend upon our common soil under the protection of 
 our Dominion's flag. Whensoever that hydra of disunion 
 enters the Eden of happiness, it becomes the imperative 
 duty of every true lover of his country to sever its heads 
 and to leave the unwholesome pest lifeless in its empoi- 
 soned caverns. Seldo, i do we meet with men, above all, 
 in public life, so devoid of patriotic sentiment, with love 
 of country so cold, and respect for the land they profess 
 to love so chilled, that they would sacrifice the interest 
 of a whole people at the shrine of their own petty politi- 
 cal aspirations or ambition. Yet, sad to say, we have 
 had, within the last couple of years, a striking example 
 of this national ingratitude. We have founcilmen, who, 
 for the sake of office, for the sake of personal aggrandize- 
 ment, for the sake of power, did not hesitate to fan into 
 mighty flame the almost extinguished embers of national 
 prejudice and religitos knim^sityu i v* • ; i ,' .. 
 
 Basing their cau§6* tibotf a ^Scafibld," siistainliig their 
 hopes by means of ' aV6xBta»tibnet'e rq^^e, and'h^rtlessly 
 
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 dragging upon every public platform and into the very 
 halls of the Legislature the name, the memory, the fate 
 of the unfortunate victim of his own rashness and trea- 
 son, they wished to climb into power over the grave of a 
 political adventurer, over the debris of a shattered insur- 
 rection, and they sought to govern the country in the 
 name of the Sovereign aud in the name of the law 
 against which the unfortunate Riel had rebelled. Thus 
 would they willingly avenge the just execution of a just 
 sentence passed upon the violator of the constitution, and 
 then proclaim themselves the upholders, the lovers and 
 the very patrons of that (constitution. From Gaspe to the 
 Height of Land, that cry went like Grreek-lire over the 
 whole Province ; national prejudices were awakened, 
 religious animosities aroused, and a party, or rather a fai;- 
 tion, carried the Province. But the calmness that suc- 
 ceeded this sirocco of anti-nationai nationalism came in 
 its turn, and the dupes of these firebrand demagogues 
 beheld their own mistake. The agitation had its tempo- 
 rary and transitory effect, and then died out. 
 
 To-day, in Megantic, that cry is about to be revived ; 
 true, it will be but a faint echo of the mighty howl that 
 has exhausted itself, yet it is well to ask the electors of 
 Megantic to recall the past scenes in recent contests, and 
 lo study attentively the few facts here placed before 
 them — facts that may serve to guide them in the present 
 struggle between Mr. Johnston, the Liberal-Conservative 
 candidate, and Col. Ehodes, the quondam Conservative, 
 so recently converted to Rielism and anti-Canadian 
 principles^ 
 
 FACTS— PRINCIPLES— AisD EXPRESSIONS. 
 
 Despite the fact that the Hon. H. J. Joly, wrote a per- 
 sonal le'^^r of vbk^iJitJLlld^ijjnlt^ort^^h Rhodes on the occa- 
 sion of**Ris**a']pJ)omtmeni*6c>.tii€t:poijition of Minister of 
 AffriciClJtit£b.'*»tiU: Ch^r enPriJCjier *>i Quebec is not in 
 sympatny*with«ihe'*e^y atid'tft-ft'faaans that raised Hon. 
 
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 Mr. Mercier to power. No man, Liberal or Conservative, 
 in our province, has had a purer record than Mr. Joly. If 
 he differed from a friend upon a political issue, he differed 
 honestly ; and although it would be most difficult to 
 agree with his followers, yet as a man and a true gentle- 
 man, he always commanded respect. He was and is what 
 is called a Liberal in Lower Canadian politics ; but he 
 never forgot, even in the midst of severe contests, and in 
 the haze of conflict, his duty towards Canada. "When the 
 nationl cry was raised, the cry which was antagonistic to 
 the ideas of both Liberals and Conservatives, that cry 
 which was but the pibroch of a certain clique or junto, he 
 manfully stood up against it. True, it might send him 
 into power ; yet he could not sacrifice the interests of the 
 whole province for the sake of a few days or months of 
 popularity and power. 
 
 The Hon. H. J. Joly was an honored and respected 
 member of the party. How to overthrow him, Mr. Mercier 
 could not dream ; when, suddenly, the Regina incident 
 flashed before him. In the gloomy shade of a gibbet he 
 beheld a prospect of success. He seized the occasion, and 
 grasping the opportunity he raised a cry ; he erected a plat- 
 form upon which he knew the Hon. Mr. Joly could not 
 conscientiously stand. The latter had either to become a 
 party to national prejudices and religious bigotry, or else 
 step down and give Mr. Mercier his place. 
 
 Faithful to his principles, true to his party, and devoted 
 to the union and peace of the country, in the following 
 letter, Mr. Joly proclaimed his disapproval of the perni- 
 cious principles sought to be sown in our bright land by 
 the hand of demagogism. The following is from the last 
 letter written by Hon. Mr. Joly, as a member of the Legis- 
 lature, in 1885. It speaks for itself: — 
 
 *' I am of opinion that the French-CanaMans have the free enjoyment of 
 their rights. If they have not made a better use of them, they can blame 
 no one but themselves. 1 cannot see how the formation of a new party, 
 the National party, could better their position, but I think I can eee how 
 it would endanger the future welfare of the Dominion. Bom and educated 
 in France, T returned to (^anada, after leaving college, a thorough French- 
 
man In feeling. It used to be a subject of ileep a8U)nishment to me, 
 whenever I heard my opponents in our electoral striigglea contest my 
 right to represent French-Canadians in Parliament, on the ground that I 
 could neither understand nor share their inmost feeling. 
 
 "The day has arrived when I must admit that my opponents were not 
 so far wrong on that point. I can neither understand nor share the feel- 
 ings expressed with so much force by the great majority of the French- 
 Canadians in the province and in this county. Disagreeing as I do with 
 my constituents on such a point as this, I owe it to them to resign my 
 seat, so as to allow the free exercise of their right to choose a ropresenta- 
 tive who will sympathize with their feelings more fully than I can, and T 
 send my resignation to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. 
 
 " It only remains for me to thank you, gentlemen, and all the electors of 
 the county of Lotbini^re, for the great confidence shown me for so many 
 years. With sincere wishes for your happiness and the welfare of otir 
 country, 
 
 " I remain, 
 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 "H. G. JoLV." 
 
 Such were the sentiments of the once leader of the 
 Liberal Party. With his departure from the political 
 arena, the Liberal party ceased to exist in our Province ; 
 it gave way to what was styled the National Party , and 
 that faction found the exponent of its views and the 
 mouthpiece of its principles (if principles they may be 
 called) in the words of the present Premier of our Pro- 
 vince, the Hon. Mr. Mercier. He not only expressed 
 them on the Champ de Mars, he not only reiterated them 
 throughout the whole Province, from end to end, but he 
 even expressed them, not later than the 22nd of Novem- 
 ber last in a most emphatic manner. In a letter addressed 
 to Mr. U. Lemieux, se(^retary of the Club National, he 
 said : — 
 
 " I will never forget that it was in the halls of the Club Nationale, in 
 the ii Ist of the intelligent and patriotic members of that organization, 
 that -1 came to renew my force and courage for the electoral contests of 
 1882 and 1886; and that it is to tliis noble phalanx, asi well as to the 
 National CoBservatives, rallied on the Champ de Mars in 1885, that we 
 owe in a great degree the great victory of the 14th October, 1886, which 
 was confirmed on the 26th of January, 1888. by the elect of the people. 
 I^t us fiever forget tliese three memorable dates ! 
 
 " First, the 22nd of November, 1885, when we all, Liberals and National 
 Conservatives, deplored, on the Champ de Mars of Montreal, the martyr- 
 dom of a French Metis sacrificed to the hate of the Oraogemen. 
 
 "Second, the 14th of October, 1886, the day on which an indignant 
 people chased from power those who had constituted themselves the 
 valets of the executioners. 
 
 '« Third, the 26th of January, 1887, the day on which the elect of a pa- 
 triotic jieople ratified the verdict and created the National Government." 
 
Is that a sufficiently plain statement or not ? Do you 
 require anything further to prove that Mr. Mercier, and 
 his party, seek to carry the Province, to retain power, to 
 hood-wink Megantic, to hoist their subservient henchmau 
 upon an independent county, all for the sake of personal 
 ambition and aggrandizement, at the expense of the 
 electors and in despite of their principle ? It was on the 
 22nd November last that these lines were written. Has 
 Mr. Mercier deviated from his recent record ? Look back 
 to the same date, the 22nd November 1886, and read the 
 following, carried amidst fanatical cheers, on the Champ 
 de Mars : " Resolved, that it is desirable that all French 
 " Canadians and those who sympathize with them should 
 " unite in order to form a powerful party that will secure 
 " for us respect and the free enjoyment of our rights." 
 
 From that day till the present, the leader of the Quebec 
 government has sought to create, throughout our Province, 
 what he calls a National feeling, but which is truly the 
 most anti-national conceivable. Our true nationality con- 
 sists in the union of races and creeds upon our soil ; 
 while he seeks to isolate one people and to place them in 
 antagonism with the others. He and his followers care 
 not how they may injure the future of their own people, 
 care not how they may destroy their prospects, provided 
 that the ruin of their race and the abolition of their creed, 
 should serve as stepping-stones to elevate them to power. 
 Why should we attack each other on account of religious 
 or national differences ? Is a man to blame if he be born a 
 Hindoo, an Irishman, a Chinee, an Englishman, an 
 African or a Frenchman ? If we desire that others should 
 respect the tenets of our creed, let us grant them the same 
 concession ! Is that the course followed by the semi- 
 patriotic, quasi-national clique that holds the reins of 
 power in Quebec to-day. Mark these words of the Hon. 
 Mr. Mercier, in his grand speech, delivered on the 10th 
 April last, at the banquet given by the Club National at 
 Windsor Hotel, Montreal : " I will add that a question of 
 
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 ** religion, race, or education, aiFecting or likely to effect 
 " the rights of the French or Catholic minority, would be 
 " more justly regulated at London, even by a Tory Min- 
 " ister, than at Ottawa by a Government of Orangemen." 
 
 Shall we quote any more of Mr. Mercier's words — his 
 appeals to fanatical prejudices, his efforts to rouse up the 
 latent animosities of his own people ? Page after page 
 might be cited ; but time presses, space forbids —however, 
 read these words, spoken at Beauport, in the County of 
 Quebec, during the last Federal election contest between 
 Sir Adolphe Caron, Minister of Militia, and Mr. Martin, 
 by Mr. Mercier, the leader of the Provincial Grovernment, 
 and the patron of Col. Rhodes to-day : " This Railway (the 
 C. C. P.) was built by Orangemen and for Orangemen." 
 It is evident that these expressions are rank nonsense, yet 
 they shew the feeling that exists in the mind of the 
 Premier. These sentiments have not been expressed on 
 any single occasion, nor does their expression bear the 
 marks of a " slip of the tongue ;" even last October, during 
 the recent contest in Montreai East, when Mr. Poirier, the 
 inveterate enemy of Mr. Chapleau. and Mr. Lepine, the 
 labor candidate, met on the political arena — Mr. Mercier 
 cast his weight in the balance for Mr. Poirier, and there 
 and then, going directly against his professed desire to aid 
 the laborer, he fought Mr. Lepine with all his energy and 
 might. He t^ven went so far as to state in the St. James 
 Hall, that the struggle was between French and English, 
 and warned the French-Canadians that tiie fate of their 
 nationality depended upon the result of the election. 
 
 The election terminated, the result was the election of 
 Mr. Lepine, and yet the nationality (French-Canadian) 
 has by no means suffered. In fact, it has a stronger and 
 more effective advocats to-day, than had Montreal East 
 listened to the appeale of Mr. Mercier, and returned the 
 partizan of rabid nationalism. 
 
 Not only did Mr. Mercier, personally strive to stir up 
 this wrong and anti-Canadian feeling, but the National 
 
press of Montreal and Quebec, strove, with all the power 
 of vituperation that can bespatter the colums of a paper, 
 to reiterate and promulgate those perni(;iou8 sentiments* 
 During that very same election in Montreal East, La Patrie, 
 the organ of Mr. Mercnor and the Liberal party, published 
 the following, and let the ele(;tors of Megantic pay atten- 
 tion and learn the It^sson it teach«>6 : — 
 
 " There \b no reaHon to be surprised that tliose Kni^li/sh should have 
 changed facte towards tlie Liberal party since the Kiel ai^itatlon. Never 
 do they participate in our opinions or. sentiments. They were our aUies, 
 but not our brothers nor on r frt<Mi(l8. ***#»• * 
 But tl)at class of EuKlisli Liberals, above mentioned, that were only with 
 us by accident, does not know the Front^i Canadians, who are bound by 
 no special bond to the Liberal party," etc. 
 
 But enough ! Why go through the thousand and ci e 
 eviden(*e8 of the fanatical appeals made by the Mercier 
 party to the religious prejudices and national feelings of 
 the people ? The question now before the elector:^ of 
 Megantic is simply this : Is Col. Rhodes responsible for 
 these expressions of the Premier and these sentiments of 
 the so-called national party ? Is he to hear the burthen 
 of these^ unpatriotic moves ? Without hesitation it can 
 be said that he is not only responsible, but he assumes 
 upon his shoulders to-day the full weight of the Premier's 
 course. Firstly, he has emphatically pronounced himsell' 
 in favor^of Rielism. and has posed as an advocate of the 
 Mercier-Rielite-semi-Liberal-anti-Cauadian policy. 
 
 La Justice, of 7th Dec, 1888, the chief Nationalist paper 
 
 at the ancient capital, speaks as follows of Col. Rhodes : 
 
 " 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 wliich has been made. Col. Rhodes is one of those Englishmen 
 who, at the time of the Riel aftair, took an attitude which recommended 
 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 assem- 
 bly at Sillery, and did not shrink from censuring the Federal Governmgnt 
 in that matter." 
 
 Secondly, the heretofore Conservative, the same Col. 
 Rhodes, who oncefitt^dU hse .of.M'^kJ/tri.c ;a& a Vat's-paw to 
 draw the chestnwte oi''4D59od)#^**fro«]? •^hV'fireVit to-day a 
 supporter strongZ/ai^ld IfJtc^dfast/pfithat JPj-Jlrti^t*^^^^ ^^*^ 
 
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 party, whirh have giveu b»m the portfolio of Minister of 
 Agrculture, at the expense of his former principles, and 
 despite his former nationitl sentiments. In a word, the 
 Colonel is ambitious, he is what, he was once styled by a 
 prominent member of the oh^. Legislature, " a good soldier 
 in times of peace, and a good farmer in times of war." 
 His agricultural propensities most likely have secured for 
 him the position of Miiuster in the Natioual-Rielite 
 cabinet, and to complete his (career and round it off pro- 
 perly, the Mercier Government should create another 
 portfolio and make hi in Provincial Minister of Militia. 
 Then he would have attained the height of his ambition, 
 and upon the ruins of his former principles he (-onld look 
 down from his two-fold dignity upon the county thai had 
 twice served him as the instrument of his success. On 
 the first occasion, a quarter of a century ago, he betrayed 
 that county for the sake of what we call " boodle " to-day; 
 now that he has enjoyed the profits of his undertaking, 
 he is prepared — if Megantic is willing — to employ the 
 county as an instrument to raise him to power. 
 
 A person can be excused for having once been " taken 
 in ;" but it is only the foolish who are twice caught. 
 Megantic was his instrument in the past, and like a rusty 
 scythe for which he had no further use, he cast it aside. 
 Are you prepared to vote for him, for Rielism, for the 
 Mercier anti-Liberal, anti-Canadian, anti-National clique? 
 Megantic, beware ! your anti-patriotic soldier, your many- 
 sided agriculturist, is prepared once more to use you, and 
 also prepared to make you instrumental in the propaga- 
 tion of false principles, divisions, prejudices, and religious 
 as well as national animosities ! ' 
 
 Take your choice ! A man of your county or this out- 
 sider, whose only interest is concentrated in two words — 
 Colonel Rhodes ! . „ ^ • 
 
 ■ ■^•'^u '.'i' '-Jhr ''■•'■■fU?-- CANADA Jr. 
 
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