The Day of Sir John Macdonald Part 8

Looking o'er the n.o.blest of our time, Who climbed those heights it takes an age to climb, I marked not one revealing to mankind A sweeter nature or a stronger mind.

[1] It was commonly understood at this time that Sir Charles Tupper, whose name would naturally first occur in this connection, preferred to remain in England as high commissioner, and, consequently, was not in the running.

[2] Letter to _The Times_, September 1, 1886.

[3] _Weekly Sun_, April 17, 1907.

[4] _Problems of Greater Britain_, p. 44.

[5] 'Some few fools at Montreal are talking about Independence, which is another name for Annexation. The latter cry, however, is unpopular from its disloyalty, and the Annexationists have changed their note and speak of the Dominion being changed into an independent but friendly kingdom. This is simply nonsense. British America must belong either to the American or British System of Government' (Sir John Macdonald to the Hon. R. W. W. Carrall, dated Ottawa, September 29, 1860).

'A cardinal point in our policy is connection with England. I have no patience with those men who talk as if the time must come when we must separate from England. I see no necessity for it. I see no necessity for such a culmination, and the discussion or the mention of it and the suggestion of it to the people can only be mischievous'

(_Liberal-Conservative Hand Book_, 1876, pp. 22-3).

'As to Independence--to talk of Independence is--to use Mr Disraeli's happy phrase--"veiled treason." It is Annexation in disguise, and I am certain that if we were severed from England, and were now standing alone with our four millions of people, the consequence would be that before five years we should be absorbed into the United States'

(_ibid._, p. 24).

'The solid substantial advantage of being able to obtain money on better terms than we could on our own credit alone is not the only benefit this guarantee will confer upon us; for it will put a finish to the hopes of all dreamers or speculators who desire or believe in the alienation and separation of the colonies from the mother country.

That is a more incalculable benefit than the mere advantage of England's guarantee of our financial stability, great and important as that is' (Debates, House of Commons, 1872, p. 339).

'Gentlemen, we want no independence in this country, except the independence we have at this moment' (_Report of the Demonstration in Honour of the Fortieth Anniversary of Sir John A. Macdonald's Entrance into Public Life_. Toronto, 1885, p. 103).

'Those who disliked the colonial connection spoke of it as a chain, but it was a golden chain, and he for one, was glad to wear the fetters'

(Debates, House of Commons, 1875, p. 981).

[6] Montreal _Gazette_, October 25, 1897.

[7] Pope's _Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald_, vol. ii, pp. 220-1.

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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

The following works, dealing in whole or in part with the day of Sir John Macdonald, may be consulted: Sir Joseph Pope's _Memoirs of the Right Honourable Sir John Alexander Macdonald_ (two vols.: London, Edward Arnold, 1894); Sir John Willison's _Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party_ (two vols.: Toronto, Morang, 1903); George R. Parkin's _John A. Macdonald_ (Toronto, Morang, 1908); Dent's _The Last Forty Years, or Canada since the Union of 1841_ (Toronto, 1881); Castell Hopkins's _Life and Work of Sir John Thompson_ (Toronto, 1895); Sir Richard Cartwright's _Reminiscences_ (Toronto, Briggs, 1913); Sir Joseph Pope's pamphlet, _Sir John Macdonald Vindicated_ (Toronto, 1913); Buckingham and Ross, _The Honourable Alexander Mackenzie: His Life and Times_ (Toronto, 1892); Lewis's _George Brown_ (Toronto, Morang, 1906); Sir Charles Tupper's _Recollections of Sixty Years in Canada_ (London, Ca.s.sell, 1914).

Consult also the writings of W. L. Grant, J. L. Morison, Edward Kylie, George M. Wrong, John Lewis, Sir Joseph Pope, and O. D. Skelton in _Canada and its Provinces_, vols. v, vi, and ix.

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For biographical sketches of Robert Baldwin, George Brown, Sir Alexander Campbell, Sir George Cartier, Sir Antoine Dorion, Sir Alexander Galt, Sir Francis Hincks, Sir Louis LaFontaine, John Sandfield Macdonald, Sir Allan MacNab, Sir E. P. Tache, Sir John Rose, and other prominent persons connected with this narrative, see Taylor, _Portraits of British Americans_ (Montreal, 1865-67); Dent, _The Canadian Portrait Gallery_ (Toronto, 1880); and _The Dictionary of National Biography_ (London, 1903).

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INDEX

Abbott, John, a colleague of Sir John Macdonald: subscribes to Annexation manifesto, 27; prime minister, 142.

Aberdeen, Lord, governor-general, 149.

Allan, Sir Hugh, and the Pacific Scandal, 97 and note, 99, 101.

Annexation manifesto of 1849, some subscribers to, 27.

Archibald, Adams, a colleague of Sir John Macdonald, 79; lieutenant-governor of Manitoba, 91.

Argyll, Duke of, and Sir John Macdonald, 116-17.

a.s.sembly. See Parliament.

'Baldwin Reformers,' their union with the Conservatives, 38, 39, 46.

Baldwin, Robert, with LaFontaine in power, 20, 28; burned in effigy, 22; defends the Liberal-Conservative alliance, 39, 46; the Common School Act, 55; retires from public life, 20, 31.

Beaconsfield, Lord, and Sir John Macdonald, 175-6. See Disraeli.

Blake, Edward, 22; prime minister of Ontario, 93; resigns in order to a.s.sist his party in the House of Commons, 96; minister of Justice, 107, 109; his opposition to the building of the C.P.R., 120; is out-generalled on the Riel resolution, 132-3; resigns Liberal leadership, 160; retires from public life, 173; his career and character, 95, 104-10.

Bowell, Mackenzie, a colleague of Sir John Macdonald, 152.

British Columbia, its admission into Confederation, 93, 96, 118-21.

British America League, the, resolutions of, 27-8.

British North America Act, the, 74; and the qualification of voters, 133.

Brown, George, founds the 'Globe,' 18; stirs up racial and religious strife between Upper and Lower Canada, 29-31, 32, 71; his antagonism towards Macdonald, 32 and note, 33, 46-7, 95, 117; opposes Seigneurial Tenure and Clergy Reserves Bills, 45 and note; leader of the Clear Grits, 47; his policy of Rep. by Pop., 54-5, 67, 69, 72; his Short Administration in 1858 and humiliation, 57-8, 59; his opinion of the Double Shuffle, 61; joins hands with Macdonald and Cartier to carry through the scheme of Confederation, 42, 71-3, 83; joins the Tache-Macdonald Cabinet, 73, 104; quarrels with his colleagues and resumes his ferocious attacks on the Government, 75 and note; out of Parliament, 95; his letter soliciting campaign funds, 101 n.; his a.s.sa.s.sination, 18, 118.

Campbell, Sir Alexander, a colleague of Sir John Macdonald: studies law under Macdonald, 7-8; becomes a partner, 14; the aristocrat of Macdonald's Cabinet, 115, 149-51.

Canada, and the Hudson's Bay Company, 49, 88; financial depression in 1857, 53; the visit of the Prince of Wales (Edward VII), 67-8; the position of prime minister, 76-7; the transfer of the North-West, 88; the Treaty of Washington, 91-3, 94; the terms of union with British Columbia, 93; the building of the C.P.R., 49-52, 97-101, 118-21; the Franchise Act of 1885, 135-8; reciprocity with United States, 172, 173; content to live under the flag of Great Britain, 179-81.

Canadian Pacific Railway, the, first mooted, 49-52; the Pacific Scandal, 97 and note, 100; the building of, 118-126.

Caron, Sir Adolphe, a colleague of Sir John Macdonald, 140, 142-3.

Cartier, Sir George etienne, a colleague of Sir John Macdonald: leader of French-Canadian wing of Liberal-Conservative government, 41, 44-5, 47, 57, 96, 115; his work on behalf of Confederation, 42, 62, 78, 80; the Double Shuffle, 59-62; his relations with Macdonald, 78, 91; negotiates for the transfer of the North-West, 88.

Cartwright, Sir Richard, 87, 96; takes umbrage at Macdonald's appointment of Hincks as finance minister, 84, 85, 86 and note, 87; his relations with Macdonald, 116, 118, 150, 165-7; a most accomplished debater, 164-5.