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I -T ) !.V 'u y\' f 1 [ I * ' > o/l *»t •'b'W^^''>''V«>t^-H:f jWi-.^i-»i*Ni. ••• ^^-\ -•■ ^ I s J '1 ■if ) r\ r.iA'i;K.','/o 1 •v./i ':':/i."»..i.'.'A't': »>,« .•■ ) •' . - <• .•'•1'. J 30^jLCt ! \ I Ulji '.ra f; . > ; , : ( / 1 ' i a •I Senator Naepherson on " Reform" in This Province. -t l( HON. D. L. MacphersoQ has addressed the following letter to the electors of North Simcoe, Grey & Bruce, constitut- ing formerly the electoral division of Sau- geen, which he represented in the old Legislative Council : — Gentlemen, — Impelled by a sense of duty and cherishing the pleasant recollec- tions of our former connection, I address you once more upon puWic affairs. In my former pamphlets I submitted facts relat- ing to the administration of the affairs of the Dominion. In this I sli<.'.ll restrict myself mainly to a more limited but scarce- ly less important field — our own Province. The Government of Ontario exercises greater and more direct influence than that of the Dominion over the rights and hap- Einess of its own people. It therefore be- oves them to watch the Provincial Ad- ministration with sleepless vigilance. I am prompted to examine into our home affairs by the course pursued by the mem- bers of the Government of Ontario during the late Dominion elections, when those gentlemen conducted themselves as if their first duty was to secure the success of the Ministerial candidates, and to that end they perambulated the Province from Lambtou to Glengarry. In their public harangues, I regret to say, that they indulged in the wild- est misstatements : they boldly defended acts of the Dominion Government which they must have known were scandalous ; they devoted much time, as many of you know, to denying the accuracy of the finan- cial statements which I had submitted to the public, although they must have been aware that every one of those statements was incontrovertible. In misrepresenta- tion and abuse of me they rivalled Messrs. Mackenzie and Cartwright. When I saw the members of the Local Government sacrificingconsistency, dignity and duty, and rushing into the political breach to save the unworthy and the fallen, I came to the conclusion that the union be- tween the Governments of Ottawa and To- ronto was more in the nature of a con- spiracy against the interests of the people than of an alliance in their defence, and that their active co-operation showed that they knew it would require the combined unscrupulous eff'orts of both Governments to give to either of them the smallest chance of escaping from the wrath of a de- ceived, injured and indignant people. If Mr. Mowat and his colleagues had pos- sessed the proud consciousness that their Government was all it ought to be, they would have stood aloof from Mr. Mackenzie and his colleagues. HISTORY OF TUE ADMINISTRATIONS. Before submitting statements of the ex- penditure of the I'rovince, I shall review the history of the Administrations which have ruled in Ontario since the establish- ment of her Provincial autonomy. I do so for the purpose of exhibiting the spirit which animated and governed the leading Administrators. It will be remembered that in 1864 the leading statesmen of Can- ada entered into a coalition to settle the issues which fnr many years had disturbed the Canadian body politic. In that coali- tion were men who had differed widely. Sir John Macdonald and the Hon. George Brown, Sir George Cartier and the Hon. W. Macdougall, Sir Alex. Gait ard the Hon. Mr. Rowland and others, associated themselves for the common purpose of re- moving barriers which had prevented them working together in the pxiblic service. Their labours resulted in the union of all the British North American colonies, ex- cept Newfoundland. The old issues being thus disposed of, it was expected that our public men would de"ote themselves to the great work of consolidating and knitting to- gether in bonds of amity and interest all the Provinces of this young Dominion. Partyism, selfish, wicked partyism, had done much to mar the happiness of Canada, and the good men of all parties hoped that its discordant voice had been hushed. Unfortunately, however, be- fore the condit ons of union were even em- bodied in an Act of Parliament, the Hon. George Brown, for reasons which will prob- ably be regarded by the future historian of Canada as wholly insufficient, retired from the Government. Not content with doing this, he employed the powerful newspaper of which he was and is the owner, the Toronto Olobe, to rake the expiring embers of old quarrels, and did all in his power to divide into hostile parties a people before whom there were absolutely no public questions upon which party lines could be drawn. Sir John \ Macdonald, desiring to maintain the coalition character of his Cabinet, offered the seat vacated by Mr. Brown to Mr. Alexander Mackenzie, but he diclined it, doubtless in deference to the wishes of the autocrat of the Reform party. Mr. Ferguson Blair acted with more independence and patriotism and ac- cepted the vacant seat. The Government was thus enabled to continue its good work, and Confederation became a fact. VVhen Sir Jolui Maodonald was called upon to form tlie first Administration of the Dominion he preserved the coa- lition principle in the Ontario contin- gent. He did all in his power — as was his duty and the duty of all Canadians — to bury the dead differences of the past, and to unite and inspire with a feeling of brotherhood — in short, to Canadianize— the people of the different Provinces. But Mr. Brown, instead of .aiding to remove disturbing elements, laboured obstinately and with a persistency worthy of a better cause to restore the almost obliterated landmarks of defunct party ism. The peo- ple, however, were too intelligent to be imposed upon by shams, and they rebuked Mr. Brown in 1867 by sending a large majority to Parliament to support the Government of Sir John Macdonald. THE COALITIONS. I have already stated that the contingent of Ontario tj the Ottawa Cabinet was co- alition in character. It consisted of two gentlemen who had formerly been known aa Conservatives and three who had been known as Liberals. In forming his Cabi- net, Sir John was generous to Reformers. It was this Government that appointed the first Lieutenant-Governors, on whom de- volved the duty of organizing the Pro- vincial Executives. The first Lieutenant- Governor of Ontario was Major-General Stisted, the Commander of the Forces in the Province. It is reasonable to suppose that when appointing a military man to that office, the Administration at Ottawa indicated to him whom he should send for to form his Administration, and it may be assumed that it was at Sir John Macdonald's in- stance that Lieutenant Governor Stisted appointed Mr. Sandfield Macdcnald the first Premier of Ontario. Could Sir John Macdonald have given stronger evidence of his desire to obliterate and forget the dif- ferences of the past and to give to the pub- lic men of this Province the influence in its Government which their prominence en- titled them to, regardless of their former party associations ? Mr. Sandlield Mac- donald had been the unswerving opponent of Sir John Macdonald during the whole time that the latter had been in Parliament. He had always been a pronounced lie- former, but he was too independent and manly to be a vassal. He, therefore, never enjoyed the sunshine of Mr. Brown's favour. When a member of the Oppo-ition -n the old Canadian Parliament, Mr. Saadficld Macdonald neither had nor sought many followers, but when Sir George Cartier's Government was defeated in 1802 hv waa called upon to form an Administration. He did so, and it ruled until the advent of the coalition in 1804. When this honest Re- former was ca,lled upon to organise an Administration for Ontario, hs governed himself by the spirit of justice which waa demanded bj tlie new order of things, and selected l)i8 colleagues from both of the pre-Confedei'ation parties, I have reason to believe that the first man he asked to join him was, like himself, an old Rpformer, a gentleman of high character, the Honour- able John McMurrich. That gentleman, no dou))t, (consulted his leader, Mr. Brown, and he was advised, it was under- stood, not to enter tlie Cabinet unless it was composed exclusively of Reformers, of the Brown stamp. Mr. Sandfield Mac- bi^lahi was not a man to be coerced or dcmned, and the negotiations with Mr. Mc- Murrich failed. The Administration, as finally constituted, was composed of three Liberals, Messrs. Sandfield Macdonald, Richards, and Wood, ai?d two Conserva- tives, Messrs. Cameron and Carling. Messrs. Brown, Blake, and Mackenzie op- posed Sandfield Macdonald's Government with persistent virulence. Mr. Mackenzie became a member of the second Ontario Parliament, and when it assembled for the first time, in December, 1871, in order to defeat the Government, advantage waa taken — in a manner more worthy of gamesters than of statesmen — of the ab- Heuce of a number of members who had gone to their constituents for re-elec- tion. Mr. Macdonald retired, feeling poignantly what he regarded as the ingratitude of his native Province. Ontario had not, and never will have, a more disinterested, faithful, and devoted son, than the late John Sandfield Mac- donald. Mr. Brown did justice, tardy justice to his memory (although in his life time he had greatly maligned him) when in a speech delivered in South Victoria, in September last, he said : — " Mr. Sandfield Macdonald — a man who wo.ild neither -^o wrong nor allow those around him to do wrong. " A VIOLATED PRINCIPLE. Mr. Blake succeeded him as Premier, with Mr. Mackenzie as Treasurer. You would have supposed that these gentlemen could not have been tempted by the love of office, or by any other considenition, to constitute, upon coalition principles, the first Government which either of them had been called upon to form, and that they would have remembered their denunciation of coalitions ; they acted, however, as if they had always favoured coalitions and thus violated their life-long pledges. With shameless inconsistency they ottered a seat in the Cabinet to Mr. Scott, of Ottawa, the Speaker of the Legislative AssemVily ; an office to which he had been appointed on the motion of AJr. Sandtield JVlacdonald, when Premier. Mr, Scott was, and always had been, a pronounced Conservative, and so decidedly did he recognize hi.s allegiance to the Conservative leader, that he actually asked the assent of Sir John Macdoiiald to coalesce with and become the colleague of Messrs. Ulake and Mackenzie. From a Government founded upon recreancy and hypocrisy, but little good was to be ex- pected, and b"t little sprang from it. Much of its legislation was unwise and pernicious. In making political capital of the deplor- able murder of Soott, in Manitoba, the members of the Government imprinted an inettaceable stain upon their escutcheons. Their Anti-Dual-Represeutation Act, re- stricting the choice of the people, was strangely inconsistent with the principles professed by Reformers. It was probably passed at tlie instance of Mr. Brown, who could foresee that its tendency would be to exclude men of ability from the Local Le- gislature, and to make that body more sub- serv 'ent to him. And such has been itd effect. Messrs. Blake and Mackenzie de- termined to remain in the Dominion Par- liament, and by the Anti-Dual-llepresenta- tion Act, expelled themselves from the Legislature of Ontario. They acknow- ledged by their next step that they had not left on the Reform side of the Legislative Assembly a man to whom the Government of the Province might safely be entrusted. According to their political code no one who had not been known as a Brown Reformer, anterior to Confederation, was worthy to be Premier of Ontario. And in order to obtain one, who in their opinion was gifted with the ne- cessary qualifications invaded the Bench. Mowat was induced ermine of the Judge, for *he office, they Mr. Vice-Cliancellor to icty aside the pwre and to gird his loins with the tattered and unclean raiment of a trimming politician. It cannot be gain- said that the tendency of that proceeding was to degrade the Bench. Until that occurrence, the Judges of the country were looked upon as men occupying a higher and purer sphere than the rest of the people, elevated to that station, removed from the distracting influences of politics and of trade, to administerjusticedispiission- ately and impartially. I have not the least doubt that our present Judges do so ad- minister it ; but I do say that Messrs. Blake and Mowat lowered the Bench from the elevated plane it had previously oc- cupied, down almost to the level of com- mon life ; and it is to be hoped for the sake of the country, that the precedent set by Mn Mowat will not be followed, but will receive the condemnation of the people, and that everyett'ort will be made to re- store the Bench to the eminence on which Messrs. Blake and Mowat found it. It is surprising that Mr. Blake, of all men, should have been the man to degrade tlie Bench, by advising e recall of a judge to political life. It would be natiiral to expect that he would entertain a high and innate reverence for the judi- ciary. It may h.ave been one of the in- stances in which Mr. Blake yielded his judgment to Mr. Brown'a stronger will. Mr. Brown wanted a man as Premier of Ontario M'ho would look upon him as the head of his party — as the fountain of au- thority. It should not be considered dis- paraging to Mr. Mowat to say that he is not endowed with Mr. Brown's force or strength of will. Few men are. Mr. Brown, for the last five years, has been the real head ot the Governments of the Dominion and of Ontario. I have else- where characterized Mr. Mackenzie's Gov- ernment as a Vicariate, and in view of the part played by Mr. Mowat's Government, I do it no injustice in describing it as a sub- Vicariate. The " farming out," as it were, of the two Governments by Mr, Brown, has been subversive of their use- fulness and dignity. MR. CAMERON AND MR. RICHARDS, When Messrs. Blake and Mackenzie ex- pelled themselven from the Local Legis- lature, leaving there no " Old Reformer" who was qualified to succeed to the office of First Minister, it was not necessary to bring Mr. Mowat down from the exalted region to which he had been translated. The Queen's Government could have been carried on without his aid. It was to carry out the schemes of an inexorable, dwarfing partyism, that he was summoned. Messrs. M. C. Cameron, Stephen Richards, and John Carling were in the Legislature. They had taken a leading part in the Ad- ministration of Mr. Sandfield Macdonald during the preceding four years and a half, and had discharged their duties with ability, integrity and economy. They had acquired much experience in administering the public business. Why were these gentlemen exclud- ed from the public service ? Why were the people not allowed the advantage of their experience and services at a time when men possessing their administrative qualities were scarce, and were not to be found on the self-styled "Reform' side of the Legislature, or in the Reform party, without going to the Bench, where neither Reformer nor Conservative should be known ? Mr. Richards had always been a Liberal ; ^Messrs. Cameron and Carling had been Conaervatives. Mr. ilichards had been, as I hail been myself, a Baldwin Reformer. If ho had been a follower of Mr. Brown, instead of a follower of Mr. Baldwin, he would have been offered the Premiership, and would have discharged its duties well. Mr. Cameron was also well (lualifled to till the othce of Premier. Perhaps, indeed, those who know all the gentlemen may be of opinion, especially with the light which is now available, that either Mr. Ilichards of Mr. Cameron would have held a ti;.'hter grasp than Mr. Mowat upon the public purse, and would have been Itss affected by those influences which have led to an unnecessary increase of the conlDllable expenditure to extravagance and corruption. J believe Mr. Mowat to be personally upright and of excellent in- tentions, but it is Haid he yields too readily to men of sti'onger will and of leas scrupu- losity than himself. Most of the evils which alHict tliis Province, including the extravagance of the Government, are di- rectly ti'aceable to prejudiced and pestilent partyism. J ask why should it be tolerated in the management of the business of Ontaiin? The people object to its embittering presence in their municipal office.^, and the public business of Ontario is neithp"" more nor less than the business of a group of municipalities, Ontario is not charged with any subject of legislation otht-T than of a stiictlj' municipal charac- ter, or with any ijuestion into which party politics should \k' permitted to outer. Min- isters should be chof fcu for their ability and aptitude as Admiiiistratoi's, for, beyond supervising legislation, there duties are simply administrative. Well educated men entering the Legisliiturc should feel that if they devote tiicmselves to mastering the public business, the time will come when they will be called upon to take a part in its administration, no matter whether tiic.y or their fathers were known before Confederation as Con- servatives or Rcform3ry. If this rule pre- vailed, it would be an incentive to young men of talent to enter the Legislature, and to fit themselves, not only for administer- ing the affairs of Ontario, but eventually for entering the Parliament of the Domin- ion as trained administrators. If such a system could be introduced and steadily practised, it would do much to purify and improve the public service. The people will find it to their advantage to make education and talent the stepoing- stones to their service and confidence. The shibboleth of self-seeking Reformers, who, according to Mr. Blake, " have nothing to reform," but who need much reforming themselves, has been the only qualitication for ofhce required by the intolerant men who, since December, 1871, have governed the Province, and the Administration, as might be expected, has been extravagant and debasing. The Ministers of Ontario, instead of serving the whole people, appear to devote their main energies to the culti- vation of party spirit. Under their admin- istration the public departments and the entire public service, it is alleged, have be- come great schools for its inculcation, for the ignoble purpose of securing to a nar- row-minded and selfish cli(jue the loaves and fishes, with a periodical enlargement of the former and an increase of the catch of the latter. TIIK MAC'KENZIK-MOWAT ALLIANCK. The people of Ontario have just declared in thunder tones that they are not to be imposed upon any longer by the professions of spurious lieformers. They have dis- missed from their confidence the repre- sentatives of a party led nomi- nally by Mr. Mackeuxie, and really by his master Mr. Brown, but to emancipate themselves completely from their baneful influence they must also dismiss Mr. Mackenzie's zeah)us fellow labourers and partisans in Ontario — Mr. Mowat and his colleagues. 'J'he i)eople have pronounced in favour of a policy which the Ontario Ministers have seen fit to oppose most strenuously, and if those Ministers sliould be allowed to re- main in power they will endeav- our insidiously, if not openly, to frustrate the popular will. They were not called U|jon to take part in the discjussion of the Dominion policy. Neither the Gov- ernment nor the Legislature of Ontario can aid in the settlement of the questions which were at issue, but Mr. Mowat chose to ally his Government actively with that of Mr. Mackenzie, and he must expect to share Mr. Mackenzie's fate. The Ministers of )Htario, leaving their duties to be dis- charged by subordinates, spent the summer in the service of the Domii.ion Govern- ment, and they did not hesitate to bring to the aid of the Ministerial candidates all the influences and powers which, as the Govern}nent of Ontario, they wielded. This Wis not only a violation of their duty to the people of this Province, but a viola- tion also of the principles which they pro- fessed in respect to the relations which should exist between the Government of the Dominion and that of each of the Pro- vinces, and which Mr. Blake expounded in a speech delivered in the lifgislature of Ontario on December 22, 1871, when, as Premier, he defined the principles and policy of his political frends. and of the Administration which he had just formed. Mr. Blake is reported to have used the following words {vide Globe 23rd December, 1871) : — "My friends and myself have for thfl past four years com- plained that the late Administration (Sand- field Macdonald's) was formed upon the principle and the understanding that it and the Dominion Government should work together, play into one another's hands, and that they should bo allies. My friei.ds and myself thought, and my Administration now thinks, that such an arrangement is injurious to the well- being of Confederation, calculated to create difficulties which might be otherwise avoided, and that there should exist no other attitude on the part of the Provincial Government towards the (jrovernmcnt of the Dominion Government than one of neutrality — that each Government should be absolutely independent of the other in the management of its own affairs. Wo believe that the Government of the Pro- vince ought not to assume a position of either alliance or hostility towards the Gov- ernment of the Dominion." Mr. Mowat and his colleagues must deeply^ regret that they departed durjng the late general elec- tion from the policy laid down for them by Mr. Blake. THE PREMIER IN OLENGARRY. Mr. Mowat seemed oonscicus at times when itinerating the country that he was doing wrong, and that he had placed him- self in a false position. He exhibited this consciousness notably at a public meet- ing in Glengarry, when he went so far as to deny his official identity. He actually told the people that he was not there as Premier of Ontario. This was un- worthy of Mr. Mowat, but was a very em- phatic condemnation of himself. It was a declaration that the Premier of Ontario ought not to have been there. Mr. Mowat might just as well have said that he '.vas not there as Oliver Mowat as that he was not there as Premier. While he retains the office of First Minister, he cannot lay aside its attributes. When in Glengarry he was the Premier, the people knew he was the Premier, and what is more he went there to actively exercise his influence as Pre- mier on behalf of the Dominion candidates for that countyjand the adjacent constituen- cies. A railway is being built through that part of the country to Ottawa, and is perhaps dependent for its completion upon rfceivfng further aid from the Province of Ontario. Although Mr. Mowat told the people that he was not there as Premier, will he say that he did not listen to repre- sentatijns or applications from the promoters of the railway for addi- tional Provincial aid? Will he say that he did not give any of the electors of Glengarry the impression that their chances of receiving railway aid from his Govern- ment would be greater if the county elect- ed the Mi. isterial candidate, Mr. McNab, than if it e jctcd his opponent, Mr. Mac- lennau ? ^ have no doubt electioneering on behalf of the Mackenzie (government was distasteful to Mr. Mowat, but he performed the task, proving thereby that while he may know what is right he can be persuad- ed to do what is wrong, I hope the his- torical retrospect which I have presented will not be altogether uninteresting to you and to the ^mblic geuorally. I submit that it shows pla nly thai the efl'orts of Sir John Macdonald ; ncl his coadjutors have always been directed to promote union and har- mony among the various races and creeds which compose our population, whilst those of Mr. IJrown and liis followers have been devoted to exciting and fomenting political discord and reliyious intolerance. I leave you to say « hich party has walked in the path of patriotism and unselfishness. I shall now proceed to place before you com- parative statements of the public expendi- ture under the several Administrations which have held power in Ontario since she became a separate Province, in respect to her local affairs. I repeat that the first Provincial Government was formed by Mr. Sandfield Macdonald in July, 1867, and that it ruled until the 21st Dec, 1871. On that day Mr. Blake succeeded to power. His (iovernment, of which Mr. Mackenzie was Treasurer, ruled till the 31st October, 1872, when, in consequence of the pro- visions of the act abolishing dual represen- tation, Messrs. Blake and Mackenzie re- tired from the Government and Legislature of Ontario, and Mr. Mowat was called upon to form a Government. His Administra* tion is still in power. I may remark that the Public Accounts are not kept in such a way as to facilitate comparisons of the de- tails of the expenditure of different years. Items are not classed uniformly, under the same heading, year by year. This has ren- dered the preparation of my statements a work of difficulty and great labour, but I hope that I now present them in a form so plain as to be easily understood even by those who are not familiar with the ssience of accounts. ANNUAL EXPENDITURE. If Mr. Mowat should consider any of my deductions erroneous or unjust he will have the opportunity of endeavouring to refute them during the a2)proaching session of the Legislature, and if he should attempt to do so, I hope he will eschew the example set him by Mr. Mackenzie and his colleagues, and will not indulge in abuse of me, bat will confine himself to the task justifying the acts of his Administration. He may well take warning by the fate of the late Dominion Government. The expenditure of. the Province has increased 260 per cent. 8 I in ten yearH. Thin includes the amount of the " HurpluH distribution" hut deducting the amount distributed among the munici- palities in 1H77, the expenditure of that year amounted to illi.TilO.TOO, exceeding by J9H'2,8.SG, the gross fxponditure of J871. It is remarkable to see how treriously the Departmental expenditure was increased on the aeeesnion of ^le88rs. Blake and Mac- ken/.ie. The salaries and contingencies to- gether bounded up from §108,140 in 1871 to $i:W,l'21 in 187'-', being an inciease of 2^ per cent., and they reached the formidable Bum of ^ir)4,69.'l in 1877. This is not the result the ])eople looked for from the men who professed to bo cjonomists )>ar c.rcrl- lenci'. 'J'hn Departmental expenditure be- ing largely witliin the control of indiviilual Mmistcrs, affords an unerring key to their character — indiv-ating whether tiiey are extravagant or economical. The contingencies arc scattered without sys- tem througli the Public Accounts. In the session of l875-(), Mr. Mowat in- creased the salaries of himself and ;ol- leagues from .$4,000 and §!3,200 respective- ly, the amounts at which the salaries of the Prime \!ini8terof Ontario and his col- leagues were fixed by Mr. Sandtield Mac- donald, to $o,500 and $4,500, respectively, exclusive of the sessional allow^.nce of !S800 each. Mr. Mowat's public emoluments thus amount to §G. 300 a year, and those of each of his colleagues to .^OjSOOa year. It cannot be said that these are not generous rewards, especially to gentlemen who con- tinue to pursue their private avocations, and who showed by their absence from their otlices during last summer, serving as electioneering missionaries, that their official duties are not of an onerous charac- ter Indeed, except during the sessions of the Legislature, ar>d for a short time be- fore, flpent in piepariug for them, 1 imagine the departmental labours of the Ministers of Ontario are light. It is a striking fact that in the Treasury — the De- partment presided over by Mr. Mackenzie — the contingencies for the year he was in office (1872) were more than double what they were the year before. Since then they have been reduced, and for the last four years they have averaged each year about the same sum as they were in 1871, but the salaries have been increased. They have run up from $11,495 in 1871, to $16,900 in 1877 — an increase of almost iiO per cent. In the Crown Lands Department, the con- tingencies ran uj) from $8,454 in 1871, to 123,198 in 1872. and in 1877 they had fallen back to .$11,841 ; but the salaries of the Department have increased from $32,- 563 in 1872, to $40,060 in 1877. This in- crease is probably caused by Mr. Pardee charging permanently as salaries what Mr. Mackenzie had charged as contin- gencies. The contingencies are disbursed in the di&cretion of the Minister at the head of each Department. They may be said to constitute the corruption fund of unscrupulous Ministers, and even when honcHt and conscientious administration is intended, it is well known uidess the con- tingencies are closely watched, t.hat items for corruption and jobbery may creep in. To prevent this, Mr. Sandtield Macdonald, while he was Prime Minister, exhibited them in a schedule by thimselves in the Public Accounts for each yuar. But that useful schedule has been discontinued. I have supplied it. CONTINUKNCIES AND I.ECUSLATIOX. The contingencies are entered in the Public Accounts somewhat capriciously under the various head in -48 of " Miscel- laneous," " Expenses," and "Contingen- cies." If the object were to conceal the gross amount it would be dilHcult to devise a better mode of bookkeeping tlia 1 that which has been adopted. The statement discloses the amazing fact that the dis- cretionary expenditure was 56 per cfnt. more in 1877 than in 1871. iSuch is econ- omy under self-styled Peforai rule. It is difficult to explain the increase in the con- tingencies, except by assuming that favour- ites—supernumeraries have been employed and paid liberal salaries out of them. The enormous contingent expenditure of the Ontario Government is altogether incon- sistent with pure administration. Messrs. Blake and Mackenzie elevated the standard of expenditure if not of political morality in Ontario, and in passing it to their suc- cessors they handed it to those who have continued to elevate it. The Legislative business of Ontario should not increase materially from session to ses- sion, yet the increase of the cost of Legis- lation since 1871 is very considerable. The average annual charge for salaries in the Legislative Assembly during Mr. Sandfield Macdonald's rule was $9, 772, for Mr. Blake's year it was $10,200, and for Mr. Mowat's five years the average annual charge has been $12,*>.'G0. The indemnity paid to mem- bers has become an exceedingly heavy item. It is a misnomer to call it an indem- nity, it has been raised into a comfertable salary, Mr. Sandfield Macdonald fixed it at $450 per session, which was ample to in- demnify gentlemen who had not to go fur- ther from their homes than to Toronto. But in 1873, Mr. Mowat, doubtless desiring to propitiate Reformers, raised the indemnity to $600, and again I presume further to ap- pease them, he raised it in the session of 1875-6 to $800. The Speaker's salary has been raised also from $1,000 to $1,500. The averagft expenditure for sessional writers and pages during Mr. Sandfield Macdonald's 9 four BCHsions was $2,8(59. For Mr. Blaktj'B year,the8iiiiiwa8$5, 107, forMr. Mownt'stivc years the average was iST.OlS, and for laBt year the outlay waa $7,()70. It would he interesting to know tho degrees of consan- gninity and affinity which existed between the sessional Hupcrnunicraries and tluiir patrouH, the I'eform I'nriata who occui»i(!d seats on the th)or of the House. You will see, by referring; to the statement, Iiou the charge for Htationory, priming and binding has been increarned. It is osed of by the Crown, except what is of- ered as free grants. It will thus be seen that the only portion of the Territorial Revenue which may be considered in some measure permanent, is that derived from the forest — for the privilege of cutting timber. The revenue from this source Avas abnormally stimulated by the Governm. it in 1872 and 1873. It has averaged $414,- 211 a year for the last four years, and I fear it is more likely to diminish than to increase. The interest on investments is, of course, revenue, but it is a variable and uncertain item. As the investments are reduced the amount of interept will decline, and under the present Government I fear it would soon disappear alto- gether. The territorial income, although treated as revenue, is really capital, for it is received either for land sold or timber cut down. Tliere is no source from wliich indirect revenue mr,y be onivvn to take the place o? the present Lv^i-ritorial revenue. Indeed by diverting into the Provincial Excliequer a portion of the revenue derived from tavern licenses, which many think properly beloui^'s to the municipalities, Mr. Mowat may be said to have inaugurated direct taxation for Pro- vincial purposes. A .SERIES OF DEFICITS. The prevailing opinion in Ontario ia, I think, that the finances of the country are in a sound and satisfactory condition — that the Revenue exceeds the Expenditure, and that the Province rejoices in an anunal surplus. I regret that it should have de- volved upon me to dispel this agreeable delusion, but the people should be told the truth about their own affairs, even if it should be, and in this case I bel'eve it will be, an appalling revelation. Will it not astound the people to learn that the Ex- penditure has exceeded the Revenue for each of the last four years — that the Pro- vince of Ontario has had four annual de- ficits — each of them larger than the pre- ceding one ? Such is the fact, unfortu- nately, as will be seen by referring to my tables of Expenditure and Receipts (Nos. 1 and 14), the contents of which are taken from the Public Accounts. The result of those years was as follows : — 1874. 1S75. 1876. 1877. 8 S $ 8 Expenditure, 3,871,402 3,604,524 3,14'',(I27 3.117,413 Revenue.... 3,446,348 3,159,495 2,58j,224 2,452,078 Deficit, 1874 $425, 144 Deflcit, 1875 $445, travagant fashion ; millions which had been borrowed expressly to meet these engage- ments alienated to the payment of interest on the public debt and the ordinary expen- diture of the country. Yet knowing of these engagements, and knowing that his Government had tailed to provide for them, Mr. Mackenzie endangered the credit of the country by clinging to oflice after his Administration had ceased to represent the people. If Mr. Mackenzie's Government had not been utterly reckless the Minister of Finance would have gone to England and negotiated a loan early last summer. Had he gone then he would have been in Loudon when the Treaty of Berlin was concluded, when money was abundant and cheap, when capitalists were cheerful and hopeful, and whju the public feeling towards Canada was unusually friendly and warm. A loan at that time could have been offered under the most favourable condi- tions. How changed are all the circum- stances. The rate of interest at the Bank of England in June was 2^ per cent. Now it is 5 per cent. Gloom has taken the place of hope in the public mind. Confi- dence has been rudely shaken by that far- reaching financial catastrophe — the failure of the City of Glasjjow Bank. Credit has been impaired, and it is under these most adverse conditions that the new Minister of Finance is forced to enter the money market of the world to burrow n illions. The late Government has placed the coun- try at great disadvantage — almost at the mercy of money lenders. When the Min- ister of Finance ought to have been in Eng- land, he and the Prime Minister were coursing over the Dominion, picnicing and junketing, viperously slandering their political opponents, falsifying the record of their own administration, and earning for themselves the disfavour and contempt of the intelligent persons who compose the great body of the Canadian people. One of the most culpable acts of mal-ad- ministration of which Mr. Mackenzie's Government was guilty was the imperilling of the public credit, not only by failing to provide at the proper time for the public engagements, but by retaining office for weeks after the defeatof his Ministry, there- by tixcludint; their successors, who alone weie competent to enter into arrange- mmmm 16 ments on behalf of the country. Still their having acted aa they did may not have been an unmitigated evil. In the new Minister of Finance nnd his Colleagues the capitalists of Eiiglaud will find men in whom they may have implicit confidence. They know that Mr. Tilley does not carry a " two-faced shield," and that perfect reliance may be placed in his representa- tions. They will require I'o assurance that no portion of the xnoney which he may borrow will be misapplied and represented by nothing more tangible than deficits. THE NEW LOAN. I observe that Mr. Mackenzie is reported to have addressed a meeting of his parti- zans at Seaforth, in October last, in almost apologetic terms for having re- signed office ; for having surrendered the patronage of the Crown, tha power of dis- pensing rewards among his insatiable fol- lowers — before the meeting of Parliament, and that he took credit to himself for having been governed by constitutional principles worthy of a Disraeli and a Glad- atone. It would be gratifying to the coun- try to believe that, notwithstanding his failure as a Statesman and an Admini- strator, Mr. Mackenzie had resigned so soon as he discovered that the people had withdrawn their confidence from him, and that in doing so had redeemed his own pledges, fulfilled the spirit of the constitu- tion, and followed the precedents set by modern British statesmen. But I apprehend Mr. Mackenzie is not entitled to credit for having beeen moved to resign by constitu- tional considerations. Instead of resigning office the moment the people withdrew tbeir confidence from him, he clung to it with unseemly tenacity. He followed tardily and with apparent reluctance the example of defeated British Prime Minis- ters. ;The truth is, Mr. Mackenzie re- tained office as long as he could do so, and longer than he would have retained it had he been animated by the constitutional principles which he professed, or by a proper regard for the pub- lic interests. Mr. Mackenzie knew that he could not retain office till the usual time of the meeting of Parliament, De- bentures of the Dominion, amounting to between seven and eight millions of dollars, will mature in London on 1st January next, and his (jtovprnment had not provided funds to meet that and other heavy engagements which will also mature in January. Tlie only way in which these can be met is by negotiating a nt w loan, and I need scarcely say that a defeated Government could not negotiate a loan. On the 17th September Mr. Mackenzie's Ministry lost its authority to bind the country to new engagements, and had he sent his Minister of Finance to London, to borrow money, that gentle- man couW not have succeeded. Biitish Capitalists would not have treated with the representative of a Government which had been rejected and deposed by the peo- ple. It will thus be seen that Mr. Mac- kenzie having neglected before the .elec- tions, to provide for the obligations of the Dominion could not do so afterwards, and that unless those obligations were provided for, the credit of the country would be de- stroyed. I think you will agree with me that, under the circumstances, Mr. Mac- kenzie is not called upon to apologize for having made way for those who are alone authorized to act in the name of the people, and you will also think with me that in speaking as he did at Seaforth, he per- mitted it to be understood that he ' vould have retained office could he have done so until Parliament met, regardless of his former pledges, not to say the unconsti- tutionality of such a course. Some of the late Ministers, and notably the late Minister of Finance, have got into the habit of oft- setting the Sinking Fund against the de- ficits, thus representing the Sinking Fund as a cash asset. Nothing could be more erroneous and misleading, and when such unsound views were held in the Finance Department, it is not surprising that deficits were lightly thought of. Under the conditions on which loans have been obtained, the contributions to the Sinking Fund must be annually in- vested and held in trust, and the amount must be voted by Parliament like any other item of expenditure. The fund thus creat- ed goes on accumulating for the purpose of extinguishing, at maturity, the loan for the payment of which it was created. For this purpose, and for this purpose only, it is, or rather it will become an asset. To applj' any portion of it to any other use would be a breach of trust, an act of repu- diation which the present Government will certainly not commit. * * * THE OPPOSITION POLICY. But how is the new Administration treated by the leader or" the Opposition and his newspaper — the Hon. George Brown and the Globe / The individual members of the Government are traduced with char- acteristic virulence, while provincialism, sectionalism and religious intolerance are fomented, and personal self-seeking is en- couraged. In Mr. Brown's opinion, ap- parently, the place of a public man's domicile, and his faith, not his experience, or his reci>giiized abilities as a statesman and an administrator, s-hould constitute his passport into the Cabinet. Mr. Brown's efi'orts as a public man and a journalist have been devoted to inculcating sec- w tionalism and bigotry — sectionalism be- tween Provinces, antipathies between races, intolerance between religious de- nominations. For a time his unpatriotic labours met with too much success ; but under the influence of education, the people now receive the teachings of the GM>e at their true value, as was demonstrated on the 17th September last. But Mr. Brown's rOle is unchanged. He says to Ontario, tauntingly, that all the important portfolios in the new Ministry have been given to the Maritime Provinces. He endeavours to make New Brunswick dissatisfied by telling her that only one of her sons holds a portfolio in the Cabinet, while two of them held portfolios under the Mackenzie Government. Mr. Brown is thus exercising his influence, through the Globe, to prevent the consoli- dation of the Dominion. When the first Government was formed, after Confedera- tion, it was natural that each Province should have had her trusted statesmen in the Cabinet, to guard her interests, but it Js to be hoped the necessity for such caution is passing away and that the time is ap- proaching when no greater number of Min- laters will be appointed than are absolutely required to conduct the public business, and that they shall be chosen on account of their conspicuous fitness, and not because of the Provinces they hail from or the creeds they profess. I hope the time will never come when the people of any portion of the Dominion will have cause to believe that justice, whether administered on the Bench, in the Cabinet, or in the halls of Parliament, has been turned aside either by sectionalism or bigotry. The encouraging of provincialism is unpatriotic and danger- ous. If successful, it will check the con- solidation of our Confederacy, prompt de- mands for local purposes upon the Domin- ion treasurj', which that treasury is ill able to bear, and tend generally to exalt the Provinces at the expense of the Dominion. Yet our spurious Reformers seem unable to outgrow the narrow provincialism, which is inculcated daily in the columns of the Olobe. Among the evidences of its cor- rupting tendency, is the survey three years ago of sites for thirty-four new harbours in the Maritime Provinces at a time when the Dominion Exchequer Avould not permit their construction. FALLEN UKFORMERS. I observe that Mr. Mackenzie and the other members of his late Oovernnient, as ■well as the rank and file of hia party, as- set'erate solemnly when addressing the public that they have always betni consist- ent and conscientious Free Traders ; that their faith in the teachings of Adam !Smith, Cobden and Bright has never wavered ; that they now have the proud conscious- ness of having fallen martyrs to the truth they held so dear, and of having sacrificed place and power and patronage on the altar of lofty principle. If this were true, Mr. I\Iackenzie and his friends would be entitled to public sympa- thy in their fall, and to the respect of all honest men. The people would lament that the conscientious adh<^rence to a prin- ciple which had been found unsuited to this country should have necessitated the dismissal from othce of a baud of unselfish patriots. Unfortunately for Mr. Mackenzie and his late coUeagiies their high-sounding preten- sions are unfounded. The facts are the reverse of what they state. Those who know the gentlemen well would scarcely expect them to make great sacrifices for the sake of principle, but on the National Policy question, so far from sacrificing place to principle, they shamefully sacritlctd principle for the sake of place. Happily for the country their dishonesty failed to secure to them a continuance of power. I am not divulging a secret when I tell you that it was well understood at Ottawa, during the session of 1876, that the Gov- ernment intended to amend the tariff in the direction of a National Policy. Their friends at Montreal, especially among the manufacturers, believed they had reason to expect such an amendment, and therefore gave their support to the Ministerial can- didate in a contest then in progress in that city. In Parliament, well-known semi- official heralds delivered eloquent speeches in behalf of native industry, foreshadowing, it was supposed, an increase of the tariff. The Minister of Finance, it was said, had prepared and was ready to launch his amended tariff, and hoped to receive for it the approval of the people, and especially of those interested in the waning industries of the country. But "the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley." While Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. Cart- wright were framing the measure, some of the members from the Mari- time Provinces were organizing opposition to it, and they informed the Government Avhen on the eve of submitting it to Parlia- ment, that they were l^ree Traders and would oppose an increase of Customs d 11 ties. Here was a grave emergency ! The votes of the dissentients, added to those of the regular Opposition, might de- feat the Government. Then was the time for the exhibition of that exalted and dis- interested principle which Mr. Mackenzie and his late colleagues now say had always animated them. Undoubtedly the Ministry were propos- ing to remodel the tariff in the way in which they believed the public interests de- m manded, and they should have told their Maritime friends that rather than eacriiiuc the public interests, and their own princi- 81es, they would surrender the reins of Government to their opponents. Adher- ence to principle, then, endangered place, and what did Mr. Mackenzie do ? Did he " elevate the standard of public morality" and desire Mr. Cartwright to proceed with his tarifl", to do justice to the country or fall in the attempt ? No ! he abandoned his tariff, and clung to office. The Minis- ter of Finance, instead of remodelling the tariff, had to remodel his Budget Speech from one in favour of Protection to one in favour of Free Trade, and had to excuse — what was inexcusable - his failure to cover the deficit of the year. He had also to extenuate almost a crime — the payment of interest on the public debt, and other current expenditure out of loans — out of money which had been borrowed for other purposes. Mr. Brown, the master- spirit of the so-called Keforn i)arty, must have sanctioned the amendment of the tariff. Indeed its increase was semi- officially foreshadowed in the Glohe of the 25th of February, 1876. No silly articles upon the anti- British character of the Na- tional Policy appeared in the Globe in those days. Mr. Brown must also have sanc- tioned the abandonment of the intended change when it was discovered that it would endanger his authority and the places of his friends. He probably went further, and directed the Government to yield to the gentlemtn from the Maritime Provinces, assuring them that he, through the Glohe, would ring the changes upon the Pacific Railway Scandal, and the other scandals, so efifectively, that the electors would be again deluded into supporting what he would represent as a Reform Administra- tion. Mr. Brown and his friends have dis- covered that the public are not to be duped so easily ; that the people are not content to be made their puppets. FREE TRADE PROTECTIONISTS. I have given you a true narrative of what occurred at Ottawa, in the session of 1876, and I challenge Mr. Mackenzie and his friends to disprove it. They are bold and reckless in assertion, but I do not think even they dare deny what is so widely known, and so susceptible of proof. If they should do so, I shall be glad to meet them before a Committeeof either House of Parliament, when their testimony and that of others can be taken under oath. Mr. Mackenzie, in what has been called his "Exposition of Policy" speech, de- livered at Sarnia on 11th October, 1875, alluding to the fact that he and his col- leagues had increased the duty on imports from fifteen to seventeen and two-thirds per cent (sic), claimed merit for having given practical application to what ia now known as the National Policy. " W? have, therefore," — such was his boast — " given an incidental proteotien to the ex- tent of two and twothiids per cent, more than had ever been imposed oy any previous Administration." While taking credit for increasing the protection to native in- dustries, Mr. Mackenzie still considered himself a free trader, as many advocates of the National Policy still regard themselves. But what he had done he thought " might be a sufficient answer to those who have been accubing me of having it in view to inaugurate a free trade ]»olicy." Not that he would not gladly do so if there were no imperative ai.d all- controlling reasons why he should not ; he would gladly do so, "if the circumstances of the country would perniit, and if the position of our manufacturers would admit of it ;" but as these would not, and as he must as a patriotic Minister subordinate his personal views and dt sirts to the waiits of the country and condition of our manu- facturers, he could not think of giving practical effect to those principles of free trade which theoretically he held so unre- servedly. It nmst be obvious to all intelli- gent men who read Mr. Mackenzie's '" Ex- position of Policy" si)eech,that his opinions upon trade policy were of the elastic order until he was persuaded by his Maritime supporters that he would lose office unless Free Trade was declared to be the policy of his Government. Then, disregaiding the " circumstairces of the country," and the "position of our manufacturers," Mr, Mackenzie declared himself an uncom- promising and life-long JVee Trader : and then an euthusiastic friend of his in tha House of Commons announced that Free Trade must be inscribed ou the banner of the llet'orm party. It must have been gall and wormwood to the late Ministers to have discov- ered, as they did ou the 17th Sep- tember, that they had misjudged public sentiment, and that had tfiey increased the tariff in 1876, their position in +he country would have been strengthened. The bitterness must be increased by the knowledge of the fact which Sir John Macdouald and Dr. Tupper have stated publicly, that the Lii e-al-Ccnservative party had decided to assist the late ( ov- ernmtnt in raising the tariff. Tlie leat'ers of the Liberal-Conservative party d'^ er- niined to do this in the inteie t^ of the country, knowing well at the same time that the carrying of the pn^p ).sfcd nieasure would strengthen their oppo.ieHts at the polls. If the late Goveiiiment iiiid been honest enough to have ]roie