'"' / / ... % • '" Anbcdotal Lire OF Sir Jotin Macdonald. ^ "A BRITISH SUBJECT I WAS BORN; A BRITISH SUBJECT I WILL DIE." r "^ By E. B. BIGGAR. JOHN LOVELL & SON. U. S. BOOK COMPANY. EDWARD STANFORD. 1891. 50 03 2 195896 BIG- Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one, by E. B. Biggar, at the Department of Agriculture. p. S. VAN WAGNER, STONEY CHEtK, ONT. PREFATORY REMARKS. Politically, no man in Canada is better known than Sir John Macdonald ; personally, few Canadians, comparatively speak- ing, know much about him except by the fragmentary anec- dotes that have recently drifted through the newspapers. Of his politics we have h?.d much in the newspapers and in books and magazines, but of the man himself but little has been preserved to us. Having, in common witli many other Canadians, been curious to learn something of Sir John's own history and per- sonality, I began about three years ago to collect anecdotes and observations on him from such of his friends as I might meet at odd moments after business hours. 1 had intended publishing these purely as a book of anecdotes, illustrating the man and his peculiarities, and to issue it while he yet lived* His death having intervened, I thought it well — as there was nothing before the public in the way of a personal biography of him, and many errors were being perpetuated in the exist- ing literature of the subject — to extend the scope of this v;ork by giving a sketch of his life with a brief account of the chief epochs of his public career. I have still kept as closely to the original design of the work as the limited space would allow, for I think the anecdotal style eminently suited to biography. In studying the great characters of history we can learn more of their natures by a single anecdote than by pages of subtle analysis or airy specu- lationv The chief charms of Plutarch's Lives and of the biographical writings of Xenophon and Herodotus consist, to my mind, in the little incidents and anecdotes with which they are interpersed, and which throw so many distinct bea?Tis of light upon the motives and impulses of the characters u ».der review. In this first attempt I have endeavored more to sketch the 4 Prefatory Remarks, lighter phases of his public life, along with his personal pecu- liarities, than to give that complete view of his life-work for which the time is not yet ripe. Therefore if some phases of his remarkable career are looked for in this book and not found, the omissions must not be misunderstood. Such may be supplied at a future time. To the many newspaper editors who have kindly referred to the book, and the many strangers from different parts of Canada who have taken the trouble to give me hints and reminiscences, I express my gratitude. Many of these reminiscences I have not yet been able to use, but hope to on another occasion, and trust meanwhile to hear further from those who have kindly interested themselves. As I have shown errors to exist in the current biography relating to Sir John, I expect errors may be found in mine, but I have been as careful as 1 could be to verify every floating story before making use of it. Such errors and faults as exist may be excused when it is known that although many notes and anecdotes were jotted down long ago, they have all been put together and written out within five weeks. The engraving of Sir John's mother, which now first sees the light, is from an early photograph, and has been reproduced specially for this work by Messrs. Sheldon and Davis. £. S. S. Montreal, 21st July, 1891. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. A British subject he was bom — Causes that led his father to ipiigrate to Canada ;..... 9 CHAPTER II. His infancy — ^The emigration — An early effort in oratory — Narrow escape from shipwreck 13 CHAPTER III. At Kingston — Removal to Hay Bay 17 CHAPTER IV. At school at Adolphustown 23 CHAPTER V. Back to Kingston — Drilled at school 28 CHAPTER VI. From school to law office — In charge of a Picton law office — He comes of age, becomes a barrister, and starts in life 3I [ CHAPTER VII. An episode of the Rebellion — The invasion of Von Schoultz, and John A.'s connection with it — A strange delusion in biography 36 CHAPTER VIII. Life in Kingston — Mr. Mowat comes to his office as a law student — Some youthful tricks — Married to his cousin — She dies after a brief sojourn 43 CHAPTER IX. He " runs for councillor ** — An alderman's antics — He saved the eyes of the Argus , ,,,,,, 51 CHAPTER X. John A. is elected to Parliament — His first address to the electors, and his first acts in Parliament 55 6 Table of Contents, CHAPTER XI. His maiden term — Some of his first political observations — He becomes Receiver-General — There are prophecies about him » 6i CHAPTER XH. A foeman worthy of his steel — George Brown appears on the stage , . 67 CHAPTER XHI. Sir Allan McNab drops off the stage — Enter John A. — The Ministry of a day 73. CHAPTER XIV. John A.'s father and mother — Something of his sisters — Death of the good old lady 80 CHAPTER XV. Confederation — Its preparation and accomplishment — ^John A. be- comes Sir John 85 CHAPTER XVI. Cementing and extending the union — The eclipse, and the sunshine that followed it 93. CHAPTER XVII. Sir John's second marriage — Lady Macdonald 99 CHAPTER XVIII. Political anecdotes and reminiscences i lo- CHAPTER XIX. Political anecdotes and reminiscences, continued — The Mackenzie regime 120 CHAPTER XX. Political anecdotes and reminiscences, continued — Sir John at the helm again 136 CHAPTER XXI. The celebrated " all-night debate " — Reminiscences of the great cam- paign 165 CHAPTER XXII. Words of wisdom and patriotism — Sir John's serious sayings 175 Tabic of Contents. 7 i • CHATTER XXIII. Miscellaneous anecdotes and reminiscences . , 1 87 ^ CHAPTER XXIV. A multitude of personal friends — Two humble devotees 235 CHAPTER XXV. Some coincidences in Sir John's life 345 CHAPTER XXVI. Personal traits, habtts and tastes 249 CHAPTER XXVII. I His religious temper and sentiments 264 ) CHAPTER XXVIII. i The last campaign 272 CHAPTER XXIX. Last illness, death and burial 278 APPENDIX. Premiers compared — The episode of the rebellion — Sir John's ancestors — His last will — A personal letter — Origin of " Old To-morrow " — Senator Boyd's reminiscences — 'A sermon , 294 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Sir John Macdonald, from a photograph in 1876 Frontispiece. PAGE Hugh Macdonald's first store in Canada 18 The Macdonald Homestead at Adolphustown 20 Old U.E. Loyalist Methodist Church 23 Sir John's mother facing 81 John A., from an oil painting, 1856 91 Sir John, from a photograph, 1877 91 Sir John, from a photc^raph, 1885 97 Lady Macdonald ico AN ANECDOTAL LIFE OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD CHAPTER I. *♦ A land of climate fair and fertile soil, Teeming with milk and wme and waving corn, Invites from far the venturous Briton's toil. — Thomas Pringlc. A BRITISH SUBJECT HE WAS BORN — CAUSES THAT LED HIS FATHER TO EMIGRATE TO CANADA. Sir John Macdonald was born in Scotland, his father, Hugh Macdonald, being a native of Sutherlan4shire in the High- lands. He belonged, of course, to the Clan Macdonald, and his forefathers for generations past were people who, living on a poor soil and in a rugged and mountainous country, made war and hunting — not agriculture or commerce — the business of their lives,. From these hardy clans* came regiments and recruits that made the army of Britain feared throughout the world, and such soldiers as George Washington gave testimony * It has been said that Sir John Macdonald 's own ancestors were cele- brated soldiers : one of his uncles was a comet in the battle of Culloden, fighting on the Jacobite side, but beyond this I have not heard that his forefathers won special renown. B 10 ' ; V -^^ All Anecdotal Life of to the exceptional valor of these Highlanders when he in- structed his officers to face an onset of the Scottish regiments with special care. But in spite of the decimating effects of war, there were frequent periods when the population of this rugged region became congested, and to avoid starvation at home had to " swarm " into the Lowlands or across the ocean to the colonies. The stories of fertile lands and wide domains, brought home by the soldiers returning from distant countries^ moved such of the Highlanders as had agricultural or com- mercial instincts to seek relief in new lands from the pressure of poverty ever present at home. As time went on, the gradual breaking uj) of the old customs of the Highland clans,, combined with the attractions of the lands they had seen, forced even the soldiers to quit their accustomed life, and carry on a nobler warfare with the forces of nature in some new land. And so it was that years before the America Re- volution (1733-40), the spectacle was seenof a whole Scoi ish regiment leaving their T jrihern home to settle on the sunny coasts of Georgia ; and when, after the Revolution, the spirit of loyalty stemmed the tide of Scottish migration from flowing to the United States, the eyes of the Highlanders were turned to the northern part of the continent, and immigrants began to pour into Nova Sc9tia, Prince Edward Island, and westward into the lake and river region then known as Canada. This movement continued till after the time of the emigration of Sir John Macdonald's fr.ther ; and though at times it grew to such proportions as to cause much concern at home, yet the early and fruitful marriages of the Highlanders and the division of the land into small holdi^ 5s, as pastoral and agricultural pursuits followed the national change of life, soon filled up the voids left by the swarming, till in recent years such migrations ceased to excite alarm. The Highland migrations find a par- allel in the movement of French Canadians from Quebec to the New England ahd other American States. A duke of Sutherland, in his efforts to further win or force Sir John Macdonalcl, 11 the clansmen to break off from their more savage mode of life, and become farmers or shepherds, evicted them from their dwellings, giving them the option of taking up at a nominal rental tenancies in districts more suited to farming or sheep- raising. Sir John Macdonald's father, along with the father of John Munro, of Kincardine, Cnt., was among those evicted tenants. Hugh Macdonald and the elder Munro* lived at Lairg, which was then merely a hamlet, consisting of an inn, a smithy, a mill of a primitive description for grinding meal, the parish school, and a little church which stood on a hiii a short distance west of the hamlet. Mr. Munro was first evicted, and moved to Culrain in Ross-shire, and his near neighbor, Hugh Micdonald, suffered next, for these "Sutherland clear- ances," as they were called, were naturally looked upon as cruel oppression. Mr. Macdonald, it appears, went to the parish of Dornoch, whither the minister of Lairg, the Rev. J. Kennedy — who is said to have baptized the child who was destined to become the Prime Minister of Canada — had also gone. Not finding a ship at Bonar Bridge, whence he ex- * The following are extracts from a letter received from Mr. Munro in reply to inquiries concerning his connection with Sir John : — '* Regarding the birth-place of Rt. Hon. Sir J. A. Macdonald, viz., Lairg, Sutherland- shire, Scotland, I always take pleasure in relating the fact that I myself was born within a mile of so eminent a personage. Although a few years his senior, our childhood happened in very troublous times, during the notorious Sutherland evictions, our fathers being victims of that cruel op- pression. My father's turn coming first, he moved to the farm of Culr.uni in Ross-shire, and I remember well his travelling to Bonar liringe to meet his old friend and neighbor Hugh Macdonald and others who were leaving for America. John A. was then about five or six years old [?] Our native place, Lairg, was neither a town nor village at that time, merely a Highland hamlet, consisting of an inn, a smithy, a meal mill of a very primitive kind, the parish school, and the church on a rising ground a few .acres west of the place. he pastor was the Rev. J. Kennedy, afterward transferred to Dornoch. I believe it was he who baptized both of us, so I have been told. My first introduction to Sir John Macdonald in Canada was in December, 12 An Anecdotal Life of pected to sail, Mr. Macdonald drifted with many others down to Glasgow, and engaged in business as a cotton broker, deal- ing in cotton purchased from the Southern States. Inex- perience in this line soon broug'^t about a failure, but the creditors were so well satisfied of his honesty (and it must be remembered that business failure at that period was a far more serious business for the debtor than it is now) that they pre- sented him with a libraiy of books, nearly all of which are in Sir John's family to this day. Hearing that he was about to try his fortune in Canada^ whither many of the people of Sutherlandshire, including some of his old friends and neigh- bors, had preceded him, the creditors aliio gave him letters of commendation to certain merchants at Montreal. It was while they lived in one of a ro\v of stone tenement houses near the ferry landing, just across from Glasgow, on the Clyde, that John Alexander Macdonald vvas born. His father was then thirty-three years and his mother thirty-seven. 1859, in Quebec city. He was then Attorney-General of Canada. We had an interesting conversation regarding our native land and birthplace. I next met him some years later in Prince Edward Island, where he spent a summer away from public business for the benefit of his health. He at once recognized me, our meeting being under rather peculiar circum- stances. I experienced the utmost kindness and attention from himself and his excellent wife, Lady Macdonald. " Whoever penned the paragraph you refer to must be very ignorant of the masonic tie existing between Sir John and myself. The first I knew of his being a member of the ancient order was on his return from a tour to Europe, when he was invested with authority to represent the Grand L(^dge of E^ngland in Canada ; the Dalhousie Lodge of Ottawa (of which I was, and still have the honor of being, a life member) was at that time under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of England. Soon Sir John was elected honorary or life member of Dalhousie Lodge. " On my visit to my native place in 1856, not a vestige of the residences of our forefathers was to be seen, Lairg being now a populous village or town.'' Sir John Macdonald. 13 CHAPTER II. Our native land, our native vale A long, a last adieu ! Farewell to bonny Cheviot dale And Cheviot's mountain? blue ! " — Pringle. HIS INFANCY — THE 'EMIGRATION — AN EARLY EFFORT IN ORATORY — NARROW ESCAPE FROM SHIPWRECK, Of his infancy there is little that can be gathered at the pre- sent moment worthy cf note. He had a brother William born some years before, and about a year or more before John Alexander came into the world, a little sister, Margaret, was born. The last named was destined to become the wife of Prof. Williamson, of Queen's University, Kingston. Later, another brother and sister were born ; but this brother, a beautiful little child, died also, at the a^e of six, shortly after the emigration to Canada, and little Johnny was left to be his mother's only boy. He was noted for having a bright eye, a lively manner, and a head of curly brown hair, which darkened into black as he grew uj). His political, or at least his speech- making, career began in Glasgow, at the early age of four. One day while some relatives with their children were visiting the house, the little ones were locked up in a room to make a day of it. Among the performances of the day was a maiden speech by Johnny, which certainly made a sensation, but in an unexpected way. The child mounted a table, and began to make a speech. What he lacked in language he made up in vehemence of gesticulation ; but in the midst of th;: perora- tion he was performing with his arms and legs, a noise was heard outside, and in the alarm he whirled himself off the table, and struck his forehead upon a chair. The incident " brought down the house" in considerable alarm, and Johnny was 14 ■ An Anecdotal Life of found to have received a severe cut, a slight scar from which he bore to his dying da-. One of the witnesses to this per- formance was a little cousin, who being o::ly ten years his senior was soon to be intimately associated with him, and was to carrv him in her arms about the deck of the vessel that brought him to Canada.* Moved by reports of the success of friends and fellow- countrymen in Canada, and disappointed in his career at home, the lad's father decided at length in 1820 to emigrate to the great Western continent, 'vhere he would h-'ve oppor- tunities of bec:)ming a successful merchant or a land-owner on a scale he could never dream of at home, and still live under the British flag. So at lengtii, about the first week in April, 1820, Hugh Macdonald with his wife and family, in- cluding his old mother, then seventy-five years of age, and some of his wife's relatives, gathered their " belongings " to- gether and boarded the ship the " Earl of Buckinghamshire." We had almost said the good ship — she had been good when she sailed to tie East Indies, but now she was utterly unsea- worthy ; and the following year, while bringing out to Canada a cargo of 600 immigrants, she went down with all on board, and was never heard of more. The present voyage she was to complete safely — though not without accident ; and never did this old East Indiaman bring to the marts of England in all her sailings freight like that she took up the Gulf of Si. Lawrence on this voyage, for among her passengers was a child who was to be in one sense the builder of a nation, — a people whose full stature no man yet may outline. These poor but strong- minded and strong-limbed immigrants probably little con- ceived then how deeply they were to impress their national characteristics upon the young Canadian nation. The better class of Highland Scotchmen having set the example of * The cousin referred to is Mrs. John MacPherson, an estimable lady, who is still living in Canada, at the good old age of eighty-six. Sir John Macdonald. 15 emigration in lime past, it was followed in these years by the poorest who could get away, and various means were adopted to help each other off. One plan was to start a subscription paper in a district, and collect money enourh to send out a quota of friends, who might afterwards from their new home assist those left behind. Instead of going to the populous lowland parts, — where at times, owing to the state of public opinion, there were difficulties thrown in their way, — they would engage a vessel which would be quietly brought into the solitary bays or arms of the sea that here presented their waters almost everywhere close to the doors of the cottages, and, having taken the passengers aboard, sail quietly away. Having arrived on the other side of the ocean, as quietly and unobserved did they land their invaluable freight, *' spreading broadcast the seed of a noble race over immense and fruitful lands."* In some cases men contributed part of their wages or income, till a fund was gathered to send a party out, and when enough was thus raised, they would " draw cuts " cr cast lots as to which of the number should go. Of such were many of the 300 on board the ''Earl of Buckingnamshire." And so, while Thomas Pringle and his party were making an equally memorable voyage to found their Scotch settlements in the Cape Colony, these hardy Highlanders were sailing to Canada, some of them to leave an enduring name upon the pages of her history. Indeed, the pure-minded poet of South Africa had already friends in Canada, and more were perhaps on this very ship, for it is to these he refers in his elegy written after- wards on a tombstone at Dryburgh Abbey : — Over many lands his venturous race Are scattered widely ; some are in the grave ; Some still survive in Britain ; Ocean's wave Hath wafted many to far Western woods * Duke of Argyle's " Scotland as it was and as it is." 16 An Anecdotal Life of Laved by Ohio's and Ontario's floods. Another band beneath the Southern skies Have built their homes where Kafir mountains rise, And taught wild Mancazana's willowy vale The simple strains of Scottish Cheviot dale. About the middle of May, the " Earl of Buckinghamshire " was sailing up the Gulf ot St. Lawrence, when a boat was sighted, the master of which proved to ht a French Canadian, who came on board and announced himself as a pilot. The ship was given into his hands ; but at night, while the passe; gers, after a pleasant day of viev/ing the grand mountains of the North shore, were dancing away the time on deck, the pilot ran the vessel aground on a sandbank. The passengers were in terror, but little Johnny Macdonald slept peacefully in the cabin be- low. Here the old ship lay, pounded by the waves for hours, several vessels passing the while and taking no notice of the signa?ls, till at last a brig from Dublin came along and helped her off the sandbank. At length, without further accident, on the 20th of May they landed at Quebec. Sir John Macdonakl. 17 CHAPTER III. And surgy plains of wheat, and ancient v/cods, Acres of moss and long dark strips of firs, And sweet cots, droptin green, where children played. — Alexander Smith, AT KINGSTON — REMOVAL TO HAY BAY. The immigrants made their way from Quebec to Montreal and from Montreal to Kingston. In those days no grand steamers and no fast trains could carry them West, but they had to make their slow and toilsome way by means of battcaux, or Durham boats, which in some places in the river could be sailed or rowed, and in other places pulled through the swifter currents by oxen, while at some points tedious portages had to be made by land to get over the rapids. It took them three weeks to* reach Kingston from Montreal. Arrived in Kingston, Hugh Macdonald and his family determined to settle there, and ventured to open a store in ih^ building now occupied by the Dominion Express Co. This building, which is shown in the enjjraving, served both as a store and dwelling, and must have been a large establishment for those days. It was somewhat altered in after years, and the sprawling sign was a conception of the later advertising days. For a time, while in Kingston, the family of McArthurs fstill living near Kingston), who had come out with them from Scotland, dwelt with them in the same house. The store was a "general store," that is, it contained a little of all kinds of goods, and the stock was purchased in Montreal, from the merchants to whom he had been recommended. Five years passed away here, and the boy johnny began to eceive the first elements of his education. He went to school or a while to a Scotchman name J Pringle, who used to say 18 An Anecdotal Life of m .•..•^•M'li'f' .,K';iii:'i''!i"i; ji iiiSilii-""'"-::"" ■■ , I ' ■ .-''.■- ■• ' 'MM li 11 •■.'=•■• '•■■■■'■'•mi ii, III -.£ -■ -• ' ' (:':':i Store first occupied By Hugh Macdonald in Kin(Aton. that " Johnny Macdonald had a heid on him like a men ! " One of his schoolmates here was Mrs. Thomas Wilson, still living in Kingston, who claims that he was her first love. She was, however, some years his senior. The chief epochs in the family history of these days was the death of the child's grand- mother and of his little brother James. About 1825, Hugh Macdonald gave up his business in Kingston and moved up the Bay of Quinte, to a point about 25 or 30 miles west of Kingston. The scenery of the Bay of Quinte is charming to the eye of a stranger. The long stretch of water which cuts off Prince Edward county from the main- land, and makes it almost an island, is free from the wild storms which beat upon the outer shores of the county ; and the stranger sailing up these pleasant waters sees peace and love- liness on every hand. An ever- varying panorama is presented to the eye : here a quiet bay, there a rocky bluff, again a reedy Sir John Macdonald. 19 biyou, beyond a shelving shore, and anon an opening where a reach of water, long and winding, finds its way for miles and miles, making i)eninsula after peninsula of always varying size and aspect. At the present day these sylvan scenes are dotted with farm houses ; and in summer the yellow grain fields, richly laden apple orchards, fields of clover or of buckwheat, whose creamy bloom exhales an odor more delightful than " all the perfumes of Arabia," checker the landscape over, but at that time the shores, the distant hills, the rolling uplands and breezy heights were alike clad with dense groves of maple, oak, hickory, ash and other kinds of Canadian forest trees. At the root, as it were, of one of these many tongues of land formed by the arms of the Bay of Quinte, was one of the settlements of United Empire Loyalists — those people who, in the American Revolution, " sacrificed their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor " to maintain as a united empire Great Britain and her colonies. These settlers had been attracted by the beauty of the scenery and the rich soil, and, at the time we speak of, had in this ])articular neighborhood two small settlements, one around the village of Adolphustown, and the other along Hay Bay on the other side of this tongue of land. It was at Hay Bay that the Macdonald family fixed their abode. It stood by the side of the high road, about eighty feet from the water. The shore curved in gracefully from a far point of land down towards the house, and the clear waters, whether ruffled by the transient breeze, or in the calm of evening reflecting the distant hills across the bay, must have been a delight and an inspiration to the lad whose for- tunes we are following. The writer visited the spot in the summer of 1890. The waters of the bay, whether from the sinking of the ground or the rising of the water level, had encroached to within forty feet of the old homestead, while down on the farther side of this little bay, two dwellings that formed part of the homestead of Judge Fisher, their nearest neighbor, were now entirely 20 An Anecdotal Life of submerged. A pleasant breeze was sending up to the shore little wavelets that chuckled gleefully under the logs and limbs of fallen trees that lay along the water's edge. From one of these logs a solitary mud-turtle dropped off at our approach, and pushed his way through the reeds. Lady Macdonald, looking on the same scene a few years before, and noticing the same turtle, or its companion, sitting on the same log, made this quaint exclamation : — "'{'here! There is the very old turtle my husband used to shy stones at when he was a boy." ' vfs'sm *^bm.[* 1* .! .ju.i^.»..-jsa..':»» • ft v^- - : f.^r- - : :.^i::::\. i;. i tl^-ij ■ r::: ..:-•■■ ..hi!;;"'. •.}»■..• ■.!•■■«• : -Kii-^ •njiHi.-.-. ":.i- .: • •i!-:;:!!?:.:;.;:. ;.r;.;-,.; i rite' a^M s^**S r-.v-. ._--_'iP«€ 3fea A i/Tfe- ^ -'im^- - ■" jiLim.,^x F. ' iiir' iiiii The Macuonalu Homestead at Auolphustown. Sir John Macdonald, 21 But where is the old homestead ? It is gone. Its dwellings down, its tenants passed away. A crop of peas was ripening in the field which had enclosed the house. No trace of // was to be seen, till, going to an uneven spot of ground, the remains of the old foundation were to be made out, quite overgrown with pea-vines, weeds and grass. Here were the remains of the old cellar kitchen, that opened out towards the bay, and which was still but partially filled up with deposits of leaves and the washings of years of rains. A red willow had grown up in the middle of the cellar. It was a clapboarded wooden house, painted red, with a wooden shingled roof, the west half of the place being used as a store and the east as a dwelling. The dimensions of the whole were 30 x 36 ft. Though the ho..oe was long since burned to the ground, a very accurate reconstruction of it in print, reproduced here, was made by Mr. Canniff Haight for his bjok, " Country Life in Canada Fifty Years Ago," Mr. Haight having often seen it before it had fallen. It was not built for the Macdonalds, but had been occupied by a man named Dettler. A bumble-bee droVied over the catnip that grew along the tumbled stones of the foundation, and its dreamy noise and the clucking of the waters lulled the mind into a reflective mood, and set one to dreaming over the wonderful career and the complex changes that were wrought out in the life of the boy who played about this ruined wall and paddled in this limpid water hard by. These reflections were disturbed by a *' caw caw " from one of the poplar trees that still skirted Ihe shore, and looking up we beheld a crow gazing down in serious reflection on the scene. Ah I Grip ! You here now, and were you here then ? You, whose life must have spanned over the century, did you croak or prophesy at the home-coming of the school-boy who was to sway the destinies 22 An Anecdotal Life of of Canada ? And is this shattered tenement a type of the end of all human glory ? This much, old Grip, is certain : Within a year the genius that took thy name was never more to excite the mirth of thousands with new variations of those playful sketches of the living face thai looked up into his mother's, sitting before this kitchen door ! Sir John Macdonald. 23 CHAPTER IV. — And dear the school-boy spot We ne'er forget, though there we are forgot. — By ton. AT SCHOOL AT ADOLPHUSTOWN. The year? at Adolphustovvn were chiefly spent at school, Johnny for a portion of the time being sent back to Kingston. The wiry laJ, with his sisters, Margaret and Louise, walked night and moining from Hay Bay to the school at Adolphus- town, a distance of three miles The school house was a little wooden structure, built by th*^ original settlers, the TllE OLD U. E. 1.0-KAL1ST ChIRCH ATTENDED LY THE MaCDONALD FAMILY. 24 . An Aftecdotal Life of U. E. Loyalists. Though the only one in the township, it was but sixteen feet long or thereabouts, with two windows on each side, filled with seven by eight inch window panes. The old school is now used as a granary, and near to it there still stands the oak tree — now grown to a patriarchal size — upon whose limb the boy used to swing with his sisters and their companions. There was but one board desk in the school house, and that ran round three sides of the room. The teacher's desk was at the vacant end, and a pail of water in the corner was about tlie only other piece of furniture in this temple of learning which was presided over by a crabbed old Scotchman known as Old Hughes. Hughes had an adroit method of taking a boy by the collar and giving him a lift off his feet and a whack at the same time. The skill and celerity with which he did this was very interesting to all the boys, except the subject of the operation, and Johnny must often have enjoyed the ex- hibition, though he had no love for the chief performer, upon whom he played more than one sly trick. His school mates of this early day describe Johnny Macdonald as thin and spindly and pale, and his long and lumpy nose gav^ him such a peculiar appearance, that some of the girls called him " ugly John Macdonald." One of them says he did not show any marked cleverness till later on, when he had got into the study of mathematics. He was not fond of athletics, or of hunting, or sport, although he was very nimble and was a fleet runner. He delighted, like most boys in the country, to run barefoot in summer, and often referred in after years, in his speeches, to this boyish pleasure. He was a good dancer, however, and was rather fond of the diversion. He also learned to skate in these days, and a school-mate, Mr. John J. Watson (of whom Sir John never in after years spoke without giving him the school boy title of" John Joe "), relates that one day, while a group of the boys were skating, he tripped up Johnny, who was a poor skater. Sir John Maclonald, 25 " What did you do that for ?" demanded Johnny, as he scrambled to his feet. " Because I couldn't help it, when I saw such drumsticks as yours on . e." Johnny made a dash after John Joe, but John Jos was a fleet skater, and sailed easi y to a safe distance. *' I'll visit you for this," exclaimed Johnny, pointing the finger of vengeance at John Joe, and ''. vas exnected that John Joe would suffer for it afterwards. He did not, though for a time afterwards Johnny seem id to lose respect for him.. As a boy, John Macdonald was considered by many to be of a vindictive disposition and possessed of a violent temper. He certainly was a passionate boy, but if he ever possessed any vindiciiveness, he must e.irly have seen its danger, and learned to control both it and his temper. His after career shows that in his dealings with his fellows his self-control increased with his years. Things that were put down by companions to vindictiveness might have had no worse a motive than the boy's inherent love of fun and mischief. On one occasion, wiien they lived at Hay Bay, his sister Louise, and her companion, *' Getty " Allen, got into the boat, but forgot their oars, when Johnny, seeing the situation, shoved them out into the bay. The two girls screamed and scolded by turns, while Johnny laughed. His mother canii divvn, and with half-concealed enjoyment of the scene ex- claimed: — " ^^ou wicked boy, what did you do that for ? Suppose tliey upset ? " ** Then I would go aid pull them in," and he waited for time and the evening breeze to waft them back to shore. The family were apparently in good circumstances nt this time, and were considered rather superior to their neighbors around. They were usually friendly and hospitable, but did not associate intimately with their neighbors, except in the ca ht of Judje Fisher's family. Margaret and Louis 2 were both 26 An Anecdotal Life of fond of music, and they had the only piano in this settlement. It had a small key-board, and legs almost as thin as the legs of a table, like the instruments of that time, and had a thin tone as well as thin legs. However, the music had sufficient clurm to draw young visitors from many pans of the settle- ment to hear it. 'J'he sisters, besides being able to play, sang very well together, in part songs, the one taking soprano and the other alto. Before the family returned to reside in Kingston, they lived for a year or two at a place then known as the Stone Mills — now called Glenora — just below one of the natural curiosities of the place, the *' Lake on the Mouniain." Here Mr. Mac- donald leased a grist and carding mill, the running of which was only an indifferent success. The old stone mill still exists, and its situation on the side of the steep bluff is still as charming and almost as wild as then. Game must have been plentiful at that time, but our hero delighted in neither hunting nor fishing, and the only hunting rtory handed down in this connection is one to the effect that the Van Black boys, returning from a hunt, saw John coming up the road. They had shot a crow, and in order to have some fun, they braced this crow up on a stump in the adjoining field, and lingered around till their young friend came up. One of them casually called attention to the crow, when Johnny begged the gun t' to have a whack at it." He fired, but the crow never as much as turned his head, and it was only the laughter that followed the second shot that led the young marksman to suspect a joke had been played on him. William Canniff, of Toronto, gives a reminiscence* of iheir life at the Stone Mills. Young Macdonald was always full of fun, and delighted to play tricks upon his playmates. On one occasion he aroused the displeasure of one of his ccmpanionj-. The aggrieved bey, who was l-rger than he *Aingston llhig. Sir John Macdonald, 27 caught Johnny in the flour mill, and having laid him prostrate, proceeded to rub flour into the jet locks of his hair until it was quite white. When released the victim went scampering down the hill, laughing, and apparently appreciating the joke as mach as the perpetrator. 28 An Anecdotal Life of CHAPTER V. Yet he was kind, or if severe in aught, The love he bore to Learning was in fault. — Goldsmith. BACK TO KINGSTON — DRILLED AT SCHOOL. Hugh Macdonald had early decided that his son should be educated for a lawyer, as he foresaw that, when the country grew and became more thickly settled, there would be a great demand tor professional men, who would be well paid. He also saw that the child had a natural aptitude for such a pro- fession, and both he and Mrs. Macdonald appear to have had an abiding faith that their son would become a distinguished man. Old Mr. Welsh, a resident near Picton, remembers passing the Stone Mills, and the day being warm, he was invited in by Mr. Macdonald to have a drink. As they sat . chatting, little John A. flitted through the room, when the old m«n, following the boy with his finger, said : " There goes the star of Canada." On another occasion his father was told of some of the lad's wild ])ranks, and the narrative was supplemented with a hint that these tricks would piobably lead him to some bad end. The father shook his head in dissent, and said, '• Nae, nae, ye'll hear something fom Johnny yet." On more than one occasion his mother, speaking of his rapid advance in his studies, said : — "■ Mark my words, John will make more than the ordinary man." One of his schoolmates who went to school with him at the " Maxwell Academy," so called before the family moved to Hay Bay, often rematked that whenever the boy got into trouble he was always able to present his case in such a light Sir John Macdonald. 29 thit he invariably escaped punishment, and more than onci the teichir, after these clever special pleadings, would remark, on letting him off, "You'll make a better lawyer than a clergy- man." T\\f. father's opinion was therefore not a msre parent's prejudice. It was decided after die co'isultation to seid iiim to Or. Wilson's Royal Grammir School in Kingston, putting him to boar] with one of his relatives. This steM was take i after some hesitation on the part of the tender-hearted mother, who was not merely loth to have her son away from home, but had heard how^strict and exicting the master was, and how hard the boy, already too studious, would be apt to wor'.c. How- ever, this school had a great reputation, and to it John was sent. The boy's great talents were now unfolding, and it vvas not long before he became noted for his progress, especially in mathematics. Dr. Wilson died, and Mr. Baxter succeeded to the rectorship. Old Baxter, with all his sternness, could not co'.iceal his pride in this pupil ; and when examination time came, and classes were required to show off to the best advantage, John Macdonald was nearly always called on to go to the blackboard and demonstrate the propositions. " Mr. Baxter frequently exhibited the clean kept books of young Macdonald to some careless student for emulation, and as often selected specimens of the neat penmanship of the boy to put to shame some of the slovenly writers of the class."* John used to come home for his holidays to Hay Bay or the Stone Mills, and sometimes brought one of his city chums out with him, when the neighbor boys and girls would be invite J in for a dance. One day, som2 time before an examination was to be held in Kingston, and when nobody was expecting him, John sheep- ishly presented himsjlf at tha door of his mother's house in Collin's Life of Sir John A. Macdonald. 30 An Anecdotal Life of Hay Bay. All astonishment, his father and mother inquired the cause of his home coming before the term was up or the examinations held. John was non-committal, and explained nothing ; but his parents did not press him for an explana- tion, nor did they compel him to go back. He had of late studied very hard, and his mother more than once had reason to fear his health would be injured by over study. She at least was satisfied that whatever trouble had happened, he would be none the worse for a rest from his studies. To their surprise, three or four days afterwards, a stranger presented himself at the door of the store, and it could not have sur- prised the good mother more if Dr. Busby had returned to life and become incarnated before her, when Mr. Baxter himself was announced. But the wonted sternness of Mr. Baxter's countenance was now relaxed, and after a few words of mildly expressed surprise at the disappearance of the boy, he confessed that the approaching examinations would never go off to his satisfaction unless John were there. He begged therefore that they would send him down at once, and no questions would be asked and no comments made on the truancy What the immediate cause of the runaway was, did not transpire, but the boy, with his shrewd insight into character and motive, had read that Baxter was depending upon him for the eclat of the examination, and probably thought on occasion he would show tHe old gentleman his value and influence. Or it may have been that he disliked being made a show of, for he shrank from being paraded as a clever toy, and never strove for any of the prizes that were given. Sir John Macdonald. ' 31 CHAPTER VI. Ah ! happy years ! Once more who would not be a boy ? — Byron, FROM SCHOOL TO LAW OFFICE — IN CHARGE OK A PICTON LAW OFFICE — HE COMES OF AGE, BECOMES A BARRISTER, AND STARTS IN LIFE. About the year 1833 the Macdonald family moved back to Kingston. Whether the circumstances of his family at the time would not warrant his sending the lad to college, or whether he saw that his son could qualify himself without, Hugh Macdonald took him from school, and articled him as a student to George MacKenzie, a prominent barrister of the city. Here he studied diligently, and though fond of fun after hours, was a steady and persevering worker in the office, and Mr. MacKenzie spoke of him as the most diligent student he ever had. Here he remained till 1836, when he was called to the Bar of Upper Canada, at Toronto, at the Hi'iry term, thus becoming a barrister in his twenty-first year. During the period of his studentship, circumstances favored him in a way to give him an early acquaintance with practical business and in dealing with men of the world. His cousin, Luther MacPherson, who had started in business as a lawyer in Picton, became sick, and was advised to go to the West Indies. Young John A. was asked to come and take th^ bu^ness in his absence, and he accepted. His first actual practice was, therefore, here, but the building in which the office was situated has since been burnt down. His first case was one in which his client sued the magistrate on some trifling ground, and he often afterwards told with great gusto of the magistrate's indignation at being thus bearded in his den, and the amusement the suit gave rise to. •32 An Anecdotal Life of His love of fun here broke loose in many wild pranks with the boys at night, including the usual horse play of shifting people's signs, etc. One of the characters of the place was a burly nnd jolly-faced hotelkeeper named Bob Hopkins, who was very fond of Hist horses, and never drove through the vil- lage but at a breakneck pace, which attracted everybody's attention. While Bob was down the village one night, John A. and the boys conceived the idea of checking his mad career homeward by building a rail fence across the road. This being done, the boys, like Brer Fox in the story of the tar baby, lay off in the grass, " to see what de news was gwine to be." And they did not have to wait long till the buggy of Bob Hopkins was heard rattling up the street. Along came the horse at his usual impetuous pace, and dashed full tilt against iliv fence. There was a distant roar of laughter and a stampede, but that poor horse came out of the encounter maimed, the buggy was smashed, and Bob arose from the •wreck a most astonished but, happily, uninjured man. The magistrate, a sort of Justice Shallow, heard of the case the next day, and felt that something must be done. Somebody must be punished, and so he caused the arrest, on suspicion, of a man who w^as not one of the party at all, and had not even heard of the afliiir. But there were some unexplained circumstances about his whereabouts on that evening, and the poor fellow was actually on the point of being convicted, when young Macdonald's sense of justice compelled him to go to the magistrate and confess that he was the ringleader, and that the accused was perfectly innocent. How the perpe- trator managed t,o*put the case so as to escape arrest himself is not known ; but he afterwards, in telling the story, said the incident im^pressed him strongly with the doubtfulness of cir- cumstantial evidence. A fiiend who knew him well here gives this reminiscence of his Picton life : " When he was reading law in Picton, he used to get into some funny scrapes, but always had friends to help Sir John Macdonald. 33 him through. 'Hiere was a certain Dr. here, who was a strong Reformer at that time, and as the Orangemen were mostly Conservatives, this doctor did not like them, I sup- l)ose more on that account than from being Orangemer. One 'I'welfth of July they walked in Picton, and the doctor came rushing up town, saying : ' What a shame it is for those ruffians to come in to destrry the peace of the town. There will be bloodshed.' John A., with several young gentlemen, were standing in front of the Hopkins House, when he slipped behind the doctor, and pinned a long Orange ribbon to his coat. When the doctor found it out he was very ang'-y. The gentlemen that were with John A. told him he had better see the doctor and apologize, as he was an elderly gentleman. John A. did so ; but in the afternoon the doctor, coming up the street, again saw the same parties in the same place laugh- ing, and supposed they were laugliing at him. The doctor, stopping, said : ' Some puppy pinned an Orange ribbon to my coat this morning. He was not an Irishman, nor an Eng- lishman, but a lousy Scotchman.' John replied : ' Doctor, I ajiologized, and said I was sorry for what I did, but you must not speak in that way of my nationality, for I will not put up with it.' The doctor answered : 'Shut up, you puppy, or I will box your ears.' John A. replied: 'You are not able.' The doctor kicked at him, but John A. caught his foot, threw him down, and was hammering away (to the de- light of the by-standers) when a magistrate appeared on the scene, commanding peace in the King's name, anci telling the crowd to stand back. The magistrate pulled John A. off the doctor, but as he did so he whispered, ' Hit him again, Johnnie !'" Luther MacPherson, whose business the lad had conducted with great intelligence, grew worse in the West Indies, and died on the passage home. He was born on the sea, and on the sea he died. So good an impression of ability had the lad created here, 34 An Anecdotal Life 0/ that the business men of the village offered to guarantee him ;^ioo if he would stay ; but he returned to Kingston, after arranging his cousin's affairs. One of his cronies in Picton was James Porter, now in his 8ist year, who, when the writer saw him last summer, was sitting in his shop, on a low bench, dreaming over a side of leather. " Yes/' he said, going back in mind to the events of that year, " there wasn't much fun that John A. wasn't up to, and I never went to Kingston in afier yea.a but what old Hugh and me had a jollification. Hugh was as fond of a good drop as John A. and m3. And whenever I saw John A. on the street, why, bless you, he wouldn't wait for me to come and speak, but he would duck his head in that peculiar way of his, and come right across the street to shake hands. * Damn it, Porter,' he would say, * are you alive yet ? ' Everybody drank in them days, and they had their match in me; but, dear me, whiskey carried off a good many, and some of them our best men, too. And I am the only one left here of the boys of that lime."* But notwithstanding these " breaks," John was considered a studious boy, compared with the lads of the time. " I remember him well," said one who was a boy here at the time, '' as he sat under the willow tree at Luther MacPherson's, studying intently, while I was playing leap frog with the boys on the tan bark which carpeted the road all about there." After leaving Picton, he appears to have spent a few months as clerk in a store in Pleasant Valley, then a hamlet known as Slab Creek. Afterwards, he went to assist a fiiend and school- mate named Ramsay, who had started the first law office in Napanee. Returning herefrom a visit home, he was thrown by a fractious horse, and broke his arm. While here he attended a Sunday school, and was a juember of the choir in the English church, which met then in the school house. *Mr. Porter gives the date of .Sir John's sojourn here as 1833. Sir John Macdonold. 85 The F.ev. Saltern Givens, who had charge of the church, has often recalled the circumstance, with the observation that the youth made a better politician than he was likely to make a singer. Within three years after young Macdonald had become a barrister, his old employer George MacKenzie died, and he fell into the business. Mr. MacKenzie's was one of the best practices in the city. Besides a good general practice, he was solicitor to the old Commercial Bank and to the Trust and Loan Company, both strong corporations ; and to all this the young man succeeded, and socn accumulated considerable money, with some of which he bought city pro- perty. He soon began to support his father and mother and sisters, to whom he was always kind, dutiful and attentive in after years. 36 An Anecdotal Life of ' CHAPTER Vir. And if they ever come again, They'll get what they don't seek, sir ; Just what they got at Lundy's Lane, And also Sloney Creek, sir ! — 0/J Song. AN EPISODE OF THE REBELLION — THE INVASION OF VON SCHOULTZ, AND JOHN A.'s CONVECTION WITH IT — A STRANGE DELUSION IN BIOGRArHY. The jDolitical storm that burst upon the country in the RebelHon of 1837 ^^^"^ gathering its force when he went into the world to gain his Hvehhood, He had grown up a Tory, and loved the institutions of his adopted as well as his mother- land, and it is not surprising to know that when at last the rebellion broke out, he became a member of the militia corps. Those familiar with this epoch of Canadian history will remember the episode of the Windmill below Prescott. The name of the brave man who led this ill-judged invasion has been so frequently connected with Sir John A. Macdonald, that some account of him should be given here, especially as the historiars of the F.ebcllion have given us little or nothing of his personality. It will be seen, however, that a curious mis- apprehension exists in the public mind as to Sir John's con- nection with Von Schoultz's trial and execution. An organization, in strong sympathy with the disaffected portion of the Canadian population, existed in the United States, known as the " Hunters," a secret body of men bound by oath to " uproot every power or authority of Royal origin on this continent," and to promote Republican ideas through- out the world. The " Hunters' Lodges," as their local assemblies were called, existed in many States of the Union,* * Thry counted 150,000 members at one lime. Sir John Macdonald. 37 ' but were very strong in New York, especially among the ; counties on the frontier. The leaders sedulously taught the idea that the Canadian people were in a condition of semi- slavery, under a military despotism, and only awaited a little help to rise and declare for a republic, or for f/ie Republic. Among those who listened to these tales of misery was Neils Szoltevcki Von Schoultz, a handsome and well educated young Pole, who, though now only thirty-one years old, had already passed through a bloody war in which he had seen the dreadful spectacle of his native land overrun and crushed by the out-numbering Sclavs. His father, with whom he fought, was a major in the Polish army, at the battle which L oke his country's spirit at Warsaw. His father tell fighting uuk the walls of the city, and the son was taken prisoner. He escaped with seventeen others from the Russian guards, and ir. 1836 emigrated to New York.* Finding his way to S( lina, he went to work at the Salt Springs, and discovered a process of refining the brine from the springs, for which it is said he received $100,000. His chivalrous disposition fired up at the stories of oppression that were told of Canada, and he became one of the leaders of the "Hunters." He was associated in this with a "General" Birge, Bill Johnston and *' Cole nel" Eusius, the command of the expedition devolving upon Birge. I Von Schoultz devoted nearly all his means to the cause, and organizing a gang cf men, start;;d about the middle of November, 1838, in a vessel from Oswego, to join Birge at Ogdensburgh, where several hundreds were in arms to meet him, and where these were to be joined by thousands more when needed. Von Schoultz's plan, which was well conceived, was to descend suddenly upon Prescott, and occupy the fort which was then being built there, and, using that as a base of operations, *One chronicler states that he had married Florence, daughter of a Col. Campbell, of the East India Co., but had left his wife behind him at Cron- stadi when he came to America. 38 An Anecdotal Life of march on Kingston. When he arrived opposite Prescott and Ogdensburgh, Birge, instead of pushing out to join him, slinked away from hi:? men, and the seconds in command, having grounded t'leir vessel on a rock, took advantage of the accident, and put back to the American side, leaving Von Schoultz to land with 170 men, who, finding themselves on strange soil, begged him to lead tliem back. But Von Schoultz refused to do this, and, sending the boat back for reinforcements, occupied a large stone mill and adjoining buildings, a mile and a half below Prescott. They had crossed on a Sunday night, and all day Monday they waited for the reinforcements, that never came. An attempt was nnade to send a force across, or to reconnoitre in an armed steamer, but the British steamer *' Experiment " came down the river, and drove back every craft that approached the Canadian shore. Meantime, a body of the 83rd was landed, and co-operating with a detachment of militia and two cannons, made an attack on the place. The stone mill, being a circular tower of great strength, resisted the artillery, and though the invaders were driven in, they could not easily be dislodged. While the fight was going on, thousands of spectators watched it from the wharves and windows of Ogdensburgh, and those on beard the " Experiment " could hear them cheer whenever the defenders appeared to have the advantage. In one of the assaults Lieut. Johnson, on the British side, fell within a few feet of the house, and the Marines, in attempting to carry him off, were forced to retreat after many of their number had been wounded. It was said that the pa^.iots under cover of darkness came out, and brutally mangled the officer's corps?, but they afterwards maintained that it was done by the pigs. In response to the pie. dings of his men to find some means of escape, Von Schoultz, in the night, sent a man across the river on a plank to get a boat, but the patriot Hunters' courage had oozed out. At length. Von Schoultz, finding no sign of help, and seeing the besiegers reinforced, yielded to the clamors Sir John Macdonald, 39 of his men, and held out a white flag from the towers of the mill. The excitement liad grown high at Kingston, and the yeomanry had flocked in to defend the town in the absence of the regulars. It was mentioned that Capt. Beith, an old neighbor of I ^h MacdonaM's, living now in a back conces- sion of the township of King /.on, had got the news at ten in ihe morning, and at three in the afternoon was at his station in town with 50 or 60 fine young men. John A. Macdonald was among the volunteers who went to reinforce the troops at the mill, but when his detachment got there all was over.* A batch of prisoners previously captured had been brought in during the day, and at night 87 more, with their stores and equipments (among the trophies being a flag with an eagle and a star, and the words " Onondaga Hunters " and *' Canada Liberated" worked in fancy letters upon it), were marched in. The whole population turned out, and the houses of the principal streets were illuminated. The prisoners were marcned through the streets, tied in pairs, with poor Von Schoultz at their head, without his hat, receiving the cheers and jeers of the crowd as they were taken to the Fort. But indignation gave place to pity, when the citizens discovered that half the prisoners were m^re boys : some of them under fourteen who had been led away by these cowardly agitators ; and there are people alive in Kingston to-day who have not forgotten the impression made upon them by the sight of the pale and desponding faces of those poor lads, when they were seen in prison or brought on trial. This was not at first realized, however, and one of the local papers, describing their ap- j)earance, quaintly remarked : ** We were much struck at the abominable weapons which the pirates carried about with them. The bovvie knife is certainly a fit instrument in the hands of such a set of cut-throats." * Not long ago. Sir John, in a debate on militia matters, jocosely observed lliat in this rebeUion he had shouldered his musket, and Tought, he supposed, as bravely us the r«.st. 40 An Anecdotal Life of In due course the prisoners were court-martialed. The younger and more innocent ones were allowed to go, but numbers wer3 condemned to d^ath. Poor Voi Schoultz soon saw that he had been misled as to the real position of affairs in Canada, which he had imagined lo be in the conJition of his native land, and bitterly regretted being the means of bringing his equally deluded followers over. He had prep ired a statement btfore the magistrate, and when his case came on, asked if the statement wou d be sent to the Lieut. -Governor. On beirg told it would, he pleaded guilty. The Judge Advo- cate who presided cautioned him as to the consequences of his plea, and f aid that in the circumstances of the country he could bold out no hope of mercy. Von Schoultz replied that he was aware of the consequences of his plea, and could only say that he had been induced to take command of the expedi- tion under false impressions ; but now he had discovered his delusion, and there was no use in saying anything in excuse. In his statement he described thecircumstancesof the invasion, and said, that finding himself on the Canadian side, with no means of get.ing b:ick, he could only d.'fend himself as best he could. It was clear also from his verbal explanation that the inhumanity, if done to Lieut. Johnson's body, was not known to or countenanced by him. As a matter of form, some witnesses were brought up against him, and among these were two French Canadian boys, one of fourteen and the other described as " very young," who wept bitterly. He was sen- tenced to be hanged. In the few days that remained to him he wrote two or three letters. In one of these to J. R. Parker, of Oswego, he begged him to make known through the American papers that h^ had been kindiy treated by the British officers and jail officials. Detailing the siege, he went on to say : "At daik (on Friday) I was informed that all had surrendered, I then also surren- dered. I was stripped to my shirt sleeves by ihe militia in the first moment of their anger and fury. Even my bonnet was Sir John MacdonaUl. 41 taken away. * '-^ For my own part I am naked, though a kind heart at Cape Vincent, where 1 k low none, has sent me a shirt and a pair of socks with my name marked upon them. God bless the being who did it. * * It is a consolation to liave had to deal with a brave and noble-minded enemy. We are tried by court-martial. I have had my trial, and am prepared for death." In another letter he had execrated the cowardice of "Gen." Birge and others, but the day before the execu- tion he wrote to Warren Green, a friend at Selin.i, saying : '' When you get this letter, I am no more. I have been in- formed that my execution will take place to-morrow. May God forgive them that brought me to this untimely death. I have made up my mind, and I forgive them. To-day I have been promised a lawyer to draw up my will. I have appointed you my executor of said will. I wrote you in my former letter about my body. I wish it may be delivered to you, to be buried on your farm. I have no lime to write long to you, because I have great need of communicating with my Creator, and prepare for His presence. The time is short that has been allowed. My last wish to the Americans is that they may not think of avenging my death. Let no further blood be shed, and, believe me, from what I have seen, that all the stories that were told aLout the sufferings of the Canadian people were untrue. Give my love to your sister, and tell her I think on her as on my mother. God reward her for all her kindness. I further beg you to take care of W. Johnson, so that he may find an honorable bread. Farewell, my dear friend; may God bless and protect you." He left an estate of jQ^,ooo. One quarter he bequeathed to the girl (referred to in the letter) whom he was to have married; ;£ioo to the Catholic College at Kingston; and ^400 to the widows and orphans of the British militia who fell in the fight. These bequests and a letter of gratitude he left for the jailer's wife were the best evidences the man could have left of a noble mind. The letter last quoted was written on the night of December 7th. The next morning, as the cold I 42 An Anecdotal Life of shadows were lifting and revealing the gray outlines of old Fort Henry, he was taken in a cart, accompanied by the two Catholic priests who had sat up with hirn for the two nights before, and escorted by a guard of the Frontenac dragoons and detachment? of the 73rd and 83rd regiments, was conveyed from the jail to the glacis of the fort, and there swung upon the scaffold. His demeanor was courageous but without bravado. He walked up to the scaffold, put the rope round his own neck, and placing his hands in his pockets, without a word calmly waited the event.* *There was no speech made by John A. Macdonald at the trial, and the stories of the great forensic effort which helped to make the yoi^ng lawyer famous are baseless, unless the drawing up of Von ScLoultz's will could be considered a ground. Almost every biographical sketch written of Sir John speaks of this remarkable speech, which was never made. The local papers of the time spoke of Daniel George, and one or two other prisoners being "assisted in their defence by John A. Macdonald, Esq., barrister," but do not even name him in connection with ^'on Schoultz. Sir John himself, not long ago, replying to the writer on this point, wrote : ** I never delivered any speech in favor of Von Schoultz, in 1838, or at any other time.'* Now, how did the impression get abroad, and become fixed in the public mmd as one of the romantic incidents that formed a turning point in Sir John's career? That is a mystery ; but it is no more a mystery than the idea, which has prevailed for a thousand years, that the Ten Tribes of Israel were completely lost in the captivity, and were to be identified as a body in some nation in the future, when, as ■x matter of fact, only 27,280 were dragged off into Assyria. These, it is true, were the princes, rulers and leading men of the nation, and by their deportation the government of the country was broken up ; so that while Israel " representatively " went into captivity, " the tribal inherit- ances retained their old names, and were inhabited, partly, at least, by Israelites in Josiah's time, 100 years later." (//I. C/irisii'an Weekly.) Meml)ers of the tribes were left on their old possessions, while many were fugitives in Judah. Nor is it any more remarkable than the fiction, which has done service in the pulpit and press for two or three hundred years, perhaps, that the ostrich buries its head in the sand at the approach of danger. Since this note was written, the following has been placed in my hands, from the London Advertiser, confirming the correction made in the bio- Sir John Macdonald. 43 CHAPTER VIII. We twain have met like ships upon the sea, Who hold an hour's converse, so short, so sweet, • V, One little hour ! and then away they speed, • On lonely paths, through raise and cloud and foam, , •: To meet no more 1 -<> — AUxander Smith, LIFE IN KINGSTON — MR. MOWAT COMES TO HIS OFFICE AS A LAW STUDENT — SOME YOUTHFUL TRICKS— MARRIED TO HIS COUSIN — SHE DIES AFTER A BRIEF SOJOURN. The years of John A. Macdonald's life between 1836 and his entry into Parliament in 1844 were passed in tl.e practice of his profession at Kingston. . ■ ^ ", : . A year before the Von Schoiiltz episode, " there came to the office one day, a chubby little lad, with large prominent eyes, and a methodical walk and manner of speaking, stating that he wanted to ntudy law. The firm look the lad; he is to-day graphy now current ; — A legal gentleman, who spent his student yeirs in the office of Sir John A. Macdonald at Kingston, asserts that the bio- graphers of the statesman are all wrong when they say that he made his first big strike at the bar as counsel for Von Schoultz, the alien charged with fomenting the rebellion of 1837-8. Our informant maintains that Von Schoultz was among the prisoners who were tried by court-martial, they being aliens, and not answerable to the charge of treason lo this country. Disposed of in this way, Von Schoultz was not entitled to counsel. The case in which young Macdonald made the brilliant defence that first maJe him famous as a barrister was either a criminal assault on a woman, or murder. The prisoner's name was Brass, and Macdonald defended him with great ability, but he was found guilty and hanged. Another case in which he displayed splendid ability as an advocate was the suit of Bray vs. Sundow, an action for false imprisonment. The plaintiff was the father of Dr. Bray, of Chatham, and the defendant com- modore of the lakes. This suit he won, notwithstanding that the exper- ienced Robert Baldwin, Attorney-General for the West, was the opposing counsel. 44 An Anecdotal Life of the Premier of Ontario."^- Oliver Mowai's father had been a soldier under Lord Wellington in the peninsular campaigns, and had come out and settled in Kingston in 1816. Here he started a grocery store on the humblest scale, but was able, by economy, industry, integrity and perseverance, to make headway and send his children to school. Oliver, the eldest son, decided to follow the law, and at the age of 18 presented himself at the office of John A. Macdonald, as a candidate for the place of student. What an interesting thing would have been a picture, by pen and photograph, of this interview in which these two i)lanets crossed each over's orbits. We can imagine the short stature, the plain and homely attire, the some A hat bland but intelligent smile, the open face, the fresh countenance, whose every lineament was marked with candor, honesty and good-will, — the modest bearing, and withal the steadiness and constancy of purpose that could be told in the very sitting down and rising up of young Oliver Mowat. We can imagine the tali and lithe figure, and carelessly stylish dress of young John A.; we can imagine the smack of the lips, the peculiar jerking nod of the head, the inimitable twinkle of the eye, the mobile face, whose varied play of expression was indicating how instantly he apprehended every phase of character in the ingenuous young face before him ; we can imagine how the machinery of this complex mind, working with lightning-like rapidity, was taking in all this, forecasting the young student's success, and yet all the while conjuring up flashes of wit or quaint thought, that would rise for utterance on the subject of the interview. We can imagine this, but that is all : and so we confine ourselves to this simple state- ment, that the youth, who was to become the Premier of the greatest province of the Dominion, and whose career was to be as remarkable in many respects as that of the future Do- minion Premier, was promptly accepted by John A. Macdonald, and studied with him for four years, when in 1841 he passed as a barrister at Toronto. * Collin's Life. Sir John Macdonald. 45 Not much is at present to be recorded of their intercourse. John A. afterwards used to say in a vein of humor: — " One strong point I admired about Mowat was his handwriting." But he learned to admire and respect more points about Mr. Mowat than his handwriting. On a recent occasion, Sir John said: *' I have known Mr. Mowat all my life. He was in my office when he was a boy, and I was one of the administrators of his father's estate. I can say that Mr. Mowat is an upright, honest man." It may be said that John A. never grew old; there was what Sir Charles Dilke called an antique youthfulness about him up to the hour when he was stricken with the paralysis which carried him off; but in these days there was in him that exu- berant love of pranks which belonged to youth, and there ore many stories told of his " capers." Not very long since one of these was told, in the Kingston IV/iig, by Mr. C. McMillan, one of his youthful compeers, who still lives in that city. It is as follows : — :^ ? " In the year 1841 or 1842 [it was in 1844] or half a century ago, I cast my first vote in the city for Mr., now Sir John A., Macdonald, it being his candidature for a seat in the Parlia- ment of Canada, and in opposition to Anthony Manahan, the previous sitting member. Being at that time a comparative stranger, I took no active part or interest in the election, other than casting my vote. But at a more subsequent election, 1847, ^ ^^^^ C^*'" ^^^' junction with Harry Bartliff and my brother William) a very active part in the way of canvassing, and otherwise aiding in the interest of Mr. Macdonald. 1 think his opponent was John Counter, the good and ener- getic seven years' mayor of Kingston. But the former car- ried the election by a large majority. At this general election the party to which Mr. Macdonald belonged came into power, and he was offered and accepted the portfolio of Receiver-General. It therefore became neces- 46 An Anecdotal Life of sary to return to his constituents for re-election, having for an opponent Mr. McKenzie, subsequently made county judge. The latter was left in the minority by a large number of votes. It was at this election that Harry Bartliff, William and I made up our minds to give our twice-elected member and Henry Smith, subsequently knighted, and who had just been elected for the county, a good send-off to Montreal, where the Parliament was then held. We clubbed together, and hired a four-in-hand from George Wink, and decorated waggon and horses with about twenty small flags. We drove first to Macdonald's residence on Brock street, since burned, and then to Smith's on Princess street, and from there to Greer's wharf. Finding the steamer ' Princess Royal ' for Montreal had not arrived, we proposed to drive the newly elected members as far as Waterloo. On the way out it was suggested that the city member might favor us with a brief speech, but he excused himself by promising to make a short speech at Waterloo. In the meanwhile he proposed telling a story, which he as- sured us he was about telling for the first time. , He said that about eight or nine years previously, while studying law in Mr. Cartwright's office, he and three or four chums were going home one summer night, when on Rear Street they observed the roadway covered with limestone to be used as a foundation for the street. Macdonald suggested that as it was yet early, — one o'clock — they would have time to build a prttiv decent sized wall with the material. ' Where shall we build the wall ? ' was the query. ' Well,' said Macdonald, ' there is Jemmy Williamson's grocery store just across the street.' * What's the matter with it ? ' * It would not look amiss with a nice new stone front added to it.' All agreed, and to work they went. For two hours they never worked so hard in their lives. At the end of that time Sir John Macdonald. 47 they had completed a wall about seven feet high and eight feet long, completely closing up the shop door. They then gathered up small stones, and throwing a few at a time at the up-stairs windows, where the old gentleman slept, they awoke him, an 1 raising the wind )W, he inquired, ' Who's there ? what's the matter? ' Hearing nothing he closed the window, but the stones were again flung, and the window again went up. Hearing nothing he again retired. Presently, a light ap- peared in the room, and the conspirators guessed the old gentlemin was miking his vvay downstairs. They crowded close to the stone wall to hear how Jemmy would express his surprise. ;' '^ : ■• ' ;' They heard the door open, and the first exclamation was one of profound astonishment, — ' My God ! what is this I see ? Has the house tumbled down sinc^ [ went to bed? What does this thing mean ? What sin have I committed that this horror should fall on me ? ' ... Macdonald said they heard no more. They hurried home, reaching it before daylight. ^ Macdonald said he passed the store the next day, and the wall had vanished. ' And,' said Macdonald, ' were it not for the fact of the circumstance being mentioned in the papers, I should have been inclined to tiiink it was all a dream.' We drove up to the hotel at Waterloo, and were shown to a room upstairs. We took seats around a large table. Smith raised the window at his back as high as it would admit — the weather being warm. He took a cigar out of his pocket, and rose to obtain a light from Mr. Bartliff, who was smoking on the opposite side of the table. In the meantime the landlord came upstairs to take orders, and seeing the chair that Smith rose up from in his way, he moved it to one side, took our orders and started to go downstairs. At the same time J. A. Macdonald mounted the removed cnair to deliver his promised speech, but Smith, not dream- ing the chair had been dist irbed, went to resume his seat. What a catastrophe! The soles of his boots made for the 48 An Anecdotal Life of ceiling, and his umbrella — he had it in his hand — made a dart through the window, struck one of the horses resting quietly in front of the house, and started them both, and they struck out for Odessa like a streak of lightning. In the meanvvhile we all gathered around our fallen friend, raised him, rubbed his back, shoulders and elbows, and found he was none the worse for the fall. We lost John A. 's speech* Smith at first felt inclined to be annoyed, but the landlord apologized, and explained that the moving of the chair was purely accidenial. When he was made to understand that it was no practical joke, he laughed as loud as any. The team was stopped about a mile from the hotel, and brought back without the slightest damage. We drove to the city, and escorted our friends on board the steamer. On lercving ihe wharf we gave them three rousing cheers." Mr. McMillan did not give the seqael of the story, which, though it is anticipating the time, may be told here. John A. had becom--; Receiver General, and was ihen living in Montreal, the seat of Government. One of the eccentric characters of this time was a man named Dolly, a restaurant keeper, who dressed entirely in velvet and wore knee breeches, and whose place was a resort for many of the members of Parlia- ment. John A. came with a crowd one afternoon, and began to entertain them with stories. Darkness came on and tea was served, and still the stories went on; the evening wore along, and at last the hour of midnight struck, and John A., with a few interruptions from other speakers, was still the chief speaker ; and v/hen the small hours had passed and daylight appeared, John A. still held his company awake and laughing, and so he went on, spinning story after story. The party had spent a good deal, and drunk a good deal during the night, and when breakfast time came, Dolly entertained them with a free fish breakfast, placing the biggest fish before John A. While they were discussing this, John A. told this story of Williamson and the stone wall. Williamson himself Sir John Macdonalfl. 49 was present, but John A., i)retendt'd not to be aware of this till he had finished, when he took a sly glance in the direction of his victim. Williamson shook his fist at John A., saying, " And so you were the villain that played that trick," and then he broke into a laugli. 'i'his was the first time he had heard who the real perpetrator was. It wa.i in Augus% 1843, that John A. Macdonald contracted his first m:irriage, with his cousin. The story is brielly told in Rattray's '' The Scot in British North America," as follows : " Hugh Macdonald (Sir John's father) had removed to Glas- gow and married Helen Shaw of Badenoch, Inverness-shire. * '"' A sister of Miss Shaw was married to Capt. Alexander Clark, and one of the daughters of the coujjle, Maria Clark, accomi)anied the Macdonald family to Canada. When young John Alexander had grown to man's estate, he paid a visit to Scotland, and there met Miss Maria's sister and his own cousin — Miss Isabella Clark. This young lady came out to pay her sister a visit, and the two cousins fell violently in love." Miss Clark was a beautiful girl of fair complexion, with bright blue eyes and a pleasing manner. She had been a healthy girl, but shortly after they were married she caught cold through sleeping in wet blankets on a steamer, and consumption followed. She was sent to health resorts, and treated by the doctors, but gradually declined, and in the middle of Christmas week in 1857 she passed away. They had two children. The first, who was named John A., was born while the mother was on a visit to New York, and died in 1848, at the age of 13. The second child, Hugh John, lived, became an intelligent lad, much like his father in physiognomy and gesture, and like him became a lawyer by profession. By a singular conjunction of events the son became a partner with Mr. Tupper, a son of Sir John's old and trusted colleague, Sir Charles Tupper, the High Commissioner for Canada in Eng- land. The young man started in business in Winnipeg, and Hugh John Macdonald, though always having an inborn distaste for politics, was persuaded to stand for election for the 50 An Anecdotal Life of city of Winnipeg, in the election of 1891, and was returned by a large majority. ^ - - As showing the likeness of Hugh John to his father, a good story comes from Winnipeg. A little boy, seeing Hugh pass along the street, called out to his mother, •' Mother, there goes that bad man." "What bad man, my child.''" "Why," replied the boy, " that bad man in GriJ: / "■ Sir John Macdonald. 51 CHAPTER IX. : Yong, friesch and strong, in amies desirous . As eny bachiler of al his hous. — The Canterbury Tales. HE "runs for councillor" AN ALDERMAN'S ANTICS- HE SAVED THE EYES OF THE A7'gUS. For some time Mr. Macdonald had contemplated entering pub- lic life, but the final decision^as related by one who knew him well, was sudden. He had already been elected president of the St. Andrew's Society (about 1841), when one day he met the late John Shaw — a prominent Orangeman — on the street, and said : " Mr. Shaw, what shall I do to become popular?" " Join our lodge and run for alderman." Inside of a month he was both an Orangeman and an alder- man. This and many other anecdotes that might be related show that the notion that he always put off everything is quite a misconception. No one was more prompt to act when the occasion really required it, and where action was in his own interest. In fact, his principle was that which Lord Beaconsfield afterwards put into a terse expression — it was opporiufiity, not time, that great men look for. Here was the opportunity, and how promptly he took it ! Two young men, he and the late Robert Anglin, ran against two o!d members, and it thus became a case of youth versus age. It excited a good deal of interest, as John A. was con- testing the most populous ward of the ciiy, and the young men worked hard for him. The election was very close and keen. Macdonald and Anglin were elected, and the young men were so pleased thit they built a platform on the market, and after Sir John and his friends had mounted it, the electors " carried it on their shoulders, and the result was a capsize. I'he 52 ^^ An Anecdotal Life of slush was deep on the ground, and as Sir John brushed his clothes, he remarked : " Isn't it strange I should have a downfall so soon." The crowd cheered.^ ; > - His capacity for dealing with men and measures at once showed itself in the Council ; and during the two years he remained in the City Council, there were few measure? he set his hand to that he did not carry out. He was said lo bs a master at handling committees. It was during his councillor- ship that a member, Mr. J. H. Grier, proposed that instead of being elected by popular vote, the mayor should be chosen by the Council. This was considered a good change, and it was imagined that Mr. Grier expected the honor to himself as the father of the reform. When it came to the vote, however, Mr. Grier only got one vote, and that vote was supi)osed to have been cast by himself. " Great guns," remarked John A., after the ballotting was over, " if he had only had another vote we could all have sworn it was ours ! " John A., though he did not vote for him, had recommended him, and probably smitten with a slight remorse for not voting for him, said to Grier : '*' If it is ever in my power to make amends. I will do so." He did not forget the promise. Years afterwards he ap])ointed Mr. Grier registrar of the county of Wentworth at a good salary, and in the enjoyment of that place he lived till his death. Mr. Flanagan, then assistant city clerk, and the only one left of the Council or officers of that date, says John A. wa; the life of the Council, and always made the affairs interest- ing. One tim?, having prepared the mayor by a wink, he gravely proposed that the civic officials be required to appear in uniforms, and proceeded to describe the gorgeous colors and striking adornments that should be needed in the case of the leading officers. The dignified clerk and treasurer listened with amazement at this startling proposal, and the clerk, dropping his pen, muttered that if such a monstrous Kingston PV/iig. Sir John MacdonaUl. 53 thing were done, he should resign. After keeping them on tenter-hooks for a while, John A. laughingly withdrew the motion, and the aldermen, some of whom had taken the pro- position seriously, joined in the laugh. fohn A. had entered the Council in 1843, '^'^'^^ ^^'^^s sworn in by John Solomon Cartwright — uncle of Sir Richard Cart- wright — who was his steadfast patron and friend. One of his first acts was to present a petition for Oliver Mowat, an uncle of the Premier of Ontario^and, strange to say, when he resigned his seat in 1846, he \vas succeeded in his ward by John Mowat, the Hon. Oliver Mowat's father. It was some years afrerwards that the city clerkship became vacant, and, to show John A.'s steadfastness to his friends, he came all the way from Quebec to vote for Mr. Flanagan, who secured the position. This gentleman relates the following anecdote : Besides having great courage in debate, Mr. Flana- gan said Sir John was a brave man otherwise. He remem- bers when a serious fire occurred on Princess street, and Sir John turned out with the firemen to fight the flames, which spread so rapidly that the hoseman was unable to get near enough to make the water supply of effective service. Sir John hurriedly nailed a number of boards together, and then asked for assistance to plant the shield near the building. Mr. Flanagan approachec him, and said : " Mr. Macdonald, it is reported that there are several kegs of powder in the cellar, and that the building will soon blow up." The reply was, " For goodness sake, dor/t make that known, else we will be left alone, and there is no telling where the fire will stop." Raising the shield, he carried it forward, and placed it close to the building. From behind it the hoseman did good service, and the feared explosion did not occur. In his cleverness in getting out of a pit, John A. possessed all the cunning of the fox in the fable. In the course of his pracice he was called upon by the late Dr. Stewart, an eccen- tric gentleman, who at one time edited a paper, called the Argus. The paper became noted for its violent language, 54 An Anecdotal Life of and, what is a misfortune for a paper, had rathe/ strong pre- judices against individuals. Among these was Kenneth Mac- Kenzie, afterwards made county judge of Lennox and Ad- dington by John A. ; and one day an abusive article appeared about him. Mr. MacKenzie promptly brought a libel suit against the Argus, and Dr, Stewart begged John A. to take the case. He did so, and instead of justifying the libel- ous article, he called witnesses to prove that the paper had no circulation, that little regard was paid to its denunciations, and that Mr. MacKenzie was so well known and so universally esteemed (which was the case), that no amount of abuse from such a source could injure his reputation. To one witness he would say : " Did you read this article in the Argus ? " " No, I only heard of it." " If you had read it, would you have believed it?" "No." " Do you think you would be influenced against Mr. MacKenzie by anything ap- pearing in such a paper?" "Certainly not." And so on, all the witnesses being called to throw ridicule on the bare idea of a man so generally respected as Mr. MacKenzie being in- jured in the general esteem by such means. The result was that Dr. Stewart escaped without damages, and yet Mr. Mac- Kenzie was satisfied ! Dr. Stewart, with all his eccentricities, was much liked by ' John A., and while the latter lived at Kingston, they were very intimate, and frequent visitors at each other's houses. They were both of Highland extraction, and it is a remarkable coin- cidence that Dr, Stewart died on Sir John's last birthday, nth January, 1891, and Sir John, within the same year, died on the anniversary of the worthy Doctor's birthday. Sir John Macdonald. 55 CHAPTER X. ♦' Simplex is in ! hurrah! ' they cry, * Agi*ia the l)onfires blaze on high ; ; ^ Again excited faces show How warm the fires of passion glow. , :; ^The Politician, by T.W. p. JOHN A. IS ELECTED TO PARLIAiMENT. — HIS FIRST ADDRESS TO THE ELECTORS, AND HIS FIRST ACTS IN PARLIAMENT. Meantime John A.'s bark was easily and gracefully riding the wave of popularity ; and it was soon to weigh anchor, and put out on the stormy sea of politics. It was in April, 1844, that a requisition, sigticd by 225 citizens of more or less pro- minence, was presented to him, asking him to stand for election as member of Parliament to represent the city. Among the signers were Sir Heiiry Smith, John Mowat (Hon. O. Mowat's father;, Hon. John Kirby, all of whom have passed away. Sir Alexander Campbell, now Lieut. -Governor of Ontario, Alex. Drummond and many others, who in after life attained prominence — some of them, it may be said, owing to the ac- cident or good fortune of being a friend of Sir John. The requisition and its reply are here given, and it will be seen that the young candidate accepted it without any affectation or any false hesitancy, and expressed himself, as he undoubt- edly felt, grateful for the chance : — REQUISITION TO JOHN A. MACDONALD, ESQ. Sir, — It being generally understood that a vacancy is shortly to take place in the represent^-tion of this town, and being desirous of a representative upon whose integrity and talent all classes of the citizens may safely rely, we, the undersigned electors, request you will permit us to put you in nomination as a candidate for the representation of this town, whenever a vacancy may occur, believing, as we do, that to your care and 56 An Anecdotal Life of advocacy may safely be entrusted the interests of the town and the maintenance of those sound and liberal principles of public policy for which the inhabitants of Kingston have ever been distinguished. . ^ THE REPLY. Gentlemen, — With feelings of greater pride and gratitude than I can express, I have received your requisition inviting me to become a candidate for the representation of Kingston, at the next vacancy. The mode in which I can best evince my high sense of the honor you have done me is at once to lay aside all personal consideration, and accede to your request. When I observe the numerous names which are attached to this requisition, and which comprises men of all shades of political opinion, I am inspired with the hope of a successful result. Should that result, however, be unsuccessful, it will always afford me the highest gratification to have received such flattering proof of the confidence of so many of my friends and fellow-citizens. In presenting myself to the electors of Kingston as a can- didate for their suffrages, I have no object of personal ambition to gratify, except a desire to advance the interests of the town in which I have lived so long, and with whose fortunes my own prosperity is identified, as well as to main- tain those principles of public policy which you justly style " sound and liberal," and which have always actuated our loyal old town. In a young country like Canada, I am of opinion that it is of more consequence to endeavor to develop its resources and improve its physical advantages, than to waste the time of the Legislature and the money of the people in fruitless discussions on abstract and theoretical questions of government. One great object of my exertions, if elected, will be to direct the attention of the Legislature to the settlement of the back townships of the district, hitherto so utterly neglected, and to press for the construction of the long projected plank Sir John Macdonald. 57 road to Perth and the Ottawa, and thus make Kingston the mar- ket for a large and fertile, though hitherto valueless, country. 1 his desirable object once attained, the prosperity of our town will be established on a firmer basis. Permit me, in conclusion, to repeat my warmest thanks for the honor you have done me, and for the confidence you express in me, and to state that I will nc»t fail, as soon as my professional avocation will allow, to wait on you and the other electors individually. I am, genilemen. Your obedient and obliged servant, John A. Macdonald. To the Hon. John Kirby and the signers of the requisition. The election was an exciting one, although the result had been a foregone conclusion. Indeed, at the nomin ition — which was determined then by a show of hands — a number of his own young friends held up their hands against him, because they were afraid he would go in by acclamation, and in those days an election was such a time of jollification, that to let a candidate be elected by acclamation meant the loss of a great deal of fun. His opponent was a Mr. Manahan, whom he defeated by a majority of 311, which was a sweeping one for the time. The voting then, as most readers are aware, was by open vote, and the election lasted for two days, during which time there was much drinking of whiskey, occasional fighting, and a good deal of intimidation. It was understood that the candidates would supply whiskey for their friends and sup- porters, and it may be presumed that John A., did not fail in this regard. A great throng had gathered at the City Hall, when John A., then in the back-ground, was called upon for a speech. Henry (afterwards Sir Henry) Smith Called to John A. to come up. Sir Henry was big, bluff and burly — a kind of man who might have been selected by the manager of a theatre as a " chucker out," — and with his great iron elbows made a E iHr " f. - r 58 An Anecdotal Life of furrow tliroiigh the crowd, while John A. hopped nimbly after him, grinning. John A. made a long and lively speech, thank- ing the electors, but it has not been reported. In due course, the young man of twenty-nine departed for the capital, Montreal, and was noticed to kiss his mother and sister affectionately as he bade them good-bye at the wharf. His first appearance in the legislative hall was, therefore, the second parliament after the union of Upper and Lower Can- ada in 1840. The seat of government had only this year (1844) been moved to Montreal from Kingston, and the building in which it met was built on the site of the present St. Ann's Market. Lird ^letcalfe was Governor General and Mr. Draper was Premier; John A, was elected as his suppor- ter. The Parliament had assembled on the 28th November, and John A.'s first vote was upon the election of Speaker. He voted for Sir Allan McNab, who was elected by the nar- row majority of three. It has often been said that John A. Macdonald did not take any active part in the proceedings of Parliament for two or three years after he entered it, but this is a mistake. Those who may search the files of the newspapers of this year, and the journals of the Assembly, will find his name in more than one place. He was a member of the committee on standing orders, ard this was the only committee to which he was appointed. It is worth a passing remark, that there were then four McDonalds in the House, and his own name was spelt indiscriminately " Mc " and " Mac," then and for years afterwards. The first petition he presented was from Henry Smith, warden of he penitentiary at Kingston, asking for an increase of salary; and the second was on behalf of Bishop Phelan and others of the corporation of the College of Regiopolis at Kingston, asking for an act to enable them to hold real and personal property yield, j an annual revenue of ;£"5oco. Was there in the third petition the suggestion of a forecast of the National Policy ? It was frcm Alexander Smith and others, cordwainers (boot and shoenrr.kers), asking Sir John Moidonahh 59 that a duty be put upon boots and shoes imported from the United States. The first motion he made in the House was on a question connected with the election of the Hon. George Moffatt and C. C. S. DeBIeury, of Montreal, when he moved that the further consideration of the question be postponed till the nth January (it being then the 19th December), and his motion was carried by a majority of i. He made sev- eral miscellaneous motions, was a member of more ihan one committee appointed to deal wit', specific questions, was chg^r- man of a committee on the " Great Western Railroad Co.," and was chairman of the committee of the whole on more than one occasion. He also brought in three private bills, one relating to the Regiopolis College, one granting certain powers to the Upper Canada Trust & Loan Co., with which he was connected, and one for the divorce of a Captain Harris from his wife. ^ "■-:-.■'-'''■.'':■■■ ■^■"^^-■^^■■■"-■^^ One of his motions was, '• that Attorney Genera! Smith and George Macdonnell be taken into the custody of the Sergeant- at-Arms, for not attending the meeting of the Select Com- mittee appointed to try the contested election for the third riding of York." The motion was carried, the offending mem- bers brought to the bar of the House, and on motion of John A. Macdonald were reprimanded and discharged. The cir- cumstances which jjlaced the young man in the position of mover of such an unusual motion are not stated, nor is it known how he came to be mover of a motion in which Mr. Aylwin was ordered to withdraw, after being "named" for refusing to take his seat, when speaking out of order. The session ran into January, 1845, ^^'^^ ^^ ^^'^^ ^S^^'^ of that month, John A.'s good old friend and patron, John S. Cart- wright, died. All the stores were closed in Kingston on the day of the funeral, and the members of the bar wore mourning for a month. As the last moments of the session came on, and the work was over, the grave and reverend seigniors of the Assembly became boys again, and their mirth and frolic broke out in 60 An Anecdotal Life of various ways. One usually sedate politician threw batches of bills at his political opponent ; another pulled down the tin plate on which "Orders of the Day" were inscribed, and changed the inscription to " Orders of the Play," and then he fastened it to the back of a member, who was greeted with shouts of laughter; while some of them sat cheek-by-jowl like " bairns o'one mither," counting up the savings u'the sessional allowance ; others were flitting about the chamber with paper pig tails to their coats, etc., and of such a crowd John A. would be one of the liveliest. Sir John Macdonald. 61 CHAPTER XI. To know a man, observe how he wins his object rather than how he loses it. — C. C. Colton. HIS MAIDEN TERM — SOME OF HIS FIRST POLITICAL OBSER- VATIONS — HE BECOMES RECEIVER-GENERAL — THERE ARE PROPHECIES ABOUT HIM. In his maiden term in Parliament, John A. lived in the quiet, unpretentious way which characterized him all through his after-hfe. A man named Henderson kept, at the corner of St. Maurice and St. Henry streets, a small grocery, and over the grocery a boarding house, and here John A. had one room and took his meals. This old house is still standing. John A. is described at this time as wearing a long tailed coat and baggy trousers, with a loose necktie somewhat of the Byronic style. His face was smoothly shaved, as it always was, and he had the appearance of an actor. His walk then, as ever after, was peculiar. His step was short, and when he went to a seat, there was something in his movement which suggested a bird alighting in a hesitating way from a flight* His quick and all-comprehending glance, and *hat peculiar 'crking of the head, bore out the comparison in other respects. It will have been noticed that though he did considerable parliamentary work of a business kind, he did not push him- self forward as a speaker. Not a single speech, or even an observation, on the leading qtiestions is recorded of him in the first session. Those who knew him at this day said he was to be frequently found in the library, reading up cases and pre- cedents, and posting himself. He was not anxious to show off his oratory, or make himself conspicuous in debate, but was no doubt pr-^paring himself for the greater work of putting a hand on the tiller, and influencing, if not controlling, the public policy. 62 An Anecdotal Life of >» In the session of 1846 he was appointed a member of the Library Con-.rnittce, his fondness for books having been already noticed ; and his name appears in almost every division list, showing that he was regular in his duties and was not in the habit of shirking votes. In the first short speech recorded of hini; on the question cl excusing absent membeni, " hear, hears" were noted by the reporter three times — an evidence of the attention and approval of the House. He introduced a bill to incorporate the ''Wolf Island, Kingston & Toronto Railroad Co.," and the following week moved the second reading of the " Montreal & L:.chine Rail- road " bill. In the course of the discussion, Mr. McDonald, of Glengarry, said he had brought in a bill that day for a road from Montreal to Kingston, which was to form part of a great chain of railroads from Montreal to Port Sarnia, and he feared this Montreal ^v,'^. Lachine road would be built on such an expensive scale that no company could buy it out at a profit. He, therefore, af;ked Mr, J. A. Macdonald to post- pone his bill. Mr. John A. Macdonald did not see the matter in that light at all, and said these other roads re- ferred to were got up for speculation, and were dependent upon English capitalists, while his was an all Canadian enter- prise. This summary of his first debate is given in order to show how he valued the idea of self-reliar.re in Canadian enterprises. ^ It may interest the geneic..' . ader to refer to the views held on the tariff question, as shown in a debate in this session. On an amendment to an act relating to the duties on leather, Mr. Cayley called attention to a despatch received that year from Hon. W. E. Gladstone, saying that unless the duties on leather, imposed by this act, were reduced, it would not receive the Royal assent. Mr. Hall said that leather manufactures, when imported by way of Montreal (that is, from England)? only paid a duty of 5 percent., while, if imported from Kings- ton or Toronto (which meant from the United States), they paid 25 or 30 per cent. He protested against this injustice Sir John h icdonoUL 03 to Upper Canada, Col. Draper, the leader of the House, explained that they had put up the duty to protect the manu- facturers of Upper Canada, but the Royal assent to the act had been withheld. Mr. Hall retorted that he kne\v})erfectly well we must do as we were told, and not as we wisiied; but how long was this going to last ? He was prei)ared to pass the bill year after year, and let the Home Government disal- low it, if they liked ; but we ought not to be so tender of British interests, when they were moving heaven and earth to put us on the same footing as foreigners in regard to wheat (referring to the free trade movement). Mr. Macdonald. of Kingston, said a bill was passed last session, giving protection to the manufactures of the colony, and the measure now before them was to make that legislation effectual. If the members did not make up their minds to carry it through, they must give up all they had fought for and all they had gained, and resolve to put our manufactures in competition with the convict labor of the American penitentiary. With respect to Mr. Gladstone's despatch, whether the principle enunciated in it were right or wrong, we must be governed by it. The danger to our markets was not from British but from American manufacturers. ^ -t It will be seen from this debate that the relations of Canada have undergone some most important changes since then, when the tariff policy of the country was considered a matter of Imperial business. - : *- During a debate on a bill th:.t Mr. Macdonald had intro- duced, to amend the Kingston incorporation act, Mr, Sey- mour, the member for Frontenac, the county in whith Kingston is situated, made some strictures on the debt of Kingston, and said the member for Kingston had himself felt called upon to resign his seat at the city council boar.1 on account of the low state of the funds, and that he had instituted an actio 1 agamst the corporation at the instance of the Com- mercial Bank. Mr. Macdonald replied that he had resigned because he could not be in two places at once. He admitted 64 An Anecdotal Life of that the credit of the city was not very good, but this was because they hi.d a bad corporation.'*' The Government of this day had treated Mr. Ryland, the registrar of Montreal, in a shabby manner ; and although a supporter of the Government, our member expressed his indig- nation in the House in no stinted way. *• I speak warmly on this subject," he concluded, " because I feel warmly. It makes my blood boil to think of the manner in which Mr. Ryland has been treated." The motion he made on the sub- ject was lost, however, the Government opposing it The question of vote by ballot was now coming up, and it is worthy of remark that John A. Macdonald is found opposing it, as in after years we will find that he opposed more than one reform, which, however, he would subsequently help to shape and carry out when he found that public opinion de- manded it. The reason he- gave against vote by ballot now was, that '' the people in Canada had no one exercising an illegitimate influence over them as in England and European countries." Mr. Macdonald must have already impressed the Govern- * His allusions to the condition of Kingston at this period are corrobor- ated by contemporary records. The following graphic sketch of the appearance of the place in 1837 '^ f''°"^ Preston's " Three Years in Canada " : — '* Kingston in 1837 had between 4,000 and 5^000 inhabitants. They are * unprogressive, and repose too complacentlv on its assumed dig- nity to be otherwise than stationary . ' It resembles an English village, but somewhat stragglingly built, though possessing in its fashionable parts some very substantial houses. ♦ * * It is near here that the Provincial Penitentiary is built. * * Among the minor characteristics of Kingston, I must not omit to mention the endless out-door squabbles of its pigs and dogs, which infest the streets in shoals. A ruthless war is raged by the canine upon the swinish multitude ; and as these have a peculiar way of acknowledging such courtesies, the effect of the din of voices in discordant eloquence may readily be conceived," On reaching Kingston, in Decem- ber, 1837, he adds that he found it under peculiar excitement. The danger they could not define, but almost everyone legarded his neighbor with distrust, as though he were a rebel in disguise. Sir John Macdonald. 65 ment with his ability as a lawyer, if not a politician, for in this year he was made a Queen's counsel. These were the last days of the old Toryism that had pre- vailed under the name of the Family Compact, and scarcely a month passed without Cabinet changes or rumors of changes. The younger and more enlightened of the party felt that the days of cabalism should be ended, and longed fir something more liberal and enlightened. This longing found expression in the Press, and the Montreal Gazette saw in the per- son of young Macdonald a rising star c f hope. Upon a rumor that he was to be taken into the Cabinet, that journal wrote : "The appointment of Mr. Macdonald, if confirmed, will, we believe, give universal satisfaction. A liberal, able and clear- headed man, of sound Conservative principles, and unpretend- ing demeanor, he will be an acquisition to any ministry, and bring energy and business habits into a department of which there have been for many years under the present, and still more under preceding, managements many complaints." A Toronto opposition paper caustically remarked of the same rumor: " Mr. John A. Macdonald is marked for another vic- tim ; he too will speedily be a flightless bird." But young Macdonald saw, to use his own words, that the condition of the party must be worse before it would be better, and quietly waited for the swamping ship, now on her beam ends, to right herself before he went on deck. The opportunity occurred in the following year, when, by the resignation of a member of the Cabinet, the office of Receiver General was left vacant. " Your turn has come at last, Macdonald," said Mr. Draper, as he waited on the member for Kingston.* And John A* Macdonald became Receiver General o{ United Canada on the nth of May. As the ship had not righted herself, but w^as becoming more water-k^gged every moment, the young man evidently did not wait the opportunity that was most favorable. Collin's Life. ^ 66 ^^^^^ ;: ' % A Probably he hoped to control events himself, so as to avoid a foundering. Thus began the political career which was destined to be without a parallel in the history of Canada, and with only one parallel — as to length of service — in the history of parlia- mentary government in the world. His first years in office were marked by no special evidence of the tactical genius which distinguished him in after years, but as Receiver General and afterwards as head of the Crown Lands Office, he was marked by business ability, and put into fairly smooth running order departments in v/hich chaos had reigned for years before. Many difficult cases had been "staved off" for years, but the promptness and sagacity with vv^hich he disposed of them marked him out at once as an able administrator. h'ir John Mactljmahl. 67 CHAPTER XII. ril play the c aor as well as Nestor. ♦ —Henry VI. A FOEMAN WORTHY OF HIS STEEL — GEORGE BROWN APPEARS ON THE STAGE. ^ It is not the purpose of this book to give a political history of Canada and Sir John Macdonald's association with it. We will not follow the fortunes of political parties in the midst of which this figure grows and grows, till he becomes the solitary giant among a race of common stature — an oak upon which the thousands of politicians Oi his own party, both great and small, clung as the vines and ivy. We will touch only here and there upon events of special interest, or scenes in which his personal traits stood forth in high relief. '^I'he exciting events which culminated in the burning of the Parliament buildings, in 1849, '^i^K ^^^ passed over with a woru, as they belong to the political rather than personal his- tory. The Tory Government had fallen, and John A. Mac- donald was now in opposition, when the Rebellion Losses bill came up. A commission had sat some years before to deter- mine the losses suffered by those who helped to put down the rel)elhon, and since then great and increasing pressure had been brought to l)ear to compensate those who suffered on the side of the lebels, as well as the loyalists, when the Radical Administration now in power decided to include all who suf- fered loss, and passed the bill. There was a wild outcry from the loyalists, who looked upon it a? putting a premium upon rebellion. Lord Elgin, who assented to the bill, was assailed, as he passed out of the Parliament building, with brickbats, bottles and with eggs, taken from the woman who kept the greengrocer's stand under the portico of the building; and at night a great ciowd, assembled by the .igitaiors, gave tlirce 1^ / I 68 Ail Anecdotal Life of cheers for the Queen, and moved down to the Parliament buildings. Shattering the windows with stones, they burst into the chamber, where a committee of the House was sitting, and ♦ when the members fled in alarm through the lobbies, they mounted the Speaker's chair and principal seats in mock de- liberation, and then proceeded to wreck the furniture. The symbol of majesty, the mace, was wrested from the Sergeant- at-Arms, and borne off in triumph. Amidst the crash of broken chandeliers, the cracking of seats, and the blasphemy and shouting of the rioters, the cry of fire was raised, and all rushed out. In a few minutes the building was wrapped in flames, and a library of 20,000 volumes, containing the most valuable records of the province, almost utterly destroyed. For this, the culminating act of the mob rule of Montreal, the city was punished by the removal forever of the seat of government. . ; John A. Macdonald took no part in the riots. He had protested in the debate against passing the bill, and had warned the Government that they were drawing down grave dangers, not alone upon their own heads, but upon the peace of the pro- vince; and to kill time and tire out the ministry, he kept the floor through the night, reading thirty of William Lyon Mac- Kenzie's letters. But he took no part in the riot. A bosom friend, still living, says he was not in town that night, but others say he stood a silent spectator of a rueful scene, digest- ing no doubt some valuable thoughts on political agitation. Time rolls on, and there soon appears before us the com- manding figure of George Brown, his greatest political rival. He was a man to be remembered. Over six feet in height, and powerfully built, with no soft outlines in face or figure, his ruggedness of frame and energy of movement made him an object almost of awe. People would turn about on the street to stare m wonderment at the majestic progress of this human steam engine, ere ever they knew that it was George Brown they were looking at. As the Great Eastern loomed up among a harbor full of ordinary steamers, so stood George Sir John Macdoncdd. 69 Brown among his ordinary fellows — whether the comparison WPS mental or physical. The wily diplomacy of John A. Macdonald met itsevenest match in th$ powerful, if inartistic, logic and the restless energy of this remarkable man. He had been only a year a resident in the country when John A. entered Parliament. Born in Edinburgh, he came out to New York with his father in 1838, being then 20 years old. He obtained employment as a writer on the New York Albion, a paper of strong British sentiment, and having a considerable circulation in Canada and the Maritime Provinces, After starting a paper of his own, the British Chronicle, on the same lines, he attracted ?o much attention in Canada, that he was induced to move to Toronto, and here in 1843 ^^^ started the Banner, a semi-religious paper, followed the next year by the Globe. In the same ye^r in which John A. was elected, he had been urged to become a candidate, but declined. In the campaign of 1847, however^ he made many speeches in support of the Radical candidates, and these speeches were looked upon as the most effective on this side of the struggle. " He had a singular power of rousing enthusiasm in a popular assembly, and very few cared to en- counter the tremendous tide of his rhetoric."''^ After a defeat in Haldimand, he ran in 1851 for Kent and Lambton, and was elected by a fair majority. Then came the great battles, which lasted through years, on the questions of the secularization of the clergy reserves, representation by population, the educational reform, and the franchise extension question, in which these two men fought like gladiators. Some of these sessions bristled with lively debate, and were often marked with eloquent speeches, and sometimes scenes v.'ere witnessed which could only be excused on the plea that the province had not yet arisen to the true dignity of self- government. *Alex. Mackenzie's ** Life of Hon. George Brown." 70 An Anecdotal Life of Here is a sample of tlie way in which John A. mingled sar- casm and banter in his bouts with Mr. Brown : " Attorney- General Macdonald said that last night his hon. friend from I.ambton (Mr. Brown) was defeated, horse, foot, and dragoons, and he now attempted, with a much diminished force, and much diminished spirit, to take up another position to-night. Like another Menschikoff, however, he would be driven from that also, and find no resting place in his tiight between Pere- kop and Sebastopol. * * The hon. member for Lambton said this was merely a local question, while the hon. member for Montreal said it was no local question at all. There was a mighty difference in the opinion of the two hon. members, but there was a wonderful unanimity in their vote." On another occasion in the same session (1854), he said "he treated the remarks of Mr. John Sandfield Macdonald, after his tranquillity of the week before, as a last kick given before the hon, member for Lambton should resume his seat. * * The truth was that the opposition was melting away. One after another all the little lills of opposition were being ab- sorbed, like the NortJi American into the great Globe, whose proprietor, he hoped, whether in opposition or not, would long continue to exercise his skill." And again, in a debate in 1855: '"The hon. member for Lambton had manifested great fear lest the Government be led astray by the ultra- montane views of the hon. member for Montmorency. No doubt the expressions of fear and sorrow were alike sincere. But once on a time when he (\L-. Macdonald) was in oppo- sition, and those two hon. gentlemen were on the same side, supporting the Baldwin-Lafontaine Government, his colleagues gave a thick and thin support to that Ministry. Whatever his colleagues did in the House, the hon. member for Lambton was sure to echo and applaud outside in the Globe. (Laugh- ter.) When long lists of grants for St. Anne this or St. Anne that, or St, Therese here or St. Therese there, were brought down by that Ministry, nothing could be better in the eyes of the hon. member for Lambton. ' Look,' he would say in Sir John Macdonalcl. 71 that able journal of his, the GMe, ' hov/ ministers take care to provide for education in Lower Canada, and how gener- ously Upper Canadians vote the money for that great object. Later still * * at Brantford, whither his colleague, being a modest man, desired to go quietly and unostentatiously, the member for Lambton (Mr. Brown) trotted him out, and paraded him before the eyes of Upper Canada Liberals in a coach drawn by six white horses (an hon. member near me says Brown horses). * * Now times are changed. * * Neverthe- less, it is cruel for him to attack him so bitterly, after having so affectionately patted him on the back." v - Mr. Brown retorted that he was sorry Mr. Macdonald should so much have changed his blast as to be blowing cold in 1855 against his hot of 1852. ^ : To this Mr. JvL^cdonald replied: "The breath of the hon. member for Lambton himself had not always been of the same temperature. During the late elections the Globe came out with the cry — ' Down with Rolph and Malcolm Cameron. We can stand anything else — we can stand Toryism, we can stand Sir Allan McNab and John A. Macdonald, but we can- not stand Rolph. Corrupt may be Sir Allan I\IcNab and steeped to the chin in Toryism, and John A. Macdonald may be following in his footsteps, a budding Tory at least — they are not bad fellows, however, for Tories — but put down Rolph ' and Cameron.' " The expression, " steeped to the chin in Toryism," was only a new rendering of a phrase which John A. Macdonald had coined the year before in the debate on the address to the throne, and which was in subsequent years to be turned into a byword against himself. He said : " There may be Walpoles among them, but there are no Pitts ; they are all steeped to the lips in corruption; they have no bond of union but the bond of common plunder." The following sketch is given of the close of the session of 1854 : On the 23rd of June it was whispered about that Lord FJgin ,.'ould at once stop the business of the country, 72 An Anecdotal L'lfe of turn the House out of doors at a minute's notice, dissolve tlie Legislature, embarrass the farmers by tli rowing the elections into the middle of the harvest, and prevent the new voters from exercising their franchise under the franchise extension act. At three o'clock two regiments of soldiers were drawn up in front of tlie Assembly Chamber. Mr. Macdonald, of Kingston, now began to speak in the midst of a great uproar, and commenced by saying tiiat the House was quite willing to return a respectful answer. — His voice was here drowned by the noise, in an interval of which the words, " I stand here for the liberties of the people of Canada," were heard, and then his voice was drowned in the tremendous uproar. Mr. Macdonald spoke on at the top of his voice, with violent ges- ticulations, though quite inaudibte. The Speaker stood on his feet also as if to speak, and amid this scene the messenger, who had been waiting outside some time, entered and the House was prorogued. ''^ *About this time the name of clear Grit became generally applied to the Radical or Reform party, and it is noteworthy that the nickname was applied not by John A. Macdonald, but by George Brown in the Globe. It originated in this way : — George Brown and David Christie were dis- cussing the new platform of the Advanced Liberals in 1850, which con- tained these planks: the elective principle tob'^ applied to all officials and institutions, universal suffrage, the ballot, biennial parliaments, the aboli- tion of property qualification for members of Parliament, a fixed term for elections, retrenchment, abolition of pensions to judges, abolition of the courts of Common Pleas and Chancery, reduction of lawyers' fees, free trade and direct taxation, amendment of the jury law, moderation of the usury law, abolition of primogeniture as to real estate, and secularization of the clergy reserves, Mr. Brown declined to support all these planks, and spoke of a mutual friend who would also refuse to go so far. " Ilim ! '' said Christie, *' we don't want him, we only want men who are clear Grit.'' Soon afterward the Globe applied the name to the new party, and it was then taken up by the Tories. The term " clear Grit " was in common use, however, without reference to politics, years l^fore this, and will be found more than once in the writings of Judge Hahburton (Sam Slick). Sir John Macdonald. 73 CHAPTER XIII. Within the hollow crown That rounds the mortal temples of a king, Keeps death his court ; and there the antic sits, Scoffi ig his state and grinning at his pomp • • * and with a little pin Bores through his castle wall, and — farewell king ! — Richard II. SIR ALLAN m'nAB DROPS OFF THE STAGE — ENTER JOHN A. — THE MINISTRY OF A DAY. In all these years of John A.'s parliamentary experience, Sir Allm McNab had been the head of the Conservative party. As a youth he had been through the war of 1812, anJ was in the battle of Stoney Creek, where 600 British threw them- selves upon an army of over 2,000 Americans,captured their two generals, and sent them in disorder back to their own frontier* thus turning the tide of invasion, which would otherwise have left the whole province of Upper Canada in the hands of the Americans. He was before all things an Englishman ; but the "belted Knight of Dandurn" was now growing old, and his Toryism had become fossilized, while increasing attacks of gout rendered his temper more crusty. John A. Macdonald saw that the secularization of the clergy reserves, or the abol- ition of State churchism in Canada was the demand of the people, but Sir Allan refused to abandon the convictions of a life-time at the bidding of expediency. The younger and more liberal-minded members of the party yearned for a sprightly and progressive leader, such as they saw in John x\. ; while that rising politician, after his re-election for Kingston, ''more than once displayed his impatience at the retrograde policy of his somewhile leaders." It has been said by his enemies that, taking advantage of the growing infirmities of old Sir Allan, he intrigued to supplant him ; bat tha actions of _i. _- F 74 , An A necdotal Life of his party disprove this. Rather than turn the old man out, he labored rather to remodel the party, and by infusing new bljod, accomplish the reforms that v/ere pressing, while still maintaining the old leader in his dignity. But a strong feel- ing rose among his own party against Sir Allan, and this was increased by his irritable tamper and his refusal to give way on small matters as well as great. In short, they forced his resignation, and swathed in flannels, and borne into the House by his two servants, w£ see the old man address a few pathetic words* to the House from his invalid chair, and tlien drop out of sight. As the old leader sinks in a cloud of vexation from public view, John A. Macdonald, as leader of the Assembly in. a new ministry, of which George E. Cartier and other new stars were members, rises '• full orbed " on the horizon as ihe sun of the- (Conservative party. Ministries rose andf^ll, coalitions were formed and dissolved as time went on, but whether he was nominally in a subordinate place in the Cabinet — as he was for the greater part of the time up to Con- federation — or whether in opposition, he was looked to, hence- forth, as the master tactician jf his party, and one of the ablest of administrators. The first ministry formed after the resignation of Sir Allan McNab was a coalition one, and it is related that having f )rmed it, John A. at once advised the Press. Among others he telegraphed the Hamilton Spectator: " Coalition formed \ announce Si)ence as Post Master General." Mr. Smiley, the well-known editor of that journal, had been violently denoun- cing Mr. Spence as a member of the other party, and the re- c^uest staggered him ; but he had great affection for John A., and after a while the reply was sent : " It's a d short curve ; but we'll take it." * *' I have been a member of this House for twenty-six yea^s, and during all that period I have not be^n so long absent as daring this session. I think the people of this country will receive that from a man of my age as sulTicient excuse. * * If 1 am condemned I am ready to retire into piivate life — and perhaps I am now fit for little else." Sir John Macdonald. 75 Mr. George Brown became Mr. Macdonnld's most vigorous opponent, and in tlie debates of tlie diy the language on both sides was sometimes more picturesque than became a legis- huive hall. A remarkable scene which occurred between the two in the session of 1856, at Toronto, is thus described by Dent : — Mr. Brown had been taunted with inconsistency in having previously supported Mr. Macdonald. The charge of incon- sistency was intolerable to him, and he broke out into fury. He '* lashed himself int "> a white heat, and indulged in a tre- mendous onslaught on the 'kaleidoscopic politics' of some members of ih.e Government, instancing Mr. Macdonald and the Post Master General. Stung by the cutting words as they })Oured out from the speaker's lips, Mr. Macdonald was roused to a condition of temper that impelled him to forget the jiieasant urbanity which generally marked his demeonor, alike to friends and foes. When lie rose to reply, it was evident he was laboring under great excitement. He launched forth into a tirade, which electrified the House, and caused even the least scrupulous of the parliamentary sharp-shooters to stand aghast. He accused the member for Lamb'on (Mr. Brown) of !uving falsified testimony, suborned convict witnesses, and obtained the pardon of murderers, in order to induce them to give false evidence. These grave delinquencies were al- Icdged to have been committed by Mr. Brown while he was acting as secretary to a commission appointed in 18 |8, to in- vestigate certain alleged abuses in coni^ection with the King- ston Penitentiary. Such foiil charges had never before been laid against a member on the flcor of a Canadian Parliament, and the astonished legislators gazed into each other's faces with mingled bewilderment and incredulity. When Mr. Mac- donald took his seat, Mr. Brown once more arose, tremulous with excitement, to repel the accusations. No one who knew tlij member for Lambton expected him to choose his words, an J ii good sooth he spoke in language akin to that employed by Falconbridge to the Dauphin of France. He was fre- 76 An Anecdotal Life of m quently interrupted by Mr. Macdonald, whose imi)assioncd ut- terances seemed to have been culled from the At lianasian Creed. * * Suddenly, each of the parliamentary gladiators seemed to realize the i)Osition in which he stood, and the storm subsided as quickly as it began." It was felt that calm deliberation was out of the question. The House broke up, and for the next day nothing else was talked of. In a motion, quoting the charges made by Mr. Macdonald, then the Attorney General, Mr. Brown demanded a commission of inquiry. The Attorney General would neither admit nor deny that the language quo- ted in Mr. Brown's motion was uttered by him, but demanded that the commission "should first find out what he did say," and then investigate the conduct of Mr. Brown on the Peni- tentiary commission. It was supposed that tiie original re- port of the commission was burnt; in the fire which destroy id the Parliament buildings in 184) Mr. Mackenzie, in his " Life and Speeches of Hon. Gtorge Brown," says, that at one of the first meetings of the committee appointed to in- quire into the charges, Philip Vankoughnet, counsel for Mr. Macdonald, moved for an order 1.0 examine certain convicts, and in doing so said th.il unforunately it was found that tiie report of the commission was destroyed in the Montreal fire. He regretted this, as if that report were extant he would be able to prove his charges without calling any such witnesses, Mr. Brown had come in, and, with his overcoat still on, was waiting for the proceedings to commence, when, hearing Mr. Vankoughnet make these remarks, he unbuttoned his coat, and drawing out the original report, said he was happy to hear tliat that document was all that was wanted. Throwing it upon the table he said, " There it is ! " Mr. Vankoughnet immediately left the room, and meeting Mr. Macdonald in the passage, said to him, ** Your case is dished." Whether this account is true or not^ it is certain the charges were proved to be utterly unfounded. Mr. Macdonald felt the mistake he had made, and never forgot the lesson it taught him. He never afterwards was given to the asj^ersion of charac- Sir John Macdonald. 77 ter, and never bst control of himself, no matter how taunted in public debate. He had '' spoken unadvisedly with hi-; lips," Hke Moses, and like him received a direct punishment, f )r when the groundlessness of the charges were siiown, Mr. Brown stood higher thaneverin the public estimation, and eveimmy of the Conservative journals expressed sympathy with him. This episode was only one of a numbei of wild scenes in the session of 1856, when the young blood of John A. Mac- donald boiled over. Daring some tilt> with Col. Rankin, it was seriously expected that a duel would be fought, and on one occasion it was intended to plice them both in the cus- tody of the Sergjant-at-Arms, but after the debate they were induced to i)romise to drop the quarrel. It was Col. Rankin who, when Sir Allan MicNab was thrown overboard, said : *• You have got rid of the King of Trumps, but you still hold the Knave." A noteworthy epoch of his parliamentary career was what was known to Canadian history as the '* double shuffle." In 1857, he had beeome Prime Minister, with Gjorge E. Cartier as his chief colleague. The difficult question of establishing the capital in a fixed place, instead of shifting from place to place as had been cone in past years, had now to be settled, and local jealousies made it hard to do. Themitter had been re- ferred to the Queen, and on the recommendation of Mr. Macdonald, Ottawa wah selected as the permanent capita'. This was announced at thj meeting of Parliament in February, 1858, and the decision was immediately challenged by the 0[)position. A resolution, declaring that Ottawa should not be the seat of government, was carried by 64 to 50. Bv^lieving tliat the Opposition would not form a ministry that would last, when other questions were considered, Mr. Mac- donald accepted a challenge thrown down on a motion by Mr. Brown for adjournment, and that being carried, the Mac- donald-Cartier Government promptly resigned. Sir Edmund HeaJ, the Governor, sent for Mr. Brown, and the Brown- DorioiJ Government was formed. The result proved the fore- 78 An Anecdotal JAfe of , , knowledge of Mr. Macdonald, for in two d lys a motion of want of confidence in tlie new government was carried, and tiiey were forced to resign in turn, by the refusal of the Gov- ernor-General to grant a dissolution. The Indei^endence of Parliament Act provided tliat a minister resigning one office and accepting another within one month would require re- election. Mr. Macdonald was now sent for, and in oider to avoid going to the country for re-election all the ministers took other offi:es than those held before the resignation, and then changed back to their old offices. This move, which was held to be a violation of the spirit of the act, became known as the "double siuiffle." The coup made a sensation throughout the country, for in many districts the news of the resignation of the Macdonald Guvernmen ihad not arrived when they had actually returned to power. A Toronto paper cuttingly re- ferred to the Brown-Dorion Government as '• A ministry of two days, a thing which was and is not, before either friend or foe can lealize its existence." The return of the Macdonald Government to power, ho v- ever, set led the vexed question of the capital, and Ottawa became not only the capi;al of the united province of Canada, but, when Confederation was accomplished, the seat c f govern- ment of the Dominion. Few people at this day will find fault wi:h the selection. It is interesting here to recall the fact that, when in 1854 a bill was introduced to erect the town of By town into the city of Ottawa, quite a discussion arose on the change of name. Solici- tor Genert 1 Smith said " a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," but Ottawa had a pleasanter sound than Bytown. Attorney-General Macdonald (John A.) said he would not like to -oppose himself to the wishes of the people, but it was really absurd to call a town by the name of the river on which it is situated. How would it do to call Paris "Seine" or London " Thames ? " Mr. Brown here remarked : '* The hon. gentleman seems to forget that there is a scheme now on foo i to change the name of Hamilton to Ontario." (I aughler.) Sir John Macdonald, 79 Sir Allan McNab objected to the change, as it was a memorial of Colonel By, who had practically created the place. Mr. Powell said he had thought of such words as By-zanliuin and Bv-copolis, but none seemed to suit as w.ll ps Ottawa, 80 An Anecdotal Life of CHAPTER XIV. Then my heart it grew ashen and sober As the leaves that were crisped and sere, — As the leaves that were witheiing and stre, Ai.d I cried — "It was surely October, On this very night of the year, 1 hat I journeyed — 1 jonrneyed down here, ,' I'hat I brought a dread burden down here, Cn this night of all nights in the year ! " — /v. ^ JOHNA.'S FATHER AND MOTHER — SOMETHING OF HIS SISTERS — DEATH OF THE GOOD OLD LADY. As already mentioned, Mr. Macdonald, in 1857, ^^""^ y^^^ of the great financial depression in Canada, followed his first wife t ) her grave at Kingston. His father had been in his grave for sixteen years^ having dropped off rather suddenly in Sep- tember, 1841, and now his dear old mother had already had mire than one stroke of paralysis — the dreadful visitation that was at last to seize upon his own frame. Mention has already been made of his family in preceding chapters. His parents were both kind-hearted and hospitable people, and a feature of this hospitality was the custom of par- taking of alcoholic liquor with friends. The drinking of whiskey is happily '-^ ./ regarded in a different light to what it was then. At that time it was not looked on as a violation of the code of morality; and while whiskey was only t.weniy-five cents a gallon, even the poor made it a beverage. In many houses it was kept on tap or in a pail, with a cup beside it, as water is kept now in country houses. It could not, therefore, be wondered at that a man of hospitable disposition like Hugh Macdonald should become so addicted to it that his days were probably shortened by it, or that a lad like his on should grow up with a taste for it. Hugh Macdonald is described as SIR JOHN A. MACCONALD'S MOTHER. )F REPRODUCTION RESERVED. Sir John Macdonald. 81 a somewhat short but well-built man, with a quiet demeanor, and kind to children. Like his son, he never wore a beard, and had only a small tuft of whisker at the side of his face. He was known anions his acquaintances as "Little Hugh," an a[)pellation given with no disrespect, and less with reference to his short stature than as a means siill common in Scotch districts of distinguishing individuals of the same family name. While they lived at Hay Bay and the Stone Mills, some of their neighbors thought Mr. Macdonald a stern and unsociable man, and the circumstance was recalled of his causing the arrest of a youth and his sister for stealing a pair of socks from the store. The circumstances of the case are not known, but no doubt he acted from a sense of duty, for he was always known as a strict and upright man, and held in horror any- thing Hke dishonesty. His strict honesty, combined wiih his generous disposition, was, no doubt, a reason that he did not accumulate money.* ; / : Though mild in manner, he had the inflammable temper of a Higlilander, which showed itself most easily in resent of tyranny. An instance of this is related by one who knew him. Mr, Macdonald was an officer in the First Lennox Militia. I.i those days an annual drill, called "general train- ing day/' was held on the 4th of June, the birth-day of George IV., wh3n the whole battalion turned out, and after drill the officers dined together. On this occasion he got into a quarrel with a Captain Casey, who had command of a troop of cavalry. Captain Casey, who was a martinet, and over- bearing, insulted Mr. Macdonald, who challenged him to a duel with swords, but Col. Dorland interposed, and prevented bloodshed. Mrs. Macdonald was a grand old lady, and from her Sir John undoubtedly inherited most of those qualities which * lie was able, however, to buy two houses and lots of a neighbor at Hay Bay, and Sir John mentioned th.at one of these was "deeded'' to him to vote upon when he came of age. Mis fijst vote was given for John Soloiar;n Can Wright, the uncie of Sir Richard. 82 An Anecdotal Life of have made his name a word to conjure by. She was a little above the medium heiglit, large limbed, and capable of much endurance. Her face was remarkable, as any one who studies tiie accompanying portrait will admit. Her features were large, and, as some considered, coarse ; but there beamed through her dark eye a depth of apprehension mingled with such graciousness and good-will .s commanded the reverence of a passer-by. But most rem irkable of anyliiing about her were the strange lines with whicli her features wore scored as she advanced in years, lines which were reproduced in her son in a still more striking way— more's the pity that in the latter case the photogra[)hic artists invan'ably remove these lines and wrinkles, and so spoil the most striking feature of his face. Mrs. Macdonald was a woman of deep pieiy as well as kindness of heart, and doubtless her words of spiritual counsel, uttered in the quiet of their humble home in King- ston, or sitting by the rippling waters of Hay Boy, came back to him in the nn"dst of throngs of senators and legisla- tors, or obtruded while questions of state were being weighed in the council room. After John A. had married first, her husband being dead, she went to live with her daughter Louisa in a little cottage in Princess street. They were always plain and unpretentious in their mode of life, although she was very fond of entertaining friends, and the good old lady preferre 1 this quiet cottage to a home in a gay and vain Capital. She had a broad Scotch accent and a pronounced sense of humor. She appreciated a droll situation or a droll saying. Those who knew her best say she had a f;reat mind and a great memory ; and had she possessed the advantages of a high education, and the opportunities that some get in life, she would have been a noted woman. She had q lite an acquaintance with Gaelic literature,* and up to the time of •She, like her son, was fond of a good story. One rainy day, while some friends Mere at ihe house, she pro| osed they shou 1 pass the tin:e v.iih anecdotes and stories. After the others had each told their story, sir John Macdonald, 83 coming to Canada the Gaelic language was much more familiar to her than English When they first came out they spoke it commonly in coi:versalion between themselves or friends, hut gradually fell out of it. About fourteen years before her death she had a stroke of paralysis, upon wliich her sou was sent for. Stroke succeeded stroke at intervals averagin; about a year, and every time the son hastened anxiously to her bedside. When she was stricken with her ninth at ack, and he left public business to be at her side, she greeted him with " Weil. John, I am ashamed to see vQU ! " After that she tried to avoid calling him from his duties at these false alarms. 'J'hrough the thirteenth shock her wonderful constitution bore her; but at last, after suffering the almost unj)aralieled number of fourteen strokes, s!ie passed a\vay 'n the month of October, 1862, at the good old age of 84. Ill the delirium that accompanied the seizure* the language o( her childhood came back to her; she gave her orders in Gaelic, and by those mysterious operations of the mind that often precede death, she wandered again by the banks and braes of her Highland home, talking in Gaelic to the companions of her childhood, and listening to the ding-ding of the anvil in the village smithy's shop. Her son did not reach Kingston in time to see her alive — the child upon whom siie had bestowed the greatest inheritance that a mother could give to the fruit of her womb — a good in- tellect implanted in a sound constitution, and followed to manhood with wise counsel and yearning prayers to Heaven. Sir John's sister Margaret had married Prof. Williamson, of Queen's University, Kingston, with whom she lived happily, thougii for many years suffering from weakness of circulation. Her blood would get clogged in the lungs, and cause hemorrhage and fainting. Notwithstanding this trouble she read selections from " Thaddeus of Warsaw." In one part of the story ihe tears ran down her cheeks, and she stopped the slcry, exclaim- injj, " Poor, dear Thaddeus ! " 84 An Anecdotal Life of and frequent biliousness, she was active, and bore herse'f cheerfully, and was the life and soul of the company that used to gather at the Professor's house. She was a leader in her company as S'ir John was in political life. She died in 1876? leaving no children, and with only her sister as the represen- tative of the family in Kingston. Louisa never married. In dress and appearance she was c type of the elderly lady of the past generation, and wore little curls at the side of her face. She was quite as witty and sparkling in her coriversation as Sir John; and in a quiet gathering of friends, she would keep them in constant laughter with her droll sayings and her quaint way of putting things. Once a gentleman met her on the train, and hearing she was Sir John's sister, came over and spoke to her, assur- ing her that she was the very image of her distinguished brother. 'Jelling the incident afterwards to a friend, she added the quaint and womanly comment : " A curious com- l)liment to pay to me, considering that John Macdonald is one of the ugliest men in Canada ! " She had a good deal of natural talent. One of her schoolmates at Adolphustown remembers to this day her reciting at a school examination the little poem " My Mother " with such effect, that it brought tears to the eyes of some of those present, among whom was her own mother. Louisa was Sir John's favorite sister, and when, after years of sickness heroically borne, she passed away in November, 1888, he was greatly grieved. She too died of paralysis, hav- ing bad four strokes. Meeting him at the funeral, Mrs. ThoniaS Wilson, one of Sir John's schoolmates at Kingston, said to him : " Well, John, you are the last of your family left, and so am I of mine 1 " " Yes," he replied, with a saddened countenance. " That's so ! " He felt there were not many more milestones of life to pass. - Sir John Macdonald, 85 CHAPTER XV. Confederation ! glorious morn ! A nation new to earth is born In joyful birth — peace all around, Iler place among her peers is found. From bloodless death her life, loud ring, The Kir.g is dead; Long live the King ! Loud ring the bells, greet hand with hand. Let joy and cheer fill all the land. Glad prait: to Heaven ! from o'er the main Come gratulations — cheer again ! Her birth well omened, God our trust, What promise more ? what hope more just ? • • • • • • And though from many lands we come ♦ /^ ' • To make thee, Canada, our home, ■ - . . - Thy people many shall be one, — W. H. Lynch. CONFEDERATION — ITS PREPARATION AND ACCOMPLISHMENT — JOHN A. BECOMES SIR JOHN. " • ' Leaving the polilical biographer to give details of the numer- ous measures of reform in which he, although not always the originator or advocate of, had a hand in shaping, we now come to the crowning achievement of his political life — the creation of the Dominion. He had always been a strong and sincere advocate of "nity and mutual good- will among the various races which composed the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, ahd in bis endeavor to promo e this, he was often taunted by various factions with being influenced by un- worthy mDtives ; but a retrospect of his whole life has shown that, whatever may have been his faults of character, he had that broad spirit of humanity which fully comprehended the divine principle as it applied to the national elements of this 86 An Anecdotal Life of land, " God halh made of one blood all nations." In the later years of the union of the two provinces, this great prin- ciple was fast being forgotten, or clouded by prejudices. There were, no doubt, inequalities in the system of union be- tween the two provinces, bat party strife magnified them so that affairs were constantly being brought to a deadlock. The difficulty of obtaining a majority from each province on any one measure increased as time went on, and by the hos- tile majorities of either province on different questions it became an easy matter to defeat a ministry. One party turned another out of office only to be defeated themselves ; and the country was forever agitated by new elections or threats of them. It was at such a juncture that the patriotic men of all parties looked for relief in that broader union of all the pro- vinces of British North America which would lift men above mere provincialii^m and inspire them with the dignity of national life. The idea of a confederation of all these provinces and terri- tories was not new. A;i early as 1800-8, the Hon. Mr. Uniacke, a leading politician of Nova Scotia, submitted a scheme of colonial union to the Imperial Government. At various subsequent times and in different provinces it was revived, but local spirit and local jealousies and prejudices were yet too strong, or no men yet appeared who could inspire the people with this great ideal. Even now, when the hour had come, it was only the conjunctive ascension in each pro- vince of men who possessed a commanding influence with the p.ople, and who could soften and mould the dry and stubborn clay of localism, and breaihe into the nostrils of the provinces the breath of a new national life, that made Confederatioa a living reality. And beyond all this, theie was still want- ing a man who could draw these representative provin- cialists to each other, unwarp their peisonal bias, soothe an uprising I'assion, and harmonize the conflict of theory and oj>inion. ^ ^ ^^ ; But the hour had come, and with it, in the providence of Sir John Macdonald. 87 Godj as most Canadians believe, had come the man in Jolni A. Macdonald.* All his past successes and failures, all his experience in Cabinets bad and good, in opposition or on the Government side, in caucus or on platform, in the practice of his marvelous gift of winning back one recalcitrant colleague or counteracting the intrigue of another — all alike had been but a schooling for this great work. There is no reason that even his enemies should doubt the sincerity of his desire for concord and harmony among the people of Canada, and for the maintenance of that attach, rnent to our mother-land which has been a constant inspira- tion with the people of these provinces amid times of storm as well as in smooth water. Even in the troubles that accom- panied the settlement of the Rebellion Losses, when he joined the British American League, he confined himself to constitu- tional measures, and counselled the hot-heads to moderation and peaceable methods. His previous public utterances showed this sentiment ; and when the deadlock of the united provinces occurred, h*^ had not wavered in his faith in the future. His address to the electors of Kingston, in 1861, concluded with these words : *' The fratricidal conflict now unhappily raging in the United States (referring to the late Civil War) shows us the superiority of our institutions, and of the principle on which they are based. Long m ly that prin- ciple—the monarchical principle — prevail in this land. Let there be no ' looking to Washington,' as was threatened by a leading member of ihe Opposition last session ; but let the cry with the moderate party be, ' Canada united as one province and under one Sovereign.' " His speeches, elsewhere referred to, and his private as well as public expressions, show that this was not a seniiment manufactured for election purposes^ At the opening of Parliament at Quebec, in May, 1864, .', It may be interes'ing to note that in his early speeches he expressed a preference for a lejiislaiive rather th.xn a federal union ; that is, a union of all the provinces under one legislature, doing away with the provinr- ' parliaments. 88 An Anecdotal Life of another deadlock occurred through a want of c::nfidence motion by John Sandfield Macdonald, and when John A. dropped the reins, legislators turned to each other in despair as to what was -to be done. Mr. George Brown, the head of the Reform party, in talking the situation over privately with two supporters of the Government, expressed the conviction common to most of the members that a crisis had arrived, and that the time was come to settle forever the constitutional difficulties between Upper and Lower Canada. This talk became serious, and Mr. Brown expressed his willingness to join any party to save the country from chaos and evolve a new order of things. With Mr. Brown's permission this interview was reported to Mr. John A. Macdonald and other members of his party, and the result was a series of informal talks which ended in a discussion on the part of Mr. Brown, along with Mr. Oliver Mowat (now a member of Parliament) and Mr. William McDougallas his colleague^, to aid in forming a coalition government to bring about a federal union. When we consider the mould in which the character of George Brown had been cast, we shall fail to find in all the chronicles of Canadian politics a grander spectacle of self-sacrifice, a more shining example of unobtrusive patriotisrn. Closing his ears to the comments of his own party, he forgot fi)r the time the etiquette of party poli ics, and sat down with men to whom for years he had been uncompromisingly opposed, and for some of whom he had no personal respect or esteem, to study out a plan whereby the country might be saved from impending peril. Our admiration for him is increased when we see him step quietly down, the moment the new confede- ration is assured, and resume his place in his old party, refusing the honor of knighthood and declining all off.Ts of position in the first Cabinet of the New Dominion about to be ushered in. And what is said of him might also be r i ' of his own party colleagues who joined him. It was a remarkable conjuncture of events which brought about a meeting of delegates of the Maritime Provinces lo Sir John Macdonald. 89 discuss the question of a maritime union, while these events were transpiring in the Canadian Provinces. It was decided to send delegates down to Charlottetown, where the Maritime Convention was to be held. Eight delegates were sent, among whom, of course, were the Hon. John A. Macdonald and the Hon. George Brown, now President of the Council in the new Coalition Ministry of Canada. The Canadian delegates were invited to join unofficially in the discussion, and their unfold- ing of the larger scheme fired the imagination of the statesmen of the Maritime Provinces, and kindled the enthusiasm of those who read the speeches. The delegates visited Halifax,* St. John and Fredericton, where they were received with the characteristic hospitality of tl^e Maritime Provinces. A new conference, at which representatives of the Maritime Provinces were to be present, was appointed to meet at Quebec in Octo- ber of the same year, and here resolutions were adopted look- ing to a union of the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland. This was followed in 1865 by legislation accepting the basis of union, and making a formal address to the Queen, asking that it should be carried into effect. The two island colonies, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, withdrew from the scheme, and the adverse results of local elections in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia set it back in those provinces. But the constancy and courage of such men as Dr. Tupper (now Sir Charles) in Nova Scotia and Samuel Leonard Tilley (now Sir Leonard) in New Brunswick carried those provinces in favor of union, so that the opening of the year 1867 found delegates from the four provinces sitting in the Westminster Palace Hotel watching the passage through the Imperial Parliament of the bill for the new constitution they had framed. What had contributed to this happy achievement was an occurrence, the year before, which at the time seemed a great national calamity — the invasion of our country by the See extract from his speech delivered on this occasion. O 9U An Anecdotal Life of Fenians. This conspiracy, that aimed at the capture of Ireland by overrunning Canada, which they supposed they could easily subdue, was widespread in the United States, and for months men were drilling more or less openly and equip- ping for the invasion of Canada with the connivance of the American Government. At last the invasion took place, and though it ended in a fizzle, and the American Government took steps to preserve the peace after the breach had been committed, the raids caused great agitation and suspense, and put the Provincial Governments to enormous cost. But this trial seemed like the finger of God in our history, for it showed the weakness of cacl) province in starting apart by itself in a time of common danger ; it showed how helpless each would be alone ; it showed how powerful they would be when acting together in a common bond of brotherhood. It was thought by many that the Americaii Government winked ai the Fenian raids in revenge for England's inaction when the '* Alabama " was fitted out at Liverpool to prey upon American vessels during the civil war ; but, whatever the cause — whether it were revenge, ill-will to neighbors or simply supineness, the invasion of our peaceful homes, instead of breaking up our community, roused British Americans of all the provinces not only to the need of common defence, but led them to feel that even in peace these scattered provinces would find in this union the germs of a great nation. It is easy to prophesy after the event, and Confederation seems natural and easy now, hut to prepare the way, to over- come prejudices, to harmonize alien systems of administration, to get provinces to sink their autonomy and change their fiscal system, these were obstacles that required the highest sagacity to surmount. It was the greatest test of John A. Macdonald's statesmanship. We may see this while confessing that the noble stand taken by the Hon. Geoige Brown cleared the way and gave to others the first bright example of a patriot- ism that sacrificed self, and that the men who came together from the different provinces at this time were men of excep- Sir John Macdonald. 91 tionally broad minds and large hearts. But let anyone who knows what tact, what patience, what gentleness of temper, what constancy and firmness of purpose, and what self abnega- tion are required to reconcile alienated lovers, divided families or hereditary foes in private life, realize what qualities of mind and heart are called for to bridge over this enormous gulf of difficulties in the complex affiiirs of a nation. Realizing this, one can see what Sir John Macdonald did for the Dominion. John A. in 1077. John A. in 1856 — From an oil painting. The bill for the union — which is ou' present constitution and national charter — passed through the Imperial Parliament as it was framed by the " Fathers of Confederation." There was but one amendment of one word, and that was made in the House of Lords. It was purely a verbal amendment, and was so nconsequential that the stickling lord who made it was quiety ridiculed to the Canadian delegates by his compeers. On the ist July, 1867, the new Dominion came into exist- ence, and the day was celebrated with rejoicings throughout the provinces. It became thenceforth our national holiday, to be celebrated equally with the Queen's Birthday, Meantime, in happy coincidence with the act of political union, Sir John A. Macdonald applied the principle to himself by taking a wife in the person of Miss Bernard, a sister to his 92 An Anecdotal Life of secretary at the conference. Of this lady something will be said in another chapter. He was now honored with knight- hood, while among his colleagues, Messrs. Tupper, Tilley, Cartier,* Gait, McDougall and Rowland were made Com- panions of the Bath, and when the first cabinet of the Dominion was formed on their return, he was nominated by Lord Monck, the Governor General, as Prime Minister. Old party questions were now settled, old party lines demolished, and in the beginning of the new era Sir John Macdonald stood without a rival in power or in popularity. *Mr. Cartier thought he should have had eqtial honors with Sir John, and felt slighted that he should have been made only a C. B., while Sir John was made a K. C. B. He attributed this discrimination to Sir John himself, and did not disguise his feelings. Sir John with his characteristic generosity did his best to soothe his friend's wounded feelings, and a year later Sir Georp:e Cartier was created a Baronet of the United Kingdom, a dignity higher than Sir John's. This partially healed the wound, but to quote the words of Dent, the historian, **the golden bowl had been shivered, and the relations between him and Sir John were never again of that truly cordial nature which had subsisted between them in the old days, which, in more senses than one, had passed away forever." Sir John Macdonald. 93 CHAPTER XVI. And races, hostile once, now freely blend In happy union, each the other's friend ; Striving as nobly for the general good . As once their fathers strove in fields of blood. —Joseph HoTve's '' Acadia r CEMENTING AND EXTENDING THE UNION— THE ECLIPSE, AND THE SUNSrtlNE THAT FOLLOWED IT. There was some friction in the working of the new confedera- tion machinery at first. A pulley had to be tightened here amd there, and the shafting did not run true, but the master mechanic was on hand to put the machine in order, and as time went on the defects were adjusted. The acquirement of the North West Territory from the Hudson Bay Company had been for some years urged upon the Government — notably by the Hon. George Brown — and, by a treaty made through the medium of the Imperial Government, a transfer was made of the great North Western Territory to the Dominion Government in consideration of the sum of ;^3oo,ooo, but some land around the trading posts and some of what were supposed to be the best sections of farm land were reserved to the company. When the new Governor of tie territory, Hon. Wm. McDougall, went up to establish formal authority over the land, the half-breeds, not under- standing the nature of the change, and the Hudson Bay Co.'s officers (chagrined at no longer being lords paramount of the soil) refusing to enlighten them, or represent the new government in a favorable light, a rebellion broke out in 1869, heade:! by Louis Riel. It was in suppressing this that Sir Garnet Wolseley — then a colonel — won his first fame as a soldier. Riel having fled on the approach of the Canadian troops, the territory of the Red River was proclaimed part of 94 An Anecdotal Life of Canada, and 'vas erected (1870) into the province of Manitoba. In the following year British Columbia joined the confederacy, and in 1873 Prince Edward Island can.e in. In 1882, out of the great regions beyond Manitoba, four districts or territories, each as large as the average of the other provinces, were marked out to be erected into provinces, as their wonderful resources should atiract sufficiont population. In 1886, the act organizing three of these territories — Assiniboia, Saskatcliewan and Alberta — with a common capital at Regina, was assented to by tlie Imperial Parliament, and by this step not only were these creations affirmed, bat power was given to erect other territories, as settlements advanced beyond. Thus the Dominion is invested with the essential attributes of sovereignty over the entire domain of British North America, Newfoundland alone excepted. By the compact with, the Maritime Provinces, the Inter- colonial Railway was to be constructed, and on the entry of Britisli Columbia, hitherto so isolated from the motherland tirid the other provinces, it was agreed that a national railway should be built from the Atlantic to the Pacific, connecting all the provinces of the Confederation. In the election of 1872, Sir John was returned to power, but the contest was scarcely over before serious rumors spread that they had been won by gross corruption, and these rumors soon took definite shape in a charge that large sums of money had been advanced by Sir Hugh Allan for election purposes, on the understand- ing that the contract for building the road would be :iwardcd to a company, of which Sir Hugh would be the head. A commission of inquiry was demanded and held, and evidence came out which showed too plainly that Sir Jolin had given way to (juestionable methods of carrying an election and building a railway. The more conscientious of his political friends withdrew their suj)pori, but before the vote was taken on the motion of condemnation he resigned. The speeches made at the special session of Parliament, called in October to consider the ciiarges, were among the most memorable in Sir John Macdonald. our parHamentary annals, and that from Sir John was perhaps the greatest effort of his life. There is every reason to think that, however much he may have erred in this instance, not a single cent of the corruption-money went into his own pocket, or was used for his personal advantage. The whole tenor of his life makes this clear. Alexan(Jer Mackenzie and Edward Blake were then rising to the zenith of tlieir parliamentary fame, and on the resignation of Sir John the former became premier. Sir John retired cowed and for the moment dismayed, and most people supposed that when he sank under the cloud he was never to rise again. For some days he gave way to dis- sipation, but soon appeared among his friends with as jaunty a bearing as of old. He had, however, written with his own hand an announcement for the Ottawa Citizen, of his retire- ment from public life, and there are other reasons for thinking that he would not have moved a hand to force his claims upon his friends had they nut determined that he still should be their leader in opposition. Mr. Mackintosh, the editor of the Ciiizeii, refused to insert the announcement of his retire- ment, and most of his political friends stood by him in this his darkest hour. The generous attachment shown towards the old leader by his followers in this crisis — though they knew he had sinned — is one of the most touching incidents in the history of the Conservative party. Alonzo Wright in one of those rare but rich speeches, delivered after his return to power, gave this tribute to the fidelity of the party : " As we all know, the Conservative party sustained a severe defeat. In fact as the hon. leader of the Opposition was fond of telling us, they came back a broken band ; a '^orporal's guard. We were like the broken band that gathered round the camp-fires of Swedish Charles after Pultowa, we had been hunted like partridges. Many of our best and bravest had fallen ; but there was no murmur for the dead whose bones lay on many a black hillside and lonely valley, the prey of the jackals, wolves and carrion crows that follow on the track of 96 An Anecdotal Life of a defeated army. Many of our men had a hunted look as though they still felt the breath of the bloodhounds on their cheeks. But at last the Conservative party turned fiercely to bay. I think there is nothing tnier in history than the nianner in which the French and English gentlemen gathered round their wounded leader ; and 1 say it to the honor of ihe Con- servative party, that never in the hourof his highest elevation, when he stood foremost in the councils of his country, did he receive such unfaltering loyalty, such true devotion, as in the hour of his darkness, desolation and despair. But, sir, we had traitors in our camp then, as there were traitors under the palm trees of Judea. * * There were men who wished to cast him overboard as a Jonah to the sharks who were cluster- ing round our ship. But the party were true to him, and * * we passed through that long dark night of opposition, until there were signs that the day was about to break. Then, sir, the great battle was fought, and owing to the fidelity of his fol- lowers, the sympathy of the people, and, above all, to his own matchless skill and dauntless courage the battle was won, and he stood once more foremost in the councils of his sovereign." After recovering from tlie momentary stupor of the eclipse in 1S74, he shook off politics, and with a light heart ap[)arent- ly, he went back to the i)ractice of his profession in Toronto. As the emblematical albatross fell from the ;icck of the Ancient Mariner, so Sir John's load of care and obloquy fell off his shoulders, and " dropped like lead into the sea." He bided his time. '' Give the Grits rope enough," he would laughingly say, " and they will hang themselves." Probably not one in fifty of his opponents looked upon such observa- tions as anything more than the sneers of a disappointed poli- tican. But time and circumstances were doing a work for him. An almost unparalleled financial depression overspread the country before the MacKenzie Administration had been long in power, the manufactures of the country suffered from the keen competition of the Americans, the revenue suffered from diminished imports, and the curtailment of public works Sir John Macdonahl, 97 had a further depressing effect. Just then, when men were ready to try any remedy which promised even a temporary relief, Sir John came forward with a panacea in the shape of the National Policy,* a raising of the tariff in certain direc- tions, which he end his colleagues agreed would give a spe- cial impetus to various industries that should be built up in the country, and, wliile affording a better revenue, would re- vive trade all round. It is not necessary to discuss the soundness or speciousness of this theory, but to record the fact that, after a series of exciting campaign debates in I'^yS, the Conservatives were re- turned by a large majority, and to the surprise of the world Sir John stood once more Prime Minister of Canada. Syn- SiK John in 1885. * Ihe phrase '* National Policy " as applied to the new tariff is said to have been the invention of Sir Charles Tupper. and not Sir JohnMacdonald, 98 An Anecdotal Life of chronously with the adoption of the National Policy came a general revival of trade throughout America and Europe, with bountiful harvests; and the business feeling throughout the Dominion was once more buoyant. These happy as- sociations of his return to power were not without their effect upon the i)eople, and there had grown up a positive supersti- tion among a class of countrymen that as long as '• John A." was in power crops would be good. Ke himself often took opportunities cf spreading the super- stition by turning his humor in that direction, and at a "'^'^'"^"S of workingmen held a couple of years after his restoration he said : " Trade revived, crops were abundant, and bank stocks once more became buoyant, owing to the confidence of the people of Canada in the new Administration. A citizen of Toronto assured me liiat his Conservative cow gave three quarts of milk more a day after the election than before ; while a good Conservative lady friend solemnly affirmed that her hens laid more eggs, larger eggs, fresher eggs and more to the dozen ever since the new Administration came in." Once more at the helm of affiiirs, Sir John and his Cabinet set about the building of the Canadian lailway to the Pacific ocean, with tiie rapid achievement of which the reader is fami- liar. Strange to say, he prided lu'mself more upon this under- taking than upon his greatest feats of diplomacy or legislation, and perhaps it is but just to say that it was not the money of Lord Mount Stephen so much as the faith of Sir John Mac- donald that built the road. The years of his administration from the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1886 to his death were more distinguished for efforts to develop the resources of the great North West than for any legislation of importance. Sir John Macdonold. CHAPTER XVII. So with two seeming bodies but one heart * * * So we grew together, Like to a double cherry, seeming parted, But yet a union in partition. , — Midsummer Ni^ht\ Dream. SIR John's second marriage — lady macdonald. t Allusion has already been made to tlie circumstance of Sir John Miicdonald's second marriage taking i)lace, just as the banns of ihc provinces lie was to rule were being called in London. While the first confederation conference was silling in Charlottetown, it was rumored about that he was to marry l^Iiss Haviland, a sister of the late Governor of Prince Ed- ward Island, but anotiier fate was to be his. For some years he had been acquainted with Miss Susan Agnes Bernard, a sister of Colonel Bernard, who was his pri- vate secretary. This acquaintance grew to intimacy while the Government sat at Quebec, the somewhat limited circle of society and the professional relationsl ip of Miss Bernard's brother bringing them into frequent contact. Miss Bernard was not beautiful as a young lady. She was tall, tawny, and ai; this time, to use the harsh phrase of the day, rather "raw- boned " and angular. But she possessed a keen wli, a quick perception, a liberal mind and a certain unselfishness of heart, which would become well the wife of a public man. She was born in the island of Jamaica, about fifty-five years ago. Her parents, says the writer of a charming sketch of Lady Macdonald in i\\Q Ladies' Home fcttrnaUoi VhW^dtX- phia, " were of aristocratic and wealthy Creole families — the term being used in its strictly accurate meaning, as designat- ing Europeans long resident in the West Indies. Her father 100 An Anecdotal Life of filled a judge's chair for many years, and also had a seat on the Council of Eight that in h;.:. time administered the public affairs of the island. On the mother's side were extensive interests in sugar plantations. While still a mere child, Miss Agnes Bernard lost her father, and — as about the same time the family property became seriously diminished in value by the introduction of free-trade, following upon the abolition of slavery — her mother decided to remove to England. ; "At first the change of environment proved very unwelcome. The difference of atmosphere between Jamaica — where the lower classes were all attention and servility — and England — where even the servants had wills of their own and dared to show them-~was not to be comprehended at oncj. "But the years, busy with books and acquiring accomplish- ments, slipped by, and England, despite her exclusiveness, became very dear. In the meantime, matters in Jamaica were going from bad to worse. The i)lanters fell into the depths of ruin, and all who could get away from the ill-fated island with anv remnants of their fortunes, hastened to do so. Miss Lady Macuonalu. Sir John Macdonald, 101 Bernard's three brothers were among the number, and the eldest decided upon trying his hick in Canada. The outlook was so promising that his mother and sister joined him in the year 1854. "They had no reason to regret the step. From the very first the venture approved Itself. In a few years Mr. Bernard be- came private secretary to the Honorable John A. Macdonald, then Attorney-General for Western Canada. This official connection may be considered the beginning of his sister's interest in the political history of Canada, and in the person- ality of her foremost politician, although she did not make the acquaintance of her future husband at the time." Besides the gift of the mental qualities ^. ^re referred to, Miss Bernard was brilliant and piquant in co.iversation, and had no small degree of literary taste and talent,* as articles she wrote in after years for Murray's Magazine, of London, fuHy proved. Attracted by these qualities, Mr. Macdonald soon began to admire, tlien to love her, and finally asked her to marry him. She refused. One can well understand that no matter how much she may have loved him in return, or how much she may have admired his great talents, there was the danger that her hap])iness might be destroyed by linking her life to one who, at times, plunged so deeply into dissipation. As time went on, the great question of Confederation began to absorb his mind and lead him to higher efforts of states- manship, while the hope of still winning the woman he had set his heart upon inspired him with renewed efforts to conquer an appetite which was now fighting to conquer him. There were also handwritings on the wall, warning him of broken health and an ignoble ending to a brilliant life. * Lady Macdonald is a cousin of Lady Barker, a bright magazine writer, now wife of Sir F. Napier Broome, Governor of one of the Australian colonies. 102 An Anecdotal Life of These inspirations and these fears aHke led him to a struggle in which, after the many slips and downfalls which only those who have combatted the demon of drink can conceive of, he began to gain some degree of control. And the day that saw the victory of Confederation saw the victory of her faith and love, and happy he was to be in this union of unions. Miss Bernard had already gone to England, and was in London with her mother, when the Canadian delegates arrived there to frame and revise the Confederation bill and see it through the Imperial Parliament. Col. Bernard came with the delegates as secretary, and Miss Bernard, having relatives in London, was quite at home in the great metropolis. Several of the delegates had brought their wives and daughters, and what with the calls of chance friends in London and Canadian tourists then in England, the comfortable quarters assigned to the Canadian mission at the Westminster Palace Hotel bore the unmistakable impress of joy and animation. After the bustle of tl^ ' day, those who were not seeking the wonders of that wonderful city passed the time in quiet amusement in the hotel. The master wit of the party was sometimes self-luminous with his fantastic fun, but sometimes peculiarly pensive, and, while the others were playing checkers or cards, he would sit alone for an hour at a time playing the game of " patience." One day it was announced to the delegates that one of their number, to wit, the Honorable John A. Macdonald, was engaged to be married to Miss Agnes Bernard. Within two weeks from that time — or, to be precise as to date, on the morning of the i6th February — the Canadian delegates went in a body to see their chairman married. The ceremony took place in St. George's Church, Hanover Square, long known as the wedding altar of England's noted men. By a happy coincidence. Bishop Fulford, the Metropolitan Bishop of Canada, happened to be in London, and was selected to tie the knot. The weather was heavy and overcast — but that is the almost certain lot of a bride in London. The wedding Sir John Macdonald. 103 party cor.^jisted of between seventy and ninety guests, among whom were some of the wives of British Cabinet Ministers, with Sir Riciiard Mayne (head of the Metropolitan Police» of London), )iis son, and his daughter who was to have married Colonel Bernard on the same occasion. Lord Carnarvon's son was one of the groomsmen, wnile among tlie four bridesmaids were Miss Emma Tupper, daughter of Sir Charles; Miss Jessie McDougall, daughter of the Honorable William McDongall; and Miss Joanna Archibald, daughter of Sir Adams Archibald, all these ladies being daughters of delegates. The bridesmaids were attired in tlie fashion of that day; two of them in blue and two in pink, with pink crape bonnets and long tulle veils. The bride wore white satin with the usual wreath of orange blossoms and a veil of Brussels lace. Among the many wedding j)resents a correspondent of the Globe noicd a complete set in opaque enamel and amethyst and carbuncle, the gift of the delegates. After the ceremony a grand wedding-breakfast was given at the Westminster Palace Hotel. Governor (Sir Francis) Hincks proposed the bride's healtli in a speech, and John A., in reply, made one of the many witty speeches which have never been reported. He alluded to the plan of confederation, whereby all the provinces of Canada were united under one female sovereign, and that perfection of the idea of union had so occupied his mind that he had sought to apply it to himself. Before sitting down he made his bride and his assembled colleagues promises of future happiness in their union, which were certainly as well fulfilled as humanity could demand. Lady Macdonald (for the knighting of her husband gave her that title before their honeymoon was over) proved an admirable wife, and almost as many parallels could be drawn between herself and the Countess of Beaconsfield as have been drawn between ^ir John and Lord Beaconsfield. Like her husband, she became one with the people, and had a kind word for anyone with whom she became acquainted. There was no hauteur about her; she might be seen during the session going 104 An Anecdotal Life of about the Library with a friendly word dropped now and then to an attendant or a stranger, or sitting on the bare steps of the Senate entrance reading a book. She would make most of her calls on foot. She was, by the way, a most vigorous walker, and when she drove it was in the same vigorous way. In her home she proved a model hostess. Of the many visitors to her weekly receptions during the Session of Parlia- ment, ")io one of them failed to receive a wa-rm clasp of the hand, a bright, appropriate greeting, and the impression that the hostess was quite as glad to see them as if they were the only callers. With a dozen in the room at once, the most of them utter strangers to each other, Lady Macdonald would contrive to keep the ball of talk rolling so merrily that all felt they had a share in the conversation." In later years she became an adept in politics. She was an almost constant attendant in Parliament, and a certain seat in the Speaker's gallery became hers by natural right. Here she would sit and listen to the debates, sometimes till three o'clock in the morning, and many a time she would persuade Sir John off to his private room, and, while he took a com- fortable sleep, would watch the proceedings in the House. No one was quicker to note the appearance of a new member, and to take the measure of his i)arliamentary figure. Siie wou'd take in every word uttered in a new member's •' maiden speech," and could gauge with an instinct almost equal to Sir John's the manner of man he was. She had learned the deaf and dumb alphabet, and occasionally she might be seen tele- graphing to Sir John from the gallery by thij means. With all her soul she entered into his work, and enjoyed his most unreserved confidence. Apart from .the aptness she evinced as a political helpmeet, she was tender and sympathetic as a wife in the inner life of home. Knowing his weakness, she watched him with all the solicitude of a mother, drawing him from temptation where possible, and striving with the infinite patience of a true woman's love to wean him from his besetting sin. Often she Sir John Macdonald, 105 accompanied him rought up, said: The hon, member for Shefford stated that his administration were the victims of a system that had existed for the past twenty years* The hon. gentleman did not blame them so much as he pitied them, and he gave them the advantage of his sorrow. He (Sir John) could look back not twenty, but thirty-three years — to nearly twenty years of official life and thirty three years of parliamentary life — and he would declare in the presence of the House and in the presence of the country, that neither the men nor the Ciovernments with which he had been con- nected could be justly chargtd with acts of corruption. Sh John Macdonald, 123 They could liold up their heads in this country, as lie held up his head in this House, and declare that if ever aGovernmeni was conducted with a sincere, a simple and an anxious desire for the good of the country, and for no other purpose, it was the Government with which he was connected. He remem- bered the time when there was a great cry throughout tiie country that the late Government (Sir John's) had been guilty of all kinds of crimes, because they had paid loo much for mucilage and penknives. From every hustings, at every election the cry of mucilage and penknives was raised against them, but a decent old Reformer said the other day in Ontario, " I don't know how it is, Sir John managed the country with a little mucilage and a few penknives, when it takes millions of dollars to keep our own party in power." 1 he hon. member for Shefford talked about purity. Why, neither in his public or private life could that hon. gentleman talk of purity. 'Jhe hon. gentleman had a face of copper. Mr. Huntingdon sprang to his feet with excitement and be- gan with — * I challenre " but his voice was drowned by cries of order, and confusion. The Speaker threatened u* adjourn the House, but finally, after some recriminations had been indulged in, harmony was restored. Mr. Cauchon, referring to a bill under discussion, said if the principle was bad when carried to extremes, it must always be bad. The only difference was that carrying it to extremes made it a great deal worse. " Yes," dryly obsei ved Sir John, '* it is .ihvays bad to shave your head in order to cut your hair." Mr. Young, a ministerialist, speaking of the depression then existing, and which the Opposition blamed the Govern- ment for causing, said the depression was confined principally to three interests, the man ufiictu ring, the lumbering and the mercantile. " Exactly,*' interjected Sir John ; " that is, every possible interest except the agricultural and the ecclesiastical." 124 An Anecdotal Life of The following extract from a speech of Sir John's on the l)udi:et of 1876 gives a good sample of the pleasant raillery of which he was a master : *' I heard the tlirrat, the dire threat, tjiat the member for Montreal would go into oj^position. * * I thought I could see a smile, a gentle, placid smile, pass over the countenance of my hon. friend, who knows his power so well. My hon. friend from Montreal is like ancient Pistol — he can speak brave words, but, like the game ancient Pistol, he can eat the leek. My hon. friend the Premier was quite s;nisfied that although the member for Montieal was very brave just now, and although He casts off his friends As huntsman his pack, For he knows with a word ' He can whistle them back, they would give him their confidence as they had done hither to. If the Government are never di6placed until through the arm or the accident of my hon. friend from Montreal, they will remain in office much longer than either the wishes of the () Imposition or the good of the country require. My hon. friend from Montreal Centre gave me a warning that, unless I accepted this offer at once, there would be no use in throwing my net for him. Well, Mr. Speaker, I have caught some queer fish in my time, but I am afraid my hon. friend is too loose a fish forme to catch." And again in the same session in the debate on the address : '' We have the right to exercise stem criticism in our remarks to-day, and in the character of an appreciative but stern critic allow me to offer to both mover and seconder my felicitations on the happy and eloquent manner in which they have dore their duty. As to the speech itself, I can say it is a most harmless and innocent document. I hope there is no torpedo under it which will create an exi)losion before the session is over. However, it looks so amiable on its face that I cer- tainly do not propose to offer an amendment. * * * The Sir John Macdonald. 125 abolition of the office of Agent General is an economy that has been loudly called for in the country, and has at last been effected. 1 he Government deserve the credit of having stopped the leak, but iliey must remember they are charge- al)le with having made the auger-hole. * * Experience has shown my hon. friend we were not so far wrong as we were alleged to be. I think it is Benedict who says : ' When I de- clared I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live to be married.' The same with my hon. friends, they did not think when they were in Opposition they would ever be minis- ters. I hope the more they feel the cares and responsibilities of government, the more sympathy they will have with their inedecessors, and when the day comes when they return to this side of the House — [Mr. Blake — " That will be the mille- nium."] — Yes, that will be the millenium. I do not think he enjoys a millenium at the present time. I think there are some thorns, some tares, whether sown by their own friends or their enemies, I know not, and it is wrong for us to inquire. But my hon. friend will admit it is not a bed of roses." " That," said Mr. Thompson, arguing on the effect of a bill in 1877, ** is. going back to the blue laws of Connecticut, when people were fined for violating the moral law. If the Minister of Justice (Mr. Blake) will not consent to more amendments, I will move the six months' hoist." " The hon. gentleman has not yet convinced me," said Mr. Blake. *' I am open to conviction." " A good many persons will be open to conviction under tiie bill," observed Sir John. Sir John (referring to Mr. Young, of South Wentworth, in a discussion on the sugar duties), " Will he not insist on a bounty for beet-root sugar? If it is not done I have no djubt the hon. member will * * look to other sources for prelection to that great and growing industry." Mr. Young — *' I am afraid I would look in vain." 1 2 G An An ecchfa I Life of Sir John — *' I was going to say, I am afraid my hon. friend lip in that ccuntr>, if he does not do it, will soon be one of the dead beats." The same Mr. Young, speaking of Sir John's dwindh'ng majorities in the constituency he so long rr 'esented, said : " In the early part of his career, it was utterly useless for any- body to oppose him. His majorities were counted by hun- dreds, but in 1874 his majority was reduced to thirty-eight (and he lost the seat, and the judge had doubts whether he should not disqualify him). But we go on to the next election when the hon. gentleman was only returned by a majority of seventeen, and so much was he in fear of defeat that he went to the poll ai.d voted for himself." Sir John good-naturedly replied : " That is true ; I had only seventeen, and I am veiy glad I got off with that, I can tell you." In the same debate on the address this session, a liv* ly scene took place between Sir John and the Hon. A. G. Jones of Halifax. Sir John had observed that Mr. Jones was trying to divert attention from the unparliamentary way in which he had " slanged "' Sir Charles Tuppor, when Mr. Casey of Elgin called "order." Sir John reasserted that " the language of the hon. gentleman was slang, ar * unparliamentary slang, and he had no doubt the speaker would say he (Sir John) was perfectly in order, and that the hon. member for Elgin was perfectly out of order." Mr. Casey put the point to the Speaker, who replied, " I hardly understand what it means. I never heard of slang in that way." Sir John, having secured himself by the doubtful phrase he had invented, went on to say that Mr. Jones having felt the lash on his back had writhed like a toad under the harrow, and like a sailor eC at the gangway had begun to blaspheme at the man who ordered the punishment. The hon. gentle- Sir John Macdonald, 127 man, who comes from Halifax, a naval port, must know that when a sailor was tied up at the gangway under the cat, and writhing under the punishment, he was allowed by a naval rule to slang and abuse tiie captain. He supposed that under no other principle could Mr. Speaker have allowed the hon. gentleman to go on as he had. What, though every charge he (Mr. Jones) had made against the hon. member for Cum- b-rland (Sir Charles) were true ; * * what though his crimes and sins extended from pitch and tos- to manslaughter, was it not the right of the hon. member for Cui li^erland to bring the member for Halifax to account? * * Then there is the question of the flag.* Mr. Jones — " Whoever states it, states a falsehood." Sir John — ** The first man who repeated it was that fine old soldier. Sir Hastings Doyle." Mr. Jones — " He did not." Sir John (coolly) — " He was the first man who repeated it." Mr. Jones — " He did not." Sir John (calmly and reflectively) — " The first man who repeated it was that fine old soldier. Sir Hastings Doyle." This was torture to Mr. Jones, and amidst a hubbub and confusion, and cries of "order," recriminations were poured forth till the Speaker rose to the question of oider and said : " I think there is no violation of order for this reason, that the hon. member for Kingston was stating that such and such an assertion had been made, and not that it was true. If he had said the assertion was true he would have been out of order." A member to Sir John—" Do you believe it?" Sir John — " Well, I cannot say. Well, 1 do believe it, if you want to know." •An allusion to a speech of Mr. Jones, in which he was said to have declared that when the Brit'sh flag was hauled down from the citadel of Halifax, he would take off his hat and cheer. 1 28 An Anecdotal Life of The Speaker — " The ri^ht hon. gentleman is now entirely out of order." Sir John — " Well then, in a parliamentary sense, I do not believe it ; but in the other sense I do !" During this session some changes in the personnel of the Mackenzie administration were announced, upon which Sir John commented as follows : " I hope my hon. friend, the head of the Government, was not disturbed in his devotions on Sunday by the necessity of making these new arrangements." Mr. Mackenzie — '' I was at church, '».s usual." Sir John — " The hon. gentleman went to church as usual, and I have no doubt he paid great attention to the sermon, espe- cially if the sermon impressed upon him the necessity of resignation." Mr. Casgrain one day inquired if the Imperial Government would be asked to pay the expenses incurred in relation to the crossing of our frontier by Sitting Bull, the Indian chief. Mr. Mackenzie — " It is not the intention to make any representation on the subject." Sir John — " I do not see how a Sitting Bull can cross the fnjntier." Mr. Mackenzie—** Not unless he rises." Sir John — ''Then he is not a Sitting Bull." In a debate which arose out of an attack upon a member of the House, by the G/ode, Sir John said he agreed with another hon. member that the editorial should be treated with silent contempt. *' A story was toKl," said he, "of a young Scotch advocate who in his zeal for his client, and in his disappoint- ment at the judgment given, used strong ]angua.?;e, and said he was surprised that the court should have given such a decision. Of course the Judge charged him with contempi , and finding himself in a difficulty, he appealed to John Clark of Sir John Macdonald^ 129 Elgin — afterwards Lord Elgin — to apologize for him. Clark did so, informing the court that the offence rose out of the young gentleman's inexperience. * If,' said he, * he had known the court as long as John Clark of E^gin, he would not be surprised at anything.' " (Laughter.) In the same way he was not surprised at anything in the Glohe^ and therefore treated it with contempt. In the House in this session -Mr. Frechette made some strictures upon the part taken by Mr. Thibaull in the Digby election, when Mr. V\ ade said the hon. gent man did not dare to meet Mr. Thibault. *' No," observed Si jhn, '* he could not Wade through ihzX freshet T Among the members of this period, none had a keener wit or commanded the attention of the House better than "Joe" Rymal, the member for South Wentworth, better known as " Honest Joe." He was sometimes coarse, and rode rough- shod with the steed of his sarcasm over an opponent, but his utterances were always racy of the soil, and in his happier moods he was an entertaining speaker. It was he who described an opponent at one of his elections as " a pocket edition of Judas Iscariot, neatly boimd in calf." Once Thomas D'Arcy McGee, whose eloquence and wit were remarkable, gave Mr. Rymal a drubbing, and was somewhat personal in his attack, calling him a *' western ehaw-bacon." At the same time Mr. McGec, contrasting himself with his opponent, boasted that he himself had been received with open hands and hearts from one end of his constituency to the other. Mr. Rymal returned the attack in the same personal style, and turned every gun in his battery of scorn upon McGee. " As to McGee's being received in open arms, no doubt he would be received and welcomed at Botany Bay." This was an allusion to the circumstances under which McGee had left England, and this and similar thrusts made him wince. Mr. McGee was now a colleague of Sir John, but the latter 130 An Anecdotal Life of so nppreciated a grod hit, no matter what head received it, thai he came over when Mr. Rymal sat down and whispered, "Well, R}mal, you did that well. I have often lain awake in my bed thinking how I could give him a rap (alluding to the time when Mr. McGee was an opponent), but 1 never cor.ceived a hit like that." Mr. Rymal replied that it had come to him as an inspiration, at which S"r John laughed heartily. In the tariff debate of 1878, Mr. Rymal, in a speech alluding to the campaign speeches and political picnics of Sir John and his party, said : — " Now, we read of one who went to and fro in the earth, many years ago, and tempted the people by false promises. He tempted our Saviour by taking Him up into a high moun- tain, and showing Him the kingdoms of the earth, and promis- ing Him all these, if He would fall down and worsh.ip him." Mr. Rymal then went on to make the application and to speak uf Sir John, when Sir John said : — *' But you didn't finish the story about the man who went up into the high mountain." Mr. Rymil instantly replied : — " That was not a man, that was the Devil ; the other tempter did not go to the top of the mountain ; he went round the country holding picnics and templing the people." (Laughter.) In the debate which preceded his downfall, Sir John, refer- ring to Mr. Rymal' s candor, said that if one honest man had been found in the c'ties of Sodom and Gomorrah, they might have been saved, and so the Opposition might be saved in the same v/ay,''for there was at least one honest, straightforward man in their ranks, and that man was the hon. member for South VVent>Forth. Mr. Rymal here broke in with a mock beseeching air : — '* I beg the hon. gentleman not to be complimentary; he will kill me if he docs" When the roars of laughte*-had subsided from this sally, Sir John said there was a difference between a compliment Sir John Macdovald. 131 and a flattery. A flaliery was an agreeable untruth ; a com- pliment was an agreeable truth. If that was going to hui t the hon. gentleman, he would take it back. Probably one of the best tributes ever paid to Sir John upon his rower of influencing and managing men was given by Mr. iv^mal in a s{ -^ech in 1882, in which he took the Government to task ^\.c mal-administration and encroach- ment upon provincial rights. After saying that, unless the rights of the Provinces were better respected, Confederation would fall to pieces like a rope of sand, he proceeded to say : " And it will not be long before most of us who are assembled here io-night will follow in their footsteps (referring to the old reformers of William Lyon MacKenzie's time), and the places that know us now will know us no more. And what wi! be the fate of Canada then ? It may be doubted if Canadr, could exist any length of time without the services of her greatest statesman, the leader of the present Government. He is a man of extra- ordinary ability, I admit; as a manager of men I have never seen his equal. I have often wondered how it was that he was able to so completely mould the character and shape the actions of the men who supported him. Whether it is magnetism or necromancy, whether it is the inherent strength that he possesses, or whether it is the weakness of the gentle* men he leads, I am bound to say that, as yet, that question is unsolved in my own mind. Among his supporters are a great many able men, and I will not go so far as to say there are not even a great many good men ; but good or bad, able or unable, weak or strong, he wraps them around his finger, as you would a thread. I have heard some of them in the days when a crisis was likely to occur denounce the measures of the Government, and say, * Well, I can't go that ! ' and still I have known these gentlemen long enough to believe that they would go it, and after ih, »i was a caucus they diW go it every time. * * Yet Canada does not depend upon the exist- ence of any one man or any dozen men." 132 An Anecdotal Life of But in one of Mr. Rymal's last speeches in the House, in the same session, references to Sir John were not so com- plimentary. The " gerrymander bill," by which there was a re-marking of the boundaries of various constituencies, affected his own constituency, by throwing over one of his strongest townships into the adjoining riding. This was the process known as " hiving the Grits," and foreshadowing as it did his defeat, Mr Rymal denouivced it in the strongest language. " To tell me," said he, " that this change was not made with a political purpose 1 Why, I have read the Arabian Nights ' Entertainments, the Travels of Sinbad the Sailor, and of Gul- liver, but any of those narratives would commend themselves to my faith and judgment more than that statement of my hon. friend (Sir John). * * * I have not had the opportunity of looking at the mip, which will shew something, I dare say that would recall a document exhibited by me a few years ago, and to which the First Minister referred by saying I de- scribed it as not the likeness ofanythingin the heavens above, or in the earth beneath. * * I think the feelings of an outraged people will revolt at such scheming as this. I have not the patience to express my feelings on this subject. I feel a little like the man addicted to a great deal of profanity, who was driving a waggon-load of pumpkins up a hill. Some of the boys, thinking they would hear some tall swearing, lifted the tail- board out of the waggon. He drove his oxen till he got to the top of the hill, when he looked back and saw the pumpkins roll- ing down the hill, and the boys waiting to hear what he would say. But he said nothing. One of the boys asked, ' Why don't you swear ? * ' Why,' said he, * I could not do justice to the occasion.' So I feel. The amenities of the House would be outraged were I to give expression to my feelings, but if any honorable gentleman wishes to talk the matter over with me outside, I will give him some strong opinions." Anticipating an unpleasant outburst, Sir John said the hon. gentleman had no right to talk in that way, and the use of that kind of language " was not the way to get on in Parliament or 8lr John Macdonald, 133 out of Parliament, or to increase the respect of members of Parliament for each other, or of people outside for their re- presentatives. It was only the violence of a weak nature, a womanish nature, a disposition to scratch and bite. It is rather a libel jn the ladies to say it is feminine." Mr. Rymal, however, sti;l went on pouring out his wrath and sarcasm, and concluded with these words : " I am as sure as that I am a living man, that there was no other reason for removing the keystone of that old organization of Went, worth, than the fact that for forty-five years at least it had much to do with returning a Reform representative. I quite understand the answers which inspired the Hon. First Minis- ter when he said to me privately on the floor of the House a night or two ago, with a pretty hard expression at the com- mmcement of his sentence : * We meant to make you howl,' Well, he has made us howl, and some of us will do more howl- ing yet before the next election. * * * 'J he First Minister desires to go down to his grave honored and respected, and gladly would I see any man who has devoted so many years of his life to the public service depart in that way. But there are some acts of the right honorable gentleman's career to which I must refer. His leadership of the Tory party was obtained, as I was told by the man he supplanted [the refer- ence is to Sir Allan McNab], by intrigue and deception. Having obtained power in that way, by a cunning and decep- tive heart, he signalized his public career by acts that are not unworthy of notice. The 'double shuffle' of 1858 mani- fested the cunning of the man, for he led the Liberal party into a trap most completely. He allowed them to take office, and in two days afterwards he and his friends voted them out, without even allowing an appeal to the people. The Canadian Pacific scandal then came up. * * Speaking for myself, per- haps this is the last time my voice will be heard here. I have a personal regard for every man in this House, and I have been assured by a number of my Conservative friends of their regret that I should disappear from the public stage. 134 An Anecdotal Life of Well, in my simplicity I believed these men were speaking truly what they felt, and not until they took me by the throat, as it were, and assassinated a good number of my electors, had I any doubt of the truth of what they said. I cannot in fitting language describe what I believe them to be, or you, Mr. Speaker, would call me to account again, but 1 think I can give you an idea. I will suppose that the Honorable First. Minister was about to organize his followers into a band of mu- sicians, and he were to ask me what instruments they should play. I would say to him, * Let everyone play the lyre, be- cause the band master would not h^ve much trouble in making experts of them.' * * Now, Mr. Speaker, I am not mide of such material that I can beg for justice. I can ask you in a plain and manly way to do what is right, but I cannot fawn and be a sycophant. My indignation rises, and I feel like the chained gladiator — ' I loathe you, pretty tyrants ; I scorn you with mine eye ; I'll cufFe you wiih my latest breath, And fight you till I die. I would not beg for quarter ; I scorn to be your slave ; I'll swim in seas of slaughter ; Or sink beneath the wave.* " In a tilt between Mr. Holton and Sir John, the following capital retort was made : '* I have the floor," said Mr. Holton ; •* the right hon. gendeman has made a statement in a menac- ing manner, pointing his finger at me ; and I call upon him to explain the meaning of it." " All I can siy is," replied Sir John, " if I pointed my finger at the hon. gentleman, I take my finger back." In a debate on the question of immigration, Mr. Bowell, criticising the work of some of Mr. Mackenzie's immigration lecturers, said : " 1 was told that some lecturers have adopted Sir John Macdonald, 135 the mode of announcing a temperance lecture arrd then drag- ging in the question of immigration." "That/* interposed Sir J:hn, "is certainly throwing cold water on immigration." The Hon. Mr. Jones one day said of the Premier : '* When he baited his Confederation mouse-trap, he had to use the best bait he could get." To which Sir John replied : '* I think my hon. friend is one of the biggest rats caught \\\ the trap." 136 An Anecdotal Life of CHAPTER XX. I^t me play the fool : Wiih mirth and laughter let old wrirkles come ; And let my liver rather heat with wine, Then my heart cool with mortifying g oans. Why should a man, whose blood is warm within, i»it like his grandsire cut in alabaster ? bleep when he wakes ? And creep into the jaundice By being peevi&h ? — Merchant of Venice, POLITICAL JfNECDOTES AND REMINISCEXCFS CONTINUED. In the last chapter we gave anecdotes and reminiscences of Sir John's Parliamentary life in Opposition. In another chap- ter some incidents will be given of tlie great campaign of 1878 which resulted in his return to power. Although his party came back in triumph, Sir John sus- tained a personal humiHatlon in his own defeat at Kingston — the first defeat he had suffered since entering Parliament in 1844. He was, howcrer, elected in two other constituencies, Marquette, Man., and Victoria, B.C., anddt-cided to sit for the latter. A few of Sir John's good hits in Parliament in 1879 and subsequent sessions are now to be given. Mr. Tiiley (Sir Leonard), speaking on the subject of prohibition, said he was deligiued to find that Mr. Anglin was a convert to the prohibition of ojnum for use among the Chinese. " But," said Sir John, "it all ends in smoke, you see." Mr. Plumb, one day talking about the tariff, said he was bound to deal with this subject, unless he chose to be " a fly- on wheel," like those Liberals who had lately been brushed off. " So much the better for the public weal," replied Sir John. Sir John Macdonakl. 137 Mr. Mackenzie was explaining some points about compen- sation that had been given to members of the mounted police for loss of limbs, when Sir John said he was told that one of the claims was made for a man who lost his toe, and he asked $10,000 for it. "There are very few men," observed Sir John, *' who would not give up a toe for $10,000." In the course of the debates by which he introduced the National Policy, Sir John remarked that those who cared to be protected at all, wanted all the protection they could get. They were like the squaw who said of whisky, that " a little too much was just enough." Public men who are acquainted with the clamorousness of manufacturers seeking Government protection will appreciate the aptness of this comparison. One day Sir John, wishing to close off an inconvenient dis- cussion which had been brought up by Mr. Mackenzie, said to him, *' Art thou he that troubleth Israel ? " Sir John did not remember that he was quoting the words of Ahab the wicked king, but Mr, Mackenzie was more deeply read in biblical literature, and instantly retorted in the words of Elijah, "I hav^e not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed Baalim." Mr. McLennan, a member of the Opposition, said he would take the liberty to say to his friends on the Treasury benches that they might as an experiment try the good effect of saving a little money. ** Yes," agreed Sir John, " just for the novelty of the thing." In the session of 1880, Mr. Mackenzie made complaint that the Dominion policemen, who should be employed about the House, were taken away to guard game, and added : " Now K 138 An Anecdotal Life of witli regard to the number of those poh'cernen, we discovered that two of them had served during the whole of our ,^erm guarding the ducts of this House from incursions of the Fenians." Sir John — " That is another kind of game." Sir John (replying to Mr. Blake) — "1 quite agree with the hon. member that we should go through these notices of mo- tion. There has not been an opportunity of working them out — of cleaiiing the stable, as it were." Mr. Blake — " I do not think the stable is on this side of the House." Sir John — " Perhaps not, I am quite willing to admit on this side that we are a stable government." Mr. Plumb in exposing the Fort Frances Lock job, in which certain places were given as sinecures to friends, said : — " It was a case where Jack did nothing, and Tom helped Jack. I do not think they went so far as to employ a chaplain, but the supeiintendent might have read prayers." Sir John — ''The superintendent contented himself with preying on the Government." At the close of this session (1880), when nearly all the Op- position members had gone home, Mr. Plumb began to rally Mr. Trow, the L'Lcral whip, on being left alone as leader. "I may be permitted,' said he, " to congratulate my hon. friend on the masterly way in which he has discharged his duties since his friends have gon^ home. It is fortunate for him that there is no division to-day in the ranks of his party as it would have been difficult for him to have divided himself.'' Mr. Trow — *'My extreme modesty will not permit me to accept the flattery that has been heap :d upon me by the hon. member for Niagara (Plumb.) If the Opposition are few in number, they are strong in weight and backbone (a reference to one of his fat colleagues). I must say my following to day Sir Mm Macdomdd. 139 has not been as encouraging as I anticipated. One of my hon. friends has gone off at a tangent, and the other has gone off to the smoking room." Sir John — " Is the hon. gentleman going to say the "Op- position ends in smoke ? " Sir John (replying to Mr. Hlake on the Canadia;i Pacific Railway contract question) — " The hon. gentleman with his legal mind sti( kling at legal technicalities may argue that a speech of mine is not a legal notice; but on a previous occasion, when the hon. member for Lambton was forcing a measure upon the country without notice, he said indignantly to this House : ' Every man has read my speech at Sarnia.' I will ask the hon. member if that did not occur, that if what is sauce for one aniaidl of a particular kind, is not sauce for another animal of the same kind ? " Mr. Blake — " We do not say he is a goose." Sir John — "That is a ready answer from an anserT [It will be necessary to inform readers who do not under- stand Latin, that "anser" means "goose."] As soon as the roars of laughter at this hit had subsided, Sir John added with a comical air of sorrow for what he had said : " I think my hon. friend will pardon me for the allusion, because he brought it on himself." Mr. Mackenzie (commenting on a clause in a new bill) — " If that is considered -an improvement, it is certainly one of a Tory character." Sir John — " A satisfac-Tory character." On the subject of the naturalization of aliens, replying to Mr. Bunster, Sir John said : — '* I think German, Italian, French and other aliens can hold land in British Columbia under a local act, and that the * heathen Chinee' can purchase land un- til the legislature of British Columbia repeals the law allowing all aliens to hold lands." 140 An Anecdotal Life of Mr. Bunster, arguing on the question, pointed out that the Australian colonies had bound themselves together against the Chinese pest. Sir John — "Would the hon. gentleman prevent Dutchmen from settling and holding land in British Columbia?" Mr. Bunster—'* No." Sir John — " Well, one foreigner comes from China, and ano^'her comes from Delf (Delft.) I am sure that china is better than delf." " Not at all," insisted Mr. Bunster, apparently oblivious of the jokg. Sir John had the gift of taking the vemon out of many a bitter taunt. One of the Opposition was arraigning the Gov- ernment for printing at Government expense a speech of Mr. J. B. Plumb, when Sir John explained that it was a very good speech, giving statistics of the North West, and made a good immigration pamphlet. The Hon. David Mills inquired from the Opposition benches whether it was to be the policy of the Government to circulate such speeches in that way in future. Sir John replied in his most conciliating way: " I will promise not to distribute any more speeches in future, unless I come across a good speech from my hon. friend. That is fair ! " The purchase from the Imperial Government of the old used-up corvette the " Charybdis," to be used as a training- ship for young Canadian seamen, came in for a great deal of criticism in the session of 1881. It was shown that the boilers were worn out, her timbers unsound, and it was almost impos- sible to keep her out of the Halifax repairing-dock. In reply to a caustic criticism of Mr. Mills, Sir John said : ''The hon. gentleman evidently does not like men-of-war. He is a man of peace. But here we are ; the ' Charybdis ' is our ship, and between the cost of the ' Charybdis ' on one side, and Sir John Macdonnld, 141 the difficulty of ' Scylla ' on the other side (we do not spell it with ac), we are well attacked."* Mr. Mackenzie observed : " I suppose the hon. gentleman took care to inform the Government of the United States and other Governments that his intentions in this matter are strictly pacific." '' No," replied Sir John, *' our intentions are solely confined to the Atlantic." Sir John replying to Mr. Blake:—" The speech of minef from which the hon. gentleman quotes was afterwards delivered before the members of the Club Cartier, at wh' n the hon. gentleman sneers so much." Mr. Blake — " Oh, no. I did not sneer at them." Sir John — " I think the hon. gentleman sneered at them a little, when he spoke of my looking down on them." Mr. Blake — " It was the hon. gentleman himselF who said he would look down on them." Sir John — " The hon. gentleman sneers at me on the chemin defe}\ Let him beware of the chemin d'enferT Replying to a groundless charge of corruption brought by the Hon. Mr. Mills, Sir John told the following: "James IV of Scotland when he went down to the border, which was then occupied by a wild set of Lowland clans of raiders and foragers, came to the place where a Lowland chieftain had a castle built on an island in the middle of a lake. There was no means of getting at the fortress or taking it, and the plunderer was quite safe in the absence of artillery in those days. * The i/ank Smith [who was now minister without port- folio] has been summoned to the Cabinet, and I am glad to get his assistance and advice, but he stood in quite a different position from my hon. friend opposite. He (Mr. Blake) was the power behind the throne. He was like the Centurion — a man in authority ; he said to one man go, and he goeth, and to another come, and he cometh. * * * He ought to have assumed the responsibility as well as the authority, and not to have been able to say, ' That was not my measure.' He has often said, 'I was not in the ministry at the time.' We all know that, but it is the old case of Stephano and Trinculo, * Thou shalt be king, and I shall be viceroy over thee.' " The following dialogue shews the Premier's cleverness at evasion : — Mr. Mackenzie — '* I wish to ask the Premier at what date Sir Alexander Gait's resignation takes effect." Sir John—" On the first of June." Mr. Mackenzie — " Who is to be his successor ? " Sir John— "Oh!" Mr. Mackenzie — '* The hon. gentleman can tell me in con- fidence." Sir John — ** I think the hon. gentleman and myself took the same oath — that we would not disclose any advice given to His Excellency without his permission." It is a custom in the Canadian Parliament to have an oil painting of each Speaker executed, and hung on his retirement in one of the lobbies, or in the reading-room. The selection of the artist is usually left to the Speaker. Mr. Ross, of Mid- dlesex, one day complained in the House that the Speaker of the Senate, Sir David MacPherson, had got his portrait painted by an Er^^lish instead of by a Canadian artist, and thought it Sir John Macdonald. 145 was not fair that Canadian artists should be passed by. Sir John reph'ed, " I am quite surprised that the hon. gentleman, who is a man of letters and a man of classical knowledge, should object to any gentleman sitting for his portrait to the painter he fancies. The hon. gentleman's objection is quite in the style of Sam Slick, who said : ' I went to Italy and I saw old smoked, dried up pictures there, that were worth five or six thousand dollars. Why, I can get new ones painted on my clocks, with new paints and new gildings, at five dollars ahead.'" Mr. Ross, Middlesex — " I see that J. A. Wilkinson draws a salary as Inspector of Weights and Measures, but when an election is going he spends his time on that." Sir John — " He is in favor of good measures." The following is another dialogue which took place between Mr. Ross and Sir John : — Sir John — *' Let us Lave this out with the hon. gentleman. I want to know whether he admits he made a mistake or not. The hon. gentleman says in the first place he may have made a mistake, and that he shows his candor by admitting that h^ was wrong about Mr. Baggs, and then he says he is right. Is he right or wrong ? " Mr. Ross— "In what.?" Sir John — '* In making the statement he did." Mr. Ross — " I believe I am right in making the statement." Sir John — " Did the hon. gentleman know or not about the reduction in the tariff? " Mr. Ross — " I certainly knew about the reduction." Sir John— "And when?" Mr. Ross — " And when what ? " Sir John—" And when ? " Mr. E.oss — " I am not in the witness-box being examined by the hon. gentleman, and I will not be put in the witness- box by him." 146 An Anecdotal Life of Sir John — '* Then the hon. gentleman will not be put in the witness box? We will not commit him for contempt for not answering the question, because nobody is bound to criminate himself — that is a principle of law. But the hon. gentleman has, I think, in the estimation of this House criminated him- self. He says I was not very chivalrous in pinning him down to making a disingenuous statement against the Administration. I had a right to defend my Administration. 1 had a right to shew — when he tried to draw a comparison to the advan- tage of the late Administration nnd to the disadvantage of the present Government — that either he was wrong, and knew he was wrong — in which case he was disingenuous — or that he was ignorant, culpably ignorant. 1 leave the hon. gentleman to say on which horn of the dilemma he shall be transfixed. You remember, Mr. Chairman — I do not know whether you are a play-going man — in one of the most charming plays written by the celebrated Richard Sheridan, ' The Rivals,' Fag-afag was the servant, and in one of the acts he says, when he is caught : * Well, I do not mind telling a lie for a friend, but it hurts my conscience to be found out.' " In a discussion on Indian supplies, Mr. Charlton, who was suffering from a cough, said ; " 1 doubt the propriety of going contrary to the traditions of the Indians in matters of this kind. They should oe allowed to bury their dead according to their custom." " I see you have a fit of coffin to-night," said Sir John. In the same debate some comments were ^nade on the sup- ply of briar-root pipes to certain Indian chiefs, and the member who complained thought clay pipes were quite good enough. The discussion then turned upon the neglect of the Indians to attend to the gardens which the Government officers had laid out for them. Mr. Casgrain gave instances of this, and said :. "•' A small area had been cultivated and set out in garden lots, and small houses had been built near them for the Indians, but instead of living in these houses, the Indians built bark Sir John Macdonahi 147 wigwams in front of tlie houses and there they lived; and as for the plots," said he, " there was not a root to be found in any of them" " You might have found sonrie briar roots," said Sir John. While still on this subject, Mr. Charlton remarked upon some of the contracts for advertising given out in connection with the Indian supplies, and said : " I suppose it is the custom to confine these advertisements to the party-organ supporting the party in power." '' I should think not," replied Sir John. " I think the Free Press of Winnipeg has got some advertising patronage." " On looking through the list," replied Mr. Charlton, '' I do not find any. Probably by some oversight the Free Press was overlooked." Sir John answered : " When a i)aper is wrong in its politics, it is generally wrong all round." " This system may have been followed by all party govern- ments," pursued Mr. Charlton ; " but it strikes me that in the matter of advertising we should turn over a new leaf, and advertise as business men do for the purpose of getting value for our money." "Quite right," assented Sir John with a twinkling smile. " I hope then," said Mr. Cimdton, *' as the hon. gentleman ai)proves of my views, he will act on the suggestion." *' I am afraid," replied Sir John, '* I shall have to cross- question my hon. friend on that point when he is my successor, and I am sitting over there.' >> When the proposal was made in the House to have a large oil painting of the " Fathers of Confederation," the name of Mr. Harris was suggested as a good Canadian artist. In the course of the discussion Sir John said : '' As regards this par- ticular painting, I have no personal objections to have still another artist try his hand upon myself. There is one Cana. dian artist who draws me with power and graphic skill, and I think, on the principle of wholesome competition, I may hope 148 An Anecdotal Life of that Mr. Harris, whose paintings I have not seen, may by slow degrees rise to the artistic skill and perfect accuracy in poiirtraying my countenance that my friend Bengough pos- sesses." Mr. Ross (Middlesex) — '' The hon. gentleman will observe that under his bill a man has two chances of getting a pint bottle. In the other case, he can only get it at the tavern ; here he can get it at the tavern and shop both." Mr. McCarthy — " Has the hon. gentleman forgotten that three half-pints are afterwards defined to be five quarter-pints, so that we are fighting over one quarter-of-a pint ? " Sir John — " A small p'int that." Sir John — " If we had a sworn commission to try the validity of the seats of every man in this House, small in number, though strong in ability as the present Opposition is, their number would be decreased, while those on this side would be increased." Mr. Casgrain — '* Try it over again." Sir John—*' I do not want to lose my hon. friend." Sir John was taken to task one day for reappointing a delinquent civil servant who had promised to do better, when he retorted, " The hon. gentlemen sneered when I said, ' Go and :sin no more.' I would not give them that advice, because I do not think they would take it." Mr. Casey (referring, in 1884, to Sir George Stephen's posi- tion in the C. P. R. monopoly) — " If there was ever a head of a corporation who had a right to be dubbed with a royal title, it is King Stephen I. He had his ministers and courtiers and acted in a truly royal manner." Sir John — " You ought to make it Stephen the Martyr." Sir John Macdonald. 149 Mr. Blake (alluding to the treatment of the Indians) — " Why should we be more moral with our Indian friends than with ourselves ? " Sir John — ** If we were not, it might diminish the number of the Opposition." On a motion to spend a sum of money for meteorological observations in British Columbia, Mr. Blake remarked : " They do not blow at all out there." To which Sir John replied, " No, they can raise the wind without it." Mr, Davis — "I rise to a point of order. The complaint I make is that the hon. gentlemen made such a noise when I was speaking that I could not make myself heard." Sir John — " That is not a point of order, it is a point of disorder." Mr. Charlton (speaking on the question of maintaining order among the Indians in the North VVest) — " I would sug- gest the purchase of a few mountain howitzers, which in the case of emergency could be carried oh the backs of mules. I recollect an instance of the effect of this in dispersing Indians in the United States. A small party of troops going through a mountain-pass were unexpectedly attacked by Indians. The emergency was great ; they had not time to dismount the howitzers, but pointed them and fired from the backs of the mules, creating great consternation among the Indians." Sir John — " And among the mules." Mr. Blake (referring to the curtailment in the number of copies of the Hansard distributed to members) — " It is one of those things in regard to which it is a little difficult to retrace one's steps. If we distribute four copies among our constituents this year, it is difficult to explain to them why only one copy should be distributed next year." Sir John — "Ascribe it ) the economy of the Tory Govern- ment." 150 An Anecdotal Life of Mr. Blake — '* That is exactly lik.' the Tory Government. First, they make extravagant expenditures, and afterwards they claim great credit for having retrenched their own extrava- gance." Sir John — '' We become^repentant, which the hon. gentlemen opposite do not." Mr. Baker of Britisli Columbia (in a debate on the civil service naval eraminations) — '' Naval officers have to pass a very different examination at the Royal ('ollege, Greenwich. If you would include naval officers you would make provision for the future." Sir John — " I see no reason why we should not also put in clergymen." [Naval chaplains.] Mr. Baker — '' They are not like clergymen." Sir John — " I don't know, a good many of them are at sea." Sir John's knowledge of human nature, and his ability to select proper instruments to carry out his will, have often been noticed, and he was not so narrow that he could not see merit in any person outside of his own party. A good instance came to the notice of the House in 1885, when he was accused of favoiitism in the civil service. In reply Sir John said : " The hon. gentleman speaks about political favoritism. Well, I suppose that all Governments, so long as they are Governments, are charged with favoritism. So far as I know, our skirts are as clear of that as any Government I ever knew. I will mention one instance in the department of which I am the head (Department of the Interior). I took a gentle- man who is very considerably junior to the other officers. He was well known to me, and all his antecedents were Liberal, Grittish, if I may use the expression without offence. But he was recommended as a first-rate officer, and he is now deputy- head of the Department of the Interior. I mean Mr. Burgess." Mr. Mulock^asked if Mr. Burgess had not changed his poli- tics since. To which Sir John replied : ^' Not that I am aware of. Sir John Macdonald, 151 I never asked what hirs politics were, and do not know. I do not know whether he has found cut the early error of his ways, or whether he adheres blindly to those errors. I only know he is not blind in any way as an officer ; he is not blind to the exigencies of the department, and he does his work fiiithfuUy and well." In the following dialogue it will be necessary for the reader to understand that the Hon. Mr. Bowell was an old printer and publisher, and that the Hon. Edw. Blake is a lawyer. Mr. iJlake (referring to some of the crotchets of the warden of the Kingston penitentiary) — " Another plan he had, which I do not suppose the hon. gentleman has adopted, was to have a printing press there to do the printing for the insti- tution." Mr. Bowell — ''There were no printers there.'' Sir John — " My hon. friend says there were no printers there. They were in the penitentiary, and that was the reason." (Laughter.) Mr. Blake — " I must say with reference to the hon. gende- man's old craft, that the warden did not intimate that he would have any difficulty in finding any necessary assistance from the convicts." Mr. Bowell — " I ur.derstand that, because there were a num- ber of lawyers there." Mr. Blake — " I was anxious to know what the position of contract labor was in the penitentiary. Are the locks still made by contract labor? * * Are the convicts suffering under this vicious system? " Sir John — "They are suffering perhaps from the strength of the locks." One day Mr. Farrow was appealing for consideration in favor of two men who had moved to Manitoba from Ontario, and who, after having settled on the wrong farms, and made improvements, were evicted. " They have been the pioneers 152 An Anecdotal Life of who have shewn," said Mr. Farrow, somewhat mixing the metaphor, '* that this is a country flowing with milk and honey, as far as grain-raising is concerned." " The grain must be in the milk," suggested Sir John. Sir John — "The intention of the Government is, if it is the will of the House, to sit on Dominion P-'v? " Mr. Blake—" Not on St. John's Day " Sir John—" That is my day." Mr. Blake — " No, the hon. gentleman is not yet canonized. It requires a long space of time, and a successful passing of the very serious ordeal of an inquisition with the advocatus diaboli as chief accuser." Sir John — " Will my hon. friend not take that orifice } " Mr. Wilson (asking for particulars of expenri, cure on pub- lic works ai St. Thomas) — " I would mention to the Minister of Public Works the propriety of placing in the tower of the public building there a good clock." Sir John — "You Want to go on tick." Sir Hector Langevin (Minister of Public Works) — " As to the clock, that matter will have to be considered." Mr. Mills — "It takes time." Mr. Blake — " I claim that he (Sir John) does not practice what he preaches, and that he does not bring the budget down till a late period of the session."' Sir John — " Medio tutissimus ibis^' * Mr. Blake — " No, the hon. gentleman sometimes gets to the bottom between two. stools. That is the medium in which he does not walk tutissimus. * * But I perceive from the me- lodious sounds which greeted my hon. friend from Northum- berland when he made the demand, that there is not much likelihood of our getting it, because when the hon. First * " In the middle you will go safest." It was about the middle of the session when the budget was brought down that year. Sir John Macdonold. 153 Minister had siicli a backing whose views are expressed in such agreeable sounds, he is never deaf to such charmers." Sir John — " Who charm so wisely." Some amusement was caused in the House one day upon a motion by Mr. McMullen asking for a return showing the sums paid to Mr. J. E. Collins for services rendered to the Government, and asking what the nature of the services were. Mr. Collins, who had written a political life of Sir John, was employed in some capacity in Sir Hector Langevin's office, but it transpired that the length of service was but sixteen days, for which Mr. Collins only received twenty-eight dollars. The motion, however, gave Sir Richard Cartwright an oppor- tunity for a few jibes on the subject, in the course of which he made this quotation from a passage in the writings of Mr. Collins : " Sir Hector's replies are always full and almost in- variably satisfactory, but he never says more than is necessary and pertinent ; never opens doors through which eagle-eyed opponents may eiiter, and give worry to the Minister and his Government. Two ministers there are who are always open- ing their mouths too wide — Mr. Caron (Sir Adolphe) and Mr. Pope. Mr. Blake, Mills, Casey or some Oppositionist will first worry them off their guard, get them to make statements they didn't intend to make, and so put the Government ' in for it.' On these occasions you can notice Sir John fidgetting in his chair, annoyed at the blundering and indiscretion." After Sir Richard had chaffed Sir Hector some time, he said he understood that Mr. Collins was the Collins who had already immortalized himself by producing a life of the right hon. gentleman opposite. "No," replied Sir John, "he has immortalized me." " That work,'* went on Sir Richard, '* was couched in equally chaste and elegant language, and no doubt it will be very satisfactory to the hon. gentleman's friends, because I observe from it that in all the acts of the hon. gentleman's career which evil-minded persons have misinterpreted, he has L 154 An Anecdotal Life of been actuated by the purest and most patriotic motivei, and has even sometimes allowed his repuciition to be tarnished for th*^ general welfare of the country. It is a happy association of ideas, and what a lamented friend of mine called the * eternal fitness of things,' that a gentleman who in his life has done justice to so many John Collinses, should at last find a John Collins to do justice to him." Sir John laughed at this as heartily as anyone in the House, Sir John (referring to the bad ventilation of the Commons chamber) — " It is our right to have a comfortable and healthy chamber to sit in, but I do not go so far as my hon. friend did a moment ago, when he said we wanted a radical change. I want a wholesome change, but not a Radical change." Sir John in a speech in 1887, replying to Mr. Blake, said : "He (Mr. Blr-ke) broke out in a new place, if I may use the expression, and although his jests were rather prepared and smelt of the lamp, they were very cheerful, and I was delighted to hear the play of language in which the hon. gentleman pointed out the very important fact that one station was called Chapleau, and another by the name of one of my ether col- leagues. Well, our greatest victories and exploits are writ- ten on the face of this continent. I have a mountani called after myself, but if the hon. gentleman's railway policy had been carried out, no mountain would have been called Blake in his time, nor in in time of the present generation ; no stations would be marked across the continent with the names of hon. gentlemen opposite. * * My hon. friends can remem- ber that it was said (by the Opposition leaders) that it was absurd for any people to go into that country when they had Kansas or Texas to go to. * * We all remember how these speeches of hon. gentlemen opposite were published as advertisements of lands in the United States. We can remember the admirable likeness of the hon. mem- ber for West Durham (Mr. Blake) that was published in £ r John Macdonald. 155 Chicago, St. Paul and elsewhere, showing that this was the great man. I must admit that the great man is written on that hon. gentleman's couiitenance. But to make the thing sell the hon. gentleman's portrait was primed on the front sheet, and his speech inside. His speech and his portrait taken to- gether were irresistible. They might have resisted the picture. They might have resisted the speech. But with that speech delivered by a man having that countenance, they both to- gether carried the whole country." Sir Richard Cartwright— " Now the members of Parliament are paid by the job, and there is a general disposition to get through the session." Sir John — " I thought tlie Government only were paid by jobs." Sir Richard Cartwright (speaking of the sanitary defects of the Chamber) — " For the last two or three days there has been an unsavory and unwholesome smell on this side of the House." Sir John — " The hon. gentleman had better change to this side, I have no objections to the hon. gentleman coming over here." Sir Richard — " I am quite willing to accept the suggestion to change places pro fern, and to consider this the right side of the House for the time being." Sir John — '' There is a constitutional objection to that — the ayes are on this side and the noes on that side." Mr. Trow (the Liberal whip, concluding a speech in the session of 1888) — *' The leader of the Government has to take a little rest sometimes, bt'c on the whole he has been very attentive, and I think he has renewed his youth. We all wish he may long continue — though not on that side of the House — and may live at least a quarter of a century, to give his counsels to the people from this side of the House." Sir John—*' Over the left." 15(3 An Anecdotal Life of Sir John — " You know the story of the man in the lunatic asylum. He was asked why he was there. * Well,* he said, ' it arises from a difference of opinion ; the people think I am mad, and I think all the people are mad, but the majority have carried it and I am here.' My hon. friend (Mr. Laurier) thinks we have a vicious economical policy; the majority is against him and he is there." Mr. Watson (on the demoralizing effects of the new Indian franchise bill as it operated in Manitoba) — " The spectacle presented at the polling place was disgraceful. Indians walked up to the polls, and on being asked their names did not know. They did not know what name was put on the voters' list. They were afterwards told their names by the persons inter- ested in the election of a certain candidate, and told how to vote." Sir John — *• What was your majority ? " Sir Richard Cartwright — " Has an arrangement been made for employing the convicts in the Dorchester Penitentiary in any permanent manufacture ? " Mr. Thompson — " No." Sir Richard — " I understand they are employed in the manu- facture of buckets." Sir John — '' I wonder if this will be affe'.ced by Mr. Abbott's bill in regard to bucket shops ? " In his remarks on the speech from the throne in 1889, re- plying to Mr. Laurier, Sir John said : " My hon. friend com- plains of a meagre bill of fare. * * I considered the weak digestion of my hon. friends opposite. Milk for babes and strong meat for men, you know. My hon. friend is still in the infancy of his political position [Mr. Laurier had only assumed the leadership of the Liberal party in 1887], and consequently we have kept the diet down to suit his digestion. * * * The hon. gentleman says of his following : * We are a small body.' Sir John Macdonald, 157 Why are they a small body ? Because the country does not give them the same confidence it does us. The hon. gentle- man knows that under the dome of St. Paul's in London there is a celebrated epitaph to Sir Christopher Wren : Si monu- mentum requiris circumspice — if you seek for a monument, look around you ! We say the same thing in a humble spirit. Look around at the prosperity of the country ; look at the undiminished confidence which the people have in us from one end of the country to the other. That is our best monu- ment, and I expect by-and-bye to see something of that kind inscribed on my tombston " " Will he see his own tombstone ? " asked Mr. Paterson of Brant. " I will be looking down," continued Sir John, '^ on my tombstone. I will be looking down on the Conservative majority, which I shall leave in such good spirit that they will carry on the traditions that have guided them since 1854." Mr. Paterson, of Brant (in a discussion on an item in the estimates) — ** I saw in the department of the Minister of Jus- tice that a statuette of Sir John has been bought. I wonder if it is the great original Sir John, or some other Sir John. * * I thought it might have been placed there as an emblem of that principle of justice so dear to British hearts, but that thought is marred, for the gerrymander and one or two other acts crept into my mind, and I felt that could hardly be an appropriate emblem. I would like, however, to ask the hon. Minister of Justice [Sir John Thompson, who had been lately knighted] whether the statuette was of Miasm in my life. It was also affecting to see — you could not avoid seeing it — as they heard his faltering accents, weakened by illness and saw his emaciated form, // was mritten in the minds of the mass of the audience that they were listening to him fof the last time." On an item for an increase in the salary of the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, Sir John explained the case, and when he meniioned that the gentleman in question was Mr, St. Onge Chapleau, the following dialogue occurred : Mr. McMullen — " I suppose he is not related to the Secre- tary of State ? " Sir John — *' I think he has the great advantage of being related to the Secretary of State." Mr. McMullen — "It might be well to find out how many more brothers the Secretary of State has. Are the rest of them of age ? Perhaps when they come to the age of maturity we shall have to find places for them." Sir John — " I think all of them now_, like my hon. friend, have arrived at the years of discretion, and know how to hold their tongues better than my hon. friend." Mr. McMullen — " We are all too apt to hold our tongues in this House. If we were more ready to tell the hon. gentle- man in plain language what we felt, we might do him good and serve the country as well." Sir John — " Well, if I am on a jury when my hon. friend is tried for holding his tongue, I will say • not guilty I I ) »» " I am afraid," said Sir John, in reply to Mr. Laurier's com- ments on the Speech from the Throne in 1890, " tliat the people of Canada will prefer to be ruined under us, than to be pros- perous after the fashion of my hon. friends on the other side. You know the story of Lord Palmerston. AV'hen a wine mer- chant sent him some special Greek wine, which he said was admirably adapted for gouty patients, Lord Palmerston tasted the wine and said : ' I would rather have the gout. » »» Sir John Macdonald. 161 In this session Mr. Casey moved for a return, showing the tenders rejected on the reportof the Chief Engineer of Canals, when Sir John asked how far back he wanted to go. " Ten years," said Mr. Casey. " Then you will not get it this session," replied the Pr-mier. '' Five years then," said Mr. Casey. Sir John shook his head dubiously. " Well, how far back can I go? *' asked Mr. Casey. " You must make your own motion," said the Premier. ** You cannot expect me to make it for you." " But I don't know anything about this matter," urged Mr. Casey. " Evidently not," laconically replied Sir John. Sir John (replying to Mr. Wilson, of Elgin) — ''As the hon. gentlejnan says, although my statement may satisfy the hon. member for Oxford, it will not satisfy him. I have under- taken a great many works, including the building of the Cana- dian Pacific Railway, but I shall never undertake to satisfy the hon. member for Elgin." Mr. Nicholas Flood Davin, member for Assiniboia, has said some clever things in the House, and the following, among other things referring to Sir John and his ministers, was widely quoted at the time, especially because Mr. Davin was a Con- servative : " There has never been in this country a Govern- ment that understood this question of immigration. We have had at the head of the Government a great minister, but not in some respects a great statesman. It is a very daring thing to say, but I will say it. Take the portfolio of my hon. friend (Mr. Carling, of the Dept. of Agriculture). A more amiable or a finer man you could hardly dream of. And take my hon. friend at the head of the cognate department (Mr. Dewdney, of the Dept. of the Interior). Sir, we ought to have at the head of these departments men of genius, men of real power, but at the present mon .^nt we have a cabinet 162 An Anecdotal Life of of antiques. I do not care how broadcast it is sent to-moriovv morning, it has to be spoken — we have a cabinet of antiques. We have one spendid brain in the physique of my right hon. friend the Prime Minister, but after him " One day in this session some confusion was caused by several members endeavoring to speak at once, when Sir John rose and restored order by the following : — " If the hon. gentleman will ^Jlow me, I will tell him a story. A clergyman was preaching on a fine Sunday in summer with the window open, when an old lady rode up to church on a donkey, and fastened the donkey to the door of the church, which was open. The clergyman did not get annoyed although he heard a bray, but he said, 'One at a time, if you please.' " Sir John Macdonalcl. 163 CHAPTER XXr. All tongues speak of him, and the bleared sights Are spectacled to see him, * * * • * the kitchen malkin pins Her richest lockram 'bout her reechy neck, Clambering the walls to eye him. — Coriolanus. THE CELEBRATED '* ALL-NIGHT DEBATE " REMINISCENCES OF THE GREAT CAMPAIGN. The last two chapters were devoted to political anecdotes and reminiscences of a parliamentary character. In this chapter specimen extracts will be given from Sir John's campaign speeches, which were usually of a freer kind than those delivered in the House. Before proceeding to this, however, some reference should be made to the great all-night debate, with which the session of the spring of 1878 closed, and which was in some sense the beginning of this celebrated campaign itself, resulting in the triumphant return of Sir John to power on the strength of the National Policy. Mr. Mackenzie had not that kind of suavity and concilia- tion in the House which Sir John possessed, and he often irritated his opponents by his bluntness in refusing requests of the Opposition on points of procedure. On this occasion he had refused to agree to an adjournment the night before, when many of the French members wished to speak. The Opposition determined to fight it out and tire out the minis- try. The scene which followed had no parallel before or since the Government was established at Ottawa. While points of order were being argued, members hammered at desks, blew on tin trumpets, imitated the crowing of cocks, sent up toy-balloons, threw sand-crackers or torpedoes, and 'Occasionally hurled blue-books across the House. Often the babel of sounds was such that neither the Speaker of the 164 An Anecdotal Life of House nor the member who had the floor could be heard. Once in a While amid the din some member with a good voice would start up the " Marseillaise," " God save the Queen," *• A la claire fontaine," " The Rafts- man's chorus," or some plantation melody, and then the whole House would join in the song, with an effect that was quite moving. The feelings inspired by these songs would sway the House back into a quiet frame ; but scarcely would the speaker who had the floor recover the thread of his discourse when such a pandemonium would be raised as made the listener think '• Chaos has come again." When a speaker had at last made himself heard over the diminishing din of exhausted voices, and when he himself had exhausted his subject, he would keep the floor by quoting passages from law-books, books of poetry, philosophy and humor. Mr. Cimon, one of these speakers, filled up his time by reading the whole of the British North America Act in French, making humorous comments upon each clause. In some of these passages " the grim features of Mr. Blake," writes a chronicler of the scene, " not merely relaxed into a smile, but broke into a laugh, that shook hi-: big frame all over." As the night wore on, the spectators became tired, and the galleries were gradually cleared. New and again a member strayed off, and would be found shortly afterwards stretched on a bench in the reading-room, or curled up in an alcove of the Hbrary fast asleep. But there were always enough mem- bers left in the House to keep up the fun. Even here, how- ever, the exhausted figures of some members would be found reclining on their desks, quite unconscious of the paper missiles that were being pelted at then. In the afternoon Lady Dufferin had sat in the gallery, listening with amused bewilderment to the babel of sounds. As she rose to leave, a member struck up "God save the Queen," and all the House rose and joined in the anthem w'th a patriotic fervor that was remarkable. Mr. Mackenzie had just come in at that moment, and Mr, Blake and he, after looking at each Sir John Macdonald. 165 other in hesitation for a few moments, threw off their dignity and joined in. Just as the singing ceased, Sir John, who had been resting in his private room, appeared on the scene, and was greeted with a rousing cheer by the Opposition. At one stage Mr. De Veber rose to a point of order. The Speaker asked what it was, and De Veber F'aid, " The Minister of Marine and Fisheries is sitting at the clerk's table in irreverent proximity to the mace." " That's no point of order," raid the Speaker, and in the midst of the laughter which followed some one struck up " Auld Lang Syne." A party of members organized an impromptu band, which was nick-named "Gideon's Band," ar.d began to play a species of music that was more discordant if possible than the voices and banging of desks which accompanied it. The Citizen, in its report, compared the voices of the members to the roaring of the beasts at Ephesus. The Speaker, after manfully battling against these insurmountable obstacles to order, at last gave up ^rom a difficulty that was certainly " constitudonal," — his voice having entirely given out. Mr. Cheval, a French member, had procured some new instruments described as " squeaking machines," and these were added to the band. Some one wanted to put down Mr. Cheval and his music, upon which he pathetically appealed to the Speaker. " Mr. Speaker, I wish to know which is more worse, de man dat trows blue boDks 'cross de House, or de man dat goes in for a small leedle music." This entreaty was received with roars of laughter. The Speaker said both were unparlia- mentary, whereupon Mr. Smith of Peel, whose role was leader of the orchestra, led off the House in another song, while Mr. Cheval resumed operations on his squeaking machine. Mr. Mackenzie sometimes exhibited a face " as long as a family churn,*' and sometimes was beaming with goodwill, while Mr. Blake kept hims?lf amused and awake " by performing some extraordinary finger-music on his desk." Mr. Smith of Peel got so hoarse from his orchestral performances that he simply croaked. 166 An Anecdotal Life o/ At one ])oint in the proceedings Mr. Campbell, horrified at this outrage upon decorum, came out near the clerk's table, and with the most violent gesticulations, swinging his arms and waving his hat, denounced the proceedings. Mr. Mac- kenzie demanded that the Sergeant-at-arms should be called in to preserve order, but the Sergeant- at-arms, ensconced in a private nook of his own, vvas enjoying the fun too much to do anything of the kind. Once when Mr. Plumb was speak- ing, Mr. Macdonnell of Inverness, with mock gravity, called the attention of the Speaker to the fact that the member for Niagara was interrupting the music. " An ominous silence ensued," wrote the Citizen reporter, describing another stage of the proceedings, *' when Haggart, the powerful but merciful member for South Lanark, rises. He holds in his hands the memorial of Letellier de St. Just to Lord Dufferin. In front of him in a solid phalanx the ministerial battalion is roaring, howling, hooting, singing, whistling, stamping, shouting and caterwauling. That frisky kitten Dymond is suspiciously toying with a waste-basket ; while the genteel Cheval, who looks as if he had strayed into the House by mistake, is expanding a toy bag-pipe, for the purpose of dropping it into the inverted crown of Dr. Brosse's slouch hat. * '^ * At last Dymond lets fly his waste-basket among a group of ministerial friends. -*= * * The toy bag-pipe appeared in Dr. Brosse's hat again, and squealed to such a degree that he clutched it and threw it to another member, who stopped singing in order to blow it up again. But not understanding how to imanipulate it, the noisy object set up such a wail as fairly brought down the House." While this had been going on Lady Dufferin again came in, and when she left, the House once more gave " God save the Qtieen," followed up with a cheer and such waving of handkerchiefs as would have led a stranger to believe that Queen Victoria herself was quitting the Chamber. At last Mr. Cheval burst his toy bag-pipe and retired with a broken heart, amid the mock sympathy of his orchestra. A demand by Mr. Dymond for a speech from the Speaker was Sir John Macdonald . 1G7 greeted with roars of laughter. At 4.15 am., that patient functionary left Mr. De Veber in his chair and went out to get some thing to eat. In a few moments pages began to bring in coffee, which was greeted with cheers from both sides. About six o'clock (at which hour, had it been evening, the Speaker would have risen from the chair as a matter of course), Mr. Bowell rose and said he was willing to have six o'clock called, and go on after getting something to eat. " There is no six o'clock to-day," added Mr. Holton. *' Six o'clock was yesterday," added Mr. Mills. '* Oh, it's six of one and half a dozen of the other," said Mr. Blake. " Then it's twelve," reasoned Mr. Bowell, amid laughter. The House finally adjourned, after sitting for twenty-seven hours I Immediately on the adjournment of the House, Sir John plunged into the campaign. He md his followers went in with the utmost confidence of victory, and were thoroughly organized. For more than a year before he had constantly said to his friends, " If I could only go to the country I would sweep the Grits into the sea." At last his desire was being gratified, and he went into the fight like a war-horse that sniffs the battle from afar, A series of political picnics was held throughout the country during the summer, and though the country was suffering from depressed trade there was unusual enthusiasm and excitement. It was known as '"'the campaign of picnics." Sir John's speeches were full of humor, and many of them remarkable for clever argument. He was able to reach a more than usual number of the masses owing to slack work at the factories, and to the favor received at the hands of manufacturers on both sides of politics, who on these occasions would give their men a holiday to attend the meetings. We will not follow him through the campaign, but give a few sample extracts from reports of these meetings. Lady 168 All Anecdotal Life of Macdonald accompanied him through ilie greater part of the campaign, and on more than one occasion evidence was given of the personal affection of the people for both of them. At Braniford thousands of people poured in from the country, and Sir John and Lady Macdonald were met at the station by an immense procession. Flags were flying from most of the residences, and triumphal arches were erected for the occasion. From one of these arches the model of an anvil was suspended, on one side of which was the motto, "With Sir John in power I ring;" and on the other side, " With Mackenzie in power I rust." Addresses were presented to Sir John by two of the local political associations, and an address was presented to Lady Macdonald by the Faculty and ladies of the Presbyterian Ladies' College. A very handsome escritoire, made wholly by the workingmen of Brantford, was presented to Lady Macdonald by a deputation from the workingmen. When the presentation was made, they demand- ed a speech from her. The request took her by surprise, as it was the first speech of the kind she had ever been called upon to make. But she did her best, and said, " I think, Mr. President, it is very hard of Mr. Hawkins to say that I must make a speech. I need not tell you I cannot make a speech. I leave speech-making to my husband, who, I am proud to think, can make very good ones. I am proud of my welcome to Brantford, but almost for the first time in public I raise my voice to say how much obliged I am, how flattered and how very much pleased." At the political meeting in the evening, Sir John referred to this gift and to others as follows : " This second-hand cupboard — as it would perhaps be called — which had been handed over to his wife would be put in her best sitting-room; and while no doubt she would show it to her friends as an evidence of the esteem in which she was held, and as a re- flected compliment to her husband, he would point to it as a proof of the skill of the mechanics in Brantford. * * It was not the only present that had been given to him by the work- Sir John Macdonald. 169 ingmen of this country, and he was happy t) believe that by some mysterious influence he lived in the hearts of the working- men. Here was one instance of it (here he held up his gola watch and chain). It was presented to him by the working- men of Toronto. He had no doubt that in some obscure Grit print it had been called a pinchbeck affair. His hearers might see around his good wife's neck a gold necklace. It was presented to her by the workingmen of Hamilton. And the clothes he had on (laughter) — a Scotch pattern, and Highland at that — were manufactured at the hands of working- men of Lower Canada. As he said, when the suit was presented to him, he was not a bit too proud to accept it. He had a right to a new coat, because he never turned the old one." During his speech the chairman called attention to certain interruptions by Government officials who were at the meet- ing, when Sir John adroitly turned the circumstance to account by saying he was not accustomed to such interruptions, and would add that the Government officials could not expect to benefit themselves by creating a disturbance, for many Re- formers had come there to hear both sides of this question. Explaining his position in the Washington Treaty, he said England was crippled in her continental policy by the knowledge that at any favorable moment the United States might strike her in the back. It was important that the Alabama matter should be settled in order to leave England free to act in Europe, and to give Canada a feeling of security. He urged the Fenian raid claims, but the Americans on the commission were candid enough to say that their Government couldjnot carry a clause providing compensation even if they tried. The British Government abandoned the claim, though he opposed that course. If he had refused to give way then, trouble might have arisen between the Imperial and American Governments, and England would not now stand in the position of being both free to fight Prussia, and able to thrash her. * * In conclusion he said the only punishment he M 170 An Anecdotal Life of wished the present Government, if they were defeated, was, that for the next two years they might be compelled to board at the Neebing Hotel. [This hit refers to a "job" alleged to have been perpetrated by the Mackenzie Government in the building of a hotel of this name on the line of the C. P. R.] At a banquet which followed the public meeting in the evening. Sir John in his speech said he was in the position of the great French writer, Voltaire, who after many years' ab- sence from Paris returned there a hero, worshipped by the people. He had been driven from the Paris he loved so well by the despotic power of Louis XV. On his return he visited the theatre, and was crowned with a chaplet of roses. He was an old man, and he said feebly, " My friends ! you smother me with roses," and he died the next day. It ap- peared the people of Brantford were determined to smother him with roses, but he did not intend to die, nevertheless. (Laughter.) He was not quite so old as Voltaire, and he was a good deal tougher. * * He was happy to think his countrymen believed him honest. They had watched his course for thirty-four long years, they knew his merits and demerits, and if his friends were not yet acquainted with his demerits, they had only to read the Reform newspapers. He had been painted with hcins and a tail, and in every possible color, but it appeared to him the colors must have been laid on in the dark, for the shadows came out strongest. * * * At the time he first went into parliament he had a very large practice as a lawyer, and was making a rapid fortune. He had remained in parliament and forfeited his fortune, but he had served the people, and he did not regret it. In a speech at the Parkhill picnic, Sir John alluded to the years of the Reform Government having been years of depres- sion, while his own periods of power were years of prosperity. He quoted a former speech delivered at Peterborough, in which he said : " A good friend of mine, who is what we call a Grit, said to me the other day : ' What fortunate fellows you are, Macdonald I Here you are with everything prosperous around Sir John Macdonald. 171 you, the sun smiles on you, and our fields are teeming with prosperity ; while in days of old, when our own poor friends were in the Government, we had clouded skies and dried-up fields and no crops — and you appropriate all this as your own merits (laughter), and the country will be foolish enough to give you credit for what is an act of climate.' ' Sir,' said I, ' it only goes to show that Providence is on our side, and if you are a wise man and wish a continuance of the same skies and the same crops, you will keep us in power. Be sure, my friend, that the wee /il will come again with the Grit.' (Cheers.) He was very nearly a prophet then, for although the weevil did not come, the Colorado-bug did. * * While we were in power the laws were well administered. They suited the people. There were splendid crops, good prices, no weevil and no potato-bugs. ' We are going to have a big crop now,* he added, ' although a Grit Government is in — but the reason is this : the Grits are going out.' " (Laughter.) After speaking on the tariff ques'. on he concluded as fol- lows : '• We could see what an advantage the Americans had. They had a market of their own, and no bushel of our wheat would go into their country, because, to use a vulgar Scotch phrase, they kept their own fish guts for their own sea mews." On many occasions in this campaign, he spoke of himself as soon to disappear from the stage, and at London he said all he desired to see was the country once more in a prosperous condition, and on the road to become great among nations. When this had been attained, he felt he could sing his " Nunc di mitt is.'' At a conversazione at Strathroy, Sir John, replying to an address from the Young Men's Conservative Association, said he was young himself once — but that was very long ago, and he would not like to tell the ladies how long. His father, who was a good old Conservative, made him a present of one hun- dred acres when he was twenty, so that he might vote when he 172 An Anecdotal Life of was twenty-one. And for whom did his hearers think he voted ? It was for John Solomon Cartwright, the uncle of the present recreant Minister of Finance (laughter) — a good Con- servative who would undoubtedly be ashamed of his successor. He had not intended making a political speech — but there he was again into politics. He ought to have remembered that there were many ladies present. To them he would say, how- ever, that he had a claim upon them — not exactly because of his personal appearance, but because he was the chief man in carrying out union in the provinces, and ladies were always in favor of union. Some people had said his Government were insane for bringing British Columbia into the Confederation. It reminded him of a story of George II. At the time General Wolfe went with a small force to conquer Canada, some one told George II that the general must be mad. The king, who was a Ger- man and could not speak English well, replied : " Mat is he ? mat? Well, by , I wish he would bite some of my chenerals." It was this mad man who took Canada, and added to the British crown its brightest gem. * * * The Conservatives were going to carry Ontario, and instead of this province being Macken- zie's stronghold it was going to be his weak hold. * * * Mr. Duncan McMillan in East Middlesex would smash that Glass [reference to Mr. Glass, Reform candidate], and in London Mr. Carling would walk into the Ma-jaw [Major Walker.] " In fa'^', said he, "the County of Middlesex will be handed over to the Tories, and if they don't treat the electors — well let me know about it.' At one of the meetings in Toronto, Sir John once more referred to tne probability that he would never again have the opportunity of asking for their support, when one in the assem- bly called out, " Oh, you'll never die ! " The remark caused an outburst of laughter, but it was ■< disputed question whether the strange utterance was from a Grit, who was expressing his vexation at Sir John's longevity, or whether one of Sir John's Sir John M icdo 1 1 a Id, 1 7 3 devotees was suddenly inspired with a prophecy of some kind of immortah'ty for his idoh'zed leader. On the 28th August, Sir John went East to Cornwall to a meeting, and by a coincidence Mr. Mowat went on the same train down to Glengarry to help Mr. Mackenzie at one of his picnics. It appeared that Sir Richard Cartwright had been ex- p-,v,ied at Mr. Mackenzie's picnic at Alexandria, in that county, but failed to appear. His non appearance was attributed by the Conservatives to the anger of the Highlanders at some real or supposed insult he had given them. Sir John went from Corn- wall to the little village of St. Andrews, seven miles distant, where in the churchyard of the little Roman Catholic church reposed the remains of his old antagonist, John Sandfield Macdonald. In his speech here, his audience being composed chiefly of Scotchmen, Sir John turned the Cartwright incident to account in the following way : '' The last and worst thing they had said of him was, that he was a Scotchman, a descen- dant of a Highlander and a thief. Why, Mr. Cartwright, who made this charge was a Highlander himselt, and his ancestors might have stolen cattle — and the instinct might remain with him. He seemed to forget that, and it seemed to have slipped his memory, that his leader, Mr. Mackenzie, was also a High- lander, and had shown himself quite as great an adept at deal- ing as he (Sir John) had. Mr. Cartwright was told by his leader to be at Alexandria, but he had not gone, as he heard some Scotchmen had gone there to meet him. Well, he had shown a little more sense than the man who attacked the laird of Camlogie. The laird of C imlogie, while crossing a bridge, was insulted by a man. For this insult he threw the man into the water and nearly drowned him. Some friends of the laird asked him if lie did not know the danger of throwing the man into the water. A weel,' said the laird, ' I did na think ony mon wad insult the '.lird o' Camlogie on a b"edge if he could na swem.' (Laughte •) Mr. Cartwright evidently could not swim, so he got out of the way of the Highlanders of Alexan- dria." 174 An Anecdotal Life of The elections were held In September, and Sir John was returned to power by a large majority — to remain in power up to the day of his death. Just after the elections he went down to Quebec to bid an official good-bye to one of the ablest and most popular Gov- ernor-Generals Canada ever had — Lord Dufferin. While here he was pressed to attend a meeting and give an address, which he consented to do. He expressed his regret that he could not address them well in the F'rench language — the lan- guage of his great friend, his '^ alter ego," who had been called his Siamese twin — Sir George E. Cartier. He (Sir John) con- sidered himself an English-speaking Frenchman, as Sir George E. Cartier considered himself a French-speaking Eng- lishman. After the elections just over it was impossible to find a Rouge in Quebec or a Grit in Ontario, even if a re- ward were offered for them, so complete was the victory. The Grits were like the Dodo — extinct. A story was told in Toronto of two Grits or Rouges — for they are as much alike as a crocodile and an alligator — who met the day after the election. One of them said to the other, "Didn't you Grits get a good licking.?" and his companion replied, "Yes, didn't they ! " You n^ight know the Grits now by their wear- ing longer faces than anybody else. It was said that the Hon. George Brown, editor of the Globe, of whom they had all heard, had gone three times a week to the same barber for twenty years, always paying him ten cents to be shaved. On the morning after the election, however, the barber demanded fifteen cents instead of ten, because he had never seen his face so long before. Sir John MacdunaUL 175 CHAPTER XXII. 'Tis well that man to all the varying states Of good anil ill his mind accommodates. ■Crabbe. WORDS OF WISDOM AND PATRIOTISM — SIR JOHN'S SERir ja SAYINGS. It must not be inferred from the contents of the last two chapters that the character of Sir John on the floor of the House was always that of a buffoon. Many of his speeches were those of a serious and earnest man. The charge of buffoonery was less applicable to him than to Disraeli, against whom it was often levied ; and it may fairly be said that Sir John seldom told a story, or made a droll illustration, without the serious purpose of driving home an argument, or gaining a point against his opponents, or of soothing and diverting an irritable House. A few, and only a few, of his bits of wisdom and sentiment, culled at random from his speeches, are given in this chapter. In the House he was very ready to give information to a candid inquirer, and to impart his personal views, where they did not give a handle to his opponents to work with. There could be nothing more instructive and entertaining, for instance, than one of his conversational speeches on Indian affairs, of which department he was head for several years. No question would be asked but he had an answer for it and could give off-hand a history of each appointment, or a clear and instructive statement of every case of difficulty that had come up ; while his knowledge of the character of the Indians was marvelloui*. A most interesting volume could be made solely from his speeches, explanations in committee, and annual reports, on the Canadian Indian. It is perhaps pardonable egotism to say that for adminis- 1 76 An Anecdotal Life of trative capacity, especially in taking savage people and educa- ing and training them to better ideas, no race is equal to the British. Wherever British rule has been extended over savage nations, they have been schooled into better notions of self- control and self-government, the germ of improvement no doubt being derived more from the Christian missionary than the political ruler. The Canadian policy in dealing with the Indian has, from early times, borne out the best traditions of British administration, and no head of the Indian Department has shown more tact and patience, or approached nearer to the ideal of British humanity in governing a subject race, than Sir John. Once in a debate on the Indian, Mr. Blake jokingly suggested that wher Sir John wished to vacate the office of Indian Affairs, his friend, Sir Richard Caitwright, would be glad to step into his place ; to which Sir John replied: " If he knew how much worry these Indians sometimes cause me I would not congratulate him on the change." But Sir John's patience •/as never exhausted, " It has been the fault of our adminis- trations," said he one day, " that they have been over- indulgent. But what can we do ? We cannot as Christians, and as men with hearts in our bosoms — allow the vagabond Indian to die before us. Some of these Indians — and it is a peculiarity of their nature — will hang around the stations and will actually allow themselves to die, in the hope that just before the breath let.ves their body they will receive some assistance from the public stores." On another occasion he said: "The whole theory of supplying the Indians is that we must prevent them from starving. In consequence of the extinction of the buffalo, and their not having yet betaken themselves to raising crops, they were suffering greatly. * * The officers exercise every discretion in giving tliem food to prevent them from starvhig, but at the same time every effort was made to save the pubL j stores, and induce the Indians to become self-supporting. "The general rule is that you cannot make the Indian a Sir John Macdonald. 177 white man. An Indian once said to me, ' We are the wild animals ; you cannot make an ox out of a deer.' You can- not make an agriculturist of the Indian. All we can hope to do is to wean them, by slow degrees, from their nomadic habits, which have almost become an instinct, and by slow degrees absorb them or settle them on the land. Meantime they must be fairly protected." Speaking of the constantly returning dangers of Indian otitbreaks — from the actual occurrence of which Canada has been singularly free compared with the United States — he said : " You can quite understand tliat if an Indian is starving and sees a w-hite man's catOe grazing, he will not starve — he will shoot the white man's ox for food, and it was not unlikely that the white man's ox would shoot down the Indian. * * There are large nerds of cattle coming into our North West Territories from the United States, with herdsmen and drivers, and we know from the history of the transactions between the white man and the Indian in the States, that the white man would be apt to shoot the Indian on sight, as he would a prairie dog. Such men are coming into our country, and the great danger is that by an act of appropriation of a white man's property the white man might be excited to pro- tect it by taking an Indian's life, and the killing of one Indian might cause an Indian war." The leading feature of Sir John's Indian policy was to keep the Indian alive during times of scarcity, and gradually wean him from his wild ways into habits of settled industry, though the process, he saw, required great time and infinite patience. On a motion of Mr. Macdonnell (Inverness), that the Hansard reports should be discontinued on account of the cost ($18,562), amendments were moved, one by Mr. Joties, that the reports be made verbatim. Sir John in the course of his speech upon the subject said — " It is well known that objection was made a good many years ago by some members to the reports in the Times, and they 178 An Anecdotal Life of demanded that the reports be taken ' verbatim et literatim.' The Times took them at their word, and for two or three weeks published their speeches verb, et lit. until they had to go on their knees and beg that the piactice be discontini;ed. It might suit some who speak with peculiar verbal accuracy, and round off theii sentences, as if they had been prepared. Some have that happy faculty. I for one have it not, and I should be very sorry to have my speeches reported ' verba- tim et literatim.' To do away with the reports altogether would be a retrograde step. We all know the regrets ex- pressed by every literary man, every statesman and every historian that the speeches made by great men in the days of old were lost forever. 1 think it was the younger Pitt who said he would rather have a lost speech of Bolingbroke than all the lost pages of Livy. We have no speeches of Chatham, no speeches of Bolingbroke, none of the great speeches made in the Long Parliament, at the time of the fight between freedom and tyranny in the time of Charles I. We all know how eagerly historians have looked up any little sentence, any casual note, and any remark of the leaders of public opinion from the time of Queen Elizabeth till now ; "^ * how eagerly these scraps are scanned to find out the motives that moved the body of Parliament. * * Even in Canada how deeply interesting would be a Hansard shewing the debates in the old province of Upper Canada or Lower Canada, giving the dis- cussions of 1791-2. If we had that^ it would be the most interesting volume in the world to any Canadian. We could learn the chief subjects of interest, the style of speaking and the manner of thought, not only of the leaders, but of the great body of the representatives of the people in those early days. And we arc in a great measure without a colonial history. We have no means of tracing out the very ground- work of all our legislation, the motives and impulses of those petty municipal questions which were the chief subjects of interest in those early days, and which have expanded into the large subjects that are now engaging the people of Canada.' ' Sir John Macdonald. 179 On Mr. John Charlton's bill to punish adultery and seduc- tion, Sir John said: "The evils against which the bill is directed strike at the very root of society — the conjugal rela- tion — and if it were possible by any means to restrain this class of immorality, it would be very desirable to do so. At the same time I feel that there are vices which cannot be reached by legislation, but that can be reached by education, and especially religious education, and by the maintenance of a high standard of morality among the people." The expression used by Sir John in his last campaign, ''A British subject I was born ; a British subject I will die," which has become famous, was uttered many years before, as the following passage in his speech on Mr. Blake's resolution, declaring the right of Canada to make her own commercial treaties, will show : " Disguise it as you will, this means separa- tion and independence. The hon. gentleman is moving by slow degrees to that point. This is a commercial movement, by and by we shall have something else, until at last we take a step for political independence. I have said to the House before that a British subject I was l)orn, and a British subject I hope to die. The best interests of Canada are all involved in the connection between the mother country and her loving and loyal colony." In the course of a speech in the House of A-ssembly, in i86r, referring to the agitations then going on as to the rela- ti'^ns of the two provinces, he said he hoped that for ages, fort v^er, Canada might remain united with the mother country. But we were fast ceasing to be a dependency, and were assuming the position of an ally of Great Britain. England would be the centre, surrounded and sustained by an alliance not only with Canada, but Australia and all the other pos- sessions ; r.nd there would thus be formed an immense con- federacy of free men — the greatest confederacy of civilized and intelligent men that ever had an existence on the face of 180 An Anecdotal Life of the globe. We in our sphere should avoid occasions of differ- ence. * * * Let us all set aside party feeling, and work in common on the principle of union, and not on the principle of one section striving against another section, and seeking to annihilate it. The following points are from s])ecches delivered in 1861 : — " A public man in this country gets plenty of abuse, and I have had more than my share of it." "To sustain yourselves honorably you have your own stout hearts and brawny arms, and all you look for from me is good government." "Certainly I have not fattened on the public plunder. I am sure that, when T first entered the public service, my name stood infinitely better at my bankers than it does at the present time, and my creditors feel as I feel myself, that I should have been a wealthier man, and have a much higher standing in point of credit, had I uninterruptedly pursued my profession, instead of devoting myself to the public service." " Since I was five years old, I have been in Canada. My affections, my family are here. All my hopes and my remem- brances are Canadian; and not only are my principles and prejudices Canadian, but (what as a Scotchman, I feel as much as anybody else) my interests are Canadian." " If coalition between two parties means that for the sake of emolument or position they sacrifice principle, then coali- tion government ought not to receive the confidence of the people. But if it means the junction of a number of men, who, forgetting old quarrels which have been wiped out, and who instead of raking up the ashes after the fire of dissension had burned away, finally extinguished it, and refused to prolong discord — then I may say that coahtion is the act of true patriots. * * I have always been a Conservative Liberal, and when I found there were many Reformers who agreed with me, I did not hesitate to enter into an alliance with them." Sir John MacdonaXd. 181 " Are we not all equal in this country ? Have we not all the same lights ? And if we get the right man in the right place, it does not matter what iiis race or religion may be." " It is said that that country is the happiest which has no history. It may be exciting to read of great wars and great conquerors, but that history, so exciting to the reader, tells of misery and destruction to the country concerned. Those wars may have brought out the great talents of great minds, but they have been ruinous to thousands. And so it is with administrations. That Government which is satisfied with being useful — with doing its duty to the people who placed it in power — which, when it finds a practical evil sets itself to reduce it in a practical way, is not a Government about which you can get up much enthusiasm." " I believe no country is worthy of lil)eriy unless it is able to fight for it, and that not by hired hands only, * * We see what England has done with her volunteers. * * Not satisfied with her magnificently organized army and navy, the moment her position was in danger the people rushed to arms ; the merchant leaving his counter, the farmer his plough, the lawyer his desk — and by the sarne token they say the lawyers make the best of soldiers, because they are so ready for the charge." " I never asked the question, and never will ask, what a man's religion, race or ancestry may be ; if he is a capable man, ' the right man for the right place,' that is all I uiquire^ into." " It is one thing to give a man a right, it is quite another thing to deprive a man of an established one, especially if it is not proved that he has abused it." " Preserve the union [between Upper and Lower Canada] and we become a great nation. Gone forever would be all our hopes of this becoming a great empire — gone forever the prospects of attaining a high position in the world — gone for- ever all our glorious expectations if we p ' sank into two wretched municipalities, with different interests, different reli- 182 An Anecdotal Life of gions and opposing prejudices. * * If I had any influence over the minds of the people of Canada, any power over their in- tellect, I would leave them this legacy : ' Whatever you do adhere to the Union — we are a great country, and shall be- come one of the greatest in the universe if we pres,jrve it ; we shall sink into insignificance and adversity if we suffer it to be broken.' God and nature have made the two Canadas one — let no factious men be allowed to put them asunder." When the American Civil War broke out, Mr. Macdonald was of opinion that it would result in the formation of two nations. In a speech in 1861 he said : " He agreed with every word of regret that had been expressed at the unhappy and lamentable state of things which they now witnessed in the States, for he remembered rhey were of the same blood as ourselves. He still looked hopefully to the future of the United States. He believed there was a vigor, a vitality in the Anglo-Saxon character and institutions of the States that would carry them through this great convulsioii, as they had carried through our mother country in days of old. He hoped that if they were to be severed in two — as severed in two he believed they would be— two great, two noble, two free nations would exist in place of one. But while thus he sympathized with them, he musl Fay^ let it be a warning to ourselves, that we do not split upon the same rock. The 'fatal error which they committed — and it was perhaps una- voidable from the state of the colonies at the time of the revo- lution — was in making each state a distinct sovereignty." " I am satisfied that the best civiliz'^rs are missionaries." *' The Governmcn*: are merely trustees for the public." "Parliament is a grand inquest which hi i le right to inquire into anything and everything." At the dinner in Halifax to the Confederation delegates, Mr. Sir John Macdonald. 183 Macdonald, in the course of his speech, said : " The question of Colonial Union is one of such magnitude that it dwarfs every other question on this portion of the continent. It absorbs every other idea as far as I am concerned. For twenty long years I have been dragging myself through the dreary waste of colonial politics. I thought there was no end — nothing worthy of ambition ; but now 1 see something that is well worthy to be weighed against all I have suffered in the cause of my little country. There may be obstructions ; local dif- ferences may arise, disputes may occur, local jealousies may intervene, but it matters not — the wheel is now revolving, and we are only the fly on the wheel ; we cannot delay it. The union of the colonies of British America under one sovereign is a fixed fact." He then pointed out that though the constitution of the United States was as perfect as human wisdom could make it, yet being the work of men it had its defects, and one of these was tiiat each state was an individual sovereignty, having its own army and navy and its own sovereign powers. We could avoid this danger by forming one strong central government, having all rights of sovereignty except those delegated to the local government. Referring to the visit of the delegates to England on Con- federation he said : — '' From the moment we presented ourselves with the creden- tials of the people of Canada we saw a great change. We were treated not as a mere delegation from a small depen- dency, but as if we were an embassy from some great nation ; and we, the four ministers from a single colony, were met day by day, and for weeks and weeks, by the chief heads of the Government of England. We were told that in case it were necessary, the whole power of the mighty empire with which we weie connected would be exercised in our defence, and that by land and sea, with soldier and sailor, by salt water find by fresh, on the ocean and on the lakes, England would^ 184 An Anecdotal Life of if necessary, expend the whole of lier mighty resources in the defence of Canada." " So long as the country is well governed and enjoys all the benefits it should enjoy, you can smoke your pipe in peace at home, in happy indifference as to whether Reformers or Conservatives are at the helm of state. I have always held that we should not be like the Jews, who wished to keep out the Gentiles from the inner temple. We should accept as men and brothers all those who think alike of the future of the country, and wish to act alike for the good of the country, no matter what their antecedents may have been." '' 1 he statement often made that this is a conquered coun- try is a propos de rien (has no meaning). Whether it was conquered or ceded, we have a constitution now, under which all British subjects are in a position of absolute equality, hav- ing equal rights of language, of religion, of property, and of person. There is no paramount race in this country ; there is no conquered race in this country ; we are all British sub- jects ; and those who are not English are none the less British subjects on that account." " I am as strong a party man as my hon. friend (Mr. Mac- kenzie), and will go as for for party as he. And parties can fight and have their struggles, triumphs and defeats, so long as the country is not made the victim. But I say that that party is ui.worthy 'O retain the confidence of the people who, in their desire for victory, will forget the country." " We, in Canada, have got into the habit of delivering lec- tures and essays in parliament. Well, these essays we can all find in books, and it is merely lecture and water that we get, as a rule, in long speeches." (Sir John thought a twenty minutes' speech long enough for any practical man in parlia- ment, but he did not Hmit all his own speeches to that space of time.) # Sir John Macdonald, 185 '* Some are apprehensive that the fact of our forming this Confederation will hasten the time when we shall be severed from the Mother Country. I have no apprehension of that kind. I believe it will have the contrary effect. I believe that as we grow stronger, as we become a people able, from our union, our population, and the development of our resources, to take our position among the nations of the world, she would be less willing to part with us than now. * * I am strongly of opinion that year by year, as we grow in population and strength, England will more see the advan- tage of maintaining the alliance between British North America and herself. Does anyone imagine that when our population, instead of 3,500,000, will be 7,000,000, as it will oe ere many years pass, we would be one whit more willing 'han now to sever the connection with England ? * * The colonies are now in a transition state. Gradually a different colonial system is being developed — and it will become year by year less a case of dependence on our part, and of overruling protection on the part of the Mother Country, and more a case of healthy and cordial alliance. Instead of looking upon us as a merely dependent colony, England will have in us a friendly nation — a subordinate, but still a povverful people — to stand by her in North America in peace or in war." When Lord Beaconsfield died in 1881, certain English Con- servative politicians approached Sir John with a suggestion that he should come over to England and enter the field there, with a view to succeeding the great English statesman, point- ing out the higher honors he would obtain, and expressing ihe conviction that by his natural gifts he would win the position of leader of the Conservative party and of the nation. Sir Jolin declined, and when they asked why, he is said to have replied to this effect : *' That here he was engaged in the development of a nation ; there he would be struggling to hold together the fabric of an old one. Here he was building up a nQw empire — the forces were here forming for the life of a iN 186 An Anecdotal Life of nation— and there was more glory in having a guiding hand in that than striving to preserve from ossification the frame of an old nation." Sir John Macdonald. 18T CHAPTER XXIir. From grave to gay. —Pope. MISCELLANEOUS ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES. It has been said before that Sir John usually joked with a serious purpose, unless he might be talking merely to enter- tain a friend in private. Some of his old colleagues used to be offended at the wanton levity he would exhibit when mat- ters of serious moment were being discussed in Council, or in private conference. The more grave the situation appeared to theui, and the more anxious their minds were, the more apt he was to break off in the midst of the discussion with some story or joke ; and on these occasions — like Abram Lincoln's jokes — they were not always relevant. One of his colleagues, impatient at the ill-timed levity, would break in with, " But this is no time for joking — how are we going to get over this difficulty ? — what are we to do with So-and-so ? " " Oh, we'll fix him all right," Sir John would reply, and go on with his story or tell a new one. But what ai)peared ill-timed levity to some cf his friends was only intended to draw off the minds of others of his colleagues from some distraction, or stop them at a moment when they were running off upon dangerous ground in the debate. When the Hon. Win. McDougall was insulted and driven back by the rebellious half-breeds of Red River, while the North West was taken over, the GovernLient decided to send Joseph Howe to take his place. Mr. Howe was in ill health and they thought the journey would do him good, and at the same time overcome his prejudices against the North West, which were very strong. He got '^here in the fall, and going through the country by dog train, was caught in a snow storm 188 An Anecdotal Life of and had a hard time of it. His mission was a failure, and his prejudices against the country only confirmed. Then Sir Adams Archibald was sent up, and while he was there an un- usually early cold snap froze up Lake Winnipeg so solid that the Indians were on the point of starvation. Mr. Archibald reported the disordered state of things, and asked for aid from Ottawa. *' There," said Mr. Howe, when the matter came up for decision, " what did I tell you about that place ? I wouldn't give Nova Scotia for seven bleak and frozen North Wests." " Well," replied Sir John, '' between you and McDci- gall, you've made-it quite hot enough to suit us." William Lyon Mackenzie told a friend once that some years after the Rebellion, John A. came to him and said : "Mr. Mackenzie, I understand you have a scrap book containing a great deal of valuable history. I should like to have it for use in the public records, and will give you .£1,000 for it." Mr. Mackenzie said he believed the offer was meant as a bribe, and replied in his characteristic style that all the money that could be offered him was not enough to purchase that scrap book. A son of Mr. P'erguson, member for Leeds, had a bust of a Polynesian in his office. Having stuck a clay pipe in the Polynesian's mouth and put a battered beaver hat on its head, a'farmer came in, and seeing the dusky visaged figure ex- claimed, " Why, I declare, that's John A.^ isn't it? " Mr. Robert Motton, the genial magistrate of Halifax, who was as fond of a good story as Sir John, once had a call from the Premier when in Halifax. Sir John noticing two or three busts'ir Mr. ?*Iotton's oflSce, asked whom they represented? Mr. Motton said one was Cato, the Roman statesman, and it reminded him of the circumstance tliat a man came in one day and seeing the bust, said : " Let's see — that's Mr. Mc- Cully, isn't it? And what a fine likeness of him it is." Sir John saw something so irresistibly ludicrous in the association Sir John Macdonald. 18 'i of Ciito the censor with liis old political friend McCiilly, that he stood for some minutes repeating the words : " Cato and McCully I " and laughing heartily between each soliloquy. Such cases of mistaken identity will remind many readers of the remarkable likeness that existed between Sir John and the Ojibway Indian Chief, John Prince, or Ah-yan-dwa-wah (the Thunderbolt), from Manitoba, who visited Ottawa in 1889 to protest agiinst the depletion of Lake Winnipeg by Ameri- can fisherman. The Indian Chief visited Toronto on his way down, and many people not personally acquainted with the Premier actually mistook him for Sir John. He was six feet high and straight as an arrow. His bushy gray hair, the strong outline of his nose, liis pursed-up mouth, the lines of twinkling shrewdness about the eyes all recalled the Premier. The big chief had Sir John's way of wagging his head and had Sir John's carriage. The fact that Sir John was so commonly known as "the old chief" or "the chieftain" made the association more complete. While in Toronto, Mr. Robert- son of the Telegram asked the chief what relatio.i he was to Sir John. The chief said he supposed he was a brother. .\sked if he was not likely to win tha affections of Lady Mac- donald, the old man replied : *' No, I have too much respect for my sister-in-law." Speaking of busts, a laughable incident occurred in the Superior Court in Montreal, last year. A prominent French Canadian lawyer, engaged in an important case, wanted his statute books urgently for reference, but could not go after them. The happy thought struck him of telephoning to his office boy. The boy was instructed as follows : " Apporte moi les deux statutes qui se trouve nt sur ma table " (bring me the tvvo statutes which are to be found on my table). A few minutes later the court was thrown into a convulsion of laugh- ter when a small boy appeared bearing under one arm a bronze statuette of Sir John Macdonald awd under the other a com- panion statuette of Sir Etienne Tache. 190 A Of A necdotal Life of Samuel Thomi'son, in his " Reminiscences of a Canadian Pioneer," draws this coniparison between Sir John and the Hon.Cjeorge JJrown : IJoth Scotclimen ; bolh ambitious; l)Oth resolute and i>erscvcring ; both carried away by political excitement into errors which ihey would gladly forget ; both unquestionably loyal and true to the empire. But in temper and demea nor, no two men could be more unlike. Mr. Brown was naturally austere, autocratic, domineering. Sir John was kindly, whether to friends or foes, and always ready to forget past differences. A country member who had been newly elected for a Refoim constituency said to a friend of mine : " What a contrast between Brown and Macdonald ! I was at the Reform Convention the other day, and there was George Brown dictating to us all, and treating rudely every man who dared to make a suggestion. Next day I was talk- ing to some fellows in the lobby, when a stranger coming up slapped me on the shoulder and said in the heartiest way : * How d'ye do, M ? Shake hands — glad lo see you here. —I'm John A.'" Speaking of this characteristic of Sir John, the late J. Sher- idan Hogan, who after writing on the old Colonist went into Opposition and became member for Grey, said it was impos- sible to help liking Sir John — he was ?o good-natured to men on botli sides of the House, and never seemed to remember an injury, or resent an attack after it was past. An anecdote of a similar kind to that by Samuel Thompson was related some years ago by a correspondent at Ottawa. When the late David Thompson was sitting for Haldimand, in the days when the record of the riding was an unbroken scries of Libera! victories, he was laid aside for nearly a whole session through illness. He got down to Parliament at last, and told the story of his reception as follows : "The first man I met on coming back was Blake. He passed me with a simple nod. The next man 1 met was Carlwright, and his greeting was about as cold as that of Blake. Hardly had I passed these men when I met Sir John. He didn't pass me Sir John Macdoiuild. 191 by, but grasped me by the liand, gave me a slap on the shoul- der, and said, ' Davy, old man, I'm glad to see you back. I hope you'll soon be yourself again and live many a day to vote against me — as you always have done 1 ' Now," conti- nued Mr. Thompson with genuine pathos, " I never gave the old man a vote in my life, but hang me if it doesn't go against my grain to follow the men who haven't a word of kind greet- ing for me, and oppose a man with a heart like Sir John's." A leading citizen of Toronto met Sir John once in King street in that city and accosted iiim with, '' Sir John, our friend C here says you are the d st liar in all Canada ! " Vssuming a very grave look, Sir John answered : " I dare say it's true enough." * / Mr. Peak, an officer of one of the Canals, was appointed by the Mackenzie Government, and when Sir John came back to i)ower again, an enemy of the officer thought he would take advantage of the opportunity to get him out. The most serious charge that could be brought against the officer was that he had bought a coffin for a poor deceased workman and paid for it with Government money. Sir John received the accusa- tion, but, as usual, did not say what would be done. Meeting the officer some time after. Sir John alluded to the charge in no censorious way and added : " I hope you made the coffin big enough." Laughing off the rest of the charges he asked the officer after his daughter, of whose beauty he had heard. The officer was so struck with Sir John's broad-mindedness, and so pleased with the compliment to his daughter, who was his special pride, that he became a devoted p(jlitical follower of the Conservative Premier. In a more cunning way he met the intrigues of another of his own partizans, who just before an election demanded, as the price of his important services in his county, that Sir • " Reminiscences of a Canadian I'ioneer." 192 An Anecdotal Life of John should turn out from his position a certain postmaster — a worthy man against whom nothing of a serious nature could be brought. The intriguant coolly told Sir John he proposed to trump up charges against the postmaster, and wished it understood that when the postmaster was ejecied he was to have the place. "All right," said Sir John. " When you get him out you shall have the place, — but wait till after the election." Presumptuously interpreting this as an assurance that the old postmaster would be discharged on any sort of complaint, the would-be supplanter went to work with a will in the election, the Conservative being returned. After the election he preferred some trumpery charge against the postmaster, which of course the Postmaster General refused to entertain. Finally he came to the Capital, and going to Sir John claimed the old postmaster's place, remind- ing Sir John of what he had said. " Well, did you get old out ? " asked Sir John. " No," replied he. " Well," said Sir John, " as soon as you get him out, you shall have the place." *' But the Postmaster General won't listen to me," he com- plained. *' Oh ! well, then I'm afraid I can't do anything. I can't interfere," explained Sir John with a delightful assumption of innocence and helplessness. Sir John's unfortunate habit of indulging in strong drink — but for which he might have lived ten or fifteen years yet in the full vigor of his intellect, and so have extended a career that would have been absolutely without a parallel in the history of the world's legislators and prime ministers — has already been alluded to. Of late years, owing to the care,^ solicitude and good counsel of his wife, and to other causes which will be spoken of elsewhere, he gained control of this appetite, and limited himself to a very small allowance each day. At one time, however, more especially the period between the death of his first wife and his second marriage^ he frequently gave way to drink, sometimes absenting himself from work for days at a time, and paying little heed to the Sir John Macdonald. 195 quality of liquor he drank, or the standing of the place at which he got it. But even at such times his mind retained its seat, and he never allowed his tongue to run loose. Once he went to speak against a Reform candidate in a North Ontario constituency. When he mounted the platform^ after having taken too much strong drink and being shaken over a rough track on the train, he became sick and vomited on the platform while his opponent was speaking. Such cL sight before a large audience disgusted even many of his friends, and the prospect for the Conservative cause that day- was not bright. The opposing candidate, whom we will call Jones, ceased speaking, and John A. rose to reply. What could he say, or how could lie act to redeem himself and gain respect or attention ? " Mr. Chairman and gentlemen,"^ he began, " I don't know how it is, but every time I hear Mr. Jones speak it turns my stomach ! " The conception was sa grotesque and so unexpected, that the audience went off in fits of laughter, and disgust was instantly turned into general good humor and sympathy. At one time complaints were pretty numerous among promi- nent Conservative members of the drinking habits of Thomas D'Arcy McGee. A member came to John A. and said, "You must speak to him. This sort of thi^i^" is a disgrace." After putting them off for some time, John A. went to McGee and said, '' Look here, McGee, this Government can't afford twa drunkards, and you've got to stop." Four or five years ago a temperance delegation came down to Ottawa from the West to urge some temperance reforms, followed the next day by a large delegation from the Licensed Victuallers' Association, who strongly presented the ** liquor side " of the question. Meeting Sir John after this, Mr. S. E. Gregory, one of his old supporters from Ontario, asked him how he was going to get out of this difficulty, and yet please both sides. '* We'll give them a dose of Gregory's Mixture," replied Sir John instantly, " that will bring them round all right." 194 An Anecdotal Life of Akin to this was his remark when the names of the two candidates for Hamilton, at a former election, were submitted to him. One was 1). B. Chisholm, a prominent advocate of temperance, and the other was Peter Grant, the brewer. On asking the occupations of the men, Mr. Grant was given by mistake as a distiller. " Wliere could you get a better combination than that,' said John A.— "good water and good whisky." Though the fact may not be creditable to human nature. Sir John's very weakness was a secret of his popularity with a certain class of men, and he did not hesitate to take advan- tage of the weakness when the occasion served his purpose. Once he caused great applause in his audience when he said, ^' I know enough of the feeling of this meeting to know that you would rather have John A. drunk than George Brown sober." Going home one night, while he Hvffd at Toronto, he met Mr. L , the tea merchant, who, though one of his many personal friends, was a life-long Reformer. Sir John was a iittle unsteady, and wishing company home said, " L , 1 have known you for twenty-five years, and you've never given me a vote yet ; but," he added as he took his friend's arm, *' you've got to support me this time." When Prince Arthur visited Canada, a reception was given him at the Capital, and it was arranged that the members of the Cabinet siiould meet privately in their Windsor uniforms, just before the reception. One of the ministers, Mr. V , who was not himself an exemplar of temperance principles, tried on his cocked hat, and one of the company observed that it was not a fit. " No," said Sir John, looking at the subject of remark, "you look as if a cock'-tail would suit you better than a cocked hat." When the prohibition bill was introduced four or five years ago, the Hon. C. I.angelrer said to Sir John, "I hope you don't intend to let that go through. It would kill us all in our province." " Yes," replied the Premier, '• and it would kill me at home too." Sir John Macdonald. 1^5 In the later years of his h'fe, Sir John was sincerely desirous of promoting tlie cause of temperance, as far as the sentiment of the people would support it. A preacher in one of his sermons related this : — " A friend of mine said lo him, ' Sir John, when are you going to give us })iohibition ? ' The prompt reply was, ' Whenever you want it.' ' But we want it now,' said my friend. 'Then say so,' replied the Premier. 'But how shall we say it ? ' ' By sending prohibitionists to Parlia- ment,' was the prompt and effective answer." The preacher thought the Premier's answer was ihe solution of a difficult ■problem in a nutshell. " When the churches do their duty," said he, " then the days of the legalized li y r traffic will be few indeed." The Premier's reply was a jood one, and characteristic. While not a prohibitionist in principle himself, he was perfectly willing that the people should have a chance to say v/hether they wanted it or not. If they voted yes, he, as head of the G. vernment, was prepared to do what he could to pass the law. One of Sir John's innate good qualities was his faithfulness to his friends that were true to him, and, though he may not have published it, lie had a secret horror of the waiting-for- dead-men's-shoes disposition of many office seekers. It is said that there has not been an instance where an applicant who asked for a position in tiie ser.'ire occupied by a sick or dying man, before the incumbent's death, ever got it. He truly judged that an office seeker who acted thus was not fit for the place. The following anecdote is not a case in point, though it comes up by way of association. Mr. G. was applicant for the position of inspector of weights and measures in an On- tario county, and suggested, as the present incumbent was willing to retire on a five years' superannuation allowance, the appointment be made at once. Sir John looked up the ques- tion, and when Mr. G. called again he was informed that such 196 An Anecdotal Life of allowances could only be made in the case of civil servants connected with the penitentiary. " If 1 had only known of that long ago," he added, '* I could have sent old Tom to the penitentiary, and then you could have followed him." When Sir John went to Washington in connection with the treaty with the United States, the Canadian party were treated to a boat ride on the Potomac. Sir John came early and alone, and while wailing for the others to come, a lady, the wife of a senator, fell into conversation with him, when the following dialogue ensued : " I guess you are from Canada." ** Yes, ma'am." ** You've got a very smart man over there, the Honorable John A. Macdonald." " Yes, ma'am, he is." " But they say he's a regu'ar rascal." " Yes, ma'am, he is a perfect rascal." ** But why do they keep such a man in power ? " *' Well, you see, they cannot get along without him." " But how is that ? They say he's a real skalawag, and '* Just then her husband, the Senator, stepped up and said : " My dear, let me introduce the Honorable John A. Mac- donald." The lady's feelings can be imagined. But Sir John put her at her ease, saying, " Now, don't apologize. All you've said is perfectly true, and it is well known at home." Sir John's habit of putting off applicants for places, and of delaying decisions in doubtful or difficult cases, a habit which earned for him the oft-applied nickname of '' Old To-morrow," has often been the subject of speculation by students of his character. To give the reader an account of his remarkable resources at Makeshift and Evasion would fill a volume. What is the explanation of his plan of deferring till to-morrow what many thought should be done to-day ? ^Slr John Mdcdonahl. 197 One authority thinks it is *' the result of some inexplicable calculation of policy." This is rather indefinite. With regard to questions of api)oinlment he probably reasoned, that by delay further liglit would be thrown on the subject, and give the opportunity for a possibly better candidate to appear, while it would be a\A to tire out any applicant of whom he wanted to be rid, and in some cases be a test of the perse- verance of a candidate. Deferred favors, when they did come, would also be more valued by some aspirants. "When remon- strated with on tlie seeming folly of disappointing fifty persons, whose applications might easily have been forestalled, and the opposite policy of Sir Francis Hincks had been held up in contrast, he has, in vindication of his own course, pointed to the fact that the life of his administration had been much longer than that of the gentleman named. It may be that when a large number of men, more or less influential, have asked favors from the head of the Government, they feel to a certain extent in his power, and that to do anything that might look like desertion would be a disgrace. Once in quitting oflfice, Sir John gave mortal offence to his followers by leaving, as a prize to his successor, half a hundred offices vacant ; but on a subsequent occasion, resolving not again to subject himself to such a reproach, he ran too near the wind by making a large number of appointments when his adminis- tration was in a moribund condition, and almost virtually defunct."* It is known to a few of Sir John's intimate friends that he was offered a peerage, but he declined that high Imperial honor, as he did not consider it in accord with the institutions of a democratic country like Canada. One day in the House "lie was rallied upon the rumor that he was to accept a peerage, and a member . ked him what title he was going to take. He replied : *' I will be Lord To-morrow." No one was fonder of making a joke at his own expense on this nickname than he. • Dent's *• Canadian Portrait (i.iUeiy.'' 198 An Anecdotal Life of A French Canadian Conservative member, who had been disappointed in very many requests for Government favors, wanted a legal friend of his appointed to the judgeship of his county, whicii had just became vacant. When another man, who had been strongly recommended to the Minister of Justice, was apuoiiited, the disappointed member's anger broke out in a paroxysm. It was the last straw that broke the camel's back. He went to Sir John Macdonald, reminded him of the promise he iiadmade, that the very next favor asked would be granted without question, and that on the strength of this assurance he (tlie member) had positively engaged to place his friend in the judgeship. He wound up by demanding that the appointment should be canceled, and when Sir John informed him that this could not be done, he told the Premier to accept his resignation on the spot. This took place on a Monday. Sir John said he was sorry, but, whatever happened, he would take it as a personal favor if the member would not hand in his resignation till Wednesday. Recounting the interview to the Minister of Justice, the latter asked, '* Why did you say Wednesday ? " " I don't know," replied Sir John, " except that it is not to-day ! " But mark the sequel. On Wednesday the irate member came into Sir John's office in quite an altered mind, and said that, having thought the matter over, he would withdraw his resignation. Sir John knew the man he had been dealing with. Three or four years ago Mr. F , M.P., came down to Ottawa, about three months before the usual time of the Session, his business being to obtain the promise of a bonus for a railway in his district. Sir John met him in the hall, and after greeting him asked, " Are you going to be in town long, F ?" "Well," replied F , " I have come down to get this railway bonus through, and I am going to wait right here till 1 get it." " Oh," said Sir John with a mischievous glance at his friend, " then you are going to stay till the session opens ? " The county of Lanark was served in Parliament, sometime Sir John Macdonald. 199 in tie fifties, by an Englisii lialf-i)ay officer named Col. Play- fair, a memorial of whom is left in the little village of Play- fair, Ont. Col. Playfair was a man before iiis time, and thirty- five years ago he wrote a pamphlet outlining the plan of a combined water and rail route from the Atlantic to the Paci- fic, and i)redicted what has since come to pass, that the leas and produce of China would be distributed over that route to America and Europe. Among other things he agitated for a colonization road from Perth northwest to Buckshot Creek, above Trout Lakes. After many disappointments he was in- formed that the work would be commenced, and, his heart being in the enterprise, he applied to John A. for the superin- tendency of the road. He was put off from time to time till at last he came to the Capital in a state of indignation, and determined to give John A. a piece of his mind. But John A., like the proverbial flea, was not to be found when he wanted to put his finger on him. At length, he heard a council meet- ing was being held, and thither the colonel repaired. A man of his fine presence and military bearing was not to be put off by the man on guard at the door, and John A. was called out — and came. '' Ciod bless my soul. Col. Playfiiir, is that you ! " exclaimed the minister, grasping him with both hands. " How are you ? I'm so glad to see you. Jiy-the-bve, colonel," he went on, after the greetings were over, " we have just been discussing in council a military matter that we cannot decide. Now you, with your great military experience and your memories of Salamanca and Talavera will be able to solve the question." The colonel drew himself up and looked grave. '' The question is," said John A., "^ how many pounds of powder put under a bull's tail would blow his horns off? '* And John A., who had b'^en edging towards his ofRce, dis- appeared through the door and could be seen no more. " And is this the result of all I have come for? " ruminated the dis- gusted and dishearten I'd colonel as he drove his old mare home with the mail (for he held amongst other offices that of mail carrier from Perth to Playfair) j and with muttered :200 An Anecdotal Life of imprecations he sat down on arriving home to open the mail bag. The first letter he took out was an official one addressed to himself, and it contained the appointment he had despaired of. He had been the imconscir us carrier of his own appoint- ment. With regard to his treatment of office seekers, one could never tell whether Sir John was going to grant a request or refuse it ; and it has been well said by one of his admirers that he could refuse a request with more grace than most men could grant it. With a funny story or a pretty compliment, he would often send an unsuccessful applicant away with a better feeling than if the place had been given him. On the occasion of one of his political picnics in a village of Ontario, in 1878, he stayed over night at the house of D , one of the political local lights. On leaving next morning. Sir John said to his host : " Now D , when I get into power, I want you to come and see me, and if there is anything I can do for you, just let me know. Now don't you be afraid to ask, and whatever can be done for you I'll do." They parted ; Sir John came into power at Ottawa, and in the course of time, in the reaction brought about by the over-manufacturing in the country between 1880 and 1882, Mr. D sufiered a failure in business. Losing his business and prospects he bethought him of the promise made by Sir John, and it occurred to him that his experience would qualify him to become the official assignee for his county under the new Bankruptcy Act passed by the Domi- nion Government. So one fine morning D appeared at the office of Sir John in Ottawa. " Why, I know your face," began Sir John. **' Stop now, don't tell me, you are D , and I stopped all night at your house in the cam[)aij^n of 1878, and I told you on leaving, if ever you v/anted anything, to come right to me. Take a seat. I'm glad to see you. How's your wife ? Good. And what can I do for you ? " Feeling at home and flattered at his reception, D opened out in a confidential drawl: " Well, yes, Sir John, that's the ])'mt. You see I kindo' failed in business here a month or two ago, and Sir John Macdonald. 20 1 my friends thought as there was no Ass-sign-nee a'pinted for our county, I ought to git the place; so I tuck a notion I'd come down and sec you about it." '' What ! " replied Sir John, jerking himself up and looking at the top of nis inter- viewer's head, **a man with a head like yours, and with ability such as you have, to take the paltry position of assignee ! Why, your talents would be simply thrown away in a place like that. No, no ! You just wait a while, and we'll give you something better than that." Carried away with this high estimate of his abilities by the Premier of Canada, D agreed that it would be better to wait till a more suitable vacancy occurred, and departed a proud and self-satisfied man, content to wait for the high honor of the future. Meantime the office was given to a presumedly better man, and the day never came when a sufficiently dignified position was open for D . Another instance of his ability to send a man away pleased with a disappointment may be given. B , a Conservative ex- member, had a claim, or thought he had, to a certain piece of land controlled by tne Dominion Government. Failing to get it by correspondence, he came down to Ottawa in no pleasant frame of mind, and to a friend in one of the departments he privately expressed his indignation and his determination to liave the piece of land or know the reason why. He went to Sir John's office. In about half an hour his civil service friend was coming past Sir John's office to lunch, as B came out into the corridor beaming all over with smiles. " Hello ! " said the civil servant, " so you got the land, eh ? " At the question, B's smile instantly departed and a pathetic shade of melancholy overspread his face *' like a summer cloud," as he replied, " No, I didn't ! " The spell had passed off. The civil servant, experienced in such incidents, burst into a fit of laughter at the situation, when B asked half in reproach and half in extenuation of his own position, " Did you ever ask him for anything ? o »» 202 An Anecdotal Life of One secret of Sir John's longevity and capacity for govern- ing was that he did not worry, and did not attempt to do the work which otiiers were paid for doing. He never attempted to superintend the details of departmenta? work, but having laid down the principles, left the heads or )fficers to work them out. Having seen that the most intelligent man avail- able was put into a place, he held that man responsible for the work. A certain public institution was established years ago in Upper Canada, and when installing the director he spoke to this effect : " I'll hold you responsible for the working of the institution. You make your own appointments, from assistant doctor down to porter, and use your own best judgment. I may send some candidates to you for a place, but do not take them simply because I send them ; only take them if you really need them and if they suit." The system, under an able head, worked well, until the institution was taken over by the Provincial Government, when, owing to the frequent interference with the details of his work, the director resigned. Sir John often overruled the policy of his ministers, but he did it with such a grace and deference that the force v;as not felt, and often the minister whose policy was changed was- made to feel that he himself was the author of the change. It was here where the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, his great opponent, failed while holding the reins of power from 1874-8. An able, sincere, conscientious man and an indefatigable worker, Mr. Mackenzie attempted too much, and, under- taking the impossible task of being at the top and bottom of all the departmental work, he broke down under the strain caused by it, and by his disappointment at the failure of those about him to fulfil his ideal of the work he fell heir to. Dis- appointment at being defeated, after all his hard efforts, weighed heavily with him, and brought on that bodily affliction which left him in a few years the dry shell of what he had been. Sir John, who was personally kind and sympathetic, said to him one day, as they were talking privately on the steps on Par- Sir John Macdonald. 203 liament Hill, and Mr. Mackenzie was speaking of his weakness and depressed spirits : '• Macken/i-^ . you should not distress yourself over these things. When I fell in 1874. 1 made up my mind to cease worry and think no more about." " Ah," replied Mr. Mackenzie, "but I have not that happy frame of mind.'' After Mr. Mackenzie was replaced in the leadership of the Reform party, Sir John was always especially considerate and deferential to him, and no unkind word or recrimination escaped the lips of either. When •' Honest Joe " Rymal's constituency of South Wentworth was won by Mr. F. M. Car])enter, the able representative who still holds the seat, Sir John congratulated the county, and said he was glad they had chosen a working- man — a Carpenter — and he would be glad to associate with him, for he was something of a cabinet-maker himself. In his latter days he frequently got off this joke in varying forms, and was given to repeating some of his other old pleasantries, either irom lapse of memory, or forgetting that his addresses were always chronicled by the reporters. It may interest the reader to know that the '*cabinet-riaker" joke is not original with Sir John. Whether it was adopted by him through a kind of " unconscious cerebration," or is one of the many coincidences of such kinds in literature, is not apparent, but it occurs in Sam Slick's anonymous book, the " Letter Bag of the Great Western," published in 1839. I" the preface the humorist says: "To the American reader it may not be altogether unnecessary to state that * Spring Rice/ like many other terms, has a different meaning on different sides of the Atlantic. In America it signifies a small grain raised in low land amid much irrigation ; in Ireland a small man reared in boggy land amid much irritation, and the name of 'Paddy' is common to both. In the former country it assumes the shape of 'arrack liquor,' in the latter 'a-rack rent.' In both there is an adhesiveness that is valuable, and they are prized on that account by a class of persons called * cabinet-makers.' " 204 An Anecdotal Life of On the occasion of his last visit to Prince Edward Island, in 1890, Sir John entered his name in the visitors' book of the Legislative Library as "John A. Macdonald, cabinet- maker." The Premier, talking once with a friend on the peculiar customs of different people, related that on a visit to the West a reception was given him at wiiich a Bishop from Belgium was present. As the party were being escorted by a body of men in Highland costume, tiie foreign Bishop, seeing the bare legs and kilts, asked why these men were without trowsers. He replied that it was just a local custom, and that whereas the people in some places took off their hats as a mark of honor to distinguished guests, the people here took off their trowsers. When Sir John visited St. John, in the fall of 1890, he was invited to dinner at the city club. Among the company were several judges, some of whom paid him high compli- ments in the after-dinner speeches. In reply, he said he highly appreciated all that had been said about about him, for those who had complimented him were certainly good judges. The Hon. Sydney Smith was a former minister who had charge of agriculture, but who was thought to be rather deficient in his knowledge of the subject. One day he was expatiating on what the Government were doing in the interests 0/ the farmer, and was telling that they had imported a hundred rams of a new breed. He had forgotten the name of the breed, and while he hesitated at the word, John A. suggested, in a stage whisper, ** Hydraulic rams ! " An anonymous writer in A// the Year Round has given some remarkable instances of great memories. It is there said of Niebuhr that he remembered everything he had read sir John Mtwdonald, 205 at any perio I* of his lif*', but could not remember things unconnected with his books, the reverend doctor having within an hour or so of his wedding forgotten that he had been married. John Wesley had a remarkable memory which was vigorous at eighty-five. Andrew Fuller could rej)eat a poem of 500 lines after having it read once or twice, could recite word for word a sermon or speech, and enumer- ate the shop signs from Temple iiar to the end of Cheapside in London, describing the princijjal articles in each shop- window. IJefoie the days of short-hand reporting, a character known as '• Memory Woodfall " used to attend the House of Commons, and after listening to a debate would rei)roduce the whole without taking a single note. Botli Macaulay and Sir Walter .Scott had prodigious memories; whiL* Beronicius of Middleburg knew by heart the works of Virgil, Cicero, Juvenal, Homer, Aristophanes and the two Plinys. While this is an example of " rote " memory, there is in Mezzofanii, the linguist of Bologna, a striking instance of what migiit be called intelligent memory. Byron described him as "a walk- ing polyglot, a master of languages, and a Briarcus of parts of speech." At the age of fifty he was thoroughly versed in fifty languages with their correct pronunciation and collo- quialisms, E^e used to say that he never forgot anything he had ever heard or read. Almost akin to the memory of Mezzofanti was that of Sir Joiin Macdonald. He was an omnivorous reader, and had the faculty of getting at the main ideas of a book or article by a hasty glance. While he remembered in a remarkable way what he read, and kept thoroughly posted by his own reading on the doings of the world, his memory of faces and persons was phenomenal. His memory of facts and of incidents m wiiich he had taken part was almost equally striking, and it was of course one of the secrets of the fund of anecdotes and stories he always had on hand, though to be sure the enjoy- ment of his stories was heightened by his gift of imitatio 1 and his mastery of a brogue or dialect. 20G A71 Anecdotal Life of An exliibiiioii of what has before been called ihe "intelli- gent memory " was given by John A. at a comparntively early period. Old politicians, and those who have studied the political history of Ontario, will remember the Dundurn estate scandal. The circumstances, as related by a gentleman engaged in the official in([uiry into the matter, are that after having retired into private life, old Sir Allan McNab, the de- posed head of the Conservative i)arty, became somewhat reduced in circumstances and wished to raise money. The Government required land on which to build an asylum for the d;.'af and dumb, and by purchasing Sir Allan's estate on which "Dundurn Castle" was built, they would procure a desirable site, and at the same time, by paying a liberal price, help the old man out of his difficulties. It so happened, however, that the transaction was consummated on the verv eve of the Government's resignation, and under the circum- stances had a suspicious appearance. The Cabinet had passed the order in-council authorizing the purchase on the very day of their retirement, and the warrant had actually not been issued when the Ministry resigned. Cn the strength of the order-in-council the deputy inspector general issued the warrant without proper authority, and the title for the land was not obtained. The officer lost his head in consequence when the circumstances became known. A Commission of inquiry was demanded and granted, but when the Commission sal and required John A., he was not to be found. He had dis- appeared in one of his periodical seasons of dissipation, and when at last he presented himself before the Commission, the prospect of obtaining information was anything but good. His face was sallower than ever they had noticed it, his eyes were bleared, and glanced about in that furtive way peculiar to men in his condition, while the papers quivered in his un- nerved hand. The members of the Couimission looked at each other and then at him in pity and disappointment, as his testimony was called for. He then began., and without a note to refer to or a moment's hesitation for a fact, he detailed the Sir John MacdonaUl. 207 history of the whole transaction covering a period of twelve to twenty years, giving the most minute particulars with exact dates, nil in chronological order and in the most lucid style of narrative. When he had finished, the members of the Commission again looked at each other and at him, but this time it was with wonder and admiration. 'J'he si)ectacie seemed like some performance in magic. While living at Kingston, he went out into the country to a farmhouse near Adolphustown on business, and while waiting for the horses to be brought to the door, sat reading a book. When told the vehicle was ready, he dropped the book and came away. Nine years afterwards he visited the same house, and going to the l)ook-case took down the same book and turning to a certain page, said : "There's the very word I read last when I was here nine years ago." Charles Watson, of St. Vincent, Grey county, formerly lived near Kingston, and the old Chieftain was his legal adviser. Mr. Watson, relates the Owen Sound Sun, attended the great demonstration held there in 1887. S^'" John noticed him among the crowd, and walking overextended his hand, saying : " Charlie Watson, am 1 right? " " Right you are, every time," replied Mr. Watson, and the two friends of by-gone days recalled reminiscences of Kingston life. It was thirty years since they had last met. In 1867, J. P. Reeves, caretaker of the Government build- ing at Belleville, and a resident of Kingston in his early days, was one of the guard of honor of the Forty-ninth battalion who turned out to receive Prince Arthur. Sir John was one of the party, and after the presentation of the address at the station, Sir John was walking down the platform, scanning the faces 0^ the men, when he suddenly stopped in front of Mr, Reeves and exclaimed, " Hello, Reeves ! Stand at ease ! " They shook hands and talked over old times for a few minutes, when it transpired that they had not met for over twenty years, when Reeves was only a youth. *' The power of memory," says the Intelii^encer, mentioning the incident, 208 An Anmlotal Life of " shown in recognizing, after such an interval, the countenance and name of a man who had grown from youth to middle age, and was in military uniform among fifty others similarly attired, was wonderful." Mr. Bell, of the Believille Intelligencer, met Sir John in 1872, and did not see him again till 1885, when he was one of a deputation to interview the Premier on a political question. Having only exchanged a few words and been in his presence a few minutes on the first occasion, Mr. Bell was proceeding to introduce himself, when Sir John anticipated him and said : " Oh ! I know you. You are Mr. Bell, the Intelligencer man." Mr. Conger, of the Picton Gazette, was similarly remembered after a lapse of ten years, Sir John calling him . by name, and coming half way across the street to shake hands. When on his visit to Vancouver in 1886, a nini came up to Sir John out of the crowd and began to introduce himself by saying : " Sir John, J suppose you don't remember me." " Oh, yes," replied the Premier, without hesitation. " I met you at a picnic in 1856, and you may remember it was a rainy day." " Yes," said the man, " that was the very occasion " Sir John had met him but this once, and thus remembered him for thirty years. When one considers the changes undergone by the physiognomy of m;iny men in the course of years, widi the outward change wrought by growing i)eards or altering their shape ; together with the fact that a public man such as he would meet hundreds of men in a single day, this gift seems almost miraculous. Mr. D. McLean, of lona Station, furnishes the following anecdote, of the facts of which he is personally cognizant : "In 1849, John -^« Macdmald and Sq.iire George Munroe became acquainted at a convention in Kingston at which they were delegates ; they did not meet again until during the memorable campaign of 1882, during which Sir John was tendered a demonstration in the city of St. Thomas. There was an immense procession formed which passed up Talbot Sir John Macdonald. 209^ street. Sir John, as was his wont, observed everybody, from the highest window to the sidewalks, which were lined with thousands of spectators. When near the Tenwarden hotel, where the crowd w'as thickest. Sir John saw Mr. Munroe in the crowd and ordered the cab to halt. Calling Mr. Munroe by name, iie made to get out and greeted Mr. Munroe, who was then about ninety years old, with the warmth and affection of an old friend. His recollection of the face of this old man, whom he had not seen for a little over thirty-three years, is remarkat)le." Once he and a friend were walking together, when a working man stopped before them. Sir John, after shaking hands, said, " Well, D , it is sixteen years since 1 met you. By the way, how is your boy ? " The man agreed as to the time, and said his boy was better. After they parted and went on, the friend said to Sir John, " Of course that was a chance hit." " No," said he, ** I remember when I met him before he was in great distress about his little boy, who was suffering from a lame back." To the same friend Sir John said he might forget one face in a thousand but scarcely more. At a political meeting at Napanee in 882, when he ran for Lennox, Sir John noticed a gentleman on the platform, and after looking at him for a moment asked, " Isn't your name Ruttan ? " *' Yes," replied Dr. Ruttan, for it was he who was addressed, " but I never met you. Sir John. How did you know me ? " '' By your likeness to your brothers," replied he. " But it must be a long lime since you have seen them," observed the doctor. " Yes," answered Sir John, " it is now forty years." To know 1 man by the likeness of brothers whom he had not seen for forty years is a remarkable feat of memory. Sir John, it may be added, immediately began to recall some funny incidents that had occurred when he was a companion with these brothers, and exclaimed, "I tell you what it is, Ruttan, boys nowradays don't know what fun is!" The spirit of perpetual youth is in the remark. 210 An Anecdotal Life of His suavity and friendliness to people of all grades became a second nature to him. It not only made him admi ed and beloved by so many, but often won elections for political friends who lacked that faculty in themselves. In the ca npaign of 1878, he went up to Newmarket. When he arrived he made inquiries as to the leading men of the place of both sides, and seeking introductions chatted and made himself very agreeable. After the meeting his party returned to the - station, and while waiting for the train a couple of hundred young people assembled to see him off, without distinction of party. Leaving his fiiends in the car he went out on the plat- fo:m and began shaking hands witii the girls and boys, dis- pensing a few happy remarks to each. " Why, I never thought he would shake hands with me," chuckled one girl to her companion, and for days Sir John formed the chief topic in the village. Tlie sequel was that when the ekction came off the constituency went Conservative for the first time in many years. On a trip from Fredericton to St. John down the River St. John three summers ago, a genial gentleman of the latter city was deputed to show the Premier the points of interest on that beautiful and romantic river. The steamer was to stop at Gagetown, and when they were nearingthat place our guide asked him if he intended to make a speech, as it was expected that a large crowd would gather at each stopping place. "I can't tell till I see the crowd," he answered. As the steamer came into the wharf, a large crowd was seen, and the landing place was gay with flags and decorations. When the steamer was made fast, he said, ** I am going to speak," and coming to the vessel's side delivered one of his short and happy speeches, which, of course, was well received. At the next place, as they were steaming up to the wharf, our guide asked the same question, and he returned the same answer — " I can't tell till I see the crowd." When the boat was made fast he said, " I'm going ashore," and immediately went out Sir John Macdonald. 211 on the wharf, where he spoke privately to all within reach, pat- ting a child on the head here, giving a flower to another there, and kissing a third, while not forgetting attentions to the grown ladies. When the steanner proceeded on her way our guide asked him, ** Will you tell me, Sir John, why you spoke at Gagetown and not here ? " " Why," said he, " they were mostly men at Gagetown, and they were nearly all ladies and children here." The answer contained a great deal of the philosophy of his political success — he suited his behavior to his audience, or, in the language of the scientists, adjusted himself to his environment. Gagetown, the Shiretown of Queen's Co., at that time was represented by Mr. G. F. Baird, who was accused by the local press of having *' stolen the seat " from G. G. King, the present incumbent. Mr. Baird got on board at Gagetown, and crowding his way to the after part of the steamer's deck near where Sir John was sitting, bjgan with some demonstration to demand a seat. " Strange, very strange, I can't get a seat here. Must have a seat ! Got to have a seat ! " " Where is the seat you stole?" asked a farmer standing near Sir John. The latter made a desperate effort to keep his face straight amid the general roar, and waiting until Baird went away he left his chair and went over to the farmer, shaking his hand warmly. Finding that the farmer was a Liberal he congratulated him heartily on his don mot. At another small stopping place on the trip a knot of people were gathered, and among them was a good old negro who did service as a local preacher on Sundays, and on the week days made himself useful by working about the wharf and warping the steamer in when she arrived. He was now dressed up in his best clothes, with a silk hat brighter, if possible, than his beaming face, and when the boat was made fast, he stood in an attitude of intense expectancy, thinking Sir John might notice him. The Premier did not observe him, however, till he was nudged by Lady Macdonald, when he arose and made the old man a very emphatic bow, in which there was a 212 An Anecdotal Life of slight suggestion of effect. The action sent a thrill of exalta- tion through every fibre of tlie old negro's frame, and he bowed back till he nearly bowed himself off the pier. Sir John had no infonnatioji about the negro, but his friends said the bow was a stroke of policy in its way, for the old negro was both well known and well liked. An incident showing that his human sympathy and tender- ness was not confined to a set of friends, or to his own politi- cal supporters, occurred only a month or so before his skkness. A Liberal member, now deceased, had been visiting the res- taurant bar too frequently, and wandering into the House, leaned up against the wall, where he became a subject of jest among the members who noticed him. Sir John came in while he stood there, and seeing that he was under the influence of liquor, and that some members were making fun of him, went up to him, and gently taking his arm persuaded him off out of harm's way, talking to him meantime in a friendly manner. Sir John was an adept at placating an opponent, and many members of the Opposition who would have been " rabid " towards any other iiead of the Government were like lambs towards him. He had some curious ways of winning the per- sonal good-will of members of the Opposition, and suited his methods lo the man. A certain country constituency returned a Reform member who was not only below par in education and natural gifts, but had a fondness for drink. He was, in fact, what one would call a coaise man. Sir John had heard of him, and when he appeared in the precincts of the House went up, and in his most hail-fellow-well met style introduced himself. After a few words, Sir John said to him : " Why, they told me you were a vulgar, coarse, unsociable fellow with nothing interesting aboiSt you j and good for nothing but to drink whiskey. But here I find you as good a fellow as ever I met — in fact you are just the kind of ma i I like. I^et's go Sir John Macdonold. 213 downstairs and have a chat." They went into the restaurant, where bir John ordered a bottle of champagne, and told him some good stories — or, rather, stories that suited the ear of the listener. When they had become friends, Sir John said at parting : " Now, I expect you will vote against me. Of course, that is your duty. But don't think I will be offended at that. You vote just as you think right, because I'll expect it, but you and I will be friends all the same." The new member considered himself enrolled in the great multitude of those who called themselves *' personal friends " of the Premier, and it was observed by those who followed the career of the member, that whenever a question of real danger to the Con- servative interests came up he did not vote against them, but had sorne reason for absence. There were many members of the Opposition whom Sir John's blandishments did not affect, but he did not fail to dispense them in such a way that if they fell short of the mark they would, at least, do himself no harm. Mr. Watson, the able Liberal representative for Marquette, was anxious some years ago to have many abuses in the operation of the Dom- inion Lands regulations remedied, and called the attention of the Government to the subject, saying he would give them the benefit of his experience. Sir John said he would be happy to have a quiet chat with him, and that what they wanted was more light on the subject. Mr. Watson gave him the benefit of his advice, and a bill was afterwards framed. When the interview was over, Sir John expressed his obli- gation to Mr. Watson, and added : ** I'll tell you what it is, Watson, if all the members were as free from party spirit and prejudice as yj^u and I, the country would be the better for it." Although this was said as a winning compliment, there was a sense in which it was seriously true. In an after-dinner speech delivered in Toronto, at the Board of Trade banquet, Sir John said : " My good friend in calling upon me described the torture he was suffering in being called 214 An Anecdotal Life of upon to make an after-dinner speech. I think he would have been recompensed a good deal for his suffering by the pleasure he must have felt he was bestowing upon his audience. The position in my case is the reverse. I have the greatest pleasure in addressing a Toronto audience, and the torture I hand over to you. (Loud laughter and cheers.). I rise with the greatest pleasure to respond to the toast. I am pleased, and, more than that, I should be insensible if I were not highly gratified by the manner in which you have leceived the toast of the two legislative bodies with which we are principally concerned — the Parliament of Canada and the Legislature of Ontario. I have a sort of fatherly interest in the Parliament of Canada because I sat at its cradle, and my good friend, the Premier of Ontario, helped me to rock the cradle. (Loud cheers.) The bantling has grown to a healthy state of maturity * * * With respect to having a second chamber, I would only call your attention to an old story if you have never heard it. It is an anecdote of George Washington, who was an Englishman at heart and a lover of the English Con- stitution. On one occasion he was discussing with Mr, Jef- ferson the question as to the advisability of having a second chamber. Mr. Jefferson, as you all know, was a man in love with the French system then in force, a revolutionary system where they had one chamber only, and a pretty mess they made of it. 'What is the use of a second chamber?' said Jefferson. Mr. Jefferson was then taking a cup of tea with Lady WasWngton, as she was called in those days. * Why is it,' answered General Washington, ' you are using a second chamber just at this moment ? You have two chambers in your hand. You have a cup and a saucer. In one chamber it was too hot for you, and you poured it out into a second chamber to cool it off.' (Laughter.) We are very favorably situated. We are a very happy people. We are happy and we are resolved to remain so, and the best way to remain so is to go on as we have been doing for the last twenty-one years under our present constitution. (Cheers.) Sir John Macdonald. 215 You know the Italian epitaph which was put upon the tomb- stone of the sorrowing survivors of the one under the sod : '' I was well ; I would be better, and here I am.' (Loud laughter.) If you try to be belter in the way that some few advise, you will try the quack medicine, and I think you will be in the position of the Italian and have someone else write that epitaph for you." (Hear, hear.) At the wedding in Toronto last year of Miss Maude Van Koughnet, daughter of the late Salter J. VanKoughnet, one of his old political friends, Sir John met Mr. W. A. Murray, a prominent merchant, whom he had also known a long time. Mr. Murray, though now about seventy, was on the eve of marrying a lady of about sixty, and when the coming event was made known to Sir John he slapped Mr. Murray on the shoulder, and said with a twinkle, " Well, well, boys will be boys." At the election of i?82, Sir John ran for Lennox, and dur- ing the campaign came to hold a meeting in Adolphustown, the home of his boyhood. The ladies of the village and neighborhood turned out and formed an equestrian proces- sion to escort him from the wharf to the house of Mr. J. J. Wat- son, one of his schoolmates. The sight of these ladies on horseback, and the crowds of people of all shades of political opinion who had come to welcome this man, was unique in the social or political history of the settlement. Sir John made himself at home in the house of his early friend, with whom after many years of separation he sal; down, and, throwing aside ill thought of politics or ambition, became a boy again, and calling his friend " John Joe," and addressing Mrs. Watson as ''Getty," talked with schoolboy animation of those bygone days, when uiey played tricks with each other on the ice. At a meeting of workingmen in Ottawa last year, Sir John 216 An Anecdotal Life of was asked to speak, and in the course of his address gave a new turning* to the turner and cabinet-maker joke, saying: " He had the honor once of being admitted to the Turners' Guild of London, and he told them on that occasion that although he was something of a c ibinet-maker he had never been a turner, and hoped that he would never turn his coat." " I should not like my opponents to cease their attacks on me," said he on one occasion ; " for I should feel that I was a very insignificant individual indeed. It reminds me of an illus- tration ] think I have used before. When boys used to go apple stealing they always used to pick the tree that had the most sticks and stones under it. That's the tree that bears the best apples." In 1890, a deputation from Toronto waited on Sir John to urge the Government to aid the proposed railway from that city north through Nipissing to salt water, at some point on James Bay. One of the deputation urged as a reason for building a line that it would be very useful in the event of for- eign invasion, upon which Sir John asked with a wink, if he meant it as a back door for the people to make their exit by. John Sandfield Macdonald, who was always a violent poli- tical opponent of John A. Macdonald, has been mentioned before in these pages. He was a tall man, and was known to every body by his dress. He wore a brown velvet coat of the pea-jacket style, which from his very erect form, and the fact that he wore a collar of extraordinary height, gave him a peculiar appearance. He was very fond of the violin, but, as in the case of the great majority of devotees to this instrument, the violin had no great affinity for him. He indulged his passion, however, in the bachelor quarters where he lived, and his personal friends, among whom was John A., often spent the evening with him. One time, while he was a member of the Reform Government, he left the city, to be absent for a Sir John Macdonald. 217 couple of weeks, and told his friends if they wished to use his rooms, to make themselves at home there ; leaving word at the same time that if anything important should transpire in con- nection with public affairs they were to telegraph him. One evening John A. and a party of friends went over to his rooms, took possession and got out his old viohn. One of them pro- posed to get the collar and coat to make the character more complete. These could not be found — for the reason prob- ably that the latter article was on his back; but as the subject was of more importance than anything that had transpired since he left, they sent this urgent message over the wires : " We have found your old fiddle, but where's your coat and collar ? " One of Sir John's speeches, which at the time caused many to wear a broad smile, was that which he made when he returned from Europe, after having been unsuccessful in getting a British or Continental Syndicate to take up the Canadian Pacific, but having, nevertheless, succeeded in placing the completion of the road in the hands of Mr. George Stephen (now Lord Mountstephen) and his Canadian r- ociates. Sir John was expected by the Quebec train, en route for Ottawa. He was received at the then Hochelaga depot by a number of members of Parliament and citizens prominent in commerce, among whom were Mr. Thomas White, afterwards Minister of the Interior, Mr. M. H. Gault, member for Montreal West — both of whom have since passed over to the majority. The late Premier was never more airily jocose than in referring to the success he had had in getting his syndicate. His speech wa': important, and strangely enough the only short-hand reporter present was Mr. James Harper, then correspondent of the Toronto Globe, who, wedged in the mass of jocular Conservatives, was able to take the speech verbatim, and preserve it in the columns of the Globe. Then it was that Sir John spoke that sentence of which so much irreverent fun was made in Ontario newspapers, that the time would come when Canada's F -18 An Anecdotal Life of teeming millions would remember that it wastlicConservative party which had given the country its great railway. " I shall not be oresent," said Sir John, '* I am an old man," he continued, " but I shall perchance look down from the realms above uj)on a multitude of younger men — a prosper- ous, populous, and thriving generation — a nation of Cana- dians, who will see the completion of the road." Mr. Harper says that these words jjroduced a sort of lull in the jollity of the crowd as the Premier's manner was quite reverent when he used them, and there was less jollity afterwards during the short interval within which Sir John remained and cliatted W'th his friends before the train started. Sir John, however, not (Hily lived to see the road finished, but to ride over it from end to end. An instance of Sir John's surprising readiness was that with which he met the interruptions caused in a great Conservative rally in Montreal in the campaign of 1878. It had been noised abroad during the day that organized interruptions would greet Sir John in the evening. So they did. When Sir John Mac- donald commenced to speak there were interruptions from a crowd evidently supplied with tooting horns and a nonde- script instrument invented by Fred. Perry. Sir John stopped a moment, and apostrophized the interrupters as *' the Herald Brass Band," naming Jim Stewart (since dead), editor of the Herald^ and Mr. Fred. Perry in course of his remarks, which •' brought down the house." Both Grit and Tory recognized Sir John's wit and the good humor with which he spoke. He was not interrupted much more, though Mr. M. C. Mullarky and others were spattered with egg? *hrown by i)ersons in the crowd. These were not meant for Sir John, however. There were some ill-natured efibrts to break up the meeting. In speaking of the occasion, Mr. Harper, then city editor of the Gazette^ said the whole yolk of an egg dropped on the note- book on which he was taking notes, and during a melee near the foot of the platform afterwards he was knocked senseless Sir John Macdonald. with a club in the hands of some person vvlio probably intended the blow for another. Sir John Macdonald never addressed a meeting in a Montreal square after that date, though he was often in Montreal. After the meeting he met Mr. Perry — who, though a strong opponent, was a warm personal friend and admirer of the Premier, and had known him since the first year of his par- liamentary career in 1844 — and said : " Fred., what kind of infernal machine was that you had at the meeting?" Mr. Perry described the instrument, which was made by stretching a skin over the top of a bottle from which the neck had been knocked off, and which, by inserting a knotted horse hair, emitted an unearthly sound. When it was explained Sir John laughed heartily, telling Mr. Perry he would get a patent on that for his Kingston meetings. Talking further over the event of the day. Sir John said to his old friend with a laugh, " Fred., your bark is worse than your bite." There is reloted a curious anecdote of one of Sir John's former elections in Kingston. A colored barber there who always served John A,, and boasted, by the way, that he gave him his first shave, had become convinced, from what he had observed in the world, that when a man went into politics his moral character was destroyed, and discoursing on t'lj subject to his customers he frequently instanced the case of John A., whom he had known when he was a good boy. A new contest was approaching, and one of the can- didates was class-leader in the Methodist Church which the barber attended. A friend of John A. approached the bar- ber on the subject of his '' vote and influence," and said, "Of course, you will vote for John A." ** Not dis time," replied the barber, ** Pse promised my vote to Brudder " The case was reported to John A., who, having already heard the views of the barber on the moral aspect of the question, sent his friend back with an argument which was probably never before used to gain a vote. *' You have been telling your 220 An Anecdotal Life of customers," said the friend, " that a man cannot go into politics without losing his moral character." " Dat's true," breaks in the barber, ''an' I 'sisi on it yit." "And you think Brother is a good religious man ? " asked the friend. " 'Deed he is," replied the barbf ''Then/' said the friend, "John A. being already in, you cannot make him worse ; but, now you are going to vote for Brother , and so help to take away his good name, and send him on the road to ruin too." "Well now, I 'clare to goodness," said the barber, as he fell back into his chair, ''dal was a pint what never came into my min' befoah. My vote goes to John A." The anecdote of the hogs and the chestnuts, though so often referred to by Canadian writers on the tariff question, should perhaps be repeated. A meeting of manufacturers interested in the National Policy was called by Sir John, in the campaign of 1882, and was held in the " Red Parlor" of the Queen's Hotel, Toronto. Sir John had reason to think there was a certain lukewarmness among the manufacturers whose business his National Policy had built up. In a short address he told them a parable of a herd of swine that were eating acorns under an oak tree and never once looked up to inquire what power it was that was shaking the acorns down. Thenceforth, it is said, the manufacturers became more interested in the support of the Conservative party. The Hon. J. A. Chapleau is Secretary of State, and by virtue of that office is custodian of the Great Seal of the realm. On a certain New Year's Day, he presented himself at the Governor-General's levee clad in a superb seal-skin coal fall- ing below his knees. Sir John, taking him by the arm, led him forward to His Excellency, saying : — " My Lord, this is the Great Seal." On another occasion, it befell him to present to His Excel- lency the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who was clad in the official scarlet and ermine, and who is noted no less Sir John Maalonald, 221 for the al)r.ormal ruddiness of liis complexion thru for the profundity of his legai lore. The Premier's introduction was brief but suggestive. " My Lord, permit me to present my well-read friend the Chief Justice." At his own reception, last New Year's day, a quartet of French priests called upon hmi, and naturally enough one of them politely inquired whether the Premier had yet had "la grippe." Sir John, with his inimitable twinkle, replied: — *' No, my good Father, I have not yet had it, and cannot, therefore, pass it on to you, but I'll tell you what I wiil do for you, I will give you the Orange grip if you would like to have it." It is only necessary to remember that Canada was at that moment in a high fever of excitement between the Jesuits on one side and the Orangemen on the other to catch the full flavor of this happy reply. A little whil*^ before the election of 1878, the issue of which it was very difficult to prophesy, Sir John was encountered by a member of the Opposition in the vicinity of the French Cathedral one Sunday afternoon. "Ah! ha!" excbimed his political opponent, pointing to the sacred edifice, "perhaps you've just been inside to offer l)rayers for success at the elections." "Perhaps I have," was the prompt retort. '* You see, there is this difference between your party and mine, my dear fellow. We pray for the people, you prey on them." The formal opening of the Toronto Industrial Exhibition in 1886 was performed by Sir John, and accompanied by Presi- dent Withrow, Lieut.-Gov. Robinson and party, he visited many of the buildings, examining the leading exhibits. The Premier was much interested in the apiary department, and wished to understand the uses of the many articles now used in bee culture. He listened very attentively to the explan- ation given by Mr. F. H. Macpherson, of how the " foun- dation" was made from wax, with the bases of the cells im- 222 An Anecdotal Life of ])rinted thereon ; liow this labor was saved to the bees, thus enabHng them to devote more time to honey-gathering. At the close of the explanations, Sir John turned to President Withrovv and said : " You promised us, Mr. President, tliat nothing of a wrong or immoral nature should be permitted on tliese grounds." '' We did, and we have endeavored to prevent all such," said Mr. With row, " Well," said Sir John, '* you permit an exhibition of stolen property, and the receivers are allowed to aid and abet the thieves ; besides in all these exhibits we have a systematically arranged plan of defrauding the little thief out of his hard- earned labors." A Methodist minister from the Maritime provinces having made a private call on Sir John, rose to leave after a very pleasant conversation, when the Premier remarked : " It is a great pleasure to have a gentleman call upon me who does not want anything.'' At another time he humorously observed to a number of clergymen who caned on him : " I find I am the most popu- lar minister in Canada. At a Church bazaar the other day, when votes were deposited fc: the most popular minister, I led the poll." Mr. C — , now of Minnedosa, relates the following anec- dote : The township of Emily, in the county of Victoria, Ont., is settled principally by North of Ireland Orangemen, of whom 1 am one ; and Mr. George Dormer, then M.P. for the south riding of the county, was a Roman Catholic. I was an applicant for a commission in the first Red River expe- dition, and went to Cobourg to consult with the late Lt.-Col. Paterson and Brigade Major Smith. On my way home I met Mr. Dormer on the Midland Railway and explained matters to him. He said Sir Joiin was in Kingston at thatnoment, and j^ there was time he would telegraph him. I spoke to the Sir John Macdonatd. 223 genial conductor, John Bradley, who said they would take on wood and water at Omemee, thereby holding the train about twenty-five minutes. On arriving at the station the following was wired to Sir John : " C has applied for a commission in the Red River Expedition, do what you can foi him. It will please Emily and do me good," to wh'ch Mr. Dormer received the following reply before the twenty-five minutes had expiicd. '*' Will do what I can for C . Who IsEmi/y V During one of the years of Lo ' Oufferin's administration, that talented Governor General de vcredan address in Greek before the University of McGill College, Sir John Macdonald and Sir Hector Langevin being present with him. One of the reporters wrote in his report : ** His Lordship spoke in the purest ancient Greek without mispronouncing a word or making the slightest grammatical solecism." " Good Heavens," said Sir Hector to Sir John, as they read the report. *' How did the reporter know that ? " " I told him," replied Sir John. " But you don't know Greek." " True," answered Sir John, " but I know a little about politics." One evening Lady Macdonald and Sir John were entertain- ing Sir Hugh Allan, when Lady Macdonald solicited from Sir Hugh a contribution in aid of some church work she had in hand. Sir Hugh hedged and pleaded inability to give what she asked, but she good-naturedly laughed off the plea, and told him he could not take all his money with him when he died. " No," remarked Sir John playfully, " it would soon melt if he did." A deputation went down lo Ottawa from St. Catharines some years ago to ask that a greater volume of water be let into the Welland Canal, for the benefit of the manufacturers. " All right," said Sir John, after hearing the deputation, *' we'll 224 All Anecdotal Life of give you all the water you want, but you must buy your own whiskey." One day in the House of Commons, Sir John playfully said to a member of the Opposition, '• You had better come over here." ** No, Sir John," the member replied, "we don't row in the same boat." "No," retorted Sir John, " nor paddle with the same skulls, either." Some years ago, Mr. David Boyle, of the Canadian Institute, Toronto, and Mr. G. Mercer Adam formed a plan to write the life of Sir John. They sent a note to him explaining their intention, and stating that they v/ould call upon him person- ally. Mr. Boyle, in due course, visited Sir John at his office. Having sent in his card he was ushered into the i)resence of the Premier, who greeted him with a smile and said : " Oh ! you are the gentleman who has come to take my life. But," he added, brandishing a long ruler in his hand, " you see I am armed." Having thus made Mr. Boyle feel at home, he said he should be glad to furnish them with any information at his disposal. The scheme, however, fell through as far as Mr. Boyle was concerned. On a visit to Parkhill, Ont , he was walking with Col. Good- man, president of the North Middlesex Consei vative Associa- tion. The Colonel gallantly introduced the Premier to any citizens of the place they chanced to meet, and, among others, to the editor of the Reform paper, who was presented in these words : *' Sir Joiin, allow me to introduce Mr, , who was once a Tory, but now a very bad Grit." Sir John shook hands very warmly, placed his other hand on the gerulenian's shoulder, and, while his eyes sparkled with humor, said he was very glad indeed to meet him, and added : '* While the lamp holds out to burn, The vilest sinner may return." The editor enjoyed the joke as much as anyone, and there was'good humor all round. Sir John Macdonald. 225 While John A. lived at Quebec In the days before Confeder- ation, he boarded almost constantly with Mrs. Mc Hugh, La Chevroti^re street, and afterwards in Ann street. It was in Mrs. Mc Aigh's house that he and Messrs. Cartier and Mc- Gee first talked over the details of the Coi deration scheme. At the time of the Confederation conference he had a room at a Mr. Cheshire's house. On the day preceding his speech here, he had shut himself up all day. Cheshire considering this rather unusual, listened at the door and frequently heard the solitary voice of his lodger. As he knew no one else was in the room, he commented on the proceeding thus to one of John A.'s friends who came to inquire after him : " 1 thocht the mon was surely daft, for he's been all day alone in his room talkin' till the cat." It was supposed that John A. had been rehearsing his speech. A correspondent of the Week gw^s this anecdote: Lying awake in a hotel at Sherbrooke one night, a few years ago, the following conversation floated in through the open fan-light. The speakers were two old Scotchmen, sipping their " het toddy " by a stove outside. *' They seem very loyal to the old chieftain here." *• Oh, aye, it's a regular nest." " .\ye, but we haven't a man we swear by like you. Now there's Mr. . I once lived in the same house with him, wrote his letters and did other things for him, and after that I rode wi' him a' the way from Windsor to London. He never so much as once asked me, * How does things go wi' ye ? ' Who would do onything for a man like yon ? " 1 told Sir John of this testimony of his enemy. He laughed and said: " Y- it's a great pity. It's ail 's shyness. People think it's hauteur, but it's nothing but shyness." At a politicial meeting at Dundurn Castle, Hamilton, a man in the crowd had his coat set on fire by a fire-cracker, on seeing which John A. called out ** Another man gone to blazes." 226 An Anecdotal Life of . Sir John said of the Rideaii Canal, which was originally designed as a military waterway, "That it would never be a paying investment till it was filled in, and a railway run on the top of it." A fact evident enough now, for its traffic is . insignificant, while every year its waters flood many square miles of country which would make excellent farm land. Few things are better calculated to further the progress of the country than the work now being done by the Dominion Governirent in agricultural investigation— experimental farms and dairy work. The nistory of the development of this work is interesting, as showing the personality of the late Premier, and showing what was the force of that personality in questions connected with departmental work and policy. It must be understood that government is carried on by departments — these are the wheels of government. Each department has its own sphere, and is presided over and controlled by a head, who is a cabinet minister, the depart- ment being known as his portfolio. It is necessary for the smooth working of the machinery as a whole^ that there be no friction between these wheels, no crowding, no interfer- ence of one with the other. This necessitates a sort of inde- pendence in each department, and constitutes the head an autocrat, as it were, in his own realm. So delicate are the inter-relations of this machinery, that where a minister is *'set" on a specific policy, his confreres will be very delicate about pressing upon him any matter involving a change. Any interference must needs come from the power of the whole machinery, or practically through the presiding genius, the Premier. How often and how forcible that interference may be will depend, ist. Upon the individuality of the departmental head— the character of his administration, the measure to which he is committed to the existing policy, and the strength of his personaUty. 2nd. Upon the Premier's conviction of the need of interference, and his personality as compared with that of the other. In the case in question the Sir John Macdonald. 227 departmental head was John H. Pope, of the Department of Agriculture — a man proverbially strong-willed and "set" in his views. The change contemplated a more systematic ])rosecution of the dairy and kindred interests, and some institution for such instruction of farmers as would bring about greater uniformity and excellence in their work. As everyone now sees it, it was of extreme importance, and when the subject was brought to public notice by W. H. Lynch, — a gentleman who at great personal sacrifice, and with no personal ends to serve, worked for years to impress it on the country — it was urged on the department by Grit and Tory members alike, and was supported by public sentiment outside. The Department of Agriculture, which had charge of immigration matters and of the patent and copyright business, was then an agricultural department in name only, and was frequently subjected to criticism on that account. Yet, though it needed reform above all others, and though the reform now asked for was evidently popular, Mr. Pope opposed against it a face of flint. About 7000 copies of a blue-book containing the evidence of Prof. Arnold and Mr. Lynch on dairy questions had been circulated by the mem- bers, who then asked that a handbook of " Scientific Dairy Practice," compiled by Mr. Lynch, should be printed for free distribution. The Minister of Agriculture was appealed to. He refused to move in the matter, and to deputation after deputation he returned the same answer — No. At last, a Con- servative friend of the cause went to Sir John and explained the case. Sir John's penetration atonce took in the situation, and he promised that something should be done. The next meeting of the Cabinet council — at which matters of policy are considered — was to be on a Wednesday. On that day, as the Minister of Agriculture was going up the steps to the council meeting he was approached by one of the members on the subject, and returned such an uncompromising " No," that it took the spirit out of the friends of the movement. And yet, when the meeting was over, the minister himself 228 An Anecdotal Life of announced to these friends that their appeal would be granted. How had this entire change of opinion been effected in the mind of the minister? That is one of the secrets which will probably never be known, for all discussions which take place in the Council room are supposed, upon the honor of the ministers, never to be repeated even to political friends. How did Sir John step in here and in a few moments over- rule or change the determination, so publicly expressed, of a strong-willed man like Mr. Pope? Was it by taking him by the throat, and saying, " Here, so and so must be done," or was it by arguing the matter out, or only by a suggestion ; or, again, by laying it before the other ministers and bringing their votes and influence to bear ? At all events, the reform was t. ken up, and out of this was developed the Dominion Experimental Farm, near Ottawa; the system of dairy instruction, so well carried on now under the superintendence of Prof. Robertson, and minor reforms of a like kind. It is true that the services of Mr. Lynch, whose self-sacrifice and perseverance set this ball rolling, were never recognized, though to give the public the fullest benefit of his ideas, he went afterwards, at his own expense, to Ireland, Denmark and other dairy countries, to investigate the systems pursued there, giving the results in an interesting series of letters which he sent free to the Canadian press. The Govern- ment never so much as offered to recoup him for his traveling expenses, and even refused to allow him the amount of postage on his letters to the press. The Government forgot to consider the services of Mr. Lynch in bringing the matter forward, but they did not forget to claim all the credit for the reforms which were the direct outcome of his work. But this is only natural, and it is perhaps natural also that after Mr. Lynch had urged the Department of Agriculture to allow him to investigate the possibilities of egg shipments from Canada to England, they should now be ^ending a man over and claiming the idea as an inspiration of their own. How- ever, the point is that Sir John, at a critical moment, stepped Si7' John Macdonald. 229 in, and by his tact, promptness and firmness opened the gate to a movement which has proved of great consequence to the country. Sir John's face was a good subject for the caricaturist, and Bengough could put more humor into the single feature of his nose in a sketch in GriJ> than could be depicted in the whole body of any other Canadian politician of the present or past. For fifteen years not a single issue of Grip can be recalled without a sketch of the enlivening face which all eyes sought, as they turned to the cartoons. And how de- lightful was the wink which the cartoonist would give to the old man ! With one catch-word the reader could almost describe the scheme that was being poitrayed by that "inimitable twinkle " alone. To the political reader the most pathetic thing connected with Sir John's death was the absence of the chieftain's familiar features from the pages of Grijf. The sudden pictorial void was more eloquent of the sadness of separation in death than if the pages had been filled with funereal emblems and tributes. Speaking of Sir John's nose, a member of Parliament told this story : " The last time I happened to be in the barber shop of the Parliament buildings, Sir John was in the chair. The artist was shaving his upper lip as I entered, and had hold of the Premier's nose. I said : * I suppose, Sir John, that he is the only man in Canada who can take you by the nose with impunity ? ' The barber was disturbed by the smile of the statesman, as he replied: 'Yes, and he has his hands full.' " Madame D , wife of Judge D , was anxious to con- vert Sir John to Roman Catholicism. Slie gave him a lot of Church books to read, and he promised to study them. When she saw him again she asked if he had read them, and when he replied that he had, she said: " Well, Sir John, you \vill make me very happy if you join our Church." " I am 230 An Anecdotal Life of afraid," he answered with his customary smile, "I shall have to give you the answer of the Irish servant who got into a place were the food was not as it should be — ' there's too much to swallow and too little to eat.' " Readers of " Little Dorritt " will remember the character of Mr. Casby, and visitors to Ottawa who have met the Hon. John Carling may have traced in the refulgent beams of fatherly innocence which that honorable gentleman bestows upon an unworthy world some facial and moral resemblances to that character of Dickens. Whether Sir John had such resemblances in his mind when the following question oc- curred to him is not known, but the gem is none the less rich for the doubt. One day as the members of the Cabinet were chatting together, after the business of ''council" was over, Sir John was seen to look intently and seriously at Mr. Carling. At last he asked, " Carling, I wonder if God Almighty ever created a man as honest as you look ?" In the summer of 1890, Sir John paid a visit to Prince Edward Island, for the first time since his illness in 1870, and he was honored with a reception almost royal in its heartiness and enthusiasm. While holding a reception in one of the chambers of the Provincial Building at Charlottetown, he performed an act which demonstrated his friendly regard for men of all classes and nationalities. " The chamber," writes Mr. Nash of Charlottetown, describing tb.e scene, " was crowded with the brains and elite of the city, when suddenly old Joe Louie,, chief of the Micmac Indians in this province, elbowed his way into the room where Sir John was standing, and extended his brawny hand for a shake. Sir John grasped it immediately,, and the two chieftains shook hands vigorously under the gaze of hundreds. Louie is a splendid specimen of physical man- hood, perhaps older than Sir John. His features are strongly marked, his hair falls in white curly locks, and the two stand- Sir John Macdonald, 231 ing face to face presented a remarkable picture. They were cheered to the echo." On his visit to the Pacific Coast in 1886, Sir Jolin stopped off a short while at Regina. As every one know3, that ambi- tious capital of three great territories lies in the midst of a dead level plain, extending in every direction farther than the eye can reach. While the Premier was standing at the rail- way station, he was approached by one of Regina's gushing sons, who asked him " what he thought of the prospect ? " swinging his arms around, so as to indicate the vast plain by which they were surrounded. With many a twinkle in his eye, and the quiet smile for which he was noted playing about his mouth, he said in slow and measured tones, ''If you had a lit-tle more wood, and a lit- tie more water, and here and there a hill, I think the prospect would be improved." There was an awkward pause in the conversation till a new topic was propounded. Some years ago, while Sir John and three or four of his colleagues were returning to Quebec from a trip to Halifax, Mr. R. A. Payne, who had a few months before tarted the St. John Sun as the Conservative organ there, met the Premier. They fell to talking over the good prospects of the paper and the favorable time of starting it, when Sir John observed, as his eye ran along the group of his friends, " Yes that is true — but that is not the best of it, friend Payne — you have no past record to explain away." Once at a picnic his pnitude on certain questioiis of a reli- gious bearing was criticized. At that time he had in his cabinet the late J. H. Pope, of Compton, Q., and J. C. Pope, of P. K. I. '' Why," said he, replying to the insinuations, " I am better off in that line than even the Vatican, for I have two Pope?." 232 An Anecdotal Life of A curious remark was once made by Sir John at the railway station at Hamilton, and whether it was a serious statement of his belief or an unappreciated stroke of humor is not known to this day. Some friends were talking of a murder that had occurred. When the case was tried there was doubt as to the prisoner's guilt, when he remarked that in a case of murder it was better that an innocent man should be hanged than no man at all. At the Provincial Fair at Kingston, in 1888, Sir John with the Hon. Mr. Kirkpatrick and others were taken to see a " side show," consisting of the performances of some Vien- nese lady acrobats, when Mr. Kirkpatrick asked, *' Is this the kind of introductior you give us to an agricultural fair ? '* *' Why, of course," quickly explained Sir John, " we always show the calves first." The Ontario Press Association, on one of their annual ex- cursions, stopped off at Riviere du Loup^ where Sir John of late years spent his summer holidays, and paid a visit to the Premier, who came to the station with them. Standing on the platform he marked the venerable figure of the '' father of the Canadian Press," Col. Wylie of Brockville. Sir John in- stinctively iueniitying him, asked if that was Wylie. On being told it was, he said, "Call him over." After a short chat with him. Sir John asked, *' How old are you, Wylie ? '' '' I am older than you, Sir John," replied Mr. Wylie. " Then," said the Premier, " you are nearer Heaven." To which Mr. Wylie, who was a Lib-^ral, responded, *'If all that's said about you be true, Sir John, you'll never get there." *' Blessed are they that are reviled," quickly returned Sir John, as he patted, the old Colonel on the shoulder. An observation by Col. Wylie, by the way, would appear to clear up a doubt expressed on page 68, describing the burning of the Parliament buildings at Montreal, in 1849. I^ was reported to the Colonel that the man who carried off the Sir John Macdonald, 233 mace on that eventful night bore it to the lodgings of John A. but he would not receive it, and said to the man, "Take it to Sir Allan McNab." Many years ago at Kingston an entertainment to celebrate a political victory was given on the private grounds of the late Mr. Morton, the brewer. John A. was attended there by Mr. Machar (an Irish Roman Catholic, who, however, had done much towards putting him in Parliament), and his daughter. It will be remembered that John A. was then an Orangeman. Felicitations were passing on the victory, when John A., throwing his arms around Miss Machar and kissing her, said, " Nothing can stand against us when we blend the orange and green." When beginning to recover from his critical illness in 1870, referred to in a previous chapter, Dr. Grant allowed him half an oyster at a meal. As his appetite returned he begged for more, but the doctor said it would be dangerous to indulge himself, and added, ** Remember, Sir John, the hopes of Canada are now depending on you." "It seems strange, replied the invalid, " that the hopes of Canada should depend on half an oyster." »> At the annual concert given by the Irish Protestant Bene- volent Society at Ottawa, in 1869, Sir Francis Hincks, who had just returned to Canada and been elected to represent North Renfrew in the House of Commons, gave the principal speech or oration. A local celebrity who was on the plat- form, noticing Sir John amongst the audience, made his way to that gentleman, and, apparently after a considerable amount of persuasion, succeeded in overcoming the honorable gen- tleman's modesty so far as to induce him to take a seat on the platform. At the close of Sir Francis Hincks' oration the chairman came forward to anr ounce that the next item on the programme would be a song, but the audience would not Q 234 An Anecdotal Life of have it, and vociferously clamored for a speech from ''John A." That gentleman with apparent reluctance advanced to the front of the j)latform, and told the audience that he did not come there with the intention of speaking but, like the rest of them, to listen. However, being a good-natured indi- vidual as they all knew, and being at all times desirous of acceding to the wishes of his friends, if possible, he would try to give them a short speech, although totally unprepared. " I am going to introduce my speech," said he, *' by claiming *' your sympathy, the sympathy of this Irish audience — not " on the plea advanced by my friend. Sir Francis, namely, *' that he is an Irishman, but because 1 am a Scotchman. If " we look back on the history of my country, we find that it ** was ])eopled by a colony from Ireland : and just as plants " are improved by transplantation, so the Irishman was im- *^ proved and refined by being transplanted from Ireland to *' the heather hills of Scotland. So you see my friend Sir " Francis is a specimen of the wild Irishman, and I of the ** refined Irishman." * Sir John Macdoiudd. 235 CHAPTER XXIV. Friends an; I with you all. — jfu/itis Casar, ' How he dill setm to dive into their heaits • « » * » Wooing poor crafcsmen with the craft of smiles, — Richard II. A MULTITUDE OF PERSONAL FRIENDS — TWO HUMBLE DEVOTEES. One of the i)sychological phenomena presented in the life of Sir John Macdonald is the number of those whom he could call his personal friends throughout the Dominion, irrespective of class, rank, creed or social i)Osition. Thou- sands would have died for him. On the day of his funeral, the writer was standing on Parliament Hill, when, as the imposing ceremonials were in preparation, a white-haired man, bent with years and tremblingly leaning on a staff, approached and stood near him. Falling into conversation on the subject of the day, the writer asked, "• Did you know him ? " " Know him ? " repeated the aged man in astonish- ment, as he turned upon the questioner. " Know him ? For thirty years I've known no other name." There was some- thing extremely touching in the feeling, amounting to adora- tion, which could be framed in such words. An old journal- ist on a leading Conservative daily of Ontario used to be struck with the numbers of old men who when in town would inquire for the editor, and come tottering up the stairs to the editorial office to declare their love for the old chief, and to assure him that they were amongst his greatest personal friends, and yet most of them had prol My met him but once in their lives. So it was with hundrv s of public men who had no» other claim to intimacy than the impression Sir John had 236 An Anecdotal Life of made on them. Alexander Kennedy, an old and respected resident of Glengarry, lay dying a few days before the Premier was taken ill. The j)rayers and litany for the dying were being recited when his friend, Senator McMillan, who had just come down from Ottawa, slipped into the sick room ; but no sooner did the sick man see him than he interrupted the reading and rose up, as it were from the grave, to inquire, *' How is my friend, Sir John ? " What was the secret of this sense of personal connection by which hundreds of thousands felt themselves attached to him ? It was not magnetism, for it was, and is still, felt by thousands who had never been spoken to by him in their lives, and by many who never saw him. The laying of the corner stone of the new dry dock at King- ston in June, 1890. was a recent one of many occasions which brought out this kind of worship which men had for Sir John. There was no distinction of party or sex in the ovation which was given him. " Ladies," to use the words of one of the reports, " banked themselves about the platforms and wherever safety was assured. The thousands of men were more venturesome. They crowded upon the heaps of rocks, they strung themselves upon the tramways, they clung to the jutting rocks in the great cavern and filled the bottom of the great hole. Upon the great derricks little lads clung with feverish grasp, and yelled themselves hoarse when occasion called for it." When Sir John toiled out of the crowd and came upon the platform, there went up, not a cheer, but a roar of voices calculated to move the most unsympathetic spectator. And when he looked about him and saw old friends of so many years' standing, many of them older than himself, his face quivered with emo- tion. " There's a lump in my throat," said one man to his friend on the platform. " So there is in mine," was the reply, and there were probably few who did not feel the sense of rising emotion as they gazed upon their idol that day. When Sir John had concluded a speech in which the audi- ence pathetically protested against his statement that he was Sir John Macdrnald. 237 very near the end of his career, the bagpipes struck up. While they were playing, an elderly woman in a plain dress and style, but with a kind face, gently worked her way upon the plat- form and moved towards Sir John. As the Premier saw her he sprang to his feet, and with a " Hello, old woman ! " grasped her in his arms and gave her a hearty kiss. It was Mrs. Grimason. " Who is Mrs, Grimason ? " was a question asked by many a reader of the newspaper reports, in which mention was made of the incident. Mrs. Grimason was a native of the North of Ireland, who, with her husband, settled in Kingston in the first years of Sir John's parliamentary career. They were poor, and her husband dying, she was left a widow in somewhat straightened circumstances, with several children to support. Her husband had bought from John A., but had not paid for, a lot of land on Princess street. He had let him have it at a reasonable price, and in the time of her difficulty never pressed her for the payments due, and this leniency and kindness was probably what tirst inspired that feeling towards John A. which grew in her till it became a kind of worship. No topic could absorb her as that; and when she spoke of him the pronouns He and Him were alone sufficient to designate by way of dis- tinction the one from all other beings to whom a pronoun in the masculine gei;der could apply. She had a kind, lionest face, was sincere in her friendships as in her di -likes, and though with- out education to speak of, had sterling good sense and much natural intelligence. Through her devotion to Sir John she acq:iired quite an acquaintance with "practical politics," and there were few prominent members of Parliament whose lead- ing traits she did not know. She kept a tavern on Princess street, and her property accumulated till she became vorth about $50,000, Her influence became no small element in an election, and it was said she could control a hundred votes. To whom these votes wt:nt need not be askea. She became so absorbed in that one personality that, in spite of her keen sense of what was becoming in a woman, she would be drawn 238 An Anecdotal Life of to his meetings when often she would be the only female pre- sent. More than once on election night, when the returns were brought in, she would appear at Sir John's committee room, and walk up among the men to the head of the table and, giving Sir John a kiss, retire without a remark to anyone. When a political picnic was held near Kingston, Mrs. Grima- son's van was always at the disposal of Sir John and his party, and in former days she always made one of the party. One beautiful trait in this remarkable old lady was, that she never presumed upon the fact that she was favored with the affection of Sir John. It was only on rare occasions, such as the laying of the corner stone of the dry dock, or the supreme moment of his triumph at an election, that she came within the veil, as it were, and stole a kiss. At any other time she would let him come and go in Kingston vvithout obtruding herself into his presence, although he might playfully take her to task for neglecting to call; and in an election contest she might never go near to take up his time, but would work for votes with all the soul that was in her. She often longed to go to the Capital and see her deity on the throne of his glory, or, as she expressed it, to see Sir John " take his seat," and at last, some years ago, at the opening of Parliament she made the venture.' It was the event of her life, and it is no exaggeration to say that both Sir John and Lady Macdoiiald were proud and glad to see her. Readers will remember the remark of the old Scotchwoman on the day the Princess Louise was married to the Marquis of Lome, and so became connected with the old house of Argyll. *' Hech mon ! but the Queen will be a prood woman this day ! " It was so that Sir John must have felt when he looked up to the Speak- er's gallery on this occasion and saw Mrs. Grimason sitting with Lady Macdonald. After the sitting was over, she was shown all the sights of the ParLament Buildings, and the wife of the Speaker took her to his rooms and had luncheon. When here Mr. Mulock, of Toronto, the Liberal member, happened in, and was introduced to her. She thought it strange that an Sir John Macdouald, 239 enemy should be admitted to these sacred precincts, and after manifesting her nervousness and restraint for a few minutes, she determined to tear off the mask, and as she turned a sidelong glance upon him. asked : " Excuse nie, Mr. Mulock, may I ask your politics ? " Mr. Mulock, who had heard of Mrs. Grimason before, and remembering that she was gifted with a certain eloquence of the kind which Daniel O'Connell had to cope with in Mrs. Moriarty, hesitated and presently admitted, in the apologetic way of one whose crimes have just been unearthed for the first time, that he was a Reformer. Mrs. Grimason's comment on the confession was *not soothing to the ears of the criminal who made it, and Mr. Mulock pleaded : " That's rather hard, isn't it, Mrs. Grim- ason?" Mrs. Grimason did not assuage the wretch's fears by any soft remark. Presently he said, feeling his way gently to her forgiveness : '' You live in Kingston, I believe, Mrs, Grimason. You may know an uncle of mine there, Mr. ?" " And now I think less of ye thin before," quickly retorted Mrs. Grimason, " for your uncle is a good Conser- vative ; " and after making more remarks on people who dis- grace the political traditions of their family, she added with dreadful emphasis, "I hate them damn Grits!" Sir John dropped into the room just in time to hear this last impre- cation, and taking in the situation, laughed till the tears came down. Mr. Mulock laughed too, but it was that hollow kind of laugh with which we all sometimes mask the feelings of a sick heart. Lady Macdonald took her down to Earnscliffe, and she never tired of telling of the kindness that was shown her. In her good rich brogue she would describe her visit : " They have a lovely place all their own, down there by the Rye-do. The house has a lovely slate roof like they have in England, and beautiful grounds, and everything in style, an' a man to wait on the dure. Lady Macdonald kapes her own cow and hins, and they make their own butter, man dear. They have two fine cows and six servants. Lady Macdonald showed me over the house, and in the fine big library there 240 All Anecdotal Life of was my picture up beside o' Kis, just where He sits. After showin' me through the house, she says : ' There now, haven't I made him vciy comfortable ? ' She's a very plain woman is Lady Macdonald — not good lookin' — but oh, she's the fine eddication, and that's where she gets the best of thim. Why, I heard her talkin' Frinch to the carpenter workin' about the hous( It's her fine eddication that makes her so nice, and she takes such good care o' Him. And if I went back there to-day she would make as much of me as if I was the richest w man in the counthry. His library is beautiful, and it's covered over with books to the tip top of the wall. While I was there, the man brought in his letters from the mail, — as thrue as I tell ye there was the full of that of thim " (holding out her apron). As for her sentiments concerning Sir John, words were too weak to express her worship. " There's not a man like him in the livin' earth," was her sincere and simple estimate. To a question of Sir Henry Siruth, as to a state- ment of his, she replied, "If he said it was so-and-so, I'd take my oath that it was so, whether I knew anything about it or not.'" She had nearly every photograph ever taken of Sir John, and these she prized above all things, especially the one taken in his Privy Councillor's uniform, which she des- cribed as the one " taken in his regimintals fernent the Queen." When Sir John returned to power in 187S, it almost broke her heart to know that he had been personally defeated in Kingston. " I went around the next day," she said, "cryin' till I hadn't an eye in me head. * Never mind,' sez Sir John to me, 'they're all below me yet,' sez he, 'an' I'll be all right.' And sure he was, for they elected him away out ia British Columby. ' And now,' sez I to Sir John, when I knew he was in^ * take the best position you can get in the hull counthry, and tell them all to go to the divil.' *Is that what you would do ? ' sez he. ' Yes,' sez I. He roared and laughed, and then he said the country would go to the dogs if he did that." In this election her son-in-law voted against Sir John, and Sir John Macdonald, 241 came to lier and boasted of his candidate's victory. She said she would have given anybody five dollars to '' lick '' him, and she was so angry she would not speak to him for six months. '* I hope the Lord will spare him for many a year, if it is His holy and blessed will," she would say with a sincere and reverent face, " for what will become of the country without him? " When Sir John lay sick at the time of the last elec- tion, she too lay ill. To her clergyman who called upon her, she said her own illness concerned her not, but that daily she went down upon her knees to pray that Sir John might be spared and be elected. " Usually," she added, " I don't trouble the Lord with my worldly affairs, but in a case like this you know I think it is different." Could humility to God and unselfish devotion to man be better expressed in one sentence ? It used to be her desire that when she died she should rest near him, and some years ago she was for- tunately able to purchase a large plot immediately adjoining the Macdonald plot in the Cataraqui Cemetery, v/here the remains of her husband were moved. Another of the many of Sir John's devotees in humble life is Patrick Buckley, a cabman and proprietor of a livery stable in Ottawa, from whose vehicle, it is said, the assassin alighted who killed D'Arcy McGee. He had been Sir Allan McNab's coachman, and was about the only one of the household who could manage the gouty old man. In following his i)resent avocation he kept to the seat of government in all its moves from city to city. For thirty-eight years he had driven Sir John, and from the lime of Confederation the Premier seldom rode with anyone else. AVhen Sir John was defeated and resumed his old profession at Toronto, Buckley went there too. When Sir John saw him driving along one day he hailed him, and went over to his cab to shake hands. During all the time Sir John was out of power this faithful old man in- sisted on driving him about, and refused to accept a cent 242 An Anecdotal Life of for the service — a circumstance that could not be attributed to mere policy, as there seemed little likelihood that Sir John ever would be Premier again. It could not have been Buck- ley's good looks nor the pompous appearance of his vehicle that had won the favor of Sir John, for in former days his old sorrel horse and lumbering, faded, saggy-doored cab were the reverse of attractive, while the wizened, wrinkled face — over which a short sandy grizzly beard bristled out in all directions, and matched well with a pair of shaggy eyebrows, from beneath which a funny pair of big eyes twinkled — was more curious than handsome. A curious little cap he used to wear made his head look smaller than it really was. But Sir John in this odd figure read the one trait he required in a man for this service, and that was faithfulness. Under an exterior that seem.ed to cover only indolence and ignorance, no one hid more fidelity, discretion or punctuality. On whatever busi- ness Sir John required him, Buckley was always there, and on time; and no paltry consideration of an extra fare would induce him to risk the disappointmentof Sir John. He might be in front of the Parliament Building knowing that he had a clear hour before Sir John would be likely to com.e out, but though his cab was a public one he would not move for any offers. One day Lady Macdonald came out of the Parliament Building and observed to Buckley that, as t would be twenty minutes before Sir John would be out, she would take a spin down to a place in Wellington street. " No, my lady," said Bucklty, humbly but firmly. When he objected and she still pressed him, " I can't leave this spot till I get the word from Sir John." It was a kind of heroism like Mrs. O'Dowd's at the Battle of Waterloo — and, by the way, expressed in the same words. Sir Frederic de Winton wanting urgently to communicate with the Governor General one day, made the same request with all the authority of his high office, but Buckley declined in a more blunt manner still, adding, as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder, " There's plinty av cabs down there at the sthand." Buckley used to think that no Sir John Macdonald. 243 living man dressed with the same taste as Sir John, and what increased his affection for his chieftain was that the Premier would never allow the old man to carry his parcels from the cab. When he would insist on doing it, Sir John would say, *' No, no, Buckley, I am just as young a man as you are," and would run up the steps with his own books. Buckley would often contrast this with the autocratic way with which some of the junior departmental clerks would order him to carry a parcel up to the office, while tripping up empty hand- ed themselves ; and then carrying the contrast on to every other member of Parliament, would sum up with, " He's the most whundherful man in the worruld 1 " Once Buckley, after taking Sir John home, on an occasion when he was some- what unsettled, drove up amongst a group of members in front of the Buildings, when he was stopped and one of the group said they wished to ask him a question, and as it was very important they hoped and believed he would tell them the truth. Buckley promised he would. *' Then," said the questioner, "was Sir John tight when you drove him down just now ? " " What do ye mane ? " said Buckley, looking for some road of escape. " Was he in liquor, — was he drunk ? " " Shure," replied Buckley, "I have driven him all these years, and I niver seen him in betther health in me life thin to-day." The party had made a bet concerning Sir John, and were to decide it by Buckley. It was a clever cut for the old cabman between a collision with the chariot wheels of his conscience on the one side and the ditch of falsehood on the other; but it was agreed by all that Sir John himself could not have steered through more cleverly. One morning Buckley greeted the Premier with " I'm glad to see ye lookin' so well this morning, Sir John ; and may it be a long time before I see anybody else in yer shoes." " You won't, Buckley," replied Sir John, "as long as I've got them on!" When the Premier was in the throes of his last illness, Buckley was on hand to render his humble service day and 244 An Anecdotal Life of night, and as the tears rolled down his cheeks, he said to an Empire reporter : " I have driven Sir John for thirty-eight years, winter and summer, and now they tell me he must die. I have never known him to be out of temper ; never known him to say a cross word, no matter how rough the road might be or how careless I might drive. Do you remember his grey suit of clothes? One time I called for him and he had on another suit. As he was going to meet some important people I said to him (for I knew him so well I could take liberties with him), I said, ' Sir John, why didn't you put on your grey suit? You look much better in it.' 'Is that so, Buckley?' said he, and he went and changed his clothes. * * Dear, dear, they say there is no hope. My, my, his like will never be seen in Canada again." Sir John Maalonald, 245 CHAPTER XXV. A '* strange coincidence," to use a phrase By which such things are Ecilled nowadays, — Byron, SOME COINCIDENCES IN SIR JOHn's LIFE. > In previous chapters a number of coincidences in the life of Sir John Macdonald are given, such, for instance, as taking into his office a student who was to be his peer in knowledge of constitutional law, who was to contest an election with him, to sit in Parliament with him, and like him to be a Premier; such as the appearance in Canada and the starting of the Globe by George Brown* in the very year he entered Par- liament ; and such as the coincidence of his second marriage with the union of the provinces. Many others can be noted by the reader, and many have been pointed out by writers in the press since his death. There died a month before the Premier, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, a cousin named John Maidand Macdonald. He was a remarkable character, and was a geologist, mineralogist, mining expert and speculator. The papers mentioning his death said he " squandered three fortunes in England, Aus- tralia and the States. He inherited the title of Lord Maitland from his mother, but never assumed it. He had been an offi- cer in a regiment of the Lancers, and vvas a classmate of the African explorer, Livingstone. While serving in Africa he was captured by the Arabs and held for two years, when he was ransomed by the English ransom fund." * Another coincidence in regard to Mr. Brown was that when he was buried the Presbyterian Synod was in session at Toronto, and attended the funeral in a body ; and when Sir John was buried the General Assembly of the same Church was in session at Kingston, and also attended the funeral in a body. See also the coincidence related of Dr. Stewart, of Kingston. 246 An Anecdotal Life of Another cousin, Hugh Macdonald of Essex county, Ont., died the day before the Premier, at the age of K7. The last speech Sir John made was in defence of his old colleague, Sir Charles Tupper, and it was just after his old friend, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, had made a defence of the same colleague that he was s.-.cken by the assassin. The day of Sir John's funeral was the eighteenth anniver- sary of the arrival in Montreal, for interment, of the body of his " political twin brother," Sir George E. Cartier. When Sir George died, the Canadian Pacific scandal was just looming up, and when Sir John died another scandal was coming up for investigation, the principal in the charge being one of his own colleagues. The Hon. J. C. Aikins, a friend of all the public men concerned, was a pall-bearer at the funeral of both Sir George E. Cartier and Sir John Macdonald. While Sir John lay unconscious in his laft illness at Ottawa, Sir A. A. Dorion, one of his oldest political opponents and a colleague of Hon. George Brown in the Brown-Dorion Govern- ment, was dying in Montreal from the same disease, paralysis. The steamer John A. Macdonald, called after the Premier, and owned at Garden Island, Kingston, was always knovyn as a lucky boat, but on the day of his funeral news was brought of her having run aground in Lachine Lake. Sir John's state funeral at Ottawa took place in the midst of a violent thunder-storm. Napoleon the First also was conve; J to his tomb during a thunder-storm, and so was his rival, the Duke of Wellington. Among incidents connected with Sir John's death, the fol- lowing was related the other day, by Dr. Wild, from the pulpit of the Bond Street Congregational Church, Toronto : " A few weeks ago a friend called on me, telling me he was going to New York, and asking if I could arrange a secret seance with a spiritualist in that city. I gave him a letter of introduction, and a private seance was arranged for him. He was told several remarkable things about himself and relatives; and the medium further said : • You hardly believe in spiritualism, Sir John Macdonald, 247 but I tell you something whereby you may know that I am not deceiving you. In two weeks from now a prominent man in Canada will die. His death will cause great alarm and arouse sympathy throughout the land. Nothing will be talked of for several days but his death and funeral.' My friend now de- clares that he foretold the death of Sir John A. Macdonald. Now, it may be so or it may not. For myself I cannot posi- tively say. I leave the matter with you." Some months ago a fortune teller at Sault Ste. Marie pre- dicted that Sir John would die very shortly after the election, but no one took any notice of the statement at the time. Sir John's death took place on the anniversary of the battle of Stoney Creek, an engagement in which his old predecessor in the Conservative party, Sir Allan McNab, took part, and which turned the fortune of war in favor of Canada. 248 An Anecdotal Life of CHAPTER XXVI. Rare compuund of oddity, frolic and fun, — Goldsmith Not chaos-like together crushed and bruised, Hut, as the world, harmoniously confused, Where order in variety we see, And where, though all things differ, all agree. —Pope. PERSONAL TRAITS, HABITS AND TASTES. Many of Sir John's personal peculiarities have been noticed in preceding chapters, but a few more random references will interest the read-r. While he was a hard worker, he was remarkably temperate in his diet. He usually rose between eight and nine in the morning, when he took a cup of tea or coffee and toast, and then went to work till eleven, when he had breakfast, at which very frequently visitors were present. The dinner was at six or seven ; and often he took something light at ten or eleven at night. But all these meals were light. Of late years he did not sleep more than from five to seven hours. He generally took a bundle of newspapers or magazines to bed with him, and with tnejj he read himself to sleep. A friend and colleague, upon his first acquaintance with Sir John, used to wonder how he kept himself so well posted on questions of the day, par- ticularly with current literature, as he never saw the Premier touch a paper or book in his office, and never noticed him spending hours in the library, as many other prominent men did, but the mystery was solved when he learned of Sir John's habit of reading in bed. This was a habit of old stand- ing, and recalls an incident of the visit of the Confederation delegates to England. As before mentioned, the delegates were quartered at the Westminster Palace Hotel in London. Sir John Maalonald. 24D and one night during their stay an alarm of fire was raised in the hotel, and the Canadians, who were aroused at the alarm, were surprised to learn that it was caused by their own chair- man. John A. had taken a paper to bed, and having fiillen asleep, his lamp set the bed curtains on fire, and nearly caused a conflagration. He was scorched by the flame, and narrowly escaped disfiguration for life. As he went to sleep reading, so on waking he read in bed, often spending a considerable tiuie before rising. He seldom or never allowed himself to be diverted by reading at his office, or wiiije doing the consider- able official work he performed at his house. One duty of his private secretary was to go through papers which he had no time to read, and clip or select articles or news of special inte- rest. A correspondent of the Montreal Star^ describing his habits some years ago, said that ^' even when he goes off in summer to his pretty seaside residence at Riviere du Loup, below Quebec, he is particular to have the local papers sent him ; and if the newspaper offices are a day late in changing the address, a reminder from his private secretary comes over the wires." It was said in one of the biographies that Sir John spent his evenings commonly at the club, usually playing whist ; but he had neither the one habit nor the other. Neither did he use tobacco in any form. Freedom from the latter habit was one reason why his nerves were so firm. The autograph signature in the frontispiece was penned only last year, and his latest letters show a steady hand and the beautiful penmanship for whirh he was noted. In former years he used to write nearly all his own personal letters, but of late years this work was done chiefly by his secretary, though he wrote many up to the last months of his life. As stated in earlier chapters, he was never devoted to athletics, though appreciating the taste in Canadian youth. About three years ago he was asked to open the Ottawa Amateur Athletic Association's new building, and in the course B 250 An Anecdotal Life of of his address he said : '' I was never very strong in athletics myseh'. My recollections of attempts in that way were not very happy, because when I was a boy at school I was fight- ing all the time, but I always got licked (laughter^, and it only shows what a disinterested person I am to come here, and, forgetting my numerous defeats, encourage young men — I was young myself once I would have you know — in the establishment of such an association." Sir John was hon- orary patron of the Oshkosh Toboggan Club of Ottawa, and consented to open their new slide. The night fixed proved bitterly cold, but the Premier turned out on time and took part in the procession of snowshoers. When asked to speak a i^yf words he said, looking around at the decorations, that *' they had evidently brought him to a nice place. Some might wonder why he was there at all, as he was evidently going down hill fast enough. His opponents, however, would consider it appropriate for him to open the slide, because they had always looked upon him as a slippery customer." After some further humorisms Sir John, having declared the slide open, seated himself on a toboggan, and amidst a discharge of fire works, and the cheers of the crowd, " the veteran chieftain shot down the hill at the rate of thirty miles an hour, and in a few seconds was at the other side of the frozen Rideau, a quarter of a mile away." Sir John was not a particularly good pedestrian, and in recent years drove almost everywhere in a cab ; although during the last year or two, at Lady Mac- donald's request, he took walks for the benefit of his health, and found it improved him. His cab hire during the past three or four years amounted to nearly $i,ooo a year, and the item in the official returns came in for some criticism last year. To this Sir John replied, "The fact of the matter is, as long as I am Premier the over-burdened tax payers will have to pay my cab hire. I think they will be quite willing to pay it, and they will think, with the hon. gentleman, that the sum is not too small, because the older I get the less will my powers of walking cootinue. I may tell the hon. gentleman that in the Sir John Macdonald. 251 winter time I take a cab from my house to Parliament, but in order to economize a liti'e last summer I occasionally took a ride in a bus. I saved a little money by riding in the bus instead of Buckley's cab, but the busses are too cold for my feet in winter and I get a cab now." The item, it is needless to say, passed without furtlier discussion. Sir John was five feet eleven inches in height, and at the time of the lay ng of the corner stone of the Kingston graving dock in 1890 weighed 180 lbs., which, strange to say, was more than he ever weighed before. Shortly after Sir John's restoration to power, he suffered a good deal from catarrh of the stomach, and his end seemed to him so near that he came to the council ronm one day in 1880 and anounced to his colleagues that he was going to retire, at the same time requesting them to choose from among themselves a successor to the premiership. His colleagues, however, apart from the difficulty of choosing a successor, felt what a void there would be without him, and would not listen to this proposal. " Nonsense ! " said Sir Charles 'I'up- per to him, *' you will bury most of us yet ; " and when after a visit to England, and a course of tieatm^ nt there, he returned greatly improved, it really seemed as if Sir Charles' prediction would prove true. During the time of this physical trouble he could eat scarcely anything but biscuits and cream and such light food, with small but regular quanti- ties of spirits. Although he spoke of retirement at that time, it was probably because of the temporary depression of spirits caused by his physical trouble; and it may be affirmed ihat his grasp of power was never relaxed, except under the stress of this depression an 1 for the moment. He loved power, and never made any secret of ic to frien 1 or foe. A friend and admirer of his considered that the two most marked features of his character were love of power and contempt of money. When the Supreme Court was established at O tavva a frici»d advised him to take the chief juslic^^ship, and ro ire int » me 252 An Anecdotal Life of comparative quiet of that position and take life easy. He ri- diculed the idea, and said he would rather be a dead premier than a live chief justice. His prediction that he would die like Pitt was fulfilled. This famous English statesman appeared in the House of Lords on April 7th, 1778, "to speak on a motion to acknowledge the independence of the United States- He was swathed in flannel, crutch in hand, emaciated and debilitated ; and at the end of his speech fell in an apoplectic fit, and was borne home to die a few weeks afterwards. What Sir John no doubt meant was, that he desired to die in harness? and he has had his wish gratified, for he was working and discussing iffairs up to the moment that the blow fell." * He said once to Samuel 'I hompson, author of " Reminis- cences of a Canadian Pioneer," " I don't care for otfice for the sake of money, but for the sake of power, and for the sake of carrying out my own views of wh'at is best for the country." And it is quite likely that he would have ap- proached nearer to his ideal of what was in the country's Interest if he had not given way often to the clamors of selfish partizans. ''There are often times," said he once to another old friend, "when I do things that are against my conscience, and which 1 know are wrong; but if I did not make certain allowances for the weakness of human nature, my party would turn me out of power, and those who took my place would manage things worse than I." The reasoning is indefensible, but it is one of the evils of government by a party machine. Once, in 1864, he was talking to a i)arty of political friends, when one of them, Mr. R , asked : " John A., why don't you give us a cheaper legislature? " Quickly the reply came, " You send me a better set of men and Fll give you not only a cheaper but a better legislature. Like any cabinet-maker, I do the best I can with the lumber you furnish me." There was a laugh at this clear and simple statement of the case, for Mr. R.'s own county was represented by a man of the poorest qualifications, and of whom he had himself been complaining. • Kingston Nnus. Sir John Macdoncild. 253 Respecting the style of his oratory, opinions differ as widely as on most phases of his character. It is the opinion of a great nany who assume to be judges, that he did not com- pare with many of his contemporaries in eloquence, and yet in the words of a Reform journalist, "a single speech of his on the Washington Treaty counted for fifty votes in the House.'* A critic writing of him in 1870, as he sat in the House before his illness, said, " Whether the massive head, rendered still more massivj in appearance by the profusion of vagrant jetty curls, clustering half way down the brow, be sedately poised on the left hand in an attitude of seemingly profound atten- tion, listening to the vagaries of some weak opponent or some not very able supporter, or whedier it be carried jauntily with a smiling countenance, under the discharge of the heaviest artillery of the Opposition, the spectator is at no loss to dis- cover that there sits a man who, either by study or natural endowment, is possessed of the qualities essential to a suc- cessful party leader. * * He is rather distinguished for speaking without premeditation, and is a master of repartee. Impatient of the tediousness of formal debate where a few minutes of conversational discussion would dispel every misconception, he leans to seeming frivolity in Parliament rather than to ponderous dignity, though none are more ready to rebuke misplaced triviality of expression on questions affecting the dignity or honor of the country. He makes very few set speeches, but many bursts of extempore impas- sioned eloquence come from his lips. He is the plague of the reporters' gallery, from careless utterance, irregular inflections of voice, and general disregard of acoustic effect ; yet there are occasions when his voice swells and his words flow with extraordinary rapidity, when every sound is hushed and all ears bend to catch the rushing torrent of eloquence which rolls with overpowering velocity from his lips. Such accidental outgushes of strong impetuous feeling usually last but for a few minutes, yet often they have called forth bursts of the wildest enthusiasm." The same writer thought that in debate 254 An Anecdotal Life of it was questionable whether he knew how to be reserved. The writer of a clever but caustic anonymous pamphlet, entitled th^- " Political Adventures of Sir John A. Macdonald," says he " never understands a subject unless it refers to himself; has none of the high-toned eloquence of Bright ; none of the keen logic and the reserve of intellectual power that dis- tinguish Edward Blake ; none of the subtle analysis or the sustained argument of Gladstone ; but he has the art of adapt- ing himself to the mental capacity of his audience ; of sup- plying the apt illustration most familiar to their ideas and habits; of assuming an air -of earnestness even when it is sometimes hard to believe it real ; * * and of dexterously appropriating, as his own, popular ideas or patriotic senti- ment." The writer of an obituary article of more than usual ability * looks for something outside of the mere matter of his speeches to account for his power to move men. " Amidst changes for which many contended and against which thousands fought, during a reconstruction of constitutions, the confedera- tion of provinces, the control of innumerable diverse interests, Sir John held his place. While the chiefs of mighty factions fought and fell, while a new geography was planned, a new constitution created, a revolution was begun and ended,, while questions were discussed and feuds engendered, this great man, whose greatness was denied by his opponents and admitted without explicable reason by his friends, maintained his supremacy. Promises were made without regard to the possibility of fulfilment. Friends besought him, enemies besieged him, and yet smilingly in the midst of such conflicts the great old man jested with his friends^ jeered at his enemies, triumphed when other men would have been overwhelmed, and became the idol of the people when men esteemed greater were offered in sacrifice. It would be unbecoming, in speaking of departing greatness. * Saturday Night. Sir John Macdonald. 255 to make any attempt to overlook or belittle those special qualities so seldom recognized as the central and controlling influence of a successful life. If skill as a rhetorician were to be the standard by which we judge statesmen, Edvvard Blake would long ago have superseded Sir John. If capacity for detail, rugged honesty of purpose, a contempt for those things by which ordinary politicians intrench themselves, were re- cognized, Alexander Mackenzie, even in his palsied age, would still be Premier. If being the son of a sect and the apostle of a creed were to make a man supreme, Sir John would neither have attained nor retained the confidence of the people. Then there seems to be something behind all these things, some power to divine that which must happen. * * The man who knows what is to take place is impatient and often unpopular until he is entrusted with the management of affairs and can demonstrate the correctness of his theories. Accident or the design of Providence early placed Sir John in a position where he could prove his aptness as a leader of men and the director of auairs. Long-continued success, an almost reckless disregard of the opinions of others, a buoyant cheerfulness, an unobtrusive egotism which only betrayed itself in his apparent faith that he was born to live and be supreme, characterized Sir John from the beginning." Speaking of his manoeuvres on the floor of the House, one biographer says : *' Rigid partizans, who pride themselves on consistency, call his flexible temperament by the invidious phrases of pliability or indifference to principle. But that is simply because they fail to occupy the same standpoint, and survey public measures over a more contracted horizon. After all, the statesmen who have left their mark on the world's history have been the least CDnsistent of the tribe ; and it may well be doubted whether any man can hope to rise ai)ove mediocrity who looks within to the exclusion of what lies about him. To a greater or less extent a leader cannot successfully command unless he is also content to be a follower. He merely guides, shap«'i and measurably alters 256 An Anecdotal Life of the course of the ship of state, but supplies none of its motive power. * * * He can hardly be styled an orator, yet few men are equipped so fully with an almost magical power of steadying waverers or startling opponents." In his style of delivery he was peculiar. He would run on for two or three sentences in a monotone in which but few words could be distinctly made out from the strangers' gallery ; then he would throw out a single word with a tremendous jerk of the head, and such em.phasis that it could be heard in any part of the chamber. This explosion would sometimes be accompanied by a rapid glance round the whole House, taking in every part, from the Speaker on his left to those who sat behind b.im on his right. He often spoke with his hands in his pockets, and seldom gesticulated with his arms, except to point a finger at some member of the Opposition at whom he might be levelling a joke. In his early years he was more demonstrative on the floor, and his voice had a certain melody which he lost with ad/ancing age. His manner in his office or in private life was simple and unaffected. In discussing a matter with an interviewer he entered into the subject— no matter how personal or unimportant it was — with as much earnestness and interest as if it was a question touching the Constitution ; and he was deferential in giving his views. At home he was very fond of children, and he would sit and engage in their amusements, and make them laugh by propounding riddles or telling them stories. He often used to go down to the house of Col. Macpherson, his nephew, to spend an hour romping with the children. A friend of his in Kingston remembers seeing him toss his silk hat back on his head and get down in the street to play marbles with some little boys. This was when he himself had risen to the dignity of lawyer with an office of his own. The affection he had for children was reciprocated by them, and there we;e not many little boys or girls of his acquaintance who did not like Sir John. By his second marriage he had only one child, a daughter Mary, who has always been a victim Sir John Maalonald, 257 of hydrocephalus — an affliction caused by an effusion of water on the brain. He loved this daughter very tenderly, and "'t was touching to see the way in which he tried to make her and himself, as well as those about him, believe she was just as other girls are. Not very long ago Mary had a girls' party. When the young people were preparing to leave, he persuaded them to stay a little longer, as she v/as fond of seeing them dance. When they resumed the dance, he leaned over his child's chair and said, ** You see, May, they want a little more of your society — and a little dancing by the way." How delicately and touchingly tlie illusion was contrived ! Some years ago, a corrcipondent of the London World visited S'r John, at Earnscliffe, and gave this picture of the Premic" at home : — Where the cliffs rise up abruptly and overhang the river, nestling in a grove of stunted pine, hangs Earnscliffe — such a " house on a hill " as honest Robert Burton would have deemed suitable for a " nobleman " of his own day. Truly a favored spot, perhaps the most favored of the many lovely halting places around the Capital, to one at least who loves the rugged beauty of the Canadian forest, whose dark-green fringe spreads beyond the silver sweep of the water at the foot of the cHff, and is swallowed up in the veil over the Hull mountains beyond, till it dissolves at evening into the melting pink and yellow of the Canadian sunset glory, whose tender brilliance no pen can describe. The house itself is of grey stone, its outlines broken and varied by poetic gable and hospitable arch. The quiet peacefulness which surrounds it seems to harmonize better with Sir John Macdonald's book- loving tastes than the fashionable bustle of "Sandy Hill," the May fair of Ottawa, where stands the home presented to him by his admirers and friends. Perhaps it was for this very reason that the noise of the city was exchanged for these quiet solitudes, a goodly tramp — for Canadians are by no -means enthusiastic walkers — from the surrounding dwellings in the neighborhood. With but a brief delay, we are 258 An Anecdotal Life of shown into the well-furnished library, where the Prime Minis- ter of Canada spends his leisure time among his well-loved books. As he rises to greet us, we are struck with the re- semblance to the late Lord Beaconsfield which has struck so many before. A remarkable man truly, and for nothing more, perhaps, than for that wonderful gift of accommodating himself to his company or his position, which he seems to have caught with his features from our own great statesman. Full of work as he always is — for with him, at least, no office could be a sinecure — he is nevertheless always ready for a few minutes' gossip upon comparatively unimportant topics. He receives us with cld-fashioned courtesy, and talks, with a freedom which is rare amongst men in his jiosition, of all manner of things, from Imperial Federation to the price of wheat. Of books too, if we wish, for, as was said. Sir John Macdonald unites in his person an unusual combination of qualities. He is at once a student and a man of the world. Possessed of a remarkably retentive memory, he is a ravenous devourer of books. Of books of all kinds, it is said, for we are told that a common practice of our host, after an unusually severe spell of Parliamentary work, is to relieve his over-worked brain by a systematic course of real yellow-backs, tales of the most blood-curdling horrors, ot the most approved 'Jood and thun- der type. Be this as it may, he certainl; ands time amidst his numerous Parliamentary and social duties to keep '' au courant" with all the literature of the day, and of such he talks with all the appreciation, though none of the pedantry, of a scholar. From this his genial tastes and warm sympathy with his kind naturally preserve him, backed perhaps by his keen relish for social enjoyment. * * * When we rise to go, Sir John accompanies us across the lawn, and points out thequiet charms of the situation. "You see below us here the stream is quite clear. A little farther up those wretched mill-owners have choked it with logs and chips and driftwood, but we get the full flow of the river, and all such things are carried away before they can collect. Sir John Macdonold. 25^ How quiet it is ! Hark I " And from below comes the musi- cal dip of oars beating time to tlie chant of the voyageurs, as they guide the great pine logs down towarcs the lumber markets of the St. Lawrence. And Sir Jolin g:)es on to tell us how he and Lady Macdonald paid a visit once to these same primitive watermen, and with what hospitality they met, and how they enjoyed the rude fare so heartily offered, the boiled pork and sauerkraut, and the delicious bread baked on the raft, fjr which the voyageur cooks are so famous. To which Lady Macdonald, who has just come up, adds, " Yes, dear, all but the sauerkraut." In his literary tastes, Sir John was cosmopolitan. He was fond of the marvelous, but not to such an extent as Lord Beaconsfield. As before mentioned, he frequently put himself to sleep upon a cheap novel, and some situation depicted by the novelist would be neatly fitted in to one of his speeches a month or a year afterwards, as an anecdote or illustration. He liked poetry, and in his youth he even wrote a few stray verses himself. He would get Mr. Griffin, the Parliamentary Librarian, to send him down all the new books that were worth noticing, and he would skim through them, half a dozen at a time. He liad a high opinion of a poem by Car- dinal Newman, called the " Dream of Gerontius." It des- cribes the experience, in a dream, of a man who dies, and whose soul is taken to Paradise in charge of an angel. The angel explains the mysteries of the strange sphere to the iii- (juiring spirit ; and the poem is ** full of bold Miltonic con- ceptions of the mysteries of eternity." Sir John also admired Lord Chesterfield's Letters to his Son. It has already been mentioned that Sir John refused a peerage, and he did not set the value most men would upon the dignities that were conferred upon him; but what he valued more than anything else was the honor of being made a Privy Councilloi of the Queen. Illustrations have already been given of his extraordinary personal influence over men, and of his ability to hold toge- 260 An Anecdotal Life of ther elements the most diverse and discordant. Of the first mentioned gift, the case of ihe Hon. Joseph Howe at the time of Confederation furnishes an illustration which, though known to most readers, may here be given in the words of Dent : ** Nova Scotia had been protesting against the Union into which Mr. Howe and his friends complained they had been dragged. Everything short of rebellion, and very little short of that, had been threatened. The leader of the Federal Government saw the necessity of allaying an oi)position which was as persistent as it was fervent and active; and the best way of doing this was to reconcile Howe, the most stalwart son of Nova Scotia, to the new state of things, and induce him to aid in working the detested machine of Confederation. At this time th leader of the Ontario Government had, for some reason, become thoroughly disaffected to the Premier of the Dominion. The hostility, though not very notorious, was restrained with difficulty, and was in danger of finding expres- sion on some unforeseen emergency. In obtaining the ser- vices of Mr. Howe, the aid of the Ontario Premier would be very useful if it could be got. Sir John resolved to ask this aid ; though most persons in his position would have concluded that Mr. Howe, to whom a seat in the Cabinet could be offered, would prove an easier conquest than the Ontario Premier, who was already in possession of all Sir John had to give him, and whose ill-concealed hostility was taking a more personal form than that of Mr. Howe. When the two Premiers met in the Queen's hotel, Toronto, there was much reason to fear an explosion, for it was with great difficulty that Mr. Sandfield Macdonald restrained the expression of his feelings. 1 hey walked separately to the Attorney-General's office, and when they were left aione their mutual friends feared that an open rupture would be tlie result of their meeting. What happened ? In less than an hour the Ontario Premier confided to a friend whom he met in the street, that he and his namesake of the Dominion were to start next morning by different routes to win over Howe by their joint persuasions. Such an exertion Sir John Macdoiiald. 261 of personal influence over a man who could himself exercise no small share of magnetic influence is as remarkable as it isy rare, airl it attests the possession by Sir John of those qualities which pre-eminently (lualify a man to be a leader of men," In his exceedingly graphic and instructive book, " Problems of Greater Britain," recently published. Sir Charles Dilke said the composition of Sir John's Cabinet was a monument to his powers of management. "There never was a ministry so singular for the successful admixture of incongruous ele- ments. Sir Hector Langevin, who is eleven years younger than his chief, although Sir John Macdonald looks his junior, represents the French Roman Catholics, together with Sir Adolphe Caron and Mr. J. A. Chapleau. Sir John Thompson, the Minister of Justice, is a Roman Catholic of a very differ- ent type, being by birth a Nova Scotia Presbyterian. Another Roman Catholic member of the Cabinet became celebrated in 1882 as the mover in the Dominion House of the address to Her Majesty, jjraying she would grant home rule to Ireland. Side by side with these sit as colleagues high officials of Grand Orange lodges, and such is the influence of the Prime Minis- ter that ihey, carrying with them many non-ofticial Orangemen, voted against the disallowance of the Jesuits Estates Bill of Quebec in the face of the hot o})position of the whole Orange society of Ontario and of every Protestant Church." A writer in the Toronto World makes the following brief but clever analysis of the secret of Sir John's power : *' The question has often been asked wherein lay his power. A survey of the civilized world fails to find a parallel. During the time he has held power ir the Dominion, the political figures have changed in every capital on the globe. " Men have come and gone — arisen, shone and subsided into darkness. He alone grew from year to year in the people's affections until the spectacle was afforded of a statesman in a free state exercising all the powers of autocracy. He was continually surrounded by able men, men who exceeded him in eloquence, in learning, in power of intellect, but not one of 262 An A7i,ec(lotal Life of them thought to dispute his pre-eminence. Cartier, Hincks, Gait, Tilley, Tupper, Howe, MacDougall, all bowed to his spell and acknowledged the master. " It would be difficult, perhaps, to briefly state what were the qualifications and faculties that he brought into his career, but the chief of them seem to have been these : — A well regu- lated ambition. Concentration of aim. Shrewd insight into the motives that actuate men. Adaptability, and lack of strong convictions. Cosmopolite largeness of spirit. Inflexible will and undeviating purpose. "These may be enlarged by remarking that he showed no haste in plucking the fruit his ambition craved until it was ripe. He could have been Premier before he was, but gave way to other men. As to concentration of aim, he made poli- tics his trade, and had no other occupation or distraction. The third attribute (insight into motives) has been sufficiently attested in numberless instances. His adaptability is likewise very apparent all through his life. His whole history is a series of adaptations, which he wrought up to the eleventh hour. What is termed his cosmopolite largeness of spirit is an attempt to put into a phrase what was his chief characteristic, allied as it was mentally to his adaptability. He was placed in a country where there were perhaps as many divergent elements as it is possible to conceive of. A great number of antagonistic and repellant elements were met together in small arena. There were French, English, Irish, Scotch. I'here were French and Irish Roman Catholics and North of Ireland Orangemen. All had to be ruled. The man to rule them was the man who was none of these sectaries. That was Sir John Macdonald. He was colorless in nationality and denomina- tionalism. A Scotchman, it was long a moot question where he was born. A Protestant, it was never very certain which sect he adhered to. He was, it may be said, a common centre* around whicli the heterogeneous mass that made up the domi- nant party could agree with, and consent to revolve. All this Sir John Macdonald, 263 would have been useless, however, without the ambition, the •energy of purpose and the unbending will. " He is the greatest figure in Canadian history, not excepting the heroes that brought the wilds of North America under the flag of France." 264 An Anecdotal Life j)f CHAPTER XXVII. He was no harsh self-righteous Pharisee, — The tender Christ compassioned such as he And look their part. — y. W. Bengough. HIS RELIGIOUS TEMPER AND SENTIMENTS. Without pretending to sanctity in his earh'er days Sir John grew into or inherited many of the Christian virtues, and among these were notably, patience, humility, forgetfulness of injuries, unselfishness, freedom from resentment or personal ill-will to any one, and freedom from that greed of money which is a specific American sin. He was as free from bigotry as it was possible for a human creature to be. He had his besetting sins, and was therefore tarred with the same brush by which the face of all humanity is spiritually daubed, and there is no doubt that at times he felt those pangs which all must feel who stand up before the spotless Judge of all the earth, and these pangs became keener as he drew near to the close of life. A few fragments of his religious sentiments have been given at various times, and these are reproduced here chiefly in his own words. One friend says he had a really reverent mind, and was *' humble in estimating his own place in the work cut out for his generation by Providence." The Rev. J. Bogart, of St. Alban's Anglican Church, — of which Lady Macdonald had long been a member, and of which he also, though born a Presbyterian, became a member — in one of his pulpit references said : '* His regularity in atten- dance at God's house, notwithstanding the cares of state and his many onerous duties j his earnest devotion and reverent demeanor when engaged in the worship of God, more espe- Sir John Macdonald. 265 cially in celebration of the Holy Eucharist ; his humble atten- tion to the message delivered by God's ambassador, all show the love he entertained for God's service, which he also exhi- bited by receiving thankfully that which small minds cavil and sneer at. The gentle pressure he gave to the hand of the priest when placed in his [during his illness], and his fervent declaration of trust in the one great High Priest, spoke of his hopes for the life to come." At the Methodist Conference at Ottawa, in June, 1890, he appeared at the Conference and spoke. He referred to the success of the churches in the midst of pseudo-science and unbelief, and said it afforded him great comfort in his declin- ing years to know that the various churches were waging a prosperous war for truth and righteousness. " A.s an old man I can only pray that my declining years may be soothed by the continued prosperity of the great Methodism of our land." Before this — at the laying of the corner-stone of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Kingston, in 1878 — Sir John said in the course of an address : " The champions of infi- delity were many in number, and were men of the highest cul- ture in science and philosophy. There were men who lived pure lives and were sincere in their convictions, but who devoted themselves unitedly and systematically to the work of destruc- tion. * * It was a happy omen that men were arising on the side of orthodoxy who brought equal culture and power to the battle with free thought." During the same year, at a meeting held to further an addi- tional endowment tc Queen's University, Kingston, Sir John referred to the fact that he had stood at the cradle as it were of the University and in the course of his speech he said : " There was one great reason why the College commended itself to all Presbyterians, and that was because unfortunately the world was now alarmed by the progress of infidelity. Science indeed seemed to be joining itself with infidelity ; and it would require all the culture, education and the resources that education could give to enable the teachers of Christianity 8 266 An Anecdotal Life of to meet with equal weapons on the same field and with the same force all that science, that sceptics, that materialists, positivists and all the other ists were doing to swell the tide of infidelity all over the civilized world.' Therefore if there ever was a time when those who called themselves Christians and those who believed the truths of the Gospel should join in supporting an institution established to further their views it was now." The occasion calls to mind a beautiful anecdote of a religious kind. Principal Grant of Queen's University, Kingston, was conducting a campaign for the securing of an endowment fund. Sir John, as one of the founders of the institution, was deeply interested in the enterprise. By a happy chance he was sitting with a gentleman of much wealth in Toronto when the indefatigable Principal, who had already secured a handsome subscription from this gentleman, called to renew the attack in hopes of having the subscription doubled. Prin- cipal Grant was of course delighted at finding Sir John there, and at once called upon him to aid in the attack. The gen- tleman thus beset by a Premier and a Principal at last said in desperation, " No, no ; what I gave you before I gave you for all time." Leaning towards his old friend Sir John laid his hand upon his knee, and, looking him earnestly in the face, said in his most winning tones : " Then, my dear sir, won't you give as much more for eter- nity ? " The appeal was effectual. Another memorable remark was made by him some years ago, when a large deputation of the Licensed Victuallers Asso- ciation waited upon him in their interest. During the inter- view some hard things were said about the churches. " Stop, gentlemen," said Sir John, " aon't fight the churches. As soon as the churches do tLjir duty your days are numbered." In a sketch written several years ago for the Toronto NewSy a correspondent, '' Wayfarer," shows Sir John in a light in which perhaps few had ever viewed him during his lifetime: — Sir John Macdonald. 267 '* I knew that Sir John Macdonald had religious convic- tions. Several years ago, when the United Empire Club was in existence, he came in there one night — I think it was Sunday night. Mr. Manning and a party of solid old Tories were at one end of the parlor. James E. Smith was there also, Jack Beatty, Col. Arthurs and several others I can't now remember. The entry of Sir John caused some little excitement, and there were hearty hand-shakings and exchanges of compliments. The visitor had just come from, the Metropolitan or some other church, where he had heard Rev. John Potts preach. A sort of incredulous little laugh went round among a few, when Sir John said that he had been at church. That is a way some minds have of receiving infor- mation they would rather not hear, for even the presence of a man who is trying to do well is a reproach to those who do ill, and there is always an effort made to frown or laugh him down. Rev. Mr. Potts had discoursed about the sermon on the Mount. Sir John was very gra^c, and was in no way dis- posed to countenance the air of levity that some were inclined to wear. As he leaned easily on the back of a chair, hebegar* to speak to those seated around him of the Beatitudes. One by one he told them over, commenting on each, a»?d showing by the deep reverence of his manner that he had a high con- ception of the majestic mind that wrought them. He spoke for about ten minutes, peri.aps more, with an attractive earnestness that had its effect upon all who heard him. And when he had ended he gravely wished his company ' good evening ! ' and departed. There was silence in that room for five minutes after he went out. Several there had learned a lesson, and from that day they saw more of the man than the politician in Sir John Macdonald. '^ When he was travelling through the country on the parlor car Jamaica during the last campaign up near London, or on the Western Division somewhere, that I do not remember very well, a stirk of timber protruding from a passing train struck the Jamaica and smashed one end of it. When the train ' 208 An Anecdotal Life of arrived in the city the next night, I went down to see what damage had been done, for it had been noised abroad that an attempt had been made to wreck the train. The colored porter answered my summons at the door, and he showed me into one of the compartments fitted up as a parlor. Sir John Macdonald sat in an easy chair reading the Bible. He was alone in the car, with the exception of the porter, the other ministers having gone elsewhere, and he was about going to bed. He looked very lonely sitting there in the dim light. He was reading David's Psalms, that have been a comfort to the weary for many hundreds of years. My stay was brief, for it was only to congratulate him on his escape from injury. As I passed out I put a question to the porter. It was prying into private affairs, but I could not help it. The porter's reply was, ' Yes, sir ; he always reads the Book before going to bed.' I had formed a different opinion of him. I had judged him by his reputation, until I knew his character ; and throughout the country there are thousands, not alone among the Methodists who will not look at this matter with the narrow prejudices of politics, but will love him for his action of a few nights ago, because they are convinced that what he has declared for is the Truth." For some years past, Sir John had daily family prayers in his home, a fact which many yho assumed to be on intimate terms would not believe when told it during his lifetime. This will be believed, however, when the following interview, given to the St. Thomas Times by the Rev. J. E. Hunter, the evan- gelist, is studied. It refx^rs to the revival meetings held by himself and Mr. Crossley in the Dominion Square Methodist Church, Ottawa, a little over three years ago, and which con- tinued for about seven weeks. " He was like a king in Ottawa," said Mr. Hunter ; '* every- body loved him." In this respect his testimony agreed with what has l>een so frequently said, namely, that Sir John made no personal enemies. Sir John Macdonald. 269 Sir John and Lady Macdonald were present at the evening meeting o/i the first Sunday, and on that occasion stayed for the after meeting and remained to its close. From that time their interest deepened and lliey attended frequently, Sir John being present on his seventy-third birthday. Parliament was in session at the time, and Sir John would hasten horr^;, get his dinner and telephone the usher oT the jhurch to reserve seats for himself and Lady Macdonald and some friends who gene- rally accompanied him. Referring again to the effect upon Sir John of the addresses, Mr. Hunter said : " I have seen him sit with tears in his eyes, drinking in what was said, and he would also testify his appre- ciation and sympathy by warmly shaking our hands. This continued until we asked those who desired to have the prayers of God's people for their souls to stand up. When Sir John and Lady Macdonald rose it was like an electric shock in that vast audience to see that godly woman and her distinguished husband stand ?ip together. * Let us pray,' said 1, and as all bow':^d their heads in prayer, there never seemed to have been such divine influence in a meeting. When we lifted up our heads every eye seemed to be bathed in tears, Sir John's among the others. *^ He invited Rev. W. W. Carson, Mr. Crossley and myself to his home, where we dined with him and Lady Macdonald. The air was that of a Christian home. As we came to the table. Sir John requested me to ask a blessing, and at the close of the meal by his desire Mr. Crossley returned thanks. Though somewhat nervous about it, I had interviews with Sir John on the question of his personal salvation, one in the church and the other at his home. During these interviews [ said, ' I am glad to see that you have taken the stand you did. You never did a more manly thing in your life.' " Sir John said he had never had any doubt as to the reality of these things, he had never been sceptical, though he r.cknow- ledged he had been sinful. He had never, he said, forgotten the home training and the godly influence of his parents. In 270 An Anecdotal Life of his early days he had associated much with the Ryersons, and had often heard them preach at camp meetings, and their sermons made a deep impression on his mind which he had never forgotten. Said Ml. Hunter, *■' I would like to know before leaving you, Sir John, if you have accepted Christ as your personal Saviour." Sir John said, with tears in his eyes, *' I have, Mr. Hunter." Mr. Hunter asked if he had any objection to state this at the closing meeting. Said Sir Johp, " I have no objection, but you know there aYe .some who will say, if I do it, that it is from sinister motives, but I will think over it." '' Thank God," said Mr. Hunter. *' May the Lord bless you. You have helped us very much in our meetings in Ottawa. Doubtless for it you will have many stars in your crown of rejoicirg." Sir John's interest continued to deepen till the close, and he was at the farewell meeting, as was also Lady Macdcnald^ When he came to bid us good-bye, there were tears in his eyes and ours, and we felt very much drawn to him and that he felt a fatherly interest in us. The last thing he did was to turn as he was going down the stairs irom the vestry and kiss his hand to us, which he seemed to do as tenderly as a mother would throw a kiss to her child. This was the last time I saw him, although we have often had letters and telegrams from him, in which he manifested the deepest interest in our work, and I nave no doubt I shall meet Sir John at the gates of Heaven." The hymn entided *' Rest," by Rev. Father Ryan, the poet of the Confederate States, is said to have been a favorite with him. It is as follows : — REST. My feet are wearied, and my hands are tired, My soul oppressed — And I desire, wliat I have lon^ desired — Rest — only rest. Sir John Macdonald. 271 'Tis hard to toil — when toil is almost vain, In barren ways ; 'Tis hard to sow — and never garner grain, In harvest days. The burden of my days is hard to bear. But God knows best ; And I have prayed — but vain has been my prayer Foi *est — sweet rest. 'Tis hard to plant in spring and never reap The autumn yield ; 'Tis hard to till, and when 'tis tilled to weep O'er fruitless field. And so I cry a weak and human cry, So heart-oppressed ; And so I sigh a weak and human sigh. For rest — for rest. My way has wound across the desert years. And cares infest My path, and through the flowing of hot tears I pine — for rest. 'Twas always so ; when but a child I laid On mother's breast My wearied little head : e'en then I prayed As now — for rest. And I am restless still. T'will soon be o'er — For down the west Life's sun is setting, and I see the shore Where I shall rest. 272 An Anecdotal Life of CHAPTER XXVIII. The patriot raised his aged arm, And gazed to Heaven with rev'rent eye, " A British subject I was born, A British subject I will die." — y. A. Phillips. A thousand hearts are great within my bosom : Advance our standard, set upon our foes ; Our ancient word of courage, fair St. George, Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons ! Upon them ! Victory sits on our helms. —Richard III. THE LAST CAMPAIGN. Sir John's prescience has been spoken of in previous chap- ters, and it was again manifested in his last campaign. In his latter days he was fond of speaking of himself as a doc- tor retiring from active practice — " a consulting phy.sician ; " but the consulting physician had his finger always on the public pulse, and knew every symptom of the patient. It was well known to those behind the scenes that more than one member of his Cabinet, and many of his prominent followers outside, thought the time for holding the election, early in 1891, was inopportune, but v.hen the public sentiment evolved by the campaign was disclosed, the dissenters admitted that he had chosen the right moment, and that they were wrong. There were rumors, in the early months of 1890, of the pending election, but so far as the general public were con- cerned he kept a close mouth, and it is doubtful how far his own intimates knew his mind on the subject at that time. To the question of Col. Smith, the assistant sergeant-at-arms, one day as to the date of the election, he replied in his usual vein: " Well, Colonel, I cannot say, I haven't seen the morning papers yet. They settle all those things for us, you know." Sir John Macdonahl. 273 At a dinner given him by the Albany Club in Toronto, in Jan- uary, 189 1, he let drop the first hint intended to be read by those who run, when he said, in reply to a question, that there was no harm in bemg prepared. In a short speech on the same occasion he said: "As you are all Conservatives, there is no need to try and convert you — that effort will have to be reserved for the unregenerate Grits. Their fright, when they hear rumors of a dissolution, is most amusing, for although they have been valiantly proclaiming that they wanted the opportunity to appeal to the people, they immediately begin to abuse the Governor General, and call upon him to refuse a dissolution. They have as many aliases for their policy as a thief hr.s excuses for his wrong-doing. It has been com- mercial union, unrestricted reciprocity, and latterly tariff re- form; but there is another name by which it must be known, and that is annexation — which is treason. But we are pre- pared for them. We have a Minister of Justice at Ottawa and an Attorney General at Toronto who will certainly put the law in force." (Laughter.) He then declared that the Govern- ment were going to stand by the policy they introduced in 1878. Tiie elections were fixed for the fifth of March, and on the ninth of February he issued a manifesto addressed to the people of Canada, and dealing almost exclusively with the commercial and other relations between Canada and the United States. He made it clear to the meanest understanding, that the fiscal policy of the country would not be changed. After pointing out the disadvantages, both immediate and remote, of commercial union or unrestricted reciprocity, he concluded in words which will well bear repeating : "For a century and a half this country has grown and flourished under the protecting cegis of the British crown. The gallant race who first bore to our shores the blessings of civilization, passed by an easy transition from French to English rule, and now form one of the most powerful law- abiding portions of the community. These pioneers were speedily recruited by the advent of a loyal band of British 274 An Anf^ahial Life of subjects, who gave up everything that men most pri/.e, and were contend to begin life anew in the wilderness, rather than forego allegiance to their sovereign. To the descendants of these men, and to the multitude of Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotchmen who emigrated to Canada that they might build up new homes without ceasing to be British subjects— to you, Canadians, I appeal, and I ask you what have you to gain by surrendering that which your fathers held most dear? Under the broad folds of the Union Jack, we enjoy the most ample liberty to govern ourselves as we please, and at the same time wc participate in the advantages which flow from association with the mightiest empire that the world has ever seen. Not only are we free to manage our own domestic concerns, but practically we possess the privilege of making our own treaties with foreign countries, and in our relations with the outside world we enjoy the prestige inspired by a conscious- ness of the fact that behind us towers the majesty of England. " The question which you will shortly be called upon to deter- mine resolves itself into this : Shall we endanger our possession of the great heritage bequeathed to us by our fathers, and submit ourselves to direct taxation, for the privilege of hi.ving our tariff fixed at Washington, with a prospect of ultimately becoming part of the American Union ? " I commend these issues to your determination and to the judgment of the whole people of Canada, with an unclouded confidence that you will proclaim to the world your re.solve to show yourselves not unworthy of the proud distinction you enjoy of being numbered among the most dutiful and loyal subjects of our beloved Queen. '' As for myself, my course is clear. A British subject I was born ; a British subject I will die. With my utmost effort, with my latest breath, will I oppose the veiled treason which attempts by sordid mean and mercenary proffers to lure our people from their allegiance. During my long public service of nearly half a century, I have been true to my country and its best interests, and I appeal with equal confidence to the men who Sir John Macdonald. 275 have trusted me in the past, and to the young hope of the coun- try, with whom rests its destinies in the future, to give me their united and strenuous aid, in tliis my lait effort for the unity of the Kmpire, and tiie j)reservation of our commercial and poli- tical freedom." A few days after issuing this appeal, he addressed a vast audience in the Academy of Music, Toronto, where he aroused almost unjiaralleled enthusiasm and created a profound sensation by exposing a secret pamphlet, written by a well-known ]>olitical writer, and suggesting to the American Government methods by which Canada could be forced into annexation. The association of the writer of the pamphlet with certain leading Liberal politicians told heavily against the party in the campaign, and many life-long Liberals in every Province declared their intention of casting their first vole for S' John, I'he rousing of the latent sentiment of loyalty countervailed the uneasy and dissatisfied feeling that had been developing on questions of trade, and the result was that Sir John was sustained by a fair majority. He had exhibited the activity of youth in the campaign. His tour through Ontario was thought to have eclipsed Glad- stone's Midlothian march. 'I'he Toronto World catalogued a week's work as follows : — " After a busy day's work at Ottawa, he left Monday morning for Toronto, arriving h'^re next morning. The Red Parlor was visited by scores of friends and workers during the day. In the evening Sir John delivered his great speech at the Academy, exploding like a bombshell the story of Farrer's treachery. Wednesday after- noon he spoke from the rear of his car at Oaicville to the electors of Halton. That evening, in Hamilton, the huge crowds compelled him to speak at tv/o meetings, Thursday he spoke at Strathroy. Friday, lie ."ddressed the electors of London on behalf of his old co"*"'jue, Hon. John Carling. On Saturday, in the morning, ne spoke at Stratford ; at I p. ni. he made an address of nearly an hour at St. Mary's* 276 An Anecdotal Life of He spoke briefly at Giielph and Acton, and arrived in Bramp- ton about 7 p. m., when he spoke for fifty minutes in support of Mr. A. McCulla, and then went on to Toronto." Otlier days in the campaign were equally remarkable for the amount of work and traveling he did ; and on some occasions he mc^de two or three speeches in an evening. At times when not traveling he kept three secretaries at work answering letters, encouraging his friends from one end of the Domimon to the other, and giving counsel where it was needed. He took a violent cold while going through a storm from Kingston to Napanee on the 24lh of February, and on return- ing to Kingston was prostrated. This collapse, after the over-exertion of the preceding days, conveyed the premonition of the stroke that was to carry him off. There is a pathetic interest in this visit to Napanee, as it was the occasion of his last public address. " Sc ripto,' writing to the Empire, gives an account of it, from which the following extract is made : — '' On the night of the 24th wind and rain had l)locked the roads with ice, making them well- nigh impassable ; but the ardent yeomen of Lennox were not to be cheated out of, perhaps, their last gaze on the old chieftain. The rush was terrific, and common to all shades of political opinion. When the old man stepped from the train he was greeted with strains from a bag-pipe, blown by a Highlander in full costume. Sir John was greatly pleased by this happy reference to the time when he was younger and was a piper in the St. Andrew's Society, Kingston. He left much to be implied wlien he said : " I am not quite as young as 1 used to be." * * The Opera Hall would not hold half the crowd, so an overflow meeting had to be held in the Town Hall. As the demand was imperative, he had to make two speeches instead of one. Although they refused to accept any excuse in the excitement of expectation, y , is soon as he stood before them, his audience felt that the oeginning of the end had come, and clamor gave place to sympathy and regret. During his speech, the old man leaned on his staff. Sir John Macdonald. 277 weakened by the strenuous exertions he had made all through the campaign, yet showing the veason of his success. He gave the impression not of the haughty indiflerence of one resting on the dignity of his high station, but the calm confi- dence of one who rested his* claim on the simple fact that he was a man wishing the sympathies of his fellow men. His whole appearance indicated an exhausted frame that was only supported by the extreme vitality of his spirit ; yet some were ungenerous enough to misconstrue his weakness and vilify his name. At the close of his address, Mr. Elliott, Collector of Customs, approached Sir John and intimated that he had done enough for one day. Seven years had passed since the two had stood face to face, and as Sir John in his uniform kindness of heart pressed Mr. Elliott's hand warmly, he said, * It is the last time, Elliott ! ' " So indeed it proved, though, perhaps, not in the sense Sir John intended it, and certainly not in the sense in which it was taken. * * His exit from the Opera Hall was blocked by a company of eager school girls, who wished to shake hands with the veteran Premier. He shook them each by the hand, and kissing the smallest one, bade her keep a warm spot In her heart for him. * * His mind was on the cam- paign, not upon his own physical condition, and so clearly did he sketch the outlook, so animated were his witticisms, and so contagious his hopefulness, that when he took final leave there was left behind little a})prehension of approaching illness." 278 An Anecdotal Life of CHAPTER XXIX. *•' I am (lying, Egypt, • Witnesses. Benjamin Chilton 320 Appendix, A PERSONAL LETTER. The following is a sample of Sir John's private letters : — Kingston, July ii, '64. My dear Daly : — I want you to get for me a neat, light, efficient fowling-piece for Hugh — say for a boy of 16— with the necessary apparatus. J don't know anything about such things, and I suppose you don't know much, but you can get one of your sporting friends to select. I want a good, but not an expensive article. Hugh will probably choose his double-barrel for himself by-and-bye. Poor Morton was buried yesterday. The funeral was very large. Yours alwavs, , ■' John A. Macdonald. ORIGIN OF THE NAME "OLD TO-MORROW." There has been a general impression that the nick-name ** Old To-morrow," so commonly applied to Sir John, was first given by an Indian chief, and Poundmaker's name has been mentioned as the chief. A correspondent from the North- West, however, kindly gives me the origin, as follows : — " As I do not remember ever having seen an account of the origin of the name * Old To-morrow,' it may interest you to know it. Sir John always controlled the North West Mounted Police. In the fall of t88i, Col. Irvine, the commissioner of the- force, was in Ottawa witii his adjutant, Superintendent Cotton. A young gentleman of Montreal, Mr. Ronald Prevost, was very anxious to obtain a commission on the force. He was visiting Ottawa for this purpose and was living at the same hotel — the Old Queen's — with Col.. Irvine and Supt. Cotton. Mr. Prevost was very anxious to see Sir John but could not succeed. Day after day he went to see him, but always came back with the stereotyped answer: 'Come back to-morrow.' This must have continued for several weeks, till Appendix. 321 the officers were accustomed to greet Prevost with ' VVell, are you to go back to-morrow? ' One evening he canae into Col. Irvine's room and said he was to see Sir John to-morrow, when Col. Irvine cried out, ' Old To-morrow would be just the name for Sir John,' and he immediately gave the^ Blackfoot translation of it — Ap-e naq-wis. The party laughed over the idea, and it soon spread and was taken up by the daily press. It indicated Sir John's tendency to allow time to settle difficult questions; not to move hastily, but to adjourn the decision of dangerous matters until opinion had cooled. His opponents applied it to him in the sense of temporizing with grave ques- tions which demanded instant action. They frequently called him ' Old To-morrow,' in discussing the Half-breed rebellion, accusing him of criminal delay in dealing with that question. The Opposition papers often stated that the name was applied by the Indians, and, I Relieve, attributed it to the Blackfoot chief. Crowfoot. The Indians may have heard the name, but I do not think he was commonly known by it among them.** SENATOR BOYD'S REMINISCENCES. ' The following is the substance of an interview wi^i Senator Boyd, of St. John, N.B., published in the Otta.wa. /ou ma/: " The only pity," said the senator, " is that Sir John before his death did not see consummated his long cherished hope in the admission of Newfoundland into Canada and the signing of the treaty of reciprocity with the United States, which was the cause of his late appeal to the country. He got his country's verdict in the late election, but instead of taking the needed rest which his life-long friend, Senator Sullivan, urged him to take after his labors in Kingston, he came to the Capi- tal and plunged into arduous Cabinet work. A week after the opening of Parliament I was in the Railway office. He sent for me. He was just preparing for toilsome work, with a bundle of papers in his hand, looking, very tired and breathing heavily. I said, ' Ah, Sir John, you should not work so.' He 822 Appendix, replied, ' My dear Boyd, I cannot help it ; the work mast be (* jne.' I replied, * God in His providence has given to our great party in the last election many excellent ministers of railways, but only one for Premier in this time, when the potsherds are dashing against each other.' But he only smiled, and with some usual kindly, merry words I parted forever with my steadfast friend of a quarter of a century. " Eight monthi; ago, he visited St. John and spoke to our workers at the great exhibition. In the evening six thousand gave him a royal welcome in our largest rink, and thousands left unable to get near it. * We want to look at Sir John,' was said by old men who had voted for him since 1867, and some of whom had come hundreds of miles to see their leader and if possible shake his hand. ' '* A quarter of a century before, he came to see the city, and that night in St. John he met some o<" our people along with his friend, Sir Charles Tupper, who had him in medical care. There were Sandfield Macdonald, Judge Tuck, Simeon Jones, Judges King, Palmer and Waters. And how the hours iew I His humorous stories were a revelation to us all. Lady Macdonald and Colonel Bernard were with him. Among other places, we visited I )r. Waddell at our model asylum for the insane, where a lovely girl under religious melancholy said, ' Ah lady, I love you, may I kiss you ? ' And the mistress of Earnscliffe kissed her young wan cheek, and both looked happier for it. " During the first preparation of the N. P. tariff, which fell specially to the lot of the then Finance Minister, Sir Leonard Tilley, that statesman, worn out with the work, was ordered by Sir James Grant to a darkened room. Sir John said to me,. * Tilley will have to go it blind now.' In after years, when Sir Leonard had to go to the Massachusetts hospital, Sir John, most anxious for his recovery, sent for me on my return and made solicitous inquiries for him. Then the Premier branched off to politics, and asked, ' Did you hear much of the fishery question in Boston ? ' * Yes,' I said, ' it was all the talk, and Appendix. 323 so I secured interviews with the Democratic G/ode and Repu!> lican /ourrnn/ for Sir Leonard and other persons of influence.' Sir John's eye brightened as he said, * That's good — we only need to mutually understand these questions, for both only seek what is their own, and God knows, next to the prosperity of Canada and Great Britain we seek that of the United States, for our interests are one. We are of the same family, and each should say of the other as the Psalmist puts it, " Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces." ' ** How he was longing," exclaimed Mr. Boyd, " for the coming treaty, which he was working toward, which would forever remove the petty irritations which ought never to have existed I '* It was my privilege," continued the senator, " to attend the Conservative caucus of some seven weeks afo, when he tnade some pleasant allusions to the senators coming among them, alluding to the invitation he gave me to be present* Who will ever forget his reception as he entered the room? And then the address of this experienced father to the young M. P.'s, not to prepare long essays, but to fill their minds, and then speak out what they thought, warm and fresh — always to be ready with a reason. The wit, wisdom, adaptability, and the binding together of his remarks were so manifest I He had an inimitable way with his young supporters. Take tiie one, for instance, whom he dubbed Ajax — Mr. Weldon of Albert. Mr. Weldon wrote the Premier for a little favor, closing his request with the words, * Grant me but this, dear Sir John, and Ajax asks no more.* The prompt reply came : * The favor is granted, but only on condition that Ajax will ask for more.' " I remember one striking instance of Sir John's nervous endurance. He left Earnscliffe at 9 a. m., attended commit- tees, met deputations and men in Parliament from 3 p.m. until 6 a.m. next morning, not having gone home for rest. After a speech of six hours from Mr. Blake, Sir John arose at 4 a.m. to reply. Lady Macdonald, I remember, was anxiously 824 Appendix, scanning his face from the gallery, and I said to her * Bright as ever.' And so he was. Jaunty as a boy, smacking his lips as though he was enjoying a sweet morsel, and merry as a spring song bird, he for two hours dissected Blake's oration, left only bare bones, and showed that all his talk about Ireland had no more substantial foundation than had the s^me orator's speech in defence of Riel." Mr. Boyd went on to state something of which i\\t Journal does not remember much public mention before. " Twenty years before," he said, *' Sir Jo a framed a bill for Ireland, which, had it been adopted then, as was liis bill for Canada in 1867, would have made Ireland as prosperous as has been Canada. This did Justin McCarthy publicly avow at a banquet to him in St. John, five years ago." Continuing, Mr. Boyd made some references to Public and Separate school issues, in which he said Sir John had taken an interest which might have culminated in action had he lived. *• But even for this," said Mr. Boyd, " let me use the words of Principal Grant of Queen's University, when writing me last week on Sir John's death : ' We are in critical times, and the skilful hand that has been piloting us is about to be with- drawn from the helm. However, no man is indispensable — let iis have faith in God, and He will do exceeding more than we can ask or think.' . *^ Like President Lincoln," said Mr. Boyd, " Sir John was an'example of the men who are most thoughtful, and yet most cheerful ; who perhaps could not carry the heavy burdens of care, had they not a merry heart to keep them. I remember how on a trip down the Bay of Fundy, while Lady Macdonald discoursed with Capt. Thompson on the coasts, the tides and currents, Sir John sat with me full of fun and story, glad to shake off the weighty cares of state for even the day. *' As has often been said, he never forgot a service. Some years ago he claimed from one of his ministers a place in the department for a poor woman, because * thirty years before her father was a supporter of mine in Quebec* Appendix, 325 " Last year at Riviere du Loup, a young lady of the city whose rich voice can be heard in the choir of Rev. Mr' Casey's church, sang to him, and daily he would ask her for his favorite, ' The land o' tlie leal.' " Senator Boyd then gave the words : I'm wearin awa', Jean, Like snaw wreath in thaw, Jean ; I'm wearin awa' To the land o' the leal. There's nae sorrow there, Jean, There's neither cauld nor care, Jean, The day is aye fair In the land o' the leal. Then dry that tearful e'e, Jean, My soul langs to be free, Jean, And angels wait on me To the land o' the leal Now fare ye well, my ain Jean, This world's care is vain, Jean, We'll meet and aye be fain In the land o' the leal. ** And our great leader," concluded the senator feelingly, *' is there now, for I had seen liim with earnest face listening and with full voice singing at nightly services in a church here beside his wife the songs which enabled him, while pass- ing through the valley and shadow, to fear no evil. And so while our country, which he made, mourns him, I trust his life's work will not be lost on us, and as for me, " I wait and trust the end may prove. That here and there, below, above. The chastening heals ; the blow is love." A SET^MON. Delivered in Bond-street Church, Toronto, June 7 BY Joseph Wild, D.D. " Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel." II Samuel iii. 38. 326 Ap^ndix, ■ These words express the estimate and sorrow of King David in relation to the life and death of Abner. Language similar to this, I believe our beloved Queen Victoria could use in respect to the life and death of the late Sir John A. Macdonald. Not a more useful, faithful and loyal subject had she among the millions in the vast Empire over which she rules so acceptably than the departed brother we mourn over this day. Canada and the country's interest and the name of Sir John A. Macdonald have been so intimately mixed for a generation past that we shall have some difficulty in separating them for a short time to come. No one familiar with Sir John thirty years ago would have thought that he would have lived so long, and been so well and active. I remember at that time his death was looked for at any time. I am under the impression that the most of his latter years of active life are due to the influence, watchful care and rare judgment of Lady Macdonald. Their mar- riage was one of love — as ours has all been. (Laughter.) And their wedded life has been one of trust and supreme respect in and for one another — a rem;irkable example for any politician and statesman in this respect. Lady Mac- donald deserves the honor and well-merited esteem of the people of this Dominion for the noble part she has played so lt)vingly, so v/ell and so successfully. Any person having seen the late Benjamin Disraeli and Sir John would at once acknowledge a remarkable personal like- ness h ^ween the two; and it is well known that each of these wonder tul men had extra reverence for his wife, and their wives had very great influence over them. In the time allowed for a sermon one cannot do justice to this memorial service. Though I cannot say that I approve of all Sir John has said and done — and sometimes 1 have taken 'ae liberty to criti- cize his actions in the past — yet this I can freely say, I believe him to have been the ablest, b^st and most useful citizen that Canada has ever had. (Applause.) A young and growing country, like ours needs just such a man; especially so till Appendix, 327 the ship of State has passed by the breakers and entered into smooth and steady waters. God be thanked that he has been spared so long, and enabled to do so much for his country's wel- fare. His presence, influence, and guiding hand will be missed but the country will go on. There is another loyal diamond in the rough somewhere among our people that will come to light when needed, and will be polished by the country's necessities and demands. He may be called the father of Confederation without any great force in the objection. I can remember when the provinces were small, scattered municipalities, and when Upper and Lower Canada were at deadlock in each other's arms — bitter and complaining one towards the other — a time when many of our best citizens in both Provinces despaired of the peace and unity of our land. In those uncertain and stormy times the political anchor and hope of the country was John A. Macdonald. From him others drew inspiration, hope, and courage. The danger point was passed in 1867, and Confederation became a fact to last till the world ends. (Applause.) The work that this statesman has done and completed on lines like these — hell nor earth will never undo. Our Confederation was not born in war, like the United States or that of Germany, Italy and other federated countries, which, without a single ex- ception, had to fight for their Confederation, Why have we been an exception ? I believe it is very largely due to the skill and courage of the late Sir John A. Macdonald. Find some other reason for it if you can, but we ate a remarkably singular exception. (Applause.) We are the only people on the face of the earth that ever went into confederation peaceably. In our relations and dealings with other countries, even Great Britain, he never allowed us to suffer ; his genius and tact always kept the country's interests in safety. He took an active part in the commission that met at Washington to settle the Alabama claims, the Fenian raid and other such difficulties in 187 1. And in the subsequent fishery commis- 328 Ji^pendhc^ sion that met in Halifax, he was, of course, the chief person, gaining for the Dominion the award of $5,500,000, and which I^believe we should not have received had any other man been sent as chief commissioner. In talking with the late President Garfield, he turned his conversation to Sir John and said : '* He is a remarkable man. I saw him the other day, and very different to what I expected him to be in his personal appearance. And do you know it has always amused me when I think of that Alabama claim ; our men thought they had diplomatic children to play with, but that Sir John A. euchred them all." (Applause.) Sir John's strength was a rope of several cords. First, he was a pleasant man, genial to friends or opponents, and no one had so many friends among his opponents as this same man. Of all men he was the^best for a commission to go and interview. No one had need to be afraid of being insulted or cut short when he went into his presence. In the second place, he was a remark- ably good judge of men ; he had a knowledge of human character, and knew the weakness and strength of those with whom he surrounded himself. In the third place, he had good foresight on the line of national forces ; he could see ahead several years. No man knew better when to plunge an election on the country than he did. In the fourth place, he was well posted in the dangeis, wants and strength of our country ; no man was better posted with regard to the relative condition of our country. In the fifth place, he was a man who had great influence over other men — a sort of magnetic influence, I presume, arising from his own self-control, and from his faith in the country. Look at the elements he held together, racial and religious ; who could keep together the different races and religions in Cabinet and Parliament like Sir John ? No man. I am told by one of the members of the Cabinet that m his presence they are as quiet as lambs. Yet he was a decided man ; we have a fine example of that in the case of Kiel. I was in Ottawa at that lime, when all those French members — the Roman Catholic members at least — A ppendix. 329 were requested to stay out for half an hour till he decided. When the half hour was up they had to come in and hear the result, and he stood to his post like a man to fall or carry as he had decided to do. (Applause.) It was a critical moment, but I have always been glad that he stood so ^ true at that point. I was conversing with a gentleman from Montreal a short time ago, and we got into politics (and when you get there you are sure to find John A. — you couldn't talk about them any more than you could get a Gri/> without his picture) and he surprised me by this statement : " I am opposed to John A. in politics and always vote against his party, but I want to say this, that I am glad that John A. lives an . I hope he will live a long time. Now, mark you," he says, " I like him, though I oppose him, because we are thoroughly per- suaded that no other man could hold us together in peace ; whereas in time past we were broken up into too many parties which was dangerous to the welfare and trade of the country, so that if we are not in favor of his political platform at all, yet we find that he is of service to the country." In the sixth place, he was loyal to his country, to the Empire and to his Queen. His famous remark is now a truism, " A British sub- ject I was born, and a British subject I will die." (Applause.) Yonder in Earnscliffe the mortal remains of the patriarch rest in quietness, while the spirit has gone to God who gave it. I am glad that he was not allowed to linger in pain and suffering, and also that he was in the harness when he was called= I would have hated to see him a poor paralyzed man without that activity of brain that so characterized him in the past, or to have seen him thrust overboard like a Bismarck and become an inferior citizen in this our prosperous Do- minion. I am glad that after this long night of service it has pleased the Father of us all to call him suddenly from his task, and to cause him to cease his work at once and live. I have said he was remarkably loyal, and his own descrip- tion of loyalty is worth remembering. '^ It is the fashion in some quarters to sneer at loyalty. relieve that the senti- w 330 Appendix. raent of loyalty and the sentiment of patriotism are both requisite in order to make any country a great country. I do not believe in that univei.al charily which makes every man love foreign nations better than his own. I believe that even under a cloud of misfortune loyalty and allegiance should be the ruling principle in every honest heart. I believe as was believed in early limes, that loyaUy is still the same whether it win or lose the game — true as the dial to the sun although it be not shined upon." A better description of loyalty you can hardly get than that. In the seventh place, he had faith in his country, and that is what a great many people have not to-day when speaking about it, I am sorry to say, and, therefore, he was always planning gigantic enterprises that ' must receive their true value in generations to come, such as spreading out ?ailways, enlarging canals, and especially that wonderful undertaking, the Canadian Pacific Railway, extend- ing from ocean to"ocean — that must remain one of the finest monuments to any statesman in the world. (Applause.) In the eighth place, he was a hard worker, and did more than any other man has done at Ottawa. A few weeks ago, just before the opening of Parliament, 1 was taking dinner with one of the members of the Cabinet. Said he, " You will have to excuse me ; I shall have to go. The old man is going to kill the whole of us. A very great number of deputations are in the city waiting, and he is receiving two or three a day, and we are getting tired out." In llie ninth place, he was honest himself, he has made no wealth (he has been clear on that point) ; sometimes he has been cajoled and deceived into paths that he could not justify I remember a little incident that occurred about two years ago that provoked my sym- pathy and at the same time made me feel a little angry when the estimates were brought down. Among the items that were presented there ^was $134 for cab fare for the Prime Minister. Some one got up and objected to it. Many of you will remember the answer : ** I am sorry that the honorable gentleman objects to that small item ; I do myself; but here Appendix. 331 I am in the latter days of my life ; I am not able to keep a footman, horse and carriage, and my limbs are getting so weary and weak that I cannot walk as I used to, and it does seem hard to me that I am not to be allowed to ride occasion- ally to and from my residence on business purposes." Oh, I thought the answer was a very nice one. Here is a man, after nearly half a century's active work, who has not the luxuries of the rich and who himself is a poor man. It speaks much for his honesty and integrity on his own line. (Applause.) With respect to the famous Pacific scandal ; now, I think his answer to that is rather a manly one. He knew his fault and acknowledged it. He says in one part of his-speech, ^' I have fought the battle of Confederation, the battle of union, the battle of the Dominion of Canada. I uirow my- self upon this House ; I throw myself upon this country ; I throw myself upon posterity ; and I believe that, notwith standing the many failings in my life, I shall have the voice of this country and this House rallying around me. And, sir, if I am mistaken in that, I can confidently appeal to a higher court— to the court of my own conscience, and to the court of posterity. I leave it with this House with every confidence. I am equal to either fortune. I can see past the decision of this House either for or against me ; but whether it be for or against me I know, and it is no vain boast for me to say so — for even my enemies will admit that I am no boaster — that there does not exisi in Canada a man who has given more of his time, more of his heart, more of his wealth, or more of his intellect and power, such as they may be, for the good of this Dominion of Canada." (Applause.^ He was above all a Canadian ; a Scotchman by birth and a credit to his race, among whom competition is so great and superiority so diffi- cult of attainment, because Scotland has given birth to so many great and noble men ; but Sir John A. Macdonald is not the least Scotchman by any means ; still he was in a pre-eminent sense a Canasdian. There was no clan:iishness in him. He was not sectarian. 332 Ap'pendix. ♦ Sir John's fidelity and ability have given tTie country renown, respect and influence, especially in the money mar- ket, and that is a point that interests some of us. It is a queer thing, but it is a fact, that when John A. is at the head we can borrow money from 2 to i^ per cent, cheaper. Why is that ? Because he has confidence in the country and im- parts that confidence to others, and if the world continues they know they will get their interest and principal back. It is pleasing amidst the gloom and sorrow of his sickness to see the world-wide interest taken in him. Our beloved Queen — God bless her, I love her more every day (applause) — asks for a report twice a day of one ol her colonial subjects. And I am glad the press has been so generous toward the sick and now dead chieftain. It did my soul good to read the scores of newspaper references. I like when a man has done his work and done the best he could — even with failings, as he himself acknowledged — that the people will try when he has gone to sleep to speak kindly of him. May they be as generous to you and me on a smaller scale when they come to recount the race we have run and the battles we have fought. May his influence abide with us for good in all that makes for the interests, prosperity and peace of our country. Farewell, old patriarch ! Farev/ell, old chieftain ! Farewell, old man, so called I Farewell, noble Premier of Canada ! Sir John A., farewell ! God bless your family, and bless the country you have lived in and done so much for. Amen. 2E86 4