was needed, and it was legitimately spent, as money is needed and spent at every election known to man under responsible government. "We were simply subscribing as gentlemen, while they were stealing as burglars," affirms Sir John. He found the Ontario government with its purse and its promises in the field against him, and he had to fight fire with fire; but never he says, was a dollar spent corruptly. This local government force was sprung upon him; he found the enemy strong at every point, and had to meet its strength with like strength Sir Hugh Allan came forward and said that if the government had not had sufficient time among their friends to get what money they needed, he could advance them a certain sum. Promptly we may be sure was the offer accepted, with the understanding that friends of the government would do as they have always, whether properly or improperly, been asked to do, make up the amount of the loans, and other expenses. But this did not tie the government to Sir Hugh; already they had refused his overtures, and ended his hopes of the scheme for which he had disbursed his $300,000 in gold; in their succeeding relations they treated him as they did his twelve associates. Here then was the feature which the government's opponents called "bad:" accepting loans from a contractor in a public work. But we have shown that the act did not influence the course of the government in dealing with the lender in his relation to the contract; hence the charge of impropriety goes to the wall. Perhaps some will suggest "indiscretion" for impropriety. We shall not quarrel with whomsoever does so. One more point remains. Was it proper that the government should scatter all this money through the electorate? Is not that debauching the public mind? It is, we answer without hesitation, but the sin rests on the shoulders of the system which prevails in every country under responsible, and party government. Sir John simply did as his neighbours, no more, and nothing worse. At every election there are expenses, some light, and some vast, and

these have to be borne by ministers and their friends. The spectacle may be pitiable, and it is pitiable, but it is true, and is a part of our system as much as the ballot itself. At the last general election, if the newspaper reporter, who at tends to keyholes, is to be believed, Sir John gathered the manufacturers about him, and levied an election tax. Probably he did; and his reform friends were not behind him. The reformer as well as the tory, has his "fund" at election time, and he does not use it to make the electors purer and more independent. Once, indeed, he did move in this direction, when he levied a large sum to "put down corruption." The only difference between the conservative and his neighbour in this respect is that the latter sometimes goes in debt to bribe and corrupt, as we see by the post-election scandals with which men not over honest now and again regale the public nostril. We need not do more than say in conclusion, that every judge in the land, every impartial observer who has studied the story of the connection between the prime-minister and Sir Hugh, is forced to admit, that, while the accidental relations between the giver and the receiver of the railway charter, assumed, at the first, an aspect strongly suggestive of wrong-doing, that there remains little to prove that the conduct of Sir John, so far as he may be said to have personally profited by the affair, showed aught than fidelity to his public trust, or was other than that of a man of honour. This, too, is the verdict of the people who have repented of their harsh judgment and taken him back to favour. And it will be the verdict of history.

CHAPTER XXII.

MR. MACKENZIE'S ADMINISTRATION.

IR JOHN MACDONALD'S attitude on the morrow of

S these disclosures, in the adverse judgment

It was

of the House and the country, was typical of the man. the expression of a stalwart courage, which blenched not in face of calumny and opposition, as well as of an unshaken confidence in himself and his government. This attitude he then and always afterwards maintained, despite what his enemies had charged him with, and whatever colour had been given to the circumstances brought to light in the relations between the heads of the Administration and Sir Hugh Allan. His speech in defence of his conduct is full of force and fire. Nor is it lacking in dignity, or in that moral tone, which gave no little effect to his words, of injured innocence. Here is the peroration of his address, after insisting that Sir Hugh Allan had contributed of his own volition to the election fund of the party, and that there was nothing in the Pacific Railway charter, conceding an undue privilege to that gentleman or to those in alliance with him, that might be construed as a corrupt bargain between the government and the projected construction company. "Mr. Speaker," said Sir John Macdonald, "I commit myself, the government commits itself, to the hands. of this House, and far beyond the House, it commits itself to the country at large. We have faithfully done our duty. We have fought the battle of Confederation. We have fought the battle of Union. We have had party strife setting province against province, and, more than all, we have had in the greatest province, the preponderating province of the Dominion, every prejudice and sectional feeling that could be arrayed against us. I have been the victim of that conduct to a great

extent; but I have fought the battle of Confederation, the battle of Union, the battle of the Dominion of Canada. I throw myself upon this House; I throw myself upon this country; I throw myself upon posterity; and I believe I know, that, notwithstanding the many failings in my life, I shall have the voice of this country and of this House rallying round 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 deci

sion of this House, either 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 exist in Canada a man who has given more of his time, more of his heart, more of his means, or more of his intellect and power, such as they may be, for the good of this Dominion of Canada." Vain, however, was this appeal, and finding the struggle a wrestle with the inevitable, Sir John Macdonald, on the morning of the 5th of November, (1873), placed his resignation and that of his Ministry in the hands of the Governor-General. Later in the

same day, he rose in his place in the House and announced that the Government had resigned, and that His Excellency had called upon Mr. Alexander Mackenzie to form a ministry. Then the great cloud of change rolls in, shutting from our sight the figure upon whom our eye so long had rested with admiration and pride; and a new crew appear upon the deck of the ship of State. Two days after Sir John's resignation, the new premier was able to announce his ministry as follows:

HON. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE Premier and Min. Pub. Works. Minister of Justice.

A. A. DORION

ALBERT J. SMITH

Min. Marine and Fisheries.

This department had been recently created in lieu of that of secretary of state for the provinces, which, being at once useless and a travesty on the imperial office, was abolished.