THE LATE SIR JOHN MACDONALD

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2999, 3 October 1891, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE LATE SIR JOHN MACDONALD

Tub dentil of Sir John Macdonald removes the most conspicuous and _ interesting figure in Canadian politics. For almost half a century, since in 1811 he entered the Parliament of Upper Canada, ho has been tlio mainstay of the Conservative party, not only in his j)wn province, but throughout British North America. Nor can it be denied that his adopted country—he was born in .Scotland—is indebted to liim for many groat and vulnablc services, which may ultimately ett'acc tho recollection of tlio dexterity and cunning with whicii lie has repeatedly contrived to delude public opinion, and turn events to his personal advantage. Some elements of greatness ho undoubtedly possessed, and, although the Rtnirn was relatively small on which his abilities were exhibited, he cannot bo refused a placo nmoug the foromost statesmen uf his time on this side of tho Atlantic,

In tho course of his Ion? public life Sir John Macdonald had his sham of trials and vicissitudes, and he was called upo.i to weather more than one storm which would have meant shipwreck to a less skilful pilot; nevertheless, tho abrogate number of years during which he managed to hold high odicc in provincial or federative governments must bo accounted extraordinary. Ho had been in the Parliament of Upper Canada only throu years when, in IS 17, at tho age of 32, ho was appointed a. member of tho Executive Council, Receiver-General, and Commissioner of Crown Lands. These pouts he held until ISSO, and, although he then went into opposition, ho joined a coalition Government in ISoi, reentering the Cabinet as Attorney-General, and continuing to discharge tho functions of that office for eight years, assuming also the role of Premier during a part of that period. After a Bhort intorval, not exceeding two years, of exclusion from the administration of Upper Canada, ho once moro becamo Attorney-General in tho coalition Cabinet which ho formed with Sir Etienne Tache, and on the lutter's death, in 1865, undertook the dutieH of Minister of Militia in addition to his own. TheßO two offices ho retained until tho consolidation of tho British North American provinces in the Dominion of Canada, in effecting which result ho was undoubtedly tho most officient agent, It was natural, therefore, that when the British North American Act went into force, in 186", Sir John Macdonald should be called upon to form the first Government for tho new Dominion. Tho post of Prime Minister ho kept for six years, until, in 1870, he and his Ministry wero forced to resign on charges of corruption in connection with tho Cmadian Pacific Railway.

Menu while, however, he had taken part in the settlement of tho Alabama claims, and, H3 ono of her Majesty's Joint His,'h Commissioners, had in 1871 aftixed his signature to tho treaty ot' Washington. On the overthrow of the Mackenzie Government in IS7S, Sir John Macdonaid was once more intrusted with the task of forming an administration, and from that time until tho day of his death he snccesstally resisted all attempts to dislodge him from the post of Premier of the Dominion.

llis title was derived from two sources, the Canadian statesman having been made a Knight Commandor of tho Bath in 18G7, and fivo years later a Knight Grand Cross

of the Spanish Order of Issabella tho Catholic. It is well known that long ago he might have obtained a baronotcy had he desired it i and there is no doubt that, in later years her Majesty would have (liven him a peerage if he had signified a wish for it. Seven yearH ago she advanefd him to the highest grado of knighthood open to a Commoner, by bestowing on him a (irand Cross of the Hath, a distinction shared by fewer than thirty statesmen. If wo look at tho length of his public career, at the brilliancy and value of many of his services, and, at the steadfastness with which ho maintained his position at the head of affairs, wo must acknowledge that Sir .John Macdonald's is, upon the whole, the most illustrious uamo in tho history of Canada.

The death of Sir John Maedonald at this juncture must provo an irreparable loss to the Canadian Conservatives. The ground was cut beniath their feet at tho lato general olection iu tho two great provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, their reduced and precarious majority had been secured in the lower proviences largely on falso pretences or by promises that cannot be fulfilled. Even a wirepuller so experienced and ndroit as he who haß departed might well have shiunk from the task of governing such conditions as would have confronted him in the new Parliinent at Ottawa. What even Sir John Macdonald could only have accomplished with extremo difficulty, none of his collegeagues can be expected to perform. It is consequently a safe prediction that the present Douiiniuu House of Commons will not live out the year, and that tho advocates of unrestricted reciprocity will have shortly a jecond opportunity of appealing to the ballot box.—" Now York Sun " June 17.