government; and in 1837, rose with Papineau into rebellion. He was arrested for treason and thrown into prison; but on being released was returned again to parliament by a sweeping majority. He was also elected to the first parliament under the Union, and took his place prominently among the reformers. Mr. Viger was a mild and venerable man, who no doubt loved his country, but it is hard to resist believing that he was somewhat jealous (as old men nearly always are of young rivals) of the young French leader. He did not forget that this leader, M. Lafontaine, had been once a lad in his office, and from his lips learned his first political lessons. Now the people had forgotten the master and rendered homage only to the student. When the reformers were forced out of the cabinet, Metcalfe, we need not doubt, had his eye upon the venerable patriot, and, master of cunning that he was, poured into the old man's ear a long tale of flattery, telling him that he was the father of the French people, and their rightful leader; and that therefore it was he wished him to take a seat in the council. Whatever the wily governor said or did not say, the old man walked into the trap, and covered his lustrous age with no little ignominy. He lived to a very old age, and was serene to the parting moment. The account of his last hours is touching reading, and we linger by the bedside to see the glared eyes brighten for a moment, while the dying man utters, with his parting breath, "J'aime mon Dieu, et j'aime mon Pays."

Looking through the house among the opposition, we see another figure deserving special notice. This was a man of low stature, with a bright eye and an electric movement. John Sandfield Macdonald was born at St. Raphael, in the County of Glengarry, Upper Canada. His grandfather, a Scottish Highlander and Roman Catholic, had emigrated thither from Scotland in 1786. There was a good deal of romance in the youthful days of this politician. He left the paternal roof at the age of eleven, we are told, resolved to do

came up

for himself in the world. Discovered many miles from home, he was taken back against his will, but he soon took an opportunity to start off the second time. On this occasion, as he was bargaining with an Indian at Cornwall to paddle him across the river to the United States, the Indian demanding a half a dollar, and the lad having only a quarter, his father and again carried him home. He soon broke away a third time, and hired with a store-keeper for three years at a sliding scale of salary, £10 for the first year, £12 10s. for the second year, and £15 for the third year. He removed after two years to a store in Cornwall, but abandoned the position in a few months, and entered upon a study of law with Dr. Urquhart of the same town. The following occurrence, it is related, turned him from mercantile pursuits to the law: One day, while out in the streets, he was pelted with snow-balls by urchins, who, at the same time, contemptuously called him a "counter hopper." It was not for the snow-balls he cared, but he was stung with the thought that the calling he had adopted could be flung reproachfully in his face. In June, 1840, he was called to the bar, having completed his studies in the office of Mr. Draper. He was first elected to parliament after the Union, in March, 1841, and joined himself with the opposition, though he had no love for Sir Allan MacNab, the leader of that party. Up to this time Mr. Macdonald had loose notions about political principles---by the way, he always had -but when Metcalfe developed into a political tyrant he joined the ousted ministry; and it was because political treachrevolting to his mind that we find him now sitting among the opposition benches. Though we shall meet him again, we may as well anticipate some of the events in his Although a Roman Catholic, he opposed separate schools; and his clergy denounced him from their altars. But he was very dear to the affections of his brother Highlandmen,

ery was

career.

whom he could address fluently in Gaelic; and they voted for him despite the dicta of the priests. At the election of 1844, there were 18,000 inhabitants in his county, Cornwall, and of these nineteen-twentieths were of Scotch descent; while of Macdonalds alone there were not fewer than three thousand two hundred, all of whom spoke Gaelic. Four years before this date Mr. Macdonald married a lady from Louisiana, the daughter of a United States, senator and owner of a large plantation of negroes. His after career is not uninteresting, and we shall see this nervous man, with the bright eyes, often, before our story closes.

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