Strathcona and the making of Canada

STRATHCONA

and the MAKING of CAN AD,

W. T. R. PRESTON

STRATHCONA AND THE
MAKING OF CANADA

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STRATHCONA

AND THE

MAKING OF CANADA

BY

W. T. R. PRESTON

LATE COMMISSIONER OF EMIGRATION TO GREAT BRITAIN AND COMMISSIONER

OF TRADE TO SOUTH AFKICA, JAPAN, KOREA, HOLLAND

AND SCANDINAVIA

* • ?••••• :•• :>

NEW YORK

McBRIDE, NAST & COMPANY
1915

Printed in Great Britain

CONTENTS

I

PAGE

Arrival in Canada — Rebellion in progress — Journey to Labrador
— World's jumping-off place — The little girl passing
Ottawa — A strange romance — Authority of chief officials —
Military discipline — Foundation of fortune. . . . 13

II

The Hudson's Bay Company's secret — Explorers and rival traders
— Suspicion of the Indians — George Brown and the Com-
pany's possessions — Statesmanlike treatment of the red
race — Domestic relations — Purchase by Canada. . . 22

HI

Terms of purchase misunderstood — Effect on Company's shares
— Panic on the market — Donald A. Smith a purchaser — The
Riel rebellion — The first martyr — Lord Wolseley's chance. 37

IV

Canadian troops at Fort Garry — Treating with the rebels — The
Company and the rebellion — New trading conditions —
Competition with a tinker. . . . . .47

V

Donald A. Smith elected to Parliament — Knowledge of the
west — Dream of wealth and power — A great leader —
Parliamentary talent — Buying a public franchise — Election
subscriptions — Pacific scandal. . . . . '57

VI

Reverting to party lines — George Brown's break with the co-
alition— Parliament of talents — Interest in Parliament — The
early days in Ottawa — Discovery of the Pacific scandal —
Investigation by Parliament. .... 68

321461

vi CONTENTS

VII

FAG*

The situation in Parliament — Partyism and patriotism — Depu-
tation to Lord Dufferin — Donald A. Smith's position — A
political crisis in sight — Donald A. against his party —
Resignation of the Government 79

VIII

New Government in power — Donald A.'s railway purposes —
Guarding the nation's heritage — Alexander Mackenzie —
Lord Dufferin's speech — Tory hatred of Donald A. — In-
triguing for a charter — Meeting with a patriot. . . 89

IX

Donald A. and the American railway — The Dutch bondholders
— Negotiating with the Official Receiver — Borrowing from
the bank — Issuing stock to themselves — In a tight place —
Fortune suddenly realized. . . . . . .100

Tory insults to Donald A. — Intrigues for Pacific charter — Senate
taking revenge — Failure of intrigues — The Government
obdurate — Historical scene in House of Commons. . . 107

XI

Undiscovered intrigue — Before the elections — Elections post-
poned— Effect of chance conversation — The tempter again —
Donald A.'s election — Corrupt practices — Loan to the
Judge 114

XII

Sir John A. Macdonald in office again — " So much the worse for
British connection" — Unseated by the Supreme Court —
The Pacific railway charter in sight — The agreement —
Donald A. Smith kept out of sight — Charter hunters' success. 1 22

XIII

Amassing great wealth — The skeleton in the cupboard — Facing
sudden ruin — Failure to sell bonds — Applying for assistance
—The penalty for deception — The Cabinet refusal. . 133

CONTENTS vii

XIV

PAGE

Staggering under the load — An Irishman to the rescue — Frank
Smith and his colleagues — Cabinet discussion — George
Stephen's remorse — A Scotchman's revenge — The bitter cup. 140

XV

Demoralization of public life — Members appeal for funds to the
syndicate — Fraudulent company subscriptions — A hungry
lot — Donald A.'s opinion — The cloak for many offences —
A fortune in a night — Demoralization run riot . . . 149

XVI

The American railway deal — Dealing with the Official Receiver
— Wants share of the spoils — Thirteen years' lawsuit — The
syndicate won in the courts — Profits from American deal. 156

XVII

The danger to the state — Loading the dice — Louis Riel still a
factor — Blake's resignation — Moments never to be for-
gotten— Blake's farewell to Canada 162

XVIII

Muzzling the Press — Donald A.'s fear of criticism — Buying up
the Globe shares — Unsuccessful efforts at prostitution of
the Press — Personal admission by Lord Strathcona. . .170

XIX

Once more amid old associations — Political predilections —
Disallowance on Manitoba's legislation — Driving the golden
spike — Fighting against slavery — What Manitoba paid for
liberty 174

XX

" And Ahab spake unto Naboth " — Looking for another grab-—
The Intercolonial Railway — An unsatisfactory Prime Min-
ister— Sir Mackenzie Bowell — The "nest of traitors" —
A successful cabal . . . . . . .184

viii CONTENTS

XXI

A satisfactory First Minister — Fishing for forty millions —
Sir Donald as High Commissioner — Laurier's political
strength — Stirring up religious strife — Hierarchy recog-
nized by the State — Laurier successful — The coming
Prime Minister 193

XXII

Donald A. changing his politics again — Intriguing against
Laurier's colleague — The power of wealth — The monetary
kings win — Where the blow fell — Ambitions never realized
— Liberals and the hierarchy — An appeal to Rome — Ultra-
montane and Orange — A Papal decree. .... 203

XXIII

Making peace with the new ruler — The threatened Royal Com-
mission —Laurier and Sir Donald — A seat with the Peers —
Cecil Rhodes and Strathcona. . . . . .213

XXIV

Protecting the toilers — Opposition to rival railway lines —
Knifing the Government policy — Standing by the combine
— What negligence has cost Canada — Taking the farmer's
life blood — Departmental neglect. . . . .220

XXV

Starting new official life — An ancestral mansion — The ghosts
in every room — Trouble with Agents-General — Sir Claude
Macdonald — Official invitations — Resenting interference. 225

XXVI

Personal characteristics — Never lacking in courage — Reputations
destroyed — Development of Canada — Solving the emigra-
tion problem — Strathcona threatened with arrest in
Germany — Lord Salisbury's warning — Posing as the suc-
cessful emigration worker — Hon. Clifford Sifton's work —
Assistance of British Journalism — The Coronation Arch —
Further Imperial honours. ...... 233

CONTENTS ix

XXVII

PAGE

Election journey to Canada — Keeping the C.P.R. quiet — Still
afraid of investigation — The standard of British politics —
Danger to the State 248

XXVIII

Distribution of wealth — The Strathcona Horse — Consternation
at a banquet — Visits from the troopers' families — A share
in the good times — Subscription to British political funds —
The All Red Route — The ruling passion — Fear of possible
successor — Sir Frederick Borden and Sir Gilbert Parker —
A pathetic scene — Conclusion there is no hurry to resign —
Lady Strathcona. ....... 254

XXIX

Lord Strathcona's will — Cancellation of Canadian loans —
Securing friends in high places — Sir George E. Foster —
Sir Richard Cartwright ruined by rival company — The
great Samson shorn of his strength — Bleeding the Canadian
public — Comparison with British procedure — Winnipeg —
An unforgiven offence — The unaccepted atonement. . 269

XXX

What Donald A. Smith has cost Canada — Kingdom stolen from
the public heritage — What might have been if . . . — Public
obligations to be met — What the future will cost — The
burden bearers — Strathcona's legacy to the Dominion —
Ottawa and Westminster — Hope from Laurier and Borden. 286

XXXI

A retrospect — The Hudson's Bay Company retarding Canada —
Thirty years too late — Romance of Canadian life — Hope
for the future — A fascinating personality — The records of
irrevocable history. ....... 297

Appendix 302

" You do not know the genius of that man's country, sir," an-
swered Rashleigh, " discretion, prudence, and foresight are their
leading qualities. These are only moderated by a narrow spirit but
yet ardent patriotism, which forms, as it were, the outpost of the
concentric bulwarks with which a Scotchman fortifies himself against
all the attacks of a generous philanthropical principle. Surmount
this mound, you will find an inner and still dearer barrier — the love
of his province, his village, or, most probably, his clan; storm the
second obstacle, you have a third — his attachment to his own family
— father, mother, sons, daughters, uncles, aunts, and cousins to the
ninth generation. It is within these limits that a Scotchman's social
affection expands itself, never reaching those which are outermost
till all the means of discharging itself in the interior circles have
been exhausted. It is within these circles that his heart throbs,
being fainter and fainter, till, beyond the widest boundary, it is
almost unfelt. And, what is worst of all, could you surmount all
those concentric outworks, you have an inner citadel, deeper, higher,
and more efficient than all — a Scotchman's love for himself."

Sir Walter Scott : Rob Roy.

Os the last Monday in January, 1914, the great doors of Westminster
Abbey were thrown open for a Service on all that was mortal of
Donald Alexander Smith, first Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal.

The dull misty atmosphere of a winter's day added to the sombre-
ness and solemnity within the vast Abbey.

The memory of ten centuries of England's illustrious dead haunted
the scene. Representatives of the Crown, the Peerage, the Commons,
the wealth of London, and a great congregation representing the
Empire, surrounded the purple pall.

It was a long journey from the Covenanters' rugged Kirk in a little
village in the north of Scotland, fourscore and ten years previously, to
this ancient Temple of Peace and Reconciliation — from the Shorter
Catechism to the magnificent Ritual of the Established Church.

Life is but a Book of White,
Wherein each one of us must write
Until the end — then sudden night.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
LORD STRATHCONA

PART I
I

Arrival in Canada — Rebellion in progress — Journey to Labrador —
World's jumping-off place — The little girl passing Ottawa — A
strange romance — Authority of chief officials — Military disci-
pline— Foundation of fortune.

The most important figure in the public life of Canada
since 1870, although not always in the public eye, has
undoubtedly been Lord Strathcona. It was not until
long after he had become an unseen power that the
people began to realize his influence. For forty years
his personality stands out in every political crisis in
the Dominion. He has had far more to do with the
defeat and victory of political parties since Confedera-
tion than all other influences combined. The manner
in which he moulded the tone and character of the
political life of the country, as well as its Parliamentary
legislation, is unique. It cannot be said that his object
was evident when he first appeared on the scene,
although undoubtedly his own mind was clear about
the end in view. So successfully did he control the

13

.

14 LORD STRATHCONA

leaders of political thought, that immense fortunes
were accumulated as the direct result of his influence
in the Federal and Provincial Legislatures of the
country. On many important occasions Parliament,
without being aware of the fact, simply registered his
decrees.

Donald A. Smith, when a lad seventeen years of
age, landed at the port of Montreal in a supply ship
owned by an association of traders known as the
Hudson's Bay Company, and took up the duties of a
minor clerk in the employment of this Company in the
desolation of Labrador. He left his native land a few
months after the last of the kings of the Hanoverian
dynasty had given place to a young Queen. Behind
him was peace and contentment. In the new land a
colony was seething with unrest and even open rebellion.
Numerous and powerful sections in Canada were up
in arms against constituted authority, as represented
by officialism and " Family Compacts," the leader of
the rebels in the English province of Upper Canada
being a fellow-Scotchman. The young immigrant
lived to see the demands of the " rebels " to rule the
country by popular Government conceded by the
Queen, and also saw the leaders of the movement
occupying well-deserved positions of honour and trust
in the confidence of the Crown and the people. Some
of these rebels, under more happy circumstances,
became his warmest personal friends.

The Hudson's Bay Company was formed in 1670
with a charter from Charles II to Prince Rupert and

A LONELY HABITATION 15

seventeen other noblemen and gentlemen, as the
" Governor and Company of Adventurers of England
trading into Hudson Bay. To the Company was
secured the sole trade and commerce of all those seas,
straits, bays, rivers, lakes, creeks and sounds . . . that
are not already actually possessed by or granted to
any of our subjects, or possessed by the subjects of
any Christian state."

The 1200 mile journey from Montreal to the barren
shores of Labrador severely tested Donald A. Smith's
willingness to remain with the Company, but there
was no possibility of retracing his steps. What it was
in 1838 can scarcely be imagined. Even to-day
Labrador is the world's jumping-ofl place. He was
going to a place where only once a year would tidings
reach him from the outside world. His companions
for the greater part would be Indians and wild fowl,
the stoicism of the one and the plaintive note of the
other emphasizing the almost overwhelming sense of
desolation.

The vast territory controlled by the Company
covered an area of more than two million square miles
in British North America, and was peopled largely by
utterly uncivilized Indians. Early in the seventeenth
century the Jesuits had formed the first noble band
of devoted self-sacrificing missionaries who pressed
their way with the story of the Cross to that distant
interior, but they were only partially successful upon
a fringe of the roving population. The majority con-
tinued their heathen practices until comparatively

16 LORD STRATHCONA

'recent times. Into the eastern part of this vast
region, " Donald A.," as he subsequently became
familiarly known, plunged to seek his fortune.

The son of poor but industrious parents living at
Forres in the north of Scotland, he started off in 1838,
and taking with him a small outfit that could be easily
looked after, engaged in the service of the Company
at £20 a year. Although quite a lad, he was fairly
tall for his years, and straight as an arrow. His features
were rather heavy and unattractive, except for the
force of character glowing in his clear blue eyes, and
his head was crowned with a thick growth of light
brown hair. There was nothing, however, about his
general appearance foreshadowing the power and in-
fluence that he was destined to exert in the new
country long before that century should close.

By a remarkable coincidence just about this time
a Hudson's Bay Officer named Hardisty, who had
married in the far west, was making his way to
Labrador through the waterways between the Georgian
Bay and the river St. Lawrence. He marked out the
same route that will at no distant date be traversed
by the Great Georgian Bay Canal. He was accom-
panied by his family and a considerable number of
attendants. They travelled in a dozen large birch-
bark or Indian canoes, which had to be portaged
through the forests to navigable waters when rapids
or falls obstructed their passage. This no mean feat
occupied a good part of that hazardous journey. In
this company was a gentle, interesting little girl of

A LONG CANOE JOURNEY 17

twelve or fourteen years, whose constant companion
was a young wild fowl that had been captured early
in the journey, and which she had completely tamed.
Perhaps the good fairies were then weaving the threads
of the strange romance which entwined her life with
the young Scotch lad's, then on his way to carve out a
future in the new world. She became his wife by
the rites of Labrador, as no recognized legal facilities
existed for a marriage ceremony. The formal mar-
riage, according to the ritual of the Established Church,
took place more than half a century later in the
British Embassy in Paris. This was officially an-
nounced after Lady Strathcona's death. Seventy
years after that long canoe journey, when the little
girl had become the centre of a great social circle in
London, surrounded with all that wealth and luxury
could supply, she still recalled the delight of that
early experience in travelling, and had a vivid recol-
lection of the rugged grandeur of the great bluffs
upon which now stand the Parliament Buildings
overlooking the Ottawa river, and the wild beauty
of the primeval forests and majestic rivers of the
vast country through which she had journeyed as a
small child, accompanied by her great white-winged pet.
In the various positions that Donald A. Smith
filled in the work of the Company, from the bleak
and inhospitable coast of Labrador to the Hudson
Bay, and then across a vast monotonous stretch of
country to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, the
years moved slowly that witnessed his promotion to

18 LORD STRATHCONA

Factor, or Superintendent, over the many forts or
trading posts scattered through the western district.
In this position he was able to exercise appreciable
influence in the territory allotted him, together with
a distinct increase in authority over the minor em-
ployees of the Company, far beyond that which he
had previously wielded.

While appointment to positions of greater respon-
sibility was largely directed by seniority, the final
confirmation in all cases had to come from the Board
in London, where the record of every officer was
kept with great care.

To Donald A.'s comparative youth no objection was
taken by the head office, as his record in the books of the
Company was all that could be possibly desired. The
position of Factor was one of considerable responsi-
bility. This officer was absolute ruler in his own dis-
trict, not only in dealing with his subordinates, but
with the native tribes as well. Like the Centurion of
old, the Factor's commands must be obeyed. No one
could question his control. The isolated situation
of the officers naturally fostered autocracy on the
part of the chief, there being none of the subduing
influences that come from contact with large numbers
of one's own caste. This self-assertive tendency was
encouraged by the Company rather than otherwise.
It brought about a spirit of military discipline that
was much desired ; also, it formed a barrier against
too intimate relations between superior officers and
their subordinates, which, if allowed to exist to any

NEVER-FORGOTTEN WRONGS 19

great extent, might result in the spread of a system of
dishonesty in the trading operations of the Company.

It is not surprising that there were some veritable
tyrants among the factors who did not hesitate, when
strong personal reasons existed, to send objectionable
subordinates on dangerous missions. There are two
or three instances on record of these who, instead of
going into regions to which they had been ordered,
and which were reputed to be veritable death-traps,
slipped quietly away to seek employment with a similar
association of traders in the United States. Then,
twenty or thirty years after their supposed death,
they unexpectedly returned, having, meantime,
reached official and financial positions enabling them
to defy their old tyrants, and prove that neither by
time nor absence had official or domestic wrongs been
forgotten.

Opportunities were sometimes taken advantage of
by officers to trade on their own account with the
Indians, although usually all profits from buying or
selling were claimed by the superior officers for the
Company. As one of the most prominent in authority,
Donald A. Smith secured the confidence of his fellow-
officers, and was entrusted by them with their savings
for investment. Up to this time the officers had been
accustomed to draw their salaries once a year. Donald
A. got them to give him authority to draw their
cheques every month. This obviously gave him
control of large sums of money, and made him an
important personage in banking circles. The only

20 LORD STRATHCONA

stipulation his fellow-officers made was that they
should receive a small annual interest of three per cent.
Donald A.'s duties rendered it necessary that he should
frequently visit Montreal for the Company. In the
early years, when he had to go to Fort Garry, this
necessitated an overland journey of more than one
thousand miles before connection could be made with
the eastern railway system of the United States, by
which the Grand Trunk Railway could be reached.

During one of these visits to the commercial capital
of Canada he was persuaded to invest his savings in
the stock of the Bank of Montreal. This stock in a
few years largely increased in value. Foreseeing this
with his usual shrewdness, he also invested the moneys
entrusted to him by his associates.

In course of time, consequently, his name ranked
among the largest shareholders in the Bank of Montreal,
and as a natural result he was elected to a directorship.
The confidence thus shown, as well as the honour
conferred on him, was a fitting recognition of his
personal interest in the Bank. His introduction did
not prove an inconvenience to the other directors,
inasmuch as his frequent and extended absence on the
Company's business did not allow him to attend the
meetings of the Board with regularity. His active
interest in the management developed in later years
in a manner which must always remain unique in
the history of the great monetary institutions of the
country. As one after another of the officers of the
Company wanted to withdraw their deposits from his

FAR-REACHING AUTHORITY 21

care, they were promptly paid out of his private
means. Through the savings of his colleagues and
his investments in this way, was laid the foundation
of his fortune.

In the Company one promotion followed another,
and owing to a chance visit to London, where he
created a most favourable impression at the head
office of the Company, he was given promotion at
an important juncture over several of his seniors in
office. Eventually he found himself, at the time the
Company's territorial interests passed under the control
of the Government of Canada, installed at Fort Garry,
the present site of Winnipeg, as Resident-Governor
of the Company, exercising absolute sway over that
vast tract of land which extended from Hudson Bay
to the foot of the Rocky Mountains — an area greater
than France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Scandinavia,
Holland and Belgium combined. To this important
position he was appointed in 1869.

II

The Hudson's Bay Company's secret — Explorers and rival traders —
Suspicion of the Indians — George Brown and the Company's
possessions — Statesmanlike treatment of the red race — Domestic
relations — Purchase by Canada.

For many years little interest had been taken by Old
Canada in the Great Lone Land of Western British
North America. In the Canadian schools as late as
the decade between i860 and 1870 it was taught that
the Hudson's Bay Territory was as uninhabitable as
the Sahara Desert, only instead of being barren sand,
it was believed to be largely covered with ice and snow.
Greenland was, in fact, looked upon as offering a more
suitable field for exploration. Nothing was left undone
by those charged with the administration of the affairs
of the Hudson's Bay Company to confirm this im-
pression. Officers of the Company were not allowed
to communicate the facts about the natural resources
of that boundless territory to their friends. The
censorship that was continually exercised over the
contents of private and confidential letters was such
as would have suited the most extreme military
martinet in time of war. There was nothing that was
allowed to escape the vigilant eye of the Company in

the earlier days. The heavier the seal or crest that was

22

TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS 23

expected to ensure secrecy, the more did the letter
become an object of suspicion, and the more unlikely
was it to reach its destination without the contents
becoming known. In so far as the civilized world
was concerned, the Company intended that the North-
west of British America should be a sealed book.

It must not be overlooked that the treatment of
the Indians by the Company during the long period
that they have held unlimited sway in the Great West
is worthy of the best traditions of British statesman-
ship. The Indians were recognized as belonging to
humanity and having unquestionable rights to life
and property. This recognition on the part of the
officials of the Company brought about a sense of
confidence and trust in the British flag among all the
tribes. That the patience and wisdom of the Com-
pany's servants was frequently severely tested, the
records of the Company prove. The contrast that
has ever marked the treatment of the Indians in the
United States by the authorities, and that which the
tribes received under the British Government can
never be forgotten. The one is marked by rapine
and massacre — the other by peace and order.

Bancroft, the American historian, states " that the
officers and servants of the Hudson's Bay Company
were as much gentlemen by instinct in their treatment
of Indians, as in their treatment of civilized men and
women. Wherever they had the country entirely to
themselves there was little trouble with the natives.
Their management of them was perfect. They

24 LORD STRATHCONA

treated them first of all as human creatures, not as
wild beasts; they were to them as children, not the
enemy of civilization. In their intercourse they were
humane, in their dealings honest. Offences were
followed by justice, not revenge. ... In this con-
nection, however, the Dominion must never forget
the great and valuable services rendered by the
missionaries of the Roman Catholic and Protestant
faiths, and of the beneficial influence exercised by those
zealous men over the natives of the former chartered
and licensed territories of the Hudson's Bay Company."
The domestic relations of the Hudson's Bay officials
was the natural consequence of their restricted sur-
roundings. This phase of personal experience is not
peculiar to the territory of the Hudson's Bay Company.
It is the history of the human race from the dawn of
time.

" And it came to pass, when men began to
multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters
were born unto them, that the sons of God saw
the daughters of men that they were fair ; and
they took them wives of all which they chose."

Race, colour, or creed has never been an insur-
mountable obstacle between the human sexes. From
the Elamites to the Romans, from the Caesars to the
present day, the same story is told. The march of
European civilization is marked by the advent of the
Eurasian and the Half-breed. Among the most
noticeable have been the English and French mar-

THE ENGLISHMAN'S EGOTISM 25

riages in India, the Dutch in Java and South Africa,
the Spanish in the tropics of North America, the
New Zealander with the Maori, the American and
the Negro, and the Hudson's Bay Company officials
with the Indian tribes of the Great West.

In his restricted vision the average Englishman
endeavours to convince himself that the people of
these Islands are the salt of the earth ; forgetful that
a certain degree of self-assurance may have not a little
to do with the claim, so ill-founded after all, to this
nation being the only high moral type in existence.
The fact is indisputable that every nation or people
has its classes of high and low degree. If courage,
diplomacy, ability to govern, and added thereto the
inspiration of patriotism for home and race, is the
standard by which human greatness be measured,
then the difference between the dark-skinned races
and the whites is of but slight degree. Nevertheless,
the general prejudice against the infusion of coloured
blood in the Caucasian family is a factor in human
history that can never be entirely overlooked. The
fear of reversion to type, whether justified or not,
is ever present.

The Hudson's Bay Company officials, however, had
no special convictions on this point. In fact there
was every possible reason why there should be none.
They were surrounded by a virile, healthy, sturdy type
of humanity. They were isolated from their kindred,
and there was no indication that things would ever
change. The Company took no steps to emigrate the

26 LORD STRATHCONA

gerttler sex from Europe to the distant continent.
It was not dreamed that the five months' weary journey
could ever be shortened to five days. The natural
consequences, therefore, were inevitable. Half-breeds
became a recognized element throughout the territory.
But as generation succeeded generation, marrying, as
they almost invariably did, with the scattered white
population, the evidence of ancestry almost disap-
peared in many families. The sons and daughters
were educated in the schools provided by the Church,
and they became thoroughly Caucasian in thought
and custom.

It should not be forgotten that the character or
standing of the North American Indian in the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries, when the greater
number of the original marriages between the repre-
sentatives of the Company and the daughters of the
Indians took place, was entirely different from the
Indian of the present time. Then he was a warrior,
brave and bold, and not beholden to the bounty of
the State for his existence. He disputed the right of
the white man to the possession of his heritage.
For the sake of his wigwam and his tribe he guarded
the Passes of the Alleghanies against the march of
the early settlers. He fought side by side with the
British forces against the revolting colonists in the
War of Independence. He was a diplomatist, entering
into treaties with rival tribes, the survival of the
fittest being then as now the only recognized authority.
He was a hunter, roaming a vast continent, probably

THE PRIDE OF ANCESTRY 27

living a more highly moral life than his white
brother in European centres, and punishing im-
morality with a severity that we can only characterize
as the acme of cruelty.

To be a descendant from a race of that character
may have its disadvantages, but it furnishes no cause
for regret, except that of secret vanity. The demoraliz-
ing influences of civilization had not then reached the
great prairies of the west. The Caucasian, however,
was coming with his superior weapons of offence and
defence to assert his supremacy. It is indeed a sad
commentary upon a boasted civilization that the
degeneration of ancient and noble races has so fre-
quently followed this current of events. The Kaffirs
who labour in the mines of South Africa carry to
their kraals the seeds of moral and physical disability
to decimate the race, just as the noble type of North
American Indian has given place to a sickly, diseased
type of humanity, since coming in contact with the
people who succeeded the Hudson's Bay Company in
the western prairies.

The Englishman's prejudice is naturally strong
against a fusion of the races, and there are always
those on hand to stir up the latent fires. The demand
that the Empire shall be reserved for the Englishman
if possible, but that it must be held for the white
man at all hazards, appeals to the populace. Better
to leave great natural resources, that might add
enormously to the wealth of the Empire, undeveloped,
than allow the work to be done with other than white

28 LORD STRATHCONA

laboifr, though climatic conditions may be such that
the white man cannot exist in such surroundings.
Upon this declaration as a nation we are pinning our
faith. In how far this prejudice of colour may prove
a rock of offence in the pathway of the future of the
Empire is a problem for statesmen to solve. At any
rate, this prejudice did not appeal to many of the
officials of Prince Rupert's company of traders and
adventurers, and the world or the Empire seems none
the worse.

Expeditions were undertaken from time to time
to explore these vast regions, and companies had been
organized to open up trade with the Indian tribes.
These companies were encouraged and promoted
mostly by merchants in Montreal. For many years
the basis of a very profitable business by Montreal
traders had been carried on with the Indians of old
Canada, but with the opening up of the country,
and the continually increased stream of settlement
to the old provinces, this trade had gradually declined,
so that the merchants were all the more anxious to
establish permanent relations with the tribes in the
Far West. The Hudson's Bay Company notified all
concerned that it was their determination to prevent
either trading or exploration by outside parties. It
was, therefore, well understood that anything that
might be accomplished was at the personal and
financial risk of all concerned, and such enterprises
might be met with open hostility of fire and sword.

The new business organizations were soon ruined

NO ROOM FOR TRESPASSERS 29

by the greater forces of the Hudson's Bay Company.
The possible competition in trade and exploration that
appeared to be looming on the horizon of the Great
Lone Land was summarily crushed. But the indi-
vidual traders and explorers were more persistent,
having no interests to risk other than their own. It
was not, however, until many were known to have
gone into the vast region, of whom no tidings ever
again reached the outer world, that direct efforts to
overcome the tyrannical rule of the Company began.
The Company claimed that the territory was a special
preserve. This, it was asserted, was justified, (i) by
the rights conferred under the Imperial Charter
issued by Charles II ; and (2) by the alleged fears
that competition with other whites would have
a tendency to unsettle the habits of the Indians,
and might, perhaps, result in their latent fighting
instincts being aroused.

Notwithstanding the efforts put forth by the
Company, however, it was realized that, unless the
active co-operation of the Indians could be secured,
white trespassers would inevitably make inroads into
the trade of the Territory. Steps were therefore taken
to unite the tribes against all whites not officially
connected with the Company. The means adopted
were worthy of the object desired, but could only
have been the outcome of an extraordinary disregard
of the ordinary amenities of life. The Indians were
told that these outsiders would rob and cheat them
in the barter of their furs ; and that the special object

30 LORD STRATHCONA

of tkese intruders in coming into the territory was to
kidnap the young squaws and sell or use them for
immoral purposes. Nothing could have been more
untrue. The reputations of the Montreal merchants
stood exceedingly high in all their dealings with the
Indians. The intruders could not afford for their
own sakes, to be less honest or moral than the officials
of the Company. But competition with outsiders
meant that much higher prices would soon have to
be paid to the Indians for all that they might have
to sell.

Yet the Indians, naturally suspicious, readily ac-
cepted the suggestions given by the Company as
sufficient justification for treacherously murdering
white men who could not prove their connection with
the Company. Missionaries tried their hardest to
persuade the Indians not to carry out such a policy.
But they were opposed by the medicine-men of the
tribes, who saw, in accentuating the wishes of the
Company, a chance to magnify their own importance,
and perhaps weaken the adhesion of the christianized
Indians to the Church. It is not surprising, therefore,
that many whites who ventured into the Territory
never returned to their friends, nor that not a few
scalps decorated the wigwams of the Indians.

The policy of the Hudson's Bay Company, trading
under the authority of a Royal Charter, was altogether
different from that adopted by the East India Company
and the Chartered Company of South Africa. The
Hudson's Bay Company from its inception showed an

LIGHTING UNCONTROLLABLE FIRES 31

utter disregard of fhe value of the lives of outsiders
when they affected its pockets, and an equal disregard
for honour and truth when these could not be turned
into marketable commodities. It seems undeniable
that corporate bodies may, with impunity, be guilty
of offences that would inevitably bring down upon
individuals the most condign punishment.

No efforts were made to distinguish between traders
and explorers. It may be granted that traders were
objectionable from the standpoint of possible com-
petition with the Company, however little the Com-
pany was justified in placing their lives in one scale
to be out-weighed by the addition of a few pounds
to the revenue of the Company on the other. But
explorers belong to a different order; their work is
essentially scientific and educative. The civilized
world, looking for new homes, had a right to infor-
mation. But all were classed together and doomed
by the Company to the same fate. Everything was
done, however, to protect the lives of the Indians.

In the management of the East India Company and
the Chartered Company of South Africa there has,
probably, been a want of consideration shown in
regard to the lives of native races, but whites and
Europeans have always been protected with all the
authority at the command of the companies. The
retribution that was the natural outcome of the
policy of the Hudson's Bay Company came later with
appalling force. They had lighted fires which they
could not control.

82 LORD STRATHCONA

Tn the meantime, through one source and another,
sufficient information reached the public to justify the
belief that vast possibilities existed for the expansion of
a great Canadian nationality in the region under the
jurisdiction of the Hudson's Bay Company. As early as
1 85 1, one of the political leaders of Old Canada, George
Brown, commenced an agitation in the columns of
the Toronto Globe, the most influential newspaper
of Canada at that time, for the early cancellation of
the territorial jurisdiction of the Hudson's Bay
Company, and the acquisition of all the rights of the
Company by the Government. George Brown, as his
name indicates, was Scotch, a family connection of
the Nelsons, publishers in Edinburgh. So that he
was only carrying out the family tradition, when on
his arrival in Canada in the early 'forties, he established
a newspaper in Toronto, then known as " Muddy York."

George Brown was of commanding appearance,
being unusually tall even for one of his race, and
his force of character was extraordinary. Having
once taken up a public policy his advocacy never
ceased until success crowned his efforts. His news-
paper had an influence on the populace such as no
other had, or probably ever will have, in Canada.
Every fibre of his being was touched with patriotism
of the highest type. His newspaper breathed his own
personality upon all great questions, which is still a
living spirit in old Canadian families. Students of
the Globe were fired with the loftiest ideals of the
duty of citizenship — the public interest gave place

UNCOMPROMISINGLY RIGHT 33

to every other consideration. This is one of the
causes of the purity of public life during that period
in the history of Canada. Political opponents sneered
at the Globe as being " the Bible of the Grits," as
the Liberals of the day were called. Belonging to
an advanced Calvinistic school in his early days
in Canada, George Brown expressed extreme views in
regard to the Catholics of Lower Canada, but in
later years his prejudices gave way to ardent admira-
tion for their character and institutions. Both in
and out of Parliament he exerted a deep influence on
the electorate of the country. Politicians have said
that his unbending disposition, his lack of a com-
promising spirit, made him impossible as a successful
political leader. If success is to be judged by length
of time in public office, this may be true. But as a
patriot, having no object to serve other than the
development of his adopted country, making no
personal gain from positions that he held in public
life, George Brown's political record stands as a fitting
example to Colonial statesmen for all time.

It was from this source that the first clarion was
sounded for the right of Canada to hold undisputed
sway over the Great Lone Land of the west. The
demand for possession by Canada was met by the
Company with the publication of statements assuring
Canadians that the whole territory was not worth a
farthing, except for furs — that the climate was such as
made living impossible to others than Indians — and that,
at any rate, nothing would grow in that vast territory

84 LORD STRATHCONA

that could be profitable to white labour. These efforts
to deceive the public were effective for yet another
twenty years. But during this period reliable infor-
mation leaked out about the agricultural possibilities
of those great prairies, notwithstanding the drastic
methods adopted by the Company to prevent intelli-
gence reaching those who were anxious for Canadian
expansion. The Dominion Government finally re-
solved to take definite action. An appeal was made
to the Imperial authorities, and the assurance was
given that the Charter would be cancelled, unless
reasonable terms for the purchase of the rights of
the Company by Canada could be arranged. This
was very properly taken by the Company as notice
to quit. Negotiations finally resulted in the Canadian
Government paying the Company one million and a
half dollars (£300,000) in cash. They agreed also to
set apart tor the Company one square mile and three
quarters, 1 120 acres, in each township hereafter sur-
veyed in the territory, south of the North Saskatche-
wan river (about the latitude of Edmonton), and also
certain specified areas around the Company's posts.

In other words the Company was to receive from
the Government an extensive area in the wheat-
growing belt. The area that the Company is entitled
to will eventually aggregate seven million acres or
more, probably realizing $150,000,000 (£3 0,000,000)
to the Company. If the actual facts about the
fertility of the soil, as well as the climatic conditions,
had not been so misrepresented, no such arrangement

SOMETHING HIDDEN 35

would have been possible. At the very time that the
officials of the Company were declaring that the country
offered no inducements for settlement, their records
show that certain lands in the vicinity of the Company's
posts at Battleford, Qu Appelle, Edmonton and Fort
Garry, had been under cultivation for more than a
century, and that they were then yielding bountiful
crops, although the soil had never been artificially
fertilized, and was only being cultivated upon the
most primitive lines.

It had long been evident to Canada that, in the
negotiations for the possession of this territory, the
Canadian Government was hopelessly handicapped by
want of information. Not a few explorers had fol-
lowed compelling impulses to search the hidden secrets
of the west, in the manner so graphically described
by Kipling —

" Something hidden. Go and find it.
Go and look behind the Ranges —
Something lost behind the Ranges,
Lost and waiting for you. Go."

And they had gone to their doom. Instead of
returning to those who anxiously witnessed their
departure, they had found lonely graves in the vast
sunlit waste of the west. Perhaps it was too much
to expect the Company to give its case away while
negotiations were inevitable at some not distant day
for the sale of its rights to the Dominion of Canada.
It was also advisable that not only the Government,
but the general public should be unaware of the

36 LORD STRATHCONA

value of the consideration which the Company would
demand for the cancellation of its franchise. Com-
panies, it may be claimed, have no souls and are
therefore not to be held as strictly responsible on
points of honour as private individuals; and it may
also be claimed with no less force, that a national
trusteeship is a proper object for exploitation. This
view has been, apparently, accepted by those who
subsequently accumulated wealth through the develop-
ments that followed the passing of the Hudson's Bay
Territory over to the Dominion of Canada.

Ill

Terms of purchase misunderstood — Effect on Company's shares —
Panic on the market — Donald A. Smith a purchaser — The Riel
rebellion — The first martyr — Lord Wolseley's chance.

On the announcement that the Dominion Govern-
ment had carried the negotiations to a successful
conclusion for the possession of the Hudson Bay Terri-
tory, the investing public in Great Britain and Canada
conceived the erroneous though, perhaps, natural idea
that the Company had been forced out of its rights upon
very unfavourable terms. A circulation of that rumour
was all that was necessary to cause a panic among a
large number of the scattered shareholders of the
Hudson's Bay Company. Intense anxiety was mani-
fested to effect sales on the London market. The
holders of many of these shares were widows and
orphans of Army and Navy officers of limited means.
They had not been officially notified or advised that,
under the arrangements which had been effected with
Canada, the assets of the Company were likely to
become exceedingly valuable, rendering dividends for
generations in excess of the most sanguine expectations
of the original founders of the Company.

There was one, at least, who did not find his courage
deserting him at this juncture, nor was he in any

37

88 LORD STRATHCONA

doubt as to what to do under the circumstances.
This was Donald A. Smith, the then Resident-
Governor in Canada of the Company. His purpose
was not made known to the public, nor did he feel
that he was called upon to take the panic-stricken
shareholders into his confidence. If he had faith in
the ultimate wealth that would accrue to the Company
as the result of the bargain that had been made with
the Canadian Government ; and if those whom he
represented in the Company's management in Canada
had not sufficient confidence in him to ask his advice,
the mistake they made in parting with their shares,
as well as the consequences of their want of faith in
the future of the Company, must be their own. On
his side Donald A. Smith could claim that if he had
become possessed of information which might be turned
to his personal profit, it could scarcely be expected
that he would proclaim it from the housetops.

It is, therefore, not surprising that Donald A.
Smith's hand was not seen in the market, but that
through trusted agents he secretly purchased all the
Hudson's Bay stock that was offered. His confidants
served him well. Not a proffered share was missed, and
not a hint of the great coup that was being effected got
beyond the trusted circle. The prices ran from £g to
£12 per share. It is interesting to know that by 191 1
the shares of the Company were quoted on the Lon-
don Stock Exchange at £130, an increase in value of
over thirteen hundred per cent. In addition to this,
however, between 1872 and 191 1 the entire capital

AN EASY ROAD TO FORTUNE 39

stock of the Company was repaid to the shareholders
in full six times in the form of special bonuses, ex-
clusive of ordinary dividends. Others in his position
and with his aspirations, perhaps, would have followed
exactly the same course. But very many, whose worldly
possessions were somewhat limited, only learned when
it was too late that in parting hastily with their shares
they had unconsciously assisted the chief officer of
the Company in Canada to realize the ambition of a
lifetime. Donald A. Smith found himself after the
panic in the market had passed in actual control of
the Company. Henceforth he would no longer be
the subordinate of a London Directorate. He could
elect the members of the Board himself, he would
appoint the officers of the Company, he would
control its policy, he could also pay off some old
scores in the West ; and, far more important than
any other consideration, he would be the principal
participator in the enormous profits that must even-
tually accrue to the Company as the result of the
favourable terms which had been made with the
Dominion of Canada. In conversation once with
the writer on the subject of his large holdings in the
Hudson's Bay Company, Lord Strathcona intimated
that it was the proudest moment of his life when he
finally secured control of the majority of the shares
of the Company. This possibility had always seemed
so absolutely remote that he could hardly realize the
fact when it was accomplished.
The payment of the amount agreed upon, however,

40 LORD STRATHCONA

did *not ensure peaceable possession of the territory by
Canada. The first evidence of the intention of the
Government to assume control was coincident with
an outbreak of rebellion of half-breeds under the leader-
ship of Louis Riel. This action of a portion of the
native population might possibly be looked upon as the
natural outcome of the oft-repeated advice of the Com-
pany about the alleged danger to the native races of
allowing whites, who were not in the service of the
Company, to enter the territory. The half-breeds had
everything in common with the full-blooded Indians,
although a great many of them had holdings of their
own along the banks of the Red River, as well as in the
vicinity of the Company's headquarters at Fort Garry.
The leader of the rebellion, Louis Riel, was an educated
half-breed. All his sympathies, as well as his associa-
tions, were with the full-blooded Indians. The Church
had educated him hoping to capture him for the
priesthood. Unfortunately it had failed. He pre-
ferred to be recognized rather as in full sympathy
with the Indians, than as a half-breed, and he was
looked upon by them as their leader. Everything
that might prejudicially affect the tribes was regarded
by him as having a bearing on his own life. Louis
Riel had imbibed to the fullest extent the teachings
of the Hudson's Bay Company as to the undesirability
of the presence of white men in the territory who
were outside its charmed circle. The chief resident
officers of the Company might be forced to change
their views on this subject, but the sudden change

REASONS FOR REBELLION 41

was a sharper corner than Louis Riel and his followers
could easily accommodate themselves to.

Information had reached the outside world that
the negotiations between the Government and the
Company were likely to be successful, and already
a few enterprising and restless spirits from the western
States had arrived at Fort Garry. Their presence
was regarded by the Indians and half-breeds as
ominous of a flood that might soon roll on with resist-
less fury, unless the new-comers were dealt with in
the most summary manner. The unhappy results
of leniency, judged from an Indian standpoint, were
only too evident in the events that were taking place
in the republic immediately to the south, where the
Indians were being slaughtered, rapined and robbed
of their ancient heritage without the smallest mercy.
The fears so carefully instilled into the minds of the
Indians by the Company for generations, until they
had become a tradition, became intensified, and this
was one of the great forces behind the rebellion.

During the absence of the local Governor of the
Hudson's Bay Company in the east, Louis Riel and
his followers got beyond control. Suggestions were
made later that local officers of the Company en-
couraged Riel in the early stages of the rebellion.
At any rate Riel procured all his arms and ammunition
from the stores of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Encouraged by the fact that there was no authority
to question his power, Riel caused the arrest of some
of the most pronounced opponents to the course

42 LORD STRATHCONA

that he was taking. One Thomas Scott, although
he had not been the least offensive to the half-breeds,
incurred RiePs displeasure. After a summary trial by
the provisional government which Riel had formed,
Scott was sentenced to death, and secretly buried under
cover of night. Those who took part in the grim
tragedy allowed no ceremony to sanctify the grave.
The spot was not marked, nor was it ever known, though
many years afterwards, when Winnipeg was expanding
into a city, the solitary skeleton of a man was found
where labourers were excavating for the foundations
of a great warehouse.

The murder of Scott seemed to rouse the dormant
Indian passions, and a general massacre of the whites
was feared. To secure protection they took refuge
within the palisade of the Company's fort. Pre-
parations were made for an attack, which fortunately
did not take place. The Nemesis following the
unwise policy that the Company had so determinedly
carried out in regard to the presence of whites in the
territory seemed imminent. They had fired a mine
which threatened appalling results. Fortunately,
however, there was a protective power at hand.

In the meantime the authorities at Ottawa, un-
conscious of the serious trend of events at Fort Garry,
were constructing the basis of official administration
in the newly acquired territory. A member of the
Cabinet, Hon. William Macdougal, an exceedingly
able administrator, was appointed Lieut. -Governor.
He selected his staff and proceeded to Fort Garry

A GOVERNOR WITHOUT AUTHORITY 43

(Winnipeg) by rail as far as he could go through the
United States, and then by overland stages to the
Canadian border. Here, however, he was faced by
Louis Riel's provisional government, and threatened
with Scott's fate if the party persisted in entering
the country. The prospects were not encouraging,
as Mr. Macdougal had no military force to assist in
his administration of the country. He therefore
retraced his steps to eastern Canada — only to make
the amazing discovery when he arrived at Ottawa,
that owing to carelessness, excitement or worse in
official circles, caused probably by the disturbing
news that had reached the capital after his departure
for the west, the Governor General's Proclama-
tion annexing the Hudson's Bay Territory to the
Dominion of Canada had not been issued. In point
of fact, therefore, the so-called Lieut.-Governor of
the Territory who had appeared on the threshold
of the west, and had been refused admission by
Riel, had really no official standing whatever. The
position to which he had been appointed did not,
in fact, exist. On his return to Ottawa, Parliament
being in session, he resumed his seat, occupying a
desk on the Opposition side of the House, from
whence he demanded explanations from the Govern-
ment ; for when news of Scott's fate reached eastern
Canada the whole country became infuriated. With
the general condemnation of Riel, there were many
who found a palliation for his offence in consequence
of the blame attached to the long-continued policy

44 LORD STRATHCONA

of the Hudson's Bay Company officials. They were
severely censured for not breaking down the barrier
they had erected between the native population and
the explorers ; or, at any rate, in making no attempt
to allay the fears that they had fostered as to the
nature of the new administration. The view was
held strongly in official circles that Riel was not
altogether at fault, or if so his offence was not too
great to be pardoned. Archbishop Tache declared
that the Government authorized him to promise
Riel an amnesty, and under instructions from Sir
John Macdonald,1 Donald A. Smith secretly paid Riel
$5,000 to leave the country for the time being.

The promise of an amnesty was afterwards denied
by the Government. At any rate, it was unfulfilled.
In the end2 Louis Riel, once patriot, leader, the idol
of a proud and fiery race, expiated his crime as if he
had been merely the commonest murderer. Few
tears were shed for his lost glory, except in the province
of Quebec, where there are still many who cherish
the memory of the misguided patriot of those days.

Viewing the situation from Ottawa, it was absolutely
necessary that a military expedition should be des-
patched to Fort Garry for the purpose of quieting the
disturbances in the newly acquired possessions. This
became more evident when the Lieut.-Governor, who
had been appointed to take charge of the new province
by the Governor-General, returned to Ottawa. Pre-

1 Parliamentary Inquiry, 1873.
1 The second outbreak, 1885.

GETTING A CHANCE 45

parations were immediately set on foot, so that the
expedition should reach the seat of trouble as early
as possible. Fortunately an experienced officer was
obtained to command the Force. Colonel Wolseley,
later Lord Wolseley, was in Canada at this time as
Adjutant-General of the Militia ; though when his
name was first suggested for the position, it was
vetoed on account of his alleged lack of experience.
The Governor-General, with characteristic British
officialism, wanted to have a high officer from England
placed in command of the expedition. But Sir
George Cartier, Minister of Militia, insisted upon
Colonel Wolseley's appointment, and he was placed
in command. This decision was no sooner announced
than Wolseley received cables from Lieut. Butler
(afterwards Sir William) and Lieut. Buller (afterwards
Sir Redvers) asking that they might accompany the
expedition.

Accounts could be given of interesting incidents,
belonging to the present generation, in connection
with life in Canada, but probably none would be
more romantic than the strange part the Riel Rebellion
played in the military careers of each of these officers.
The Expedition furnished the occasion that mili-
tary genius longs for, the prospect of active service.
Thirty years from the date of this experience, one
of these officers was occupying a seat in the House
of Lords as the result of an honoured and successful
career, having also become Commander-in-Chief of
the British Army. Another paid the penalty so often

46 LORD STRATHCONA

exacted in South African service, only to have his
memory more than vindicated after his remains had
been consigned to their last resting-place. The last-
named commander had the greatest army that ever
left the shores of Great Britain on foreign service,
and later found an almost insurmountable task amid
the mountains surrounding Ladysmith. All three,
however, were enabled to make a decided step upwards
in military service by their connection with Louis
RiePs rebellion and the Red River expedition.

IV

Canadian troops at Fort Garry — Treating with the rebels — The
Company and the rebellion — New trading conditions — Compe-
tition with a tinker.

News from the west caused great anxiety to the
Canadian public, and they chafed at the delay which
was necessary before the preparations for an unexpected
campaign could be completed. The proposal was
made in the early weeks of the trouble that the forces
might perhaps be allowed to pass through the United
States, using the American western railway system, thus
reaching the objective point much more expeditiously
than could be done by the long overland route through
the Canadian forests. This, however, was found to be
impracticable. The expedition could only go through
the United States as private citizens, and not as a
military force ; in which case arms and ammunition
would have to go as ordinary freight. In the dis-
cussion of the proposition difficulties were encountered
that could not be overcome. The ill-feeling engen-
dered in the United States against Great Britain by
the memorable Trent affair 1 had not yet subsided.

1 The " Trent affair " was the occasion of serious diplomatic
complications between the United States and Great Britain. It was
caused by the government of the Republic arresting Mason and Sliddell,
two representatives of the confederacy of the Southern States, during

47

48 LORD STRATHCONA

At*his time, also, the Fenian organization was active
in the Republic. There had already been two
filibustering expeditions from the United States to
Canada in recent years, leaving very aggravating
memories. It was recognized that the administration
at Washington could not afford to take the risk of
offending the Irish, and thus probably losing that
vote in a Presidential election. And if any further
objections were needed to the carrying out of such
a proposal, they were furnished by the circulation of
the rumour that the Fenian leaders were on their way
to the west to offer their services to Louis Riel.

Under these circumstances there was nothing for the
expedition to do but make its passage entirely through
Canadian territory. This necessitated a journey of
nearly four hundred miles to Sault Ste. Marie by the
Great Lakes, where the expedition had to tranship
everything to the Canadian side of the river, the only
navigable passage connecting the Georgian Bay and
Lake Superior being in United States territory. They
had to take ship again at the western end of the river
and sail four hundred miles further west to Fort William.
Here the difficulties of the expedition really com-
menced. It was necessary that they should cut their

the civil war, who were on their way to Europe in a registered
British steamship. Great Britain denied the right of the United
States to commit the act in question, and eventually presented an
ultimatum to the United States Government, demanding the im-
mediate delivery of the persons on British territory. The bitterness
growing out of that incident continued for many years.

THE REBELS IN CONTROL 49

way, and build a military road, through nearly six
hundred miles of virgin forest, and over a mountainous
and well-watered country. This was the task for
which Colonel Garnet Wolseley had assumed responsi-
bility. It was a work worthy of the best traditions
of the British Army. A faint conception of the mag-
nitude of the undertaking can be realized by a trip
over either of the two great railway lines now running
between Wolseley's objective points — Fort William and
Winnipeg. Whatever the expedition lacked in actual
military glory was amply compensated for by the
success attending the stupendous transport arrange-
ments through such a country.

While the expedition was cutting its way through
the Canadian forests, nothing was being left undone
to secure a peaceable termination of the situation at Fort
Garry. Riel had formed his government, and was to
all intents and purposes in possession of the territory.
Beyond the murder of Scott no overt act had been com-
mitted, although the few other English arrivals did not
know how soon they might meet the same fate. The
venerable Archbishop of St. Boniface, who was paying
an official visit to Rome, was cabled to return, in order
that he might assist in persuading Riel and his followers
to acknowledge the properly constituted authorities.
Leading Protestant missionaries had also hurried to
Fort Garry from the interior, to render assistance
with the Indians to whom they had been ministering,
in case they also should make their way to the storm
centre. Donald A. Smith, who was then in Old

50 LORD STRATHCONA

Canada, hurried off by rail to the extremity of the
United States system, and thence by horses over
the western prairies of the United States to Fort
Garry, where he arrived long before the military
expedition could possibly put in an appearance.
Meanwhile the clergy of his own Church had held
Riel in check.

Immediately upon the arrival of Donald A. Smith,
official negotiations were opened with Riel, and in
this the Roman Catholic clergy rendered great
assistance. But before this point had been reached an
important interview took place between Donald A.
and Riel. The former reached the Stone Fort
at Selkirk late at night. Riel heard of his arrival,
and immediately went up the river to see him. He
was told by the attendant that Mr. Smith had retired
for the night, but he insisted that he must see him.
While the attendant went to inquire whether Mr.
Smith would see Riel, the latter walked into the
bedroom unannounced. His reception, however, was
such that he returned at once, passing out of the
gates with a crushed appearance, in strong contrast
to the manner that he had been assuming for several
weeks in the settlement. The brief interview at the
Stone Fort opened his eyes. Certain promises were
made to Riel and his followers, in the course of the
negotiations, which afterwards had a most disturbing
effect in Canadian politics, and in regard to which
Donald A. Smith and the clergy seem to have retained
most strangely contradictory recollections of the same

FEARFUL OF THE FACTS 51

events. At any rate, Riel was persuaded to see
the error of his ways. He was paid $5,000 (£1,000)
by Donald A. Smith under confidential instructions
by Sir John Macdonald, who afterwards reimbursed
him from the Secret Service Fund placed at the
disposal of the Ottawa Government by Parliament.
Riel then left the scene of the rebellion to reside
in the United States until the promises made to him
should be fulfilled.

Lord Strathcona regarded with much uneasiness
fifteen or twenty years ago the frequently-repeated
insinuation as to the complicity of the Hudson's Bay
Company and his own colleagues in the unfortunate
rebellion. Upon one well-known occasion, during the
lifetime of the late Archbishop Tache, he visited Winni-
peg, and endeavoured to get the approval of that great
leader of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to a statement
that the officials of the Hudson's Bay Company were
absolutely free from complicity in the Louis Riel
episode. But the venerable Archbishop quietly in-
timated that, if any such statement was made by
Lord Strathcona, he would produce documents that
would settle that question definitely for all time,
upon lines that would create a startling sensation
throughout Canada. Consequently negotiations came
to a termination somewhat hurriedly. It is no longer
a secret that the archives of the Archbishop's Palace
at St. Boniface contain important documents bearing
upon this subject, and it is equally well known in
influential circles that among the papers left by the

52 LORD STRATHCONA

late Governor McTavish, of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, most interesting confirmatory information of
the archiepiscopal documents is available. The late
Archbishop was credited, however, with stating that
unless forced to do so he would allow nothing to be
made public during the lifetime of any of the three
who had been active participants in this piece of
Canadian history. The peculiar thoughts that must
have visited Lord Strathcona when he received Her
Majesty's Medal for assisting to suppress that re-
bellion, with which undefined and vague but very
suggestive rumour credited the officials of the Hudson's
Bay Company with having had not a little to do,
and he on account of his official position not being
altogether free from blame, would surely be worth a
historian's attention.

When the expedition arrived at Fort Garry under
Colonel Wolseley, the rebellion was at an end, but it
was regarded as advisable for the Force to remain in
the country during the approaching winter, then fast
setting in.

Outside the commissariat accompanying the expedi-
tion, the main source of the supplies required for the
troops was the Hudson's Bay Company. In fact up to
this time there had been no competition with the Com-
pany throughout that vast territory in the way of
buying or selling. The Company had been unbridled
autocrats there for two hundred years. Not only
had they monopolized the trade, but they had assumed
authority over human life as well. What was more

FOUNDATION OF A FORTUNE 53

natural than to believe that the " sceptre had not
departed from Israel " ? With the requirements of
the troops there came a rude awakening as evidence
of the changed situation, the importance of which the
officers of the Company seemed scarcely able to
comprehend. A young tinker had wandered to Fort
Garry from the western states, drawn thither by the
rumours that Canada had assumed the government
of the territory. He had reached there about the
time that Thomas Scott arrived, and his escape from
Scott's fate had hung on little more than a gamble.
It was a question with Riel's government whether
Thomas Scott or John Ashdown should be arrested.
Ashdown's fate is said to have been decided on the
chance drawing of two straws of unequal length.
The tinker escaped, only to find himself very soon
afterwards in sharp business competition with the
Hudson's Bay Company.

Certain heating supplies had been forwarded from
the east for the troops, but, with the usual military
want of method, lacking a most necessary attachment.
This omission necessitated a formal notice appearing
at headquarters asking for tenders for a supply of
stove-pipes. The Hudson's Bay Company sent in a
tender, as did also John Ashdown. The latter quoted
a much lower figure, but the Company had not much
trouble in convincing the military authorities that the
unknown tinker was not in a position to do the work.
The contract was, therefore, given to the Company,
but they had no tinsmith in their employ. They

54 LORD STRATHCONA

then wanted to engage the services of the practical
tenderer, but he declined to work for them, when he
learned that the price at which the contract had been
secured by them was far in excess of his own modest
figure. The Company requested the assistance of
the military to make the " culprit " work. No other
tinker was known to be within five hundred miles of
Fort Garry. Colonel Wolseley cut the dispute short
by cancelling the contract with the Company, and
giving it to the tinker.

With the assistance that John Ashdown was able
to secure from the ranks of the military the contract
was completed within the stipulated time. This was
the first intimation that the Hudson's Bay Company
received that others had equal rights with them in
the trade of the west. The particular interest at-
taching to the incident is due to the fact that by this
contract was laid the foundation of one of the most
extensive business establishments now in western
Canada. When the site of Fort Garry became a
great city, the successful tenderer of that day was
elected to the most prominent positions in the gift
of his fellow-citizens. Long before the shadows had
begun to lengthen in his life, he had accumulated an
immense fortune by legitimate business, and to his
credit it may be said, he never used any public position
that he occupied for the purpose of advancing his
personal or financial interests.

In other ways, too, old conditions were giving place
to new. With the legitimate trader, now admitted

ROBBING THE HALF-BREEDS 55

to a hitherto closed territory for the first time, had
come the restless wandering speculator, whose gambling
instinct scents opportunities from afar. He never
comes like a thief in the night, but rollicking and
daring he soon makes both his presence and his business
known, with the natural result that the quiet, silent,
shrewd man of business, following the path blazed
by the other, reaches the objective point with much
greater profit.

Under the terms of an agreement with the Ottawa
Government, the half-breeds were each entitled to a
goodly block of land. Their partial rights to pro-
prietorship in the west were acknowledged in this form.
In this way, also, all cause for the complaints that had
been fostered by the rebellion would probably be re-
moved. As it was not possible to give titles until the
land could be surveyed, the Government issued what is
known in the west as Scrip — a form of contract which
was to be redeemed by the Government for lands after-
wards. Unfortunately for the half-breeds this Scrip
was negotiable. The half-breeds were perfectly un-
conscious as to the value of the Scrip. To many of
them it was only a nicely printed piece of paper,
worth, possibly, not much more than any other piece
of paper. The speculator was on the look-out. To
him the native is always fair game for exploitation.
However, but little of the Scrip had reached the
speculator's possession before a shrewd man of busi-
ness within the walls of Fort Garry and the Lower
Fort grasped the possibilities from the possession of

56 LORD STRATHCONA

the Government " promise to pay." When it came
to a competition between the man on the spot, with
whom the half-breeds were accustomed to do business,
and the man outside, the latter had small chance. It
is not surprising, therefore, that the officers of the
Hudson's Bay Company plunged into the ways of the
stranger. A well-known resident of Calgary, who was
one of the chief clerks in the Government Registry
Office in Manitoba in those early days, is the authority
for the statement that tens of thousands of acres of these
lands passed into the hands of very high-placed officials
of the Company, out of which very large fortunes were
afterwards realized. The early records of the Registry
Office bear witness to the manner in which the guileless
natives were done out of their proprietary rights to
this Scrip, the greater part of which was handed over
for no other consideration than a blanket, a pipe, or a
plug of tobacco.

Donald A. Smith elected to Parliament — Knowledge of the west —
Dream of wealth and power — A great leader — Parliamentary
talent — Buying a public franchise — Election subscriptions —
Pacific scandal.

It was fitting that the first Parliamentary constituency
in the newly acquired west should be named Selkirk,
in order to perpetuate the memory of that courageous
voyager who with his intrepid companions settled along
the Red River in the nineteenth century. The Lower
Fort, as the settlement around the Stone Fort was
called, as distinguished from Fort Garry, sometimes
called the Upper Fort, had been the controlling centre
of the vast territory ruled by the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany for two centuries. The old wooden palisades
had given place to stone walls after the Company
absorbed its great rival, the North-West Fur Trading
Company.

The erection was commenced in 183 1 and completed
in 1839, and was the first lime and stone building
erected between Lake Superior and the western slopes
of the Rocky Mountains. Within the five acres sur-
rounded by these loop-holed stone walls and mediaeval
bastions, from which a shot had never been fired,
more than half a continent had been peacefully
governed. It was the great meeting-place of the

57

58 LORD STRATHCONA

easf, the west and the north. Representatives of
the Company from the Arctic Circle to the sunny
slopes of the Pacific, from the north of Hudson Bay
to country inhabited by the fierce tribes in the more
western of the United States, from the Lakes to the
heights of the Rockies, gathered once a year around
the hospitable board of the Deputy-Governor to
exchange long-pent-up confidences.

Here was the flotilla of boats with supplies for the
interior in exchange for furs brought to this point
by the trusted servants of the Company. Here, too,
would take place that distribution of letters, periodicals
and newspapers that told of the changes taking place
in the outside world, the coming and going of empires
and dynasties long after the events had taken place.
Representatives would settle the policy to be carried
out for another year in a few hours which it would
take statesmen months or years to decide under ordinary
red-tape conditions. The fashions in furs to be
adopted in Paris would be settled in much the same
expeditious manner. In those far-off days the curse
of civilization and its greed for gold had not blighted
their finer susceptibilities. It was the meeting-place
of the self-sacrificing and faithful, who, while serving
the Company, were holding an empire for unborn
generations. Their wants were few, their honesty
absolute, their loyalty unquestioned. Here, also,
was an outpost of science. While the Jesuit mission-
aries were at the same time trying to learn the secrets
of Nature controlling seismism and atmospheric
cataclysms in the Philippine Islands and throughout

ELECTED TO PARLIAMENT 59

the Indian Ocean, the officials of the Hudson's Bay
Company were collecting in their archives at the
mouth of the Red River records of the meteorological
and agricultural secrets of the " frozen north." To
realize the extent of these researches one must examine
the originals, as the writer has had an opportunity of
doing. Yet a singular difference in the methods
adopted by these two great inquiring agencies is
noticeable. The Jesuits lost no time in making their
discoveries known to the world, while the Hudson's
Bay Company records largely remained a secret until
their jurisdiction over the territory ceased.

The annexation of the Hudson's Bay Territory was
immediately followed by representation being accorded
to the new country in the Canadian Parliament. It
was perfectly natural that the first member to be elected
in 1 871 should be the Vice-Governor of the Company,
Donald A. Smith. When he took his seat in the
House of Commons as a supporter of the Government
of the day, which was led by Sir John Macdonald,
he was heartily received by both political parties as
the representative of the New West. On all sides
it was recognized that his presence at Ottawa marked
a distinct advance in the aspirations of the young
Dominion. The Liberals welcomed Donald A. Smith,
not in his personal capacity as a supporter of the
administration, but as the representative of the
territory, the control of which by the Government
of Canada they had long advocated. But neither
side guessed in that typical western figure the
hidden power which was destined to mould the

60 LORD STRATHCONA

history of the country to his own purposes, nor that
so many of their number, whether willing or not,
should be in his hands as the clay to the potter.
From this point may be dated a romantic career,
more interesting in all its details, and more far-reaching
in its results upon the commercial, social and political
life of the Dominion of Canada, than has been fur-
nished by any other individual in the history of the
British Colonies.

It has been suggested that a marked similarity exists
between the lives and characters of Donald A. Smith
and Cecil Rhodes at this point of their Parliamentary
careers. A careful survey of the situation, however,
shows no resemblance whatever in the early stages of the
public life of these two great Colonials. Cecil Rhodes
was dreaming of an Empire with no personal advantages
to himself, Donald A. Smith was dreaming of the
development of an Empire that might be turned to
his personal aggrandizement ; and as their dreams
developed into experience the ultimate ends each had
in view became still wider apart. Cecil Rhodes was a
born leader of men in parliamentary government :
Donald A. Smith was not, but he had no peer as a
shrewd manipulator of political leaders for his own
purposes. Cecil Rhodes always stood for the national
interests, personal considerations being secondary :
Donald A. Smith's personal interests were paramount.
The contests of the one were fought out in the
noontide glare of a public career : the other dis-
comfited his opponents in the evening shadows of
secret conferences, and behind carefully-guarded doors.

KNOWLEDGE OF THE WEST 61

Donald A. Smith had successfully directed an army
of officials employed by the Hudson's Bay Company ;
he had controlled, as in the hollow of his hand, the
uncivilized Indians throughout a vast territory, and
had successfully used their labour for the profits of
his Company. The shrewdness sharpened by such
experiences was soon to become useful in a wider field.
Certain not altogether objectionable characteristics,
assimilated by contact with the red man, could be
used advantageously among the whites. He had
also learned to keep his own counsel.

Donald A. Smith had an intimate personal acquaint-
ance with the wonderful possibilities of that goodly
land lying between Fort Garry and the foot-hills of the
Rocky Mountains. The faint echoes of information
that had reached the outer world told but little of the
actual facts. It is safe to say that no living soul, taking
any interest whatever in the prospective development
of that country, had a tithe of the information that
the Canadian Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company
possessed. He was equally familiar with the fertility
of the great west of the United States. For many
years, on his journeyings to eastern Canada, he had
traversed the prairies to the south of the Company's
jurisdiction. He knew that the northern area was a
continuation of the same belt of fertility that was the
basis of the accumulating wealth of Chicago and
other western cities. Years before, he had heard the
muffled thunder of countless herds of buffalo from the
United States, forced by the advancing tide of western
settlement, wend their way up the valley of the Red

62 LORD STRATHCONA

Riv*er to the Hudson's Bay Territory. He had seen
them increase and multiply in the area under his
control. He knew that as they had prospered in
the western states, and even to a greater extent in
British North America, so could be measured the
respective fertility of the two countries. He was well
aware that where buffalo thrive, cattle can feed by
the million, so that probably in this country wheat
would yield crops such as the world had never seen.
He was sufficiently reflective to know that the territory
over which he had held jurisdiction for so many years
was favoured by Nature with two hours' longer sun-
shine, during the wheat-maturing season, than any
other wheat-growing area in the world. The value
of each one of these considerations had not escaped
his shrewd calculations.

Donald A. Smith had seen railway enterprises in the
western states grow to enormous corporations in a
decade or two. Native shrewdness and his peculiar
knowledge suggested that what others had done in the
neighbouring republic he himself might accomplish in
Canada. A railway had already been projected and
partially constructed towards the Canadian border from
Minneapolis, but it had not realized its promoters' ex-
pectations, and the managers were discouraged. To
have that line completed, with some assistance from
personal friends, was now his object. Before this,
however, the idea of securing the control of a charter
for the construction of a Pacific Railway through
Canada had become a definite aim.
The means to accomplish this became the controlling

INTRIGUING FOR A CHARTER 63

influence of every action of Donald A. Smith after he
had taken his seat in the House of Commons. But while
he was dreaming of a continental charter, a far-sighted
and enterprising countryman of his own was acting.
The general elections of 1872 were about to take
place. Sir Hugh Allan was then head of the great
steamship line that bore his name. As a young man
he had come to Canada long before steam was thought
of on the Atlantic. From small beginnings he had
expanded his business until his fleet had become a
possession that Canada was proud of. Industry and
integrity had marked his life in every particular, and
success had crowned his efforts. Within an inner
circle it was rumoured that he had previous confidential
experience in effecting arrangements with Canadian
Governments for mail subsidies for his steamship
line. At any rate he selected an opportune time to
enter into secret negotiations with the First Minister
for an arrangement to construct the Canadian Pacific
Railway. In these conferences Sir Hugh was accom-
panied by the late Mr. J. J. C. Abbott as his confi-
dential legal adviser. This was subsequently proved
by the production of the correspondence between
the contracting parties in the ensuing Parliamentary
inquiry. Mr. Abbott appeared again on the scene
seven years later with other parties in a similar
confidential capacity.

Sir John Macdonald, the Premier, was, as has already
been intimated, about to make an appeal to the elec-
torate for a renewal of confidence in the Government
which had been in office since Confederation. He was of

64 LORD STRATHCONA

Scotch descent, his parents having arrived in Canada
early in the nineteenth century. He was brought up
in the humbler walks of life, and after going to the
village school, was apprenticed as a clerk to a lawyer.
A wealthy merchant at Kingston took a great fancy
to the bright young lad, who under his patronage
was introduced into politics ; from that period this
promising protege devoted his time untiringly to
public affairs. A natural leader of men, he quickly
came to the front. Eventually, out-distancing all
competitors, he became the leader of his party and
the Premier of Canada. In personal appearance and
manner he had a strong resemblance to Lord Beacons-
field. His ruling passion was power — not office for
the mere sake of office, but office for the sake of the
power it conferred. To attain power he risked every-
thing, with the inevitable result that the record
of aspirations and deeds solely in the interest of
his country, will not altogether clear his reputation
of blemishes. For a long time he was strongly
opposed to the Confederation of the provinces, but
finally joined in its advocacy, and effected a coalition
of the leaders of both political parties to carry it
through. Many of the prominent Liberals who
joined forces with him for the purpose of seeing that
great project carried, and by whose assistance he be-
came the first Prime Minister under Confederation,
separated themselves from him as soon as the Union
became an accomplished fact.

The House of Commons possessed a highly satis-
factory standard of public life at this time. There

PUBLIC LIFE CLEAN 65

were intellectual giants in the Canadian Parliament
in those early days of Confederation. The political
stream had not been sluggish in any of the provinces
for many years, and, as is always the case in times of
political disturbance, strong characters had come into
the political arena.

Better far than the evidence of intellectual power
was the fact that up to this time scarcely a reputation
had been associated with a minor political scandal,
and certainly no hint of personal corruption had been
suggested. The cankerworm, which was so soon to
eat its way into the body politic, had not as yet made
its appearance. No one but a madman would have
prophesied that ere ten years had passed, the whole
standard of public ethics would have changed. The
heat of battle in provincial politics was beginning to
be felt at Ottawa. The Federal Opposition (the
Liberals) had already captured the most important
of the provincial legislatures, and they had grown
in strength and influence in the Federal Parliament
until they had become a serious menace to Sir John
Macdonald's retention of office.

Sir Hugh Allan knew the Tory Leader's intense love
of power, and he also knew that he looked forward with
some misgivings to the pending appeal to the electors.
He therefore selected this occasion as auspicious to
open negotiations for an arrangement about the much
coveted Pacific Railway charter, with the avowed
object of carrying out the terms of the agreement
by which British Columbia had entered the Con-
federation— the construction of a railway across the

66 LORD STRATHCONA

continent within ten years. Sir Hugh Allan promised
Sir John Macdonald a subscription of ?ioo,ooo
(£20,000) to the party funds, if the Government would
give him and his friends the charter for the con-
struction of the line. The amount that was held
out as a bait to the First Minister was looked upon
as a large sum in those days. Sir Hugh pressed for
the introduction of the necessary legislation during
the last session of Parliament, before the elections.
Sir John at first considered this impossible, as it
would give the Liberals another subject upon which
to appeal to the country against him. He wanted
Sir Hugh to accept his assurance that, if successful
at the elections, he would enter into a satisfactory
arrangement then, introducing the necessary legisla-
tion at the first session of the new Parliament. Sir
Hugh practically replied, " It is now, or nothing."
Both the negotiating parties were Scotch, possessing
a full measure of the acumen of the race. Sir John
was a politician, and certainly in a matter of this kind
a pledge was as good as a bond, providing the elections
should be satisfactory. Sir Hugh was a business man
accustomed to have every contract in black and white —
he did not care to part with his money without holding
security in the usual form.

After much hesitation Sir John Macdonald agreed
to the details of a definite arrangement by legislation
— necessarily including (1) the incorporation of the
Canadian Pacific Railway Company, and (2) the ap-
proval of Parliament to a contract with the Company

OUTCOME OF SELLING A CHARTER 67

for the construction and maintenance of the line.
These Bills were accordingly carried through Parliament
in 1872, immediately prior to the general elections,
after a strenuous fight against the proposals by the
Opposition. Donald A. Smith was one of the charter
members of the Company. He was asked to join the
Board of Directors because it was a convenience to Sir
Hugh Allan, and probably also to insure his support to
the measure in the House. In how far Sir Hugh
took the charter members of the Company into his
confidence about the promised subscription to the
election funds remains a mystery. Every precaution
was taken by Sir John Macdonald and Sir George
Cartier on the one hand, and Sir Hugh on the other,
to prevent their mutual confidences becoming known.
Nothing probably would ever have been revealed,
had not the Opposition developed unexpected strength
in the campaign, naturally increasing the anxiety about
the possible result, so that Sir John Macdonald and
Sir George Cartier, with a complete absence of their
usual shrewdness, both by letters and public tele-
grams, made several personal appeals to Sir Hugh for
further assistance. One of Sir John's telegrams said :
" Send another ten thousand. It is the last time of
asking." The amounts paid by Sir Hugh totalled
$350,000 (£70,000). Sir John carried the country,
but the denouement that followed prove that in an
endeavour to secure an extension of power, this great
Canadian statesman had paid an awful price, leaving
a stain on his memory which time can never efface.

VI

Reverting to party lines — George Brown's break with the coalition
— Parliament of talents — Interest in Parliament — The early days
in Ottawa — Discovery of the Pacific scandal — Investigation by
Parliament.

The session of Parliament following the general elec-
tions of 1872 was historic in many ways. Party lines,
which had been largely obliterated by the action of the
leaders on both sides in Upper and Lower Canada in
order to bring about Confederation, were again clearly
defined. In the preceding session a number of mem-
bers, who, in pre-Confederation days, had been associ-
ated with the Liberal party, supported the Government
of Sir John Macdonald. This temporary truce had thus
proved more advantageous to the leader of the Govern-
ment than to the Hon. George Brown, the leader of
the Liberal party before Confederation. Mr. Brown
was the first Canadian statesmen to propose or ad-
vocate a Confederation or union of the scattered
provinces. He is more entitled to be called " The
Father of Confederation " than any of those who
afterwards took part in the conferences on this
question. " Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he
also reap " has not been exemplified in the popular

estimation of George Brown on the question of

68

PARTY LINES DEFINED 69

Confederation, owing to a careless study of the
complicated events of that period. To others has
been largely given the credit that really belongs to
him. After the Act of Union became law George
Brown considered that he was no longer called upon
to co-operate with Sir John Macdonald in the admin-
istration of the affairs of the country. Their private
lives, personal habits and views of government were
too different to long permit of intimate association.
Brown resumed his old position as a political opponent
of Sir John Macdonald's Government, but several of
his influential supporters accepted portfolios in the
new coalition Cabinet. Brown was defeated in the
elections of 1867 and Alexander Mackenzie became
leader of the Liberal party. When the Parliament
of 1872 met, the Liberals who joined forces with Sir
John in 1867, and who had not in the meantime been
shelved by appointments to lieut.-governorships or to
the bench, were as staunch supporters of the Prime
Minister as his old and trusted followers.

Nevertheless, the political atmosphere had cleared.
Party lines were again distinct. The necessity of
party government in the Colonies is as clearly estab-
lished as in the mother-country. There probably
will be occasions in the history of government in
every democratic country when political coalitions
become a national necessity, but if such combinations
are forced upon Parliament to too great an extent
the tendency is more likely to be by concessions to a
minority in the ruling body than government by

70 LORD STRATHCONA

majority — administration by intrigue and cabal rather
than by clear-cut issues in the open. This was the
view taken by George Brown after the crisis that led
to Confederation had past. It is not surprising,
therefore, that in the Canadian Parliament of 1872
the Independents could be counted on the fingers
of one hand. The most notable of these were Richard
J. Cartwright, the promising son of an unbending
Tory, who was steadily drifting towards the Liberal
party, and Donald A. Smith, who claimed to be an
Independent, but whose sympathies were with the
Government of the day. There were also one or two
from the maritime provinces, where party lines in
Dominion politics were not so clearly defined as in
Upper and Lower Canada.

Upon the Treasury Benches there was a galaxy of
stars — the greatest aggregation of political talent that
any Canadian Parliament has ever seen, with the ex-
ception of the Cabinet with which Sir Wilfrid Laurier
met Parliament a quarter of a century later. The leader
of the Opposition was supported by followers of equal
strength. Master minds from all the provinces were
gathered at Ottawa, and the two parties faced each
other in grim earnest. In the previous Parliament
the Opposition had fought a good fight, though handi-
capped by the fact that half a dozen former leading
associates sat on the right of the Speaker.

This was the scene that the writer, then scarcelv
out of his teens, surveyed from the public gallery.
What attraction Parliament could have for a lad I must

PERSONAL INTEREST IN POLITICS 71

allow some one else to explain. And yet for me it had
a strange fascination. Residing in Ottawa, then a back-
woods town, where were neither theatres nor music-
halls, and picture-palaces had not then been conceived,
all my spare evenings were spent in listening to the
debates. During the sessions the galleries of the
Senate and Commons alike were always well filled by
the general public. The accommodation was ample,
and admission not difficult. During the six sessions
which had been held at Ottawa friendly door-keepers
had always reserved " a special seat for the lad,"
and, more frequently than not, failed to ask for my
ticket. I seemed to have as much right in the gallery
as members to a seat on the floor of the House. There
was no senator or member whose name I did not know,
or in whom I did not take a personal interest.

In my boyhood's years the Hill upon which the
Parliament Buildings now stand had been the play-
ground of my school. I remember the horror with
which we discovered hundreds of men at work for the
first time digging up the ground for the foundations.
I had stood within a few feet of the Prince of Wales
when he laid the corner-stone in i860, and about
which, in reply to His late Majesty's inquiries, I had
the honour of telling him forty-five years later. I had
watched with deep interest the magnificent pile grow
to completion, so, at last, when Parliament met, I
wanted to be the first in the gallery and the last to
leave it.

I had been a witness to the hearty welcome by an

72 LORD STRATHCONA

unanimous House, when, as the representative of the
New West, Donald A. Smith had been introduced to
the Speaker ; and again, now more accustomed to
his surroundings — a familiar and striking figure wearing
a grey top-hat only out of his possession in order to
conform to the rules of the House. It is no doubt a
wise provision of Providence that we are not allowed
to look into the future. If we could, perhaps, many
would not care to venture on life's perilous way.
Could I have lifted the veil, as I unconsciously turned
my attention to Donald A. Smith, I would have read
a strange romance. He was beyond middle life, I
was beginning. He was a millionaire, I was starting
to earn my own living. Within eight years I was
drifting into a prominent part of public life in strong
opposition to the ruling ambition of his life ; again,
five years later, a candidate for the House of Commons
in a constituency into which a liberal contribution,
to make sure of my defeat, was sent by his syndicate ;
as organizer of the Liberal party for many years
fighting political forces that were strengthened by
huge bulwarks of money from his syndicate, throughout
the vast territory extending from the foot of the
Rocky Mountains to the banks of the Ottawa river ;
and twenty-seven years after this historic session of
1872 I would have seen myself sitting in his library
in Grosvenor Square, becoming personally acquainted
for the first time. Both were occupying positions of
responsibility in the Canadian Government service,
and we calmly discussed the possible solution of a

KEEPING HIS OWN COUNSEL 73

problem that Cabinets had vainly tried for twenty
years to solve, whereby the stream of British and
Continental emigration might be diverted to the
western prairies of the Dominion.

In how far Donald A. Smith had any personal
knowledge about the secret agreement between Sir
Hugh Allan and the Government, no conclusive
evidence is available. He was one of the charter
members and also on the Board of Directors. There
is little doubt but that he found his place on the
Board more nominal than otherwise. The original
negotiations were between Sir Hugh and the Govern-
ment, the Company was Sir Hugh's, and he was
naturally the controlling factor. It is not unlikely
that Donald A. Smith had ambitious designs beyond
Sir Hugh Allan's charter. If he had, he certainly
was keeping his own counsel. His journeyings to
Fort Garry had given him an insight into what
was being done in the way of railway construction
in the western states. He knew what could be done
on the great prairies of Canada. No member of the
Government of the day, at any rate, had the slightest
suspicion of his want of loyalty to Sir Hugh Allan.
Donald A. Smith had been elected again as a sup-
porter of Sir John Macdonald's Government. When
Parliament, in the ordinary course of events, was
called together, there was no public indication other
than that the session would take the usual course.
But the information had already reached a limited
circle outside the friends of the contracting parties,

74 LORD STRATHCONA

that an arrangement had been made between Sir
Hugh Allan and Sir John Macdonald, whereby the
head of the Allan Steamship Company, in considera-
tion of the charter that had been granted to his
company for the construction of the Canadian Pacific
Railway, had paid large sums of money directly into
the hands of Sir John Macdonald during the recent
election campaign.

These payments were known in certain banking
circles, so that the information eventually filtered
through to parties who were strongly opposed to
Sir Hugh Allan's Pacific Railway aspirations, and who
were determined to bring about the nullification of
the contract. To do so, they were bent upon getting
the proof that money had actually passed between the
high contracting parties, as well as any communica-
tions that might have passed between the Premier
and Sir Hugh Allan ; and any other documents in the
possession of either party that were likely to furnish
evidence in the case should be secured at all costs.

It was a foregone conclusion that the correspondence,
if any, could only be of the most confidential char-
acter, and would scarcely be elsewhere than in the
personal possession of the most trusted secretaries.
The private secretary of Sir John Macdonald was
known to be unimpeachable, so that there was no
use trying there. Not so, however, were the confi-
dential secretaries of the head of the great steamship
line. One of them was discovered who was willing
to betray his master, if the monetary consideration

POLITICAL EXPLOSION IMMINENT 75

was made satisfactory. All that was required was
promptly forthcoming, and copies of all the corre-
spondence, as well as many of the most important
original letters and telegrams between members of
the Government and Sir Hugh were produced. A
cursory glance at these papers very properly led to
the conclusion that, with the publication of these
documents, the Government would be utterly doomed
in the House of Commons so recently elected, and
also that the exposure would render it impossible for
Sir Hugh Allan to participate in any arrangement
whatever, for the construction of the transcontinental
railway. Meanwhile, Parliament was preparing to
meet, neither political party conscious in the least
degree of the mine that was being prepared for an
extraordinary political explosion.

If the matter culminated as might be expected,
there should be a chance for others to be in a deal
with the Government for the charter. It was, how-
ever, absolutely necessary that no suspicion should
attach to those who were advancing the money which
was required to secure the evidence. Nothing is
better understood than that to be party to a plot to
secure possession of private and confidential letters,
without the knowledge and consent of both the sender
and the receiver, carries an everlasting stigma upon
all concerned. However, it must be understood
that evidence of a corrupt arrangement between Sir
John Macdonald and Sir Hugh Allan once becoming
public knowledge, it would be taken notice of by

76 LORD STRATHCONA

Parliament, in view of its public character. It was
admitted that no agreement of such a pernicious
character could be allowed to go unnoticed by the
highest tribunal in the land. The confidential secre-
tary of Sir Hugh Allan, and those associated with him,
considered it wiser to deliver everything to a leading
member of the Liberal party, Hon. Mr. Huntingdon,
who, it was said, cheerfully agreed to assume all
responsibility for having possession of them. In this
way it was hoped that the means taken to secure
possession of the incriminating documents was not
likely ever to become known to the public. The
true source of the treachery of Sir Hugh Allan's con-
fidants remained a mystery for many years. There is
only one person living now who can give personal
information about the matter.

The publication of the correspondence, showing
the terms upon which the railway charter had been
granted, and the confidential correspondence acknow-
ledging that money had been paid to the leader of
the Tory party by Sir Hugh Allan, created a tremend-
ous sensation in the country. It was the one topic of
conversation everywhere. The main facts could not
be denied. The House of Commons referred the
matter to a Royal Commission,1 the membership of
which was selected by the House. Both sides were
represented on this tribunal. As the inquiry pro-
ceeded, the main point that the First Minister had
agreed to give a charter for the construction of the

1 Appendix, 2.

PACIFIC RAILWAY SCANDAL 77

Pacific Railway to Sir Hugh Allan in consideration of
the payment of certain moneys to an election fund
was clear beyond question. All the links that were
required to establish the case were supplied by the
oral evidence of Sir Hugh Allan, who was faced in the
witness-box with his own handwriting.

The Government manifested a degree of courage
worthy of a better cause. When the first shock of
the exposure had subsided, the Tory party largely
ranged itself in support of its leader. He threw the
glamour of his great personality over his followers,
inasmuch as he had long been to them an object of
pride and admiration. The action of the Premier
was defended on the ground of the advantages likely
to accrue to the country by the early construction of
the railway, which could be so easily secured with the
head of the Allan Steamship Line as the chief financial
promoter.

It was very clear that no money had reached Sir
John Macdonald for his personal use. All the money
that he had received from Sir Hugh had been expended
in order to advance the political fortunes of the party,
and this to the average Tory was only one remove
from the money having been actually used in promoting
the interests of the country. Patriotism with them
had but one meaning — partyism. To be faithful to
the Tory leader was the highest type of a patriot.
In addition, it was well known that a cardinal trait
of Sir John Macdonald's character was that he never
deserted a friend under any circumstances whatever.

78 LORD STRATHCONA

Thif characteristic, on his part, naturally gave rise
to corresponding expectations from his friends, and
furnished occasion for the circulation of a bon mot
from him, " that he had little use for a follower who
only supported him when he was right, since even his
opponents would vote with him then ; but that he
reserved all his admiration for those who would stand
by him when he was wrong." If he could weather
this storm every devoted follower knew that his
reward in some substantial form would come soon.
If. on the other hand, the party should be wrecked,
he might manage to return again, when the faithful
would not be forgotten.

VII

The situation in Parliament — Partyism and patriotism — Deputation
to Lord Dufferin — Donald A. Smith's position — A political crisis
in sight — Donald A. against his party — Resignation of the
Government.

The political parties in the House of Commons
were not unfairly divided, although, of course, the
Government had a working majority. The Opposition
was in stronger force than in the previous Parliament.
But in those early days of Confederation, party lines
were not so clearly defined as they became in later
years. Had this incident occurred ten years later, it
might scarcely have caused a ripple on the political
sea. It even seemed that the Liberals were to make
no progress towards the Treasury Benches by this
exposure. Apparently the supporters of the Govern-
ment remained loyal to their chief. Outside of
Parliament, however, it was confidently expected that
the Governor-General, Lord Dufferin, would not
permit such extraordinary conduct on the part of his
Ministers to pass without notice. A memorial was
presented to His Excellency, signed by all the Liberals
in the Senate and the House of Commons, requesting
him to cause an official inquiry to be made into the
transactions between the Premier and Sir Hugh Allan,

79

80 LORD STRATHCONA

as set forth by the proceedings of a Royal Com-
mission. The memorial contained a statement of the
salient points of the evidence. The Governor-General
decided, before taking any official part in the contro-
versy, to await the decision of the House of Commons
on a motion of want of confidence in his Ministers.

In the meantime, amid the most strenuous protests
from the Liberals, before a vote was reached on the
motion of want of confidence, Lord Dufferin decided
to prorogue Parliament. This was done in order that
further evidence could be taken by the Commission.
But the promise was publicly given that Parliament
would meet again within a stated period. When the
Houses reassembled the guilt of the First Minister in
trafficking in the sale of a charter to construct the
Pacific Railway had been proved beyond question.
It was equally clear that he had received from Sir
Hugh Allan a large sum of money towards the party
campaign funds in consideration of the agreement.
There were one or two minor desertions from the
ranks of the Government supporters, but the majority
remained faithful. It was evident that nothing short
of an unexpected trend of events in the Commons,
or drastic action on the part of the Governor-General,
would bring about the defeat of the Government.

But the unexpected was about to happen. During
these months when the country was seething with
excitement, there was no suggestion or hint that
Donald A., as the Resident Governor of the Hudson's
Bay Company was familiarly called, was not in sym-
pathy with his leader, or that he was looking at the

ANXIETY ABOUT A VOTE 81

question with any sinister object in view. It was
only suggested long afterwards that he had not shown
surprise when the fatal papers were produced. This
is not a matter of astonishment, because he was a
member of Sir Hugh Allan's Board of Directors.
As the debate on the motion of want of confidence in
the Government continued from day to day his seat
was seldom vacant. It has been said that the Premier
became anxious about Donald A. Smith standing by
him in the crisis, and that he endeavoured to get him
into line by instructions through the Hudson's Bay
Company in London. And that with this object in
view he had cabled the late Sir John Rose, ex- Finance
Minister of Canada, to assist him by enlisting the
co-operation of the Directors of the Hudson's Bay
Company. But Sir John Macdonald was too shrewd
a student of human nature to attempt any form of
coercion with one possessing the force of character
so evident in Donald A. Smith. Of course Sir John
Macdonald was not aware at this time that Donald
A. Smith had secured a controlling interest in the
Company, and that the Board knew full well whose
good-will to seek. The inquiry occasionally floated
through political circles : " What is Donald A. going to
do ? " Sir John had two or three interviews with
him. What took place at these conferences after-
wards led to bitter words between Donald A. and the
First Minister. Sir John said that Donald A. con-
sented to support the Government, but this Donald A.
denied in toto.
One member of the House only was in Donald A.

F

82 LORD STRATHCONA

Smith's confidence, and he was not in close touch
with the leaders of either party. Only two or three
in the whole country had the faintest conception of
the vital interest he had in the confidential documents
that had been produced, and which were hanging like
a mill-stone around the necks of the doomed Ministers.
But no one outside this confidential circle had any
idea that Donald A. Smith had aspirations of his
own, or that he had decided upon a course that, if
successful, would have an important bearing on the
future political history of the Dominion. It is not
out of place to suggest that at this time the thought
of getting possession himself of the charter for the
construction of the Pacific Railway was taking definite
shape in his mind. Here was laid the permanent
foundation of his future. It was evident that unless
an unlooked-for catastrophe occurred, the Government
would win. The impending change, however, was
already there. But the House was serenely uncon-
scious of the approaching disaster to the Government
which was so soon to be revealed.

The large galleries were crowded to suffocation on
that clear autumn night, of November 5, 1873. There
was not even standing room in the space usually
allotted to the public. There was a strange lack
of order or control. The Government was willing
enough, if they were to win, that all the citizens of
Ottawa and visitors to the capital should witness
their triumph. If they were to lose it mattered little
to them who saw it. On both sides of the Speaker's
Chair the uninvited public pressed a way, as also at

A MOMENTOUS OCCASION 83

the four corner entrances of the Chamber. They
ranged against the walls behind the members' seats,
some even venturing to sit on the arms of members'
chairs. Neither members nor officials noted this in-
vasion into the sacred precincts of the Chamber, or
if they noticed, cared to interfere.

Apparently the last word had been spoken, and the
clear voice of the Speaker, slightly tremulous, was
heard : " Are the Members ready for the ques-
tion ? " Almost before the echoes of his voice died
away, Donald A. Smith rose amid strained and
intense stillness. A figure sombrely attractive at the
moment, but lacking the air of professional dignity
evident in many by whom he was surrounded ; a
face upon which lights and shadows seemed to flit,
well covered with flowing sandy whiskers, eyebrows
uncommonly bushy, the head crowned with golden-
brown hair, all presenting an unusually well-preserved
appearance for one who had passed his fiftieth mile-
stone, although bearing but little resemblance to
the dignified octogenarian with whom the present
generation became so well acquainted thirty years
later. His hearers, perhaps, knew better than he
the fates that were dependent upon his views. If
he stood by the Government the crisis might be post-
poned. To denounce them meant the crushing out
of the last hope that Sir John Macdonald might have
of weathering the storm. No wonder there was not
a vacant chair in the House so soon as the word was
passed out that Donald A. was on his feet. He began
in a somewhat hesitating and doubtful manner. He

84 LORD STRATHCONA

was not then, or ever, an attractive platform speaker,
but belonged to the class that is sympathetically
listened to. There was always about his public
speaking an earnestness that overshadowed mere
rhetoric. As he proceeded every eye in the House
was turned towards him, and every ear strained.
He expressed his regret that it had been found neces-
sary to establish a case against the Government by
the aid of the confidential documents which had
undoubtedly been purloined from the possession of
Sir Hugh Allan. He thought that the sanctity of
private correspondence should never have been
violated. He believed that nothing could justify a
third party in receiving and retaining private and
confidential correspondence, without the written
consent of the sender and receiver.

The Tories waited for no more, radiant smiles
illumined their faces, they shook hands with one
another, and the Opposition was correspondingly
silent. The Government benches broke into loud
and enthusiastic applause. The Tory Whip excitedly
whispered to those behind him to repair to the
restaurant of the House. He was quickly followed
by a score or more of Members, including three
members of the Government, hurling defiant sneers
at the front Opposition Benches as they passed. At
the restaurant they filled their glasses " To the health
of Donald A." For a few minutes the faint echoes
of an enthusiastic crowd engaged in opening champagne
bottles, mingled with strains of " Rule, Britannia ! "
and " God Save the Queen " reached the Chamber.

WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE 85

The Canadian House of Commons has a weakness
for public exhibitions of excessive loyalty in times of
political excitement. A party vote is taken to signify
that " Britons never shall be slaves," and a victory
on an important question of public policy finds ex-
pression in the National Anthem. The connection
between a prayer that God may save the King and the
question at issue between the political parties is not
always very clear to an impartial observer. But for
the moment a strain of anxiety may be removed, so
some purpose is served and the way made smoother
by a timely exuberance of this nature. Like charity,
these outbursts of loyalty offer a cloak for many
offences. While Tories found interest in these pro-
ceedings in the restaurant, Donald A. Smith continued
his speech. His tone suddenly changed. It ceased
to be mildly condemnatory of the means by which the
present situation had become acute. There was an
indication of harshness, and then he reached a phrase
beginning with " But." It was evident that he was
preparing to convince himself. The matter that
followed set the Liberals cheering. Suddenly the
noise from the " loyalists " outside ceased. A
messenger had reached the restaurant with the
alarming intelligence: "Donald A. has gone over to
the Grits," a favourite term of derision then applied
to the Liberals. There was a hurried return to the
Chamber, many glasses of champagne being left un-
tasted. The dismay of the returning party, which
had left so joyously a few minutes previously, covered
them as with a garment.

86 LORD STRATHCONA

With the manner of one thoroughly in earnest, but
whose special gift was not oratory, Donald A. Smith
proceeded to moralize on the heinous offence of
bartering a public charter for political profit. The
Canadian Parliament should be kept as pure and clean
as the Imperial Parliament. Private interests should
never be allowed a place in the legislation of the
Dominion. With much more of like import he was
repeating exactly what the giants of the Liberal
party, MacKenzie, Blake, Cartwright, Dorion, Holton,
Huntingdon, Jones and a host of others, had been
saying for days. With his strong native accent, his
earnestness and sincerity, every word fell like a sledge
hammer on the hopes of the administration.

He was followed by an ardent Government sup-
porter, in a vain hope that the tide might be stemmed,
but there was a feeling in the air that all talk now
was useless. When the Premier moved the adjourn-
ment of the House in the early hours of the morning,
no vote having been taken, it was well known that
before sunset of another day, the resignation of the
First Ministry under Confederation would be in the
hands of the Governor-General.

The unbridled imagination of contributors to
British periodicals picturing a wild tumult in the
House of Commons, with Sir John Macdonald crossing
the floor of the House and striking Donald A. Smith,
is without the slightest foundation. The scene in
the late hours of that historical day was worthy of the
highest traditions of the British Parliament. As the
Speaker repeated the usual formula, "This House

A POLITICAL CATASTROPHE 87

stands adjourned until to-morrow at three o'clock,"
there was an unusual tremor in his voice. The
Prime Minister rose quietly and retired by the exit be-
hind the Speaker's Chair. The writer stood beside the
Speaker's Chair, and is among the few now living who
were present on that memorable occasion. Although
Sir John's face was flushed with the realization that
the hour of his defeat had come he gave no evidence
of his humiliation. In all his career he never acted
more nobly than when, with apparent calmness, he
accepted the unexpected verdict, not even challenging
a division of the House. The rhetorical thunders of
a week had suddenly given place to a great calm. A
pall of silence hung over the Chamber. The leaders
of the Opposition sat quietly at their desks. Here
and there little knots of Members conversed in under-
tones, the larger number gathering around the desk
occupied by Donald A. Smith and David Glass, the
two Government supporters who had " bolted." The
terse demand of the former for an incorruptible Parlia-
ment, and his denunciation of a corrupt Ministry, had
precipitated the political catastrophe. History had
been made since the Members gathered together in
that evening session. An almost invincible political
leader was going out of office under a terrible cloud.
The importance of the hour made it full of solemnity.
That there were pent-up feelings of exultation on one
side, and seething resentment on the other, there
could be no question. But the statesmen of that day
were warriors, not hoodlums.

Both sides withdrew from the House for the night

88 LORD STRATHCONA

amid* a more bitter feeling than Canadian politics had
ever known, and yet with a singular suppression of
outward excitement. Donald A. Smith's speech had
undoubtedly hastened the downfall of the pride of the
Tory party — for so was Sir John Macdonald regarded.
The fall carried with it a cloud upon the reputation
of the great chief, which, though Canadian Toryism of
to-day would gladly forget, time cannot altogether
remove. The Tories of 'seventy-three, however,
would have had abundant cause for consolation had
they foreseen that this was not the only Government
that Donald A. Smith would succeed in wrecking.
His recent political associates were bitterly accusing
him of want of loyalty to his chief in the hour of his
greatest need. They could not understand that any
justification was possible for withdrawing confidence
in a political leader. To do so was in their opinion
the basest treachery. According to the political
ethics of the Canadian Parliament, when a leader is
wrong is the time that party disloyalty is least per-
missible. No loophole is left for the exercise of
either conscience or principles. But the rank and
file of the Tory party might have been less harsh in
their judgment of Donald A. Smith at this particular
time had they known that his new political associates
would later have even more cause for dissatisfaction
with his transient support. The subject of their
scorn, however, went his way silently, as he had long
since learned to do. He was carving out a path for
himself.

VIII

New Government in power — Donald A.'s railway purposes — Guarding
the nation's heritage — Alexander Mackenzie — Lord Dufferin's
speech — Tory hatred of Donald A. — Intriguing for a charter —
Meeting with a patriot.

A new Government came into power, and another
general election was held. Donald A. Smith came
back to the House of Commons as one of the most
influential supporters of Alexander Mackenzie's
administration. During the campaign in Selkirk
Donald A. had quite a new experience, extraordinary
also in view of the fact that only a few years previously
he was the autocratic ruler of that part of the world.
Settlers from the east had poured into Winnipeg and
Selkirk since his election two years previously. Among
them were many warm admirers of the deposed chief-
tain, Sir John Macdonald. They bitterly resented
Donald A.'s desertion of their idol. At his first
public meeting they attended in force, abundantly
supplied with eggs of an uncertain age. By the time
they got through with their work, none of the occu-
pants of the platform were recognizable. These forces
were led by a gallant colonel now residing at East-
bourne. But more extraordinary than all was the
fact that Donald A. had as associate member for the

89

90 LORD STRATHCONA

Weft the ex-rebel Louis Riel, who had been elected
by his compatriots. Louis Riel came to Ottawa,
quietly entered the House, took the oath, signed the
Roll of the House of Commons and disappeared before
he was generally recognized. A warrant was issued
for his arrest. He was assisted by friends to escape to
the United States. Had he been granted an amnesty
as his friends claimed he was promised, and been
allowed to take his seat, the odds are that the horrors
of the second North-west Rebellion would never
have occurred, and a great deal of racial bitterness in
future Canadian public life would have been avoided.

Alexander Mackenzie, the newly elected First
Minister, as his name indicates, was Scotch. Little
more than a quarter of a century had elapsed since
he, as a young immigrant, worked at his trade as a
stonemason on the fortifications then being erected
at the head of the St. Lawrence River. Taking every
advantage of the rapid changes incident to the develop-
ment of the country, he was quickly able to improve
his circumstances and associations. Natural ability,
force of character and strict integrity soon pushed him
into prominence in the young country, resulting in
his election to the old Parliament of Upper and Lower
Canada a few years before Confederation became an
accomplished fact. At the first session after the
union of the provinces he was elected leader of the
Liberal party. This was the man whom the charter-
hunters hoped to influence.

The Pacific Railway Scheme was in the forefront

THE PRIME MINISTER'S ANXIETY 91

when Alexander Mackenzie took office. It dominated
the public life of the day. The recent scandal accentu-
ated the situation. Because of the exposure growing
out of Sir Hugh Allan's efforts to get possession of the
charter for the construction of the railway, the Prime
Minister had only too good reason to believe that
there were others just as anxious as Sir Hugh to have
an interest in it. He, therefore, took charge of the
Department of Public Works himself, as a notice to
wire-pullers that their efforts to direct the policy of
the department would be useless. British Columbia
had entered Confederation under an arrangement
that the railway should be completed within ten
years. The province was clamouring for some sign
of the promise being carried out, but the outlook was
far from encouraging. The new Government was
evidently determined not to be forced into the
declaration of a policy without careful consideration.
For a while the view was expressed in influential circles
outside that there was no way out but for the work to
be handed over to a company. Speeches of Ministers
failed to give a definite indication of the policy likely
to be adopted, except that an exhaustive survey of
the routes would be vigorously prosecuted. The
country, in fact, impatiently waited an announcement
of the Government policy.

Finally the First Minister intimated the date when
the intentions of the Cabinet would be made public.
It was to be on the occasion of the annual statement
about the progress of the surveys. The importance of

92 LORD STRATHCONA

the "hour was recognized by a full attendance of
Members and the crowded public galleries. The
Prime Minister was very practical, and with great
earnestness he declared that the policy of his Govern-
ment was to construct and maintain the railway as a
Government enterprise, and to proceed with the
completion of the work as quickly as the resources of
the country would allow. In a moment the Members
grasped the full meaning of the announcement, and
loud and hearty applause rose from both sides of the
House. The country received the declaration of the
Government policy with enthusiasm. The national
pride was aroused with the definite prospect of the great
national undertaking. British Columbia, meanwhile,
thought that the term " as quickly as the resources of the
country would allow" indicated delay, and appealed
to the Colonial Office to force the Government to
carry out the exacting terms of the arrangement by
which it entered the Confederation. The province
talked about seceding.

It was decided that the Governor-General, Lord
Dufferin, should visit British Columbia in a diplo-
matic capacity in order to pacify that distant Province.
He found the public men there very demonstrative in
their determination to have the full pound of flesh.
" The terms and nothing but the terms " was the
cry on all sides. For the moment he forgot his
position as the constitutional head of the country,
and was stampeded into views inconsistent with the
policy of the Government. The province wanted

AN UNPREPARED SPEECH 93

the railway at once, whether the finances of the country
would stand the strain or not. Upon his return to
Ottawa Lord Dufferin was met at the railway station
and presented with an address of welcome by the
mayor and council. In the enthusiasm of the moment
he made a speech which was practically a reflection
on the Government policy, and this, also, in the
presence of members of the Cabinet who had come
to bid him welcome after his long journey. The
consternation of the moment overshadowed every-
thing else, and the opponents of the Government
were jubilant. " The Cabinet repudiated by the
Governor-General " went through Ottawa like a
flash of lightning. Lord Duflerin looked as if he
would like to bite his tongue off as he departed for
Rideau Hall.

The only verbatim report of Lord Dufferin's speech
was in the hands of Mr. George Holland, of the Daily
Citizen, the ablest shorthand reporter in Ottawa.
In the course of an hour or so, after Mr. Holland had
transcribed his notes, it was represented to him that
it might be regarded as discourteous by the Governor-
General if he was not shown a copy of the speech
before publication. Mr. Holland accordingly went
to Government House, had an audience with His
Excellency, and gave him a copy of the speech. In
the course of conversation Lord Dufferin asked Mr.
Holland what system of shorthand he used, and if
he had his notes in his pocket, as he (Lord Dufferin)
could read shorthand fairly well. Mr. Holland had

94 LORD STRATHCONA

good reason to be proud of his stenographic char-
acters, so frankly handed his notes for Lord Dufferin's
examination. After complimenting him on the clear-
ness of his style, which His Excellency said he could
almost read, Lord DurTerin calmly pocketed both
transcript and note-book, and gravely told the obliging
journalist that the matter was too important to be
hastily settled, but he invited the speechless reporter
to lunch on the following day, when between them
they would put the speech in order for publication.
The journalist pleaded for his note-book, he was
willing to wait all night for His Excellency's con-
venience. But his lordship was obdurate, he said
he was not accustomed to exert himself so soon after
a long journey. The speech was never published.
The Governor-General and Mr. Holland met the
next day at lunch and fixed up a report for publica-
tion, and all summaries of an objectionable character
were unhesitatingly repudiated. Lord Dufferin had
scored, and ever afterwards entertained the most
friendly feelings for the journalist whom he had
cheated out of his copy.

The " incident " of the Governor-General's speech,
if not forgotten, at least ceased to engage attention,
and the policy of the Government remained un-
changed. If the financial resources of the country
would justify the immediate construction of the
railway, it would be done ; but, at any rate, the work
would not be proceeded with more expeditiously until
the completion of the surveys. British Columbia,

THE DREAM TAKING SHAPE 95

through its representatives at Ottawa, raged. The
Government was conciliatory but firm. The dis-
turbed state of the political atmosphere on the question,
however, furnished hope for possible changes in the
Government policy. Donald A. Smith began to
follow out well-laid plans to direct a change in the
decision of the First Minister, and bring to fruition
the dream of his heart. Now he was not alone. The
more influential of his personal and financial associates
were taken into his confidence. It was not revealed
until long after that these associates had firmly deter-
mined to support any government that would comply
with their wishes on the question of a charter for the
construction of the Pacific Railway ; and, also, that
they would do their utmost to wreck every government
refusing to give them all they wanted.

Donald A. Smith was recognized, as he publicly
declared himself, as being in cordial sympathy with
the Government. In many questions of public
policy he was taken into the confidence of members of
the Cabinet. At that time none of the Liberals
questioned his single-mindedness in deserting his late
political leader. How could that be questioned when
he condemned the action of his own associates on the
Board of Directors of Sir Hugh's company ? But the
Tories, whether they believed it or not, did not give
him so much credit for purity of motive. His former
political allies openly charged him with sinister
objects. In the House, both politically and socially,
he had everything in common with the administration.

96 LORD STRATHCONA

In point of fact, there was no other place for him.
The Tories were more bitter against him for their
humiliating downfall than toward the actual purloiner
of Sir Hugh Allan's letters. The threatenings that Saul
breathed out against the disciples at Jerusalem were
mild in comparison to the revengeful spirit with which
the Tories were animated. Nothing but unrelenting
vengeance from them was to be his portion. These
mutterings were heard from the chief down to the
least important in the ranks of the party. Such
personal bitterness had never been shown in Canadian
politics, nor has it ever been so signally expressed
since. Tories embraced every opportunity of publicly
deriding him about his speech on the sanctity of con-
fidential correspondence. When he rose to address
the Speaker it was a signal for a general exodus from
the Tory side of the House. Nothing was left undone
to express their personal contempt. And, at the same
time, they were circulating rumours of a most offensive
character about his connection with the conspiracy to
get possession of Sir Hugh Allan's letters. The
apparent indifference which he exhibited to all that
his former political allies said or did was more than
interesting. He had too many more important
matters in hand to permit a waste of time or thought
over threatened Tory vengeance. Donald A. Smith
believed that sufficient unto the day was the evil
thereof. Like the well-known quadruped of nursery
fame, " Brer Rabbit, he lay low."

Looking back upon the events of that time one

UNDETERRED BY CIRCUMSTANCES 97

cannot but be impressed with the caution and shrewd-
ness with which Donald A. Smith now entered upon a
carefully prepared campaign with the party in power.
The Government was strong both in the House and
the country. Everywhere the demand was clear that
the country should construct and own the transcon-
tinental railway. It was regarded as impolitic and un-
wise from every standpoint that a corporation should
possess that franchise. It would have been a brave
act on the part of any man to have given utterance to
any other view. Yet, with all these forces arrayed
against him, Donald A. Smith pursued the even tenor
of his way, with but one thought in his mind. His
natural cleverness had not been blunted by the life
he had lived for thirty years. The accepted axiom,
that as " iron sharpeneth iron so a man sharpeneth
the countenance of his friend," was abundantly ex-
emplified with him. If courageously pursuing an
object, regardless of all obstacles, could bring success,
he was bound to succeed in some form or another.
In accepting confidences and giving none, while
appearing to be most unreserved in his manner, he
had no peer in British North America. And he was
playing for tremendous stakes.

Notwithstanding the First Minister's declaration of
policy, Donald A. Smith lost no time in presenting to
Alexander Mackenzie his views about the advisability
of the railway being constructed by a company. But
the fine old Scotchman who then directed the policy
of the administration soon disposed of the specious

98 LORD STRATHCONA

arguments that were presented to him. " I will
leave the Pacific Railway as a heritage to my adopted
country," was the First Minister's final word, uttered
with that rich Gaelic accent that he never lost. In
the depths of Donald A.'s heart he must have wished for
strength to throw personal and selfish ends to the
winds that he, also, might join the magnificent patriot
whose native honesty no personal or political interests
could ever destroy. It was a character he was bound
to admire, though reluctant to follow. Later in life
Alexander Mackenzie stigmatized the proposal to
hand over the great enterprise to a company as the
basest treachery to Canada, and declared that none
but traitors could be guilty of it.

The Premier having proved obdurate, it was
evidently not considered wise to press the matter
just then. For this reason the tactics of the charter-
hunters changed. Strenuous efforts were made to
bring the Liberal Members to see the question in the
desired light. Donald A. Smith's residence, " The
Cottage," became the scene wherein was played a
scarcely-perceptible intrigue. It was carried out so
carefully that only the faintest suspicion of wire-
pulling was ever created, and this was almost immedi-
ately dispelled. Two brothers in the House at that
time, Lewis and Walter Ross, were almost the only
ones who looked upon Donald A.'s actions with
vague and undefined fears. The former told the
writer in later years that he could not understand how
they were all so wanting in judgment at that time,

WORKING THE MEMBERS 99

and gave the reasons why he and his brother did not
like the look of things. Their fears were attributed to
their intense loyalty to the Prime Minister, " clannish-
ness," as it was termed, good-naturedly, by some of
their fellow-members.

With a lavish hand, hitherto unknown in political
life in Canada, Donald A. dispensed hospitality to all
the Liberal Members. No Tory would grace his
table, or even exchange ordinary courtesies with
" the traitor." The loss of office was too recent,
and the part that Donald A. had played on that
occasion still rankled. To the Tories Donald A.
was an outcast, beyond the pale of political redemp-
tion. But the enthusiasm with which he was treated
by the Liberals amply compensated for the male-
dictions of his former allies. The open and avowed
hatred of the other side drew the Liberals all the
closer to him.

IX

Donald A. and the American railway — The Dutch bondholders —
Negotiating with the Official Receiver — Borrowing from the
bank — Issuing stock to themselves — In a tight place — Fortune
suddenly realized.

In the meantime events were transpiring in the

western United States fraught with stupendous

possibilities to Donald A. Smith. As the Liberal

Government at Ottawa seemed wedded to its railway

policy the advisability of making an effort to get

possession of a railway line that could be extended

from St. Paul and Minneapolis to Manitoba was

considered. Donald A. was well acquainted with the

details of this from his frequent journeyings to Fort

Garry through St. Paul.

The history of this line is not without interest.

In March, 1857, the Congress of the United States

granted to Minnesota, then only a territory, but now

one of the most populous States of the Union, a vast

area of public lands to be used to encourage the

building of railroads. During the same month the

territorial legislature chartered the Minnesota and

Pacific Railway Company. To this corporation was

conveyed much of the land granted by Congress,

subsequently supplemented by further grants. These

100

A RAILWAY DEAL [\\ljffi

consisted of all odd numbered sections (640 acres each)
within ten miles on both sides of the railway. In
1862 the rights and franchise passed to a new company
called the St. Paul and Pacific Railway. Companies
succeeded each other in rapid succession. Five
separate issues of bonds were unloaded upon Dutch
capitalists. The last company in possession of the
franchise ceased to pay any interest in 1872. Then
the United States District Court stepped in and
appointed Jesse P. Farley, of Dubuque, Iowa, Official
Receiver to the Company, and authority was secured
to complete the line to a certain point up the valley
of the Red River and thus earn a clear title to all
the available land grant. This Farley succeeded in
doing.

The railroad ran along the Red River towards
Manitoba. Farley thus far honestly administered
the trust committed to his care. With the opening
up of a new locality to immigrants the revenue in-
creased, and the surplus was used in improving the
road-bed, and purchasing rolling stock.

With the three years of the Parliamentary term of
the Mackenzie Government that had passed, the
prospects of a syndicate getting control of the Pacific
Railway in Canada faded into mist. Donald A. Smith
was convinced of the advisability of making a deal
with the Receiver of the Minnesota railway so as to
continue it to the borders of Manitoba, and then
secure legislation at Ottawa to connect the American
line at Pembina with Winnipeg. If this were done

10* LORD STRATHCONA

Winnipeg at least would have railway connection with
Eastern Canada within two or three years.

The railroad of which Farley was Receiver, how-
ever, was burdened with five bond indebtednesses,
all held in Holland. The dates of issue were: 1862,
$1,200,000; 1864, $3,000,000; 1865, $2,800,000;
1868, $6,000,000; 1871, $15,000,000. The last had
been sold in Holland by the banking-house of Lippman,
Rosenthal & Co., of Amsterdam, to trusting Dutch-
men. The aggregate liability to the bondholders
was $28,000,000 or £5,600,000. It was thought
possible, under certain conditions, that Farley might
find occasion to point out to the Dutch investors how
hopeless the outlook was for them ever to get their
money out of the enterprise.

Several years earlier J. J. Hill, a Scotch Canadian,
had settled in Minnesota. For six years previous to
this date he had been local agent for Farley's railway.
He became acquainted with Donald A. Smith as
he passed up and down in his journeyings to Fort
Garry. They were fellow-countrymen, mutual con-
fidences were natural, and they became fast friends.
In the middle 'seventies Donald A. Smith sent for
" Jim " Hill to come to " The Cottage " at Ottawa. A
plan was settled upon and Hill returned to Minneapolis
to sound Farley about selling out the whole concern
to a syndicate of four — Donald A. Smith, George
Stephen, of Montreal, J. J. Hill and Norman Kittson,
the latter being a Canadian who ran steamers up the
Red River from the terminus of Farley's railway.

A CONVENIENT RECEIVER 103

Farley subsequently alleged that the profits were to
be divided into fifths ; his share in the meantime,
since he was custodian in trust for the Dutch bond-
holders, was to be held by one of the other four.
Farley regarded it as his clear duty not to give the
case away by allowing the bondholders to have too
rosy visions as to the ultimate return of the large
amounts they had loaned. When the bonds were
offered, their security had appeared unquestionable.
Much later events proved that their estimation of the
value of their bonds was anything but exaggerated.
But when that information reached them it was too
late.

It was the intention of the syndicate that J. J. Hill
should go to Holland to buy up the bonds at their
depressed value. Farley, however, wanted all these
negotiations left in his own hands. As the result of
his correspondence with Amsterdam, the Dutch bond-
holders sent a representative to Minneapolis to see
what was going to be done about their money. The
encouragement that he received from Farley convinced
him, after a controversy extending over several weeks,
that $6,000,000 or £1,200,000 for the £5,600,000 that
had been invested, was all that the properties of the
Company could ever realize.

In the back parlour of a little hotel in Minneapolis
an agreement was outlined between the Dutch repre-
sentative on the one hand, and J. J. Hill, Donald
A. Smith, George Stephen and Norman Kittson on
the other, and put into shape by a young man from

104 LORD STRATHCONA

Hamilton, Ontario, named Rennie, duly transferring
all the bonds on the line for the sum of $6,000,000.
The parties afterwards signed a joint note for the
amount of the purchase, including an additional
$780,000 expenditure necessary for contingencies.
The cash was advanced by the Canadian Bank, of which
Donald A. Smith and George Stephen were directors,
and paid to the Dutchmen at Montreal, where a more
elaborate legal document was signed between the
parties. Farley, because he was a court trustee,
while acting as Receiver, could not be an actual party
to the agreement. No writing could be given to him
guaranteeing him a fifth share in the enterprise, but
the fact that one of the four held a right to two-fifths
of the profits was part of the basis of Farley's con-
tention in later years that he was entitled to a fifth
in the enterprise for the part that he had taken in
persuading the Dutchmen to sell their securities.

The syndicate became incorporated as the St. Paul,
Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway, and issued paid-up
capital to themselves for $15,000,000 (£3, 000,000)/ no
trace of any consideration for which ever reached the
coffers of the Company. Smith, Hill and Kittson
were allotted 28,823 shares, being about one-fifth
each, and Stephen's share was 19,216 shares, one-
half of which it was subsequently alleged was to be
held in trust for some person not mentioned in the
agreement. This division of interests subsequently
became the subject of extended and costly litigation,
and is fully reported in File No. 257 of the Supreme

1 Appendix, 3.

MILLIONS OF PROFIT 105

Court of the United States, 1893. But this is another
story.

The Company as now constructed issued bonds for
$16,000,000 (£3, 200,000), 1 and unsuccessful efforts
were made to sell them in New York and London.
Rumours had reached these financial centres as to the
" deal," and it was feared that the disastrous fate
which had overtaken the Dutchmen might be repeated.
In the meantime the consequences of withdrawing
£1,200,000 from the Canadian bank had a depressing
effect on the stock, which steadily declined from over
200 to 126. The one thing that might ease the
money-market, and allow the bonds to be dealt with,
was an assurance that the railway would be extended to
Winnipeg. Donald A. Smith, therefore, introduced
a Bill in the House of Commons, known as the Pembina
Branch Railway Bill, to authorize the construction
of the necessary connection to Winnipeg through
Canadian territory, a distance of sixty miles. The
Bill passed the House of Commons, and there seemed no
reasonable cause why it should not find an easy passage
through the Senate. With this prospect the immense
possibilities of the railway were only too evident, and a
profitable market was found for the bonds.

Donald A. Smith had succeeded. At last his star was
within reach. The indebtedness of the syndicate to
the bank, then amounting with interest to $7,000,000
(£1,400,000) was paid, leaving about $8,500,000
(£1,700,000) profit, or $1,700,000 (£340,000) to each
share of one-fifth of the enormous speculation.

1 Appendix, 3.

106 LORD STRATHCONA

By this successful coup Donald A. Smith and his
associates immediately came into possession of 565
miles of a completed and fully equipped railway, with
2,580,660 acres of the finest wheat-land in the world
running alongside of the line. Upon this property
the Company had not expended a penny of their own
money — the stock issued to themselves was fully
paid up — and the money necessary to manipulate the
deal had been borrowed from the Canadian bank.
At that time directors of banks in Canada had a
perfectly legal right to borrow from funds entrusted
to their charge. Owing, however, to this power
having been greatly abused, the authority of directors
became a subject of Parliamentary discussion in
later years, resulting in amendments to the Banking
Act which practically prevents such acts as the one
under consideration being repeated at the present day.
On the face of the transaction there was no risk whatever
of the bank funds, and there was a great opportunity for
the interested parties coming out of the speculation
with enormous profits. The situation of the railway
in the west had been presented to the Dutch bond-
holders in such a manner that they were willing
enough to sell. The children of the Exodus had been
commanded to spoil the Egyptians, and therefore
why should not this Company spoil the Dutchmen?
How thoroughly they were spoiled subsequent events
in the United States Courts proved. It was worthy
of the Israelites !

Tory insults to Donald A. — Intrigues for Pacific charter — Senate
taking revenge — Failure of intrigues — The Government ob-
durate— Historical scene in House of Commons.

While Donald A. Smith and his associates were

reaping a colossal fortune from the success of their

United States railway speculation, matters were

taking a far from satisfactory course at Ottawa. The

Pembina Branch Railway Bill was rejected by the

Senate. It was well known that its passage was

greatly desired by Donald A. Smith as the one thing

necessary to make his railway deal a huge success.

The Tories were in a majority in the Senate. The

Second Chamber of the Canadian Parliament is an

integral part of the Constitution, designed, like the

House of Lords in Great Britain, to protect the public

against ill-advised or hasty legislation in the popular

Chamber. The Senators are expected to review Bills

from the Lower House with judicial calm and free

from party bias. As individuals, members of the

Senate, however, are only human. There were many

there who had not forgotten the " traitor " who had

hastened the downfall of Sir John A. Macdonald's

Government in 1873. Some of them burned with a

desire to carry the Pembina Branch Bill back to the

House of Commons with a pair of tongs. Within the

107

108 LORD STRATHCONA

Reef Chamber the teachings of the Old Testament,
" an eye for an eye," are not unknown to have been
religiously observed. The Tory Senators contented
themselves, however, with refusing to pass the measure
for strong Imperial reasons — the inadvisability of per-
mitting the trade of the Dominion to be carried over
the United States railway system, while the Govern-
ment of Canada was hurrying the construction of
railway connection through Canadian territory.

The Parliament was almost at an end, the last
session of its existence having been reached. For five
long years Donald A. Smith had wined and dined the
Liberal Members. At the end of that time, although
some were less opposed to the idea of a Company
constructing the Pacific Railway, the Prime Minister
was immovable, and a still greater obstacle existed in
the fact that both Parliament and the country had
enthusiastically approved of the Government policy
that the railway should be the property of the country.
Some thirty million dollars (£6,000,000) expenditure
had been authorized by Parliament towards the con-
struction of the Pacific line. Contracts had been
awarded for the heavy portions of the route located
between the Great Lakes and Winnipeg, the Premier
asserting that this would make it impossible that the
great highway should ever pass into the hands of a
company. To outsiders it seemed that those who
were anxious to get control of the Canadian Pacific
Railway were now completely barred from progressing
with their scheme.

A PARLIAMENTARY MOB 109

But Donald A. Smith and his co-workers were not
discouraged. They had far from exhausted the
resources at their disposal. The exact course to be
taken in the future to bring the Government to time
had, perhaps, not been decided upon. Then an
incident occurred on the floor of Parliament that,
apparently, left Donald A. Smith no other place in
public life than in the ranks of the Liberal party.

The hour for the Prorogation had arrived. The
attendance of Members was larger than usual. All
around there were evidences of early flitting. The
House was patiently waiting for Black Rod. Donald
A. Smith entered the Chamber somewhat hastily
and had scarcely reached his seat before he began to
address the Speaker. In his hand was a carefully
folded newspaper. He complained about an uncalled-
for and totally unjustifiable reflection upon his per-
sonal honour in a speech made by the leader of the
Opposition, Sir John Macdonald, the day before, a
report of which appeared in the paper which he pro-
posed to read to the House. In a moment the Chamber
was in a turmoil. Above the general uproar and shouts
of " Order, order," could be heard the terms —
" Treacherous," " Liar," " Cowardly," " Yankee rail-
way," " Dutch Bondholders," and much else that
was unparliamentary. The distant booming of the
guns announced the arrival of Lord Dufferin at the
Senate Chamber, there to await the presence of his
" faithful Commons," but His Excellency's " faith-
ful Commons " were otherwise engaged. Sir John

110 LORD STRATHCONA

Macdonald. Dr. Tupper, Mackenzie Bowell, John
Rochester, Dr. Sproule and a host of others were
shouting themselves hoarse and gesticulating wildly
at the object of their scorn. Donald A. Smith stood
calmly watching the turmoil and waiting his chance to
continue his remarks. In the five years that had
elapsed since he denounced his political chief, grey
hairs had appeared. He had less of the western
appearance, but his figure was as impressive and
fearless as ever. Now he seemed the least disturbed
member of all that crowd. The noise of the row
reached the lobbies, and a few who had ventured
inside the doors, among whom was the writer, were
forced nearer the Speaker's Chair by the crush behind.
Dr. Tupper (now Sir Charles, the veteran octogenarian)
finally got the floor. The uproar increased in in-
tensity, as both sides now took part, the Liberal
Benches shouting at Tupper. It was a sight to make
sluggish blood tingle !

The loud raps of Black Rod at the door resounded
throughout the Chamber. The Speaker tried in vain
to be heard, but the contestants were in for a battle-
royal, determined to fight it out. It was now not
merely between Donald A. on the one side, and Dr.
Tupper on the other, but each side of the House
wanted the defence of its representative to be recorded
in Hansard. The Speaker resumed his seat. Black
Rod impatiently waited outside. Hansard l gives some
vague idea of the scene, but much that was unpadia-

1 Appendix, 4.

WASHING DIRTY LINEN 111

mentary was unheard or omitted. The washing of
dirty linen could not be stopped. Private and con-
fidential conversations between ertswhile intimate
friends, never intended for the public, were announced
from the housetops. Dr. Tupper shouted, " You
asked me to get you made a Privy Councillor," and the
House was startled into surprised silence for a moment.
The general situation proved that if their inner
thoughts are exposed great men are very human —
only boys grown up. If those taking part in this
melee had been other than Members of Parliament
their reputations would have gone for ever, for the
record is irrevocable.

The Serjeant-at-Arms tried to notify the Speaker
that a messenger from His Excellency requested ad-
mission, but his effort was in vain. Black Rod knocked
again and again, but he might as well have knocked
at the portals of a tomb. Finally the Speaker motioned
towards the door and Black Rod entered. He bowed
profusely as usual, and his lips moved, but no sound
reached the " faithful Commons." The Speaker
stood and evidently made an announcement, which
was not heard beyond his immediate vicinity. The
speakers, addressing one another, fought on with un-
abated fury. With all due dignity the Speaker stepped
down from the dais, the Serjeant-at-Arms shouldered
the Mace, and preceded by Black Rod, they slowly
entered the lobby leading to the Senate. Immediately
following came the Members of the Government, among
whom was a tall straight figure, with a handsome

112 LORD STRATHCONA

youthful face, carrying with becoming dignity the
lately-acquired honours of a portfolio in the Govern-
ment, who was destined, ere a quarter of a century
could roll by, to occupy the greatest place in the public
eye ever reached by a colonial statesman. After the
Cabinet followed as excited a mob as ever disgraced
the floor of a Parliamentary chamber. With a de-
termination to be as near the storm centre as possible,
the writer rushed towards Donald A. Smith. As the
crowd from both sides of the House met in the passage,
angry Tories, with arms uplifted as if to strike, pushed
and hustled towards the object of their hatred. There
were several others with myself, who, for obvious
reasons, had no right to be there, but messengers and
doorkeepers had lost their heads as well as the people's
representatives. The crowd swayed to and fro, and
the writer found himself beside Donald A. Smith just
as Tory members reached out to strike his grey top
hat, one of whom was my own uncle. In the rush of
friends to avert the blow I was thrown against my
relative, for whom I had not voted at the last election,
and whose regard for me was even less friendly than
his opposition to Donald A. It was a shuffling and
slightly dishevelled crowd that finally reached the
Senate Chamber, but once inside those dignified
precincts the frenzied excitement quickly subsided.
Thirty years afterwards, sitting in Lord Lytton's
library at Knebworth, when Lord Strathcona held the
tenancy, we compared our recollections of the events
of that hour. He then said that he looked upon that
experience as one of the most exciting in his life.

A WITCH OF ENDOR VIEW 113

It is necessary to read the Parliamentary record to
thoroughly understand the bitterness in the political
life of the Dominion at that time, and to appreciate
the force of the cross-currents that swept around
Donald A. Smith at that period.

It would have both interested and perplexed Donald
A. Smith if at this juncture he could have lifted the
veil and looked into the future, to see himself within
six months secretly taking part in the rejoicings of his
political enemies. To see their leader and every one
of his followers within two years the unconscious
instruments of his plans, and the hearty supporters of
the personal project that had become the dream of
his life, would have been pleasant ; to see one who
was then hurling insults at him from the back benches
the object of a treacherous conspiracy on the part of
his own selected colleagues, when a word from him
would prevent his deposition from the position of
Prime Minister, would have entirely satisfied his
longing for revenge. And if he could have seen the
noisiest of that unruly Parliamentary mob a more
subservient instrument and ostentatious admirer for
twenty years than all the Canadian politicians who
were destined to fall down and worship him, it would
have formed a fitting climax to make the vision
complete. Perhaps more extraordinary and less satis-
factory to contemplate would be the sight of his own
hand turned against those who were now giving him
their sympathy, as they had given him their unsolicited
support upon the question that was the cause of the
disturbance then taking place.

XI

Undiscovered intrigue — Before the elections — Elections postponed —
Effect of chance conversation — The tempter again — Donald A.'s
election — Corrupt practices — Loan to the Judge.

Thus closed the first Parliament controlled by the
Liberal party since the inauguration of Confederation.
It was not until long afterwards that the Tories dis-
covered the intrigue which had been quietly developing
during the five years that had elapsed since they were
driven from office, by a syndicate desirous of securing
a charter for the construction of the Canadian Pacific
Railway. Tory leaders were not even aware that the
wire-pulling had proved abortive, and that because
of the failure to turn Alexander Mackenzie from his
patriotic determination to leave the great transconti-
nental highway as a heritage to the Canadian people,
tremendous weapons were to be offered to them,
which, if discreetly used, would materially assist in
returning them to power again. Equally unsuspicious
were they that " the arch-traitor," as they continually
called Donald A. Smith, was seriously debating in his
own mind whether he should not sever his connection
with the Liberal party. But the closing scene in the
House of Commons made such an announcement
impossible. It was years before this information

filtered through to the general public. All that was

114

WASTING THEIR ENERGIES 115

known was that the charter-hunters, whose sole
object was to secure possession of what the Govern-
ment of that day declared to be the nation's heritage,
had found themselves confronted by an administration
which had remained serenely unmoved in spite of every
influence they could exercise. With this Ministry in
power their efforts were wasted. In order to secure
a franchise, which must in the long run make its
possessors wealthy at the public expense, it was evident
that new tactics must be tried. They measured the
possibilities in the other political camp, and decided
that nothing should be left undone that would bring
about the defeat of the Mackenzie Government.
Their influence was widespread, their plan of campaign
well laid. No gamblers ever played for higher stakes.
The game was to play with loaded dice, and the
players' identity remain hidden and secret.

The general election campaign of 1878 offered
unusual opportunities to discredit the Liberal admini-
stration. For two or three years the revenue had
not equalled the expenditure. This necessitated the
strictest economy in the public finances. Canadian
politicians, as a class, invariably stand pledged to
economy when appealing to the electorate. Yet it is
very doubtful whether the electorate in any country
really approve of too economical an administration.
Since Confederation, no Canadian Government has
been defeated at the polls because they had the
courage to sanction liberal expenditures ; while more
than one Government has been forced out of office

116 LORD STRATHCONA

on account of its studied economy with public moneys.
By a certain class of politicians, Alexander Mackenzie's
attitude in regard to the finances was considered the
greatest offence against the public morals that the
administration had been guilty of.

The Government had also refused to adopt the
policy of Protection that was energetically demanded
in the interest of the manufacturers. A period of
severe financial depression was being experienced in
commercial circles, and the Tories strongly advocated
an increase in the tariff as a panacea for all public ills.

The Government had made preparations for a
short campaign. In the latter part of April, 1878, the
writs were all ready to issue, so that the polling would
take place in June. A Member of the Government, Sir
Richard Cartwright, happened to mention this to a
former Member of the Cabinet, Hon. Edward Blake,
the day that the decision had been reached, at a chance
meeting at a railway junction. Mr. Blake had with-
drawn from the Cabinet for personal reasons, but
he immediately pressed on the Premier the advisability
of postponing the elections until the autumn, in the
hope that a good harvest might prove to the general
advantage of the Government. Notwithstanding the
persistent advocacy of the earlier date by his colleagues
in the Cabinet (and they were practically unanimous
on the question), the First Minister decided to take

the advice of his old colleague and postpone the date
of the elections. An election in June would have

been practically a walk-over for the Government.

This was the opinion of both sides for long afterwards.

CASH FOR THE ELECTIONS 117

Time was what the Tory leaders wanted. Sir John
Macdonald still led the Tory forces, and he never
showed more ability in directing a popular campaign
than on this occasion. He seized this opportunity
to carry on an educational propaganda, and also
promised in terms which left no room for misunder-
standing, unbounded prosperity through an increased
tariff. He needed time in which to make the party's
financial arrangements. His organization centres were
bankrupt. He had educated his party in the Pacific
scandal campaign with Sir Hugh Allan's money to see
the necessity of having a reasonable amount for
" contingencies " in election contests. The trite
saying " Once bitten, twice shy " had no terrors for
the Tory leader of that day. In the most ostentatious
manner the manufacturers were called together, and
subscriptions solicited from them to assist in carrying
through a policy of Protection, which would probably
mean a great deal to them. They were reminded
" Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out
the corn." It needed no special application to drive
the scriptural injunction home. The policy of the
Tory leaders was to make these people rich. But
unhappily at a meeting from which fifty thousand
dollars (^10,000) was expected less than five thousand
(£1000) was actually realized.

At this moment came most welcome offers of
tangible assistance. Mr. Abbott was Sir Hugh Allan's
confidential adviser when the subscription to the
Tory election funds was made seven years previously,
and he now knew the pit-falls to be avoided. It was

118 LORD STRATHCONA

intimated to an influential member of the party, who
held no official position, that Mr. Abbott was author-
ized to guarantee all the money that might be required
in the campaign to secure Sir John Macdonald's
return to power, as the result of the pending elections,
if a verbal assurance was given that, in the event of
Sir John's success, he would consider favourably a
proposal on terms that would be submitted later for
the construction of the Pacific Railway by a responsible
company. Mr. Abbott was one of the few men in
Canada whom Sir John could trust implicitly on any
subject of a delicate or rather compromising nature.
Mr. Abbott had been in the old Pacific Scandal deal,
many of the details of which had never been revealed.
The required assurance of Sir John Macdonald was
duly given. He did not ask where the money was
coming from. It was sufficient for him to know that
it was to be provided on a liberal scale, and that his
organizers would not have to make any apologies for
sudden requirements towards the end of the campaign,
as he had been compelled to do with Sir Hugh Allan
seven years previously.

Under the circumstances it was not surprising that
by September the promises of " good times " to be
brought on by additional taxation had taken a thorough
grasp on the public mind. When the result of the
polling was published on the evening of the 17th of
September, 1878, it was seen that Alexander Mac-
kenzie's Government had been swept out of existence ;
and that the party which stood convicted in the
public mind five years previously of granting a great

BITTER ELECTION CAMPAIGN 119

public charter in consideration for an election sub-
scription was to be again entrusted with the admini-
stration of the affairs of the country. And there were
a favoured few within an inner circle who did not see
much likelihood of the Pacific Railway long remaining
a great national asset.

Out of the political cataclysm Donald A. Smith
emerged as a supporter of the defeated Liberal leader,
being again elected for Selkirk.1 The Tories had
thrown their strongest forces against him. Into that
particular part of Manitoba had gone a consider-
able number of settlers from the vicinity of Ottawa,
whose admiration for Sir John Macdonald was most
intense. To bring about the defeat of the head of
the Hudson's Bay Company, who had turned " traitor "
in 1873 to their political idol, and on the very spot
where stood the first stone fort of the Company, the
tangible evidence of Donald A.'s former authority,
would make life worth living. The extreme bitter-
ness of the contest may, therefore, be imagined.
Donald A. Smith announced his sympathy with his
political associates at Ottawa during the previous five
years. Although calling himself a Conservative, he
declared his intention of continuing, as heretofore,
to support Alexander Mackenzie. In a memorandum
written with his own hand, defining his position more
clearly, he said —

" As he has no favour to ask and nothing
personal to desire from any Government, he will
support only such measures as are conducive to
1 Appendix, 18.

120 LORD STRATHCONA

the advancement of Manitoba and the North-
west in the first instance, and the general pros-
perity of the Dominion."

It remained for the future to offer a peculiar com-
mentary on this declaration of the principles by which
he claimed to be actuated. In the meantime the
syndicate of which he was destined to be the most
prominent member was secretly pouring money into
the campaign coffers of the Tory party. The forces
were at work in which he had important interests that
were to bring about the defeat of his own friends, and
aid in the success of his most bitter political and
personal opponents. A petition charging that his
election had been secured by bribery and corruption
on the part of himself and his agents was filed in
the courts. Parliament was summoned to meet in the
early part of 1879, too soon after the election for the
trial to take place, so that he was able to take his seat
in the House as a supporter of the defeated Govern-
ment. Election trials against Members of the House
of Commons cannot be proceeded with while Parlia-
ment is sitting; therefore, no matter under what
circumstances a candidate may be successful, if he
can stave off the date of the trial by preliminary objec-
tions until Parliament meets, he takes his seat as the
representative of the constituency.

During the Parliamentary recess the Selkirk Election
Petition came to trial. As is usual in election cases
the evidence was contradictory, running a close race
with perjury. The petitioners claimed that, on the

LOANING MONEY TO A JUDGE 121

evidence placed before the court, they had fully
proved corrupt practices sufficient to void the
election. Mr. Justice Betourney decided otherwise,
and confirmed Donald A. Smith in the seat. There
was great jubilation on the part of Donald A.'s friends
in the constituency. Selkirk was literally painted red
that night by the victorious party. But the denoue-
ment was dramatic. A local journalist discovered
that the Judge had borrowed money from the suc-
cessful litigant, and was indebted to him for the
sum of $4000 (£800), and that a mortgage was
registered upon the Judge's property in the name of
Donald A. Smith as security for the loan.

The petitioners promptly appealed to the Supreme
Court of Canada against Mr. Justice Betourney's
decision. The usual legal delays intervened so that
Donald A. was permitted to take his seat again in
Parliament in the early part of 1880. He still retained
his old relationship with the Liberal party. There
was no sign upon the political horizon of the coming
events, already beginning to take shape, that were
calculated to change his relationship in the near future
towards the political parties in the House — a relation-
ship fraught with such tremendous import to the
history of the country. The Liberal leaders were
unconscious of any negotiations, to which he was a
party, taking place with the Government, and after
the disastrous campaign gave him their unreserved
confidence. There were cogent reasons why it should
not be known that " wheresoever the carcase is, there
will the eagles be gathered together."

XII

Sir John A. Macdonald in office again — " So much the worse for
British connection" — Unseated by the Supreme Court— The
Pacific Railway charter in sight — The agreement — Donald A.
Smith kept out of sight — Charter hunters' success.

Sir John A. Macdonald assumed office in November,
1878. The new administration was no sooner in-
stalled than it was announced that the manufacturers,
who had so largely supported the Government in the
expectation of a change in the fiscal policy of the
country, had no occasion for anxiety — the promise of
Protection would be fulfilled in letter and spirit.
The Budget revealed a system of Protection to which
no objection could be taken by the advocates of a
policy which claimed to make the public rich by adding
to the taxation of the country. Objection was taken
to the tariff that it would be a serious blow to British
trade, and the suggestion was made that it might
endanger British connection. One of the principal
writers at that time on the leading Tory organ, the
Toronto Mail, was a brilliant journalist from Nova
Scotia, Mr. Martin J. Griffin, who was also a defeated
candidate for Parliament in Halifax in 1878. The
Mail replied to this expressed fear about the effect of

the proposed tariff on British trade, by declaring,

122

EFFECT ON BRITISH CONNECTION 123

" then it is so much the worse for British connection,"
an expression which became a byword in Canadian
politics for many years afterwards. This taunt was
all the more significant because Mr. Griffin had a few
years before contributed a remarkable article, over his
own signature, to an American periodical, presenting
an exceptionally strong case in favour of the annexation
of Canada to the United States. But the Canadian
manufacturers were naturally looking after their own
interests, and were not concerned about the effect of
the new tariff upon British trade. They had given
the Government their best services in the recent
election, and it must be admitted that they were
amply repaid.

During the earlier session of 1880, Sir John Mac-
donald intimated to the House that the policy of the
administration respecting the Canadian Pacific Rail-
way would probably be announced at the next session
of Parliament, which, unless his plans miscarried, would
be summoned before the end of the year. Immedi-
ately after the Prorogation Sir John Macdonald came
to London, accompanied by his more prominent
colleagues. It was officially announced that negotia-
tions were under way with British capitalists to secure
the early completion of the railway. It was even
hinted in Canada that as the work would be of great
Imperial service in opening a short route to the Far
East, the possibility of securing Imperial assistance
was not too much to hope for. Sir John and his
colleagues were received with marked attention. Lord

124 LORD STRATHCONA

Beaconsfield, in office at that time, gave them his
countenance. The alleged facial resemblance between
the British and Canadian Prime Ministers was current
talk in social circles, evidently pleasing to the vanity
of both. But the visit to London did not result in
the attainment of the alleged desired object. No
arrangement was made in London for the construction
of the transcontinental railway. Later developments
were taken to indicate that the visit to London was
not taken with sincere intentions of completing arrange-
ments about the Canadian Pacific Railway. To have
entered into an arrangement in Canada immediately
after the elections might have created suspicion. The
episode connected with Sir Hugh Allan was still a
bitter recollection, not only to the leader of the
Government but to the Canadian people. At any
rate the impression created in London by Sir John and
his colleagues was far from favourable. A leading
London publication said at the time —

" The Dominion Ministers have grossly mis-
managed their mission. They have repelled
confidence, where they might have nourished
faith. They have created distrust where they
ought to have cultivated hope, and they have
been mysterious and fussy at the same time.
They have flourished about their object, and have
inspired communications that have proved to be
misleading. The upshot is that, with the best
intentions, perhaps, they have cast no credit on
the Canadian Pacific Railway."

UNSEATED FOR CORRUPT PRACTICES 125

The third session of the Parliament was called in
the latter part of 1880, after the return of the Govern-
ment from London. Donald A. Smith had ceased to
be a Member of the House. The Court of Final Appeal
for Election Petitions had rendered judgment. At
the opening of the session the Speaker of the House of
Commons announced that he had received a notice
from the Registrar of the Supreme Court that a
decision had been rendered by that tribunal in the
following terms —

" And in the Appeal of David Young and
Archibald Wright, Appellants, and Donald
Alexander Smith, Respondent, in the matter of
the Selkirk Election, by which the said appeal
was allowed, and the judgment of Mr. Justice
Betourney, that the said Election was valid, was
reversed, and the Election was declared void." *

A writ was accordingly issued for a new election
in Selkirk, and Donald A. Smith's successor took his
seat as a supporter of the Government.

The announcement had been made by the Prime
Minister that a contract had been entered into between
the Government and a syndicate for the construction
of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It is putting it
mildly to say that the country was startled by the
announcement, as the idea that the highway was to
be retained as a national asset had been considered
settled. Until the official statement by the First
Minister the general public had not received the

1 Appendix, 5.

126 LORD STRATHCONA

slightest intimation of the important change in public
policy that had been unanimously accepted and
approved by the recent Parliament. As soon as the
formal proceedings connected with the opening of
Parliament were disposed of, the contract entered into
with the syndicate was placed on the table of the
House. When the terms became known, astonishment
gave place to dismay throughout the country.

The agreement provided for a subsidy of $25,000,000
(£5,000,000), a land grant of 25,000,000 acres, the
completion and possession of all the portions of the
railway then under contract to cost $30,000,000
(£6,000,000), an absolute railway monopoly in the
western territory for twenty years, free right of way
through Government lands, exemption from taxation
for all time upon their property in the new western
municipalities, freedom from taxation for an extended
period upon their land grants, the land grant to be
selected at the convenience of the Company through-
out the fertile belt, and extraordinary authority over
passenger and goods rates. Even to the railway
promoters in the United States, accustomed to the
most liberal terms as the result of corruption and
lobbying in the legislative chambers of that country,
the lavish terms of this agreement came as a surprise.

An equally strong syndicate offered to take the
contract for much less. But the subject immediately
assumed a party aspect, and there was no question but
that Parliament would ratify anything the Govern-
ment proposed. Regrets were expressed that even

LIGHT HIDDEN UNDER A BUSHEL 127

the corrupt bargain with Sir Hugh Allan had not
been carried out, as in that agreement no such favour-
able terms to the contractor had been given, or such
sacrifice of Canadian interests been made.1 It was
feared that means similar to those connected with the
deal in 1872 had been taken to secure the present
arrangement, but no encouragement was offered on
this occasion, as on the former, for information to
leak out leading to scandalous revelations. Some of
those interested in this contract knew only too well
how Sir Hugh's confidences had been betrayed, and
they left no loopholes for a similar disaster in their
case.

Objection could not be taken to the financial
standing on the syndicate, as revealed by the contract.
From the political standpoint Liberals were well aware
that two of the Company had been their own sup-
porters in recent elections. This rather gave colour
to the impression that means had been found, other
than the public might approve, to reconcile the Tory
leaders to a deal of such magnitude with their political
opponents. It was well known that the Canadian and
United States members of the syndicate were all most
intimate personal and financial friends of Donald
A. Smith. Surprise would not have been expressed
at finding him, also, in this great financial deal.

But the hatred of the Tory leaders towards Donald
A. Smith made it apparently impossible that he should
be in the syndicate. The Premier gave an assurance

1 Appendix, 10.

128 LORD STRATHCONA

to his supporters that Donald A. was not one of the
capitalists connected with the agreement. Notwith-
standing the denials in private circles, the Opposition
declined to believe that Donald A. Smith was not a
sleeping partner. Veiled references were made from
the Opposition Benches to the possibility of Donald
A. being behind the scenes, and extracts from the
Hansard of 1878 were read as a reminder to the
Government of the view so recently held by them of
the possible personnel of the syndicate. Supporters
of the Government in the House were told that Sir
John said if Donald A. Smith had anything to do
with the agreement he would consign the project to
the four winds of heaven. To Sir John Macdonald
Donald A. was Anathema Maran-atha. The Govern-
ment at that time, judging from later revelations, was
not in the position of a free agent. The money had
been accepted in the recent campaign upon clearly
defined terms. Had it all come from absolutely
trustworthy and confidential sources, the secret under-
standing might be flouted. But the amounts were too
large to be advanced by other than a very wealthy
syndicate, and it was in their power to bring dire
destruction upon all concerned. Both the syndicate
and those in authority knew this.

The contract finally passed Parliament in the form

in which it had been submitted. But before that

point was reached some very unpalatable things were

said by responsible statesmen,1 and special arrange-

1 Appendix, 14.

VIOLENT DENUNCIATION OF CONTRACT 129

ments had also to be made with the supporters of the
Government from the province of Quebec. In the
latter case a pledge was given that either the Canadian
Pacific Railway, or the Government, would purchase
from Quebec a railway upon which the province had
unwisely expended about $12,000,000 (^2,400,000),
In summing up the objections of the Opposition to
the contract, the Hon. Edward Blake challenged the
Government to appeal to the country upon the
proposals before the House, asserting that if it was
done the responsible electorate —

" will take the earliest opportunity to inflict a
summary penalty upon those persons, offenders
for the second time, who having once betrayed,
when entrusted with power, their country's
honour, have now taken advantage of the oppor-
tunity a too confiding public conferred upon
them, to betray in the same transaction her most
vital and material interests."

The charter-hunters had at last found the desires
of their hearts fulfilled. They had secured the most
stupendous contract ever made under responsible
Government in the history of the world. It might
be true that the conduct necessary to secure the goal
had been such as is not usually adopted in private
life. But the hope of the company or syndicate
undoubtedly was that in the future they might, like
the Greeks, pacify the gods by gifts.

130 LORD STRATHCONA

To attain their end the syndicate had broken
political and personal relationships that could never
be repaired. Two Governments had been wrecked.
They had assisted in discrediting one political leader
through their denunciation of the part he had been
saddled with in connection with the Pacific scandal.
They were now laying the foundation for the utter
demoralization of the public life of a great new
country, and burdening Parliament with objectionable
associations which were to remain after they them-
selves had disappeared. They had assisted in re-
moving from the highest office in the gift of a demo-
cratic people an honourable, high-minded and patriotic
statesman because he had declined to allow Parliament
to be used for the purpose of creating enormous
private fortunes at the public expense. They had
stopped at nothing, and they had succeeded.

George Stephen and Duncan Mclntyre of
Montreal ; John S. Kennedy of New York, banker ;
Morton, Rose & Co. of London, England, merchants ;
Kohn, Reinach & Co., Paris, bankers ; and Richard
B. Angus and J. J. Hill of St. Paul, U.S.A., were in-
corporated as the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.
In the list of the first directors of the Company,
Baron de Reinach represented his banking house, and
Henry Stafford Northcote and Charles Day Rose the
London banking house, the others being the individual
names mentioned in the Act of Incorporation. The
secrecy about Donald A. Smith's connection with the
syndicate was kept until every possible concession had

THE POLITICAL CHAMELEON 131

been granted. Meanwhile, he was willing to wait for
the triumph so sure to come later.

Donald A. Smith had smarted under the humiliation
of the decision of the court which deprived him of
his seat in the House of Commons. Now came his
secret connection with a project that had become the
dream of his life. He knew, unless his plans failed
in the next few months, that he would eventually
be acknowledged as the master-mind of the enter-
prise ; and the announcement of his connection with
the great project was not long withheld. At the
recent bye-election in Selkirk (1880) he was again a
candidate for Parliament. In 1872 he ran as a sup-
porter of the Tory party — in 1874 anc^ J^7^ ne was
supporting the Liberals — and in 1880 he professed
political independence. But such political vagaries
were too much for even the shifting population of
the west, and he was defeated by a strong local
candidate.

In the effort to overcome the popularity of the
other candidate it had been necessary to have recourse
to a banking-account specially opened for the purpose.
Money was expended freely. When the result of the
polling was declared a few faithful adherents gathered
at the committee rooms of the defeated candidate.
In explaining to Donald A. that nothing had been left
undone to ensure success, the secretary expressed
himself in the most forcible and up-to-date western

style : " Donald A., the voters have taken your

money and voted against you." All eyes were turned

132 LORD STRATHCONA

to the unsuccessful candidate to see whether he was
willing to take this explanation of his defeat, and the
quiet reply came, as if he was speaking to himself :
" You have properly expressed the situation." Winni-
peg was never anything but a bitter memory to Lord
Strathcona from that day.

Some miles out from Winnipeg he had a charming
residence, known as Silver Heights. In the years to
come, as the construction of the railway progressed, it
might be necessary to entertain visitors on a fairly
large scale there. But rather than go through Winni-
peg to his residence the company constructed a
railway siding off the main line, so that his private car
could be run to Silver Heights without entering the
city.

Donald A. Smith was as punctilious about paying
off personal scores as in paying his debts. He never
failed with either. In the future, Winnipeg's action
was not to be forgotten !

XIII

Amassing great wealth — The skeleton in the cupboard — Facing
sudden ruin — Failure to sell bonds — Applying for assistance—
The penalty for deception — The Cabinet refusal.

Meanwhile, the construction of the great railway
was being carried on apace. The active membership
of the Company, like that of the syndicate, was
limited to a chosen few, and Donald A. Smith's
connection was no longer kept in the background.
He was the great controlling spirit in all the prin-
cipal business of the syndicate. Within the charmed
circle construction-companies, purchasing-agencies and
land-companies were formed. Properties required
in the west by the Railway were sold by directors
to the great corporation at exorbitant valuations, as
a recent departmental inquiry has abundantly proved.
From every possible source those in the inner ring
never failed to provide for the promotion of their
own financial interests. Their wealth soon became
proverbial. Each vied with the other in the erection
of palatial residences.

But with all their apparent prosperity, there was
a skeleton in the cupboard. The syndicate had
apportioned to themselves large blocks of the stock of
the Company at a very low rate, and they were

i33

134 LORD STRATHCONA

unable to get the investing public in Europe or the
United States to accept the stock or bonds of the
Company. It was not so much from a want of
confidence in the value of the securities as for other
reasons. A vivid recollection still existed in the
principal financial markets of the incidents connected
with the purchase of the Western United States
Railway. The Dutch banking-houses which had lost
their millions through the sale of their bonds to the
Canadian syndicate, warned financial centres against
dealing with the Canadian Pacific syndicate, and their
efforts were apparently successful.

As the principal members of the syndicate were
also directors of the great banking institution of
Montreal, they had recourse again to the funds under
their control. The deal with Jesse P. Farley and the
Dutch bondholders, although directly so profitable,
had indirectly led to the present situation. The failure
to realize on the stock or bonds of the Company made
this necessary, notwithstanding the narrow escape
from the financial catastrophe that threatened them
twelve years previously. Time went on and still the
railway securities could not find a favourable market.
The stock could only be disposed of at ridiculously
low figures. Little did the investing public realize
the value of what they were then refusing !

More money had to be borrowed from the Bank
in order to carry on the work of the Company. The
ever-increasing demands of the Construction Com-
pany had to be met at all hazards. To suspend

THE GOVERNMENT OR PRISON 135

payment meant absolute and hopeless ruin. Not
only would such a result jeopardize them personally,
but it might bring serious consequences upon the
bank. By this time an amount far in excess of the
paid-up capital had been advanced. The only mem-
ber of the syndicate who never became pessimistic,
or who never lost his nerve, was Donald A. Smith.
The general manager of the bank, although he was
an official appointed by the directors, became alarmed
for his own safety, and, when a further sum was
needed, he refused to allow it to be taken without
additional security being lodged in the bank vaults.

The directors had already given the bank all the
securities they possessed. A time came when they
had to have $1,000,000 dollars (£200,000) or suspend
payment. They dare not go to any other bank for
fear of creating uneasiness and probably panic. The
risks which had been taken on the previous occasion
had not been forgotten. The late Duncan Mclntyre,
one of the syndicate, was persuaded to go among his
friends and get possession of sufficient collaterals to
justify the loan of the amount that was needed. As
he laid them on the table at a meeting of the directors,
he said, with a trembling voice : " Remember, if these
are lost, not only am I ruined, but I shall bring down
with me every friend I have." There was nothing
to do now but to apply to the Government at Ottawa
to come to their assistance. If that should fail there
was ruin or worse for everyone connected with the
enterprise. As Lord Strathcona, in later years, not

136 LORD STRATHCONA

infrequently referred to the position : " It is to the
Government or the Penitentiary." It was decided
that one of the original syndicate, accompanied by
Sir J. J. C. Abbott, the solicitor of the Company,
should go to Ottawa and see what could be done with
the Government.

Sir John Macdonald was still First Minister. He
was then secretly preparing to dissolve Parliament
before the end of its full term, although only a few
trusted friends were aware of his purpose. The
syndicate had pushed on the construction of the
Railway, so that it was likely to be completed five
years earlier than the date stipulated in the contract.
They had not failed in responding to the appeals of
the Tory party for contributions, and amounts
hitherto unheard of in Canadian elections rolled into
the campaign coffers. They had turned the whole
machinery of the railway and of its contractors into
Tory electioneering agencies. They had not hesitated
to use every possible form of corrupt influence to
drive out of public life every opponent of the syndi-
cate, and these were, naturally enough, opposed to
the Government of Sir John A. Macdonald. It is
no exaggeration to say that Parliament had become
the subservient creature of the syndicate, and, a priori,
the Government owed to the syndicate its retention
of power.

But the representatives of the syndicate, who were
selected to interview the Premier on the vital question
at issue, could not forget that a solemn assurance had

UNRELENTING VENGEANCE 137

been given to Sir John Macdonald, when the original
negotiations were in progress, that Donald A. Smith
was not interested in the undertaking. They remem-
bered his searching inquiries on that point. The
little girl, with an imperfect knowledge of the Bible,
who said that " lies were an abomination to the Lord,"
and then added " but a very present help in time of
need," expressed the views of this deputation exactly.
Sir J. J. C. Abbott and his colleague knew that society
will forgive almost every human weakness against
public morals, except downright lying. This is
recognized nowhere more clearly than amongst poli-
ticians, and Sir John Macdonald was no exception to
the rule. It was the ghost of that misrepresentation
to the Premier that now haunted them on their way to
the capital.

Sir John Macdonald had a reputation for never
forgiving one whom he once regarded as having
betrayed him. He claimed to have Highland blood
in his veins. Every one knew that he had not ceased
to express his views with remarkable clearness on the
score of Donald A. Smith's desertion in the great crisis
of his life in 1873. It was well known now that he
had been deceived in the early negotiations, and that
Donald A. was not only then actually in the syndicate,
but he was the mainspring of its existence. The
reception that Stephen and Abbott received from
Sir John Macdonald was even worse than they had
feared. At the beginning he asked for a full expla-
nation. The deputation had to admit that Donald A.

138 LORD STRATHCONA

had been with the syndicate from the beginning.
They told the Prime Minister that they were com-
pelled to ask for Government assistance to complete
their work, explaining how the money market had been
against them. At first he emphatically refused to
consider their request, alleging that such action on
the part of the Government would meet with active
opposition in the elections that were soon to take
place. They pointed out that the stoppage of the
work on the great railway, their own ruin, and the
serious consequences in banking circles, would pre-
cipitate such a crisis as would bring down the Gov-
ernment anyway, all of which might be avoided if
Parliament would assist them temporarily ; and they
told the Premier that a loan of not less than
$30,000,000 (£6,000,000) was necessary.1 After much
persuasion Sir John would only agree to state the
case to the Cabinet that afternoon, promising to
abide by the decision of his colleagues. Abbott im-
mediately returned to Montreal, while his colleague
remained in Ottawa.

When the Cabinet meeting was concluded that
afternoon, George Stephen was in the ante-room of
the Privy Council awaiting the decision. As members
of the Government came out, the Canadian Pacific
magnate knew from their manner that an adverse
decision had been reached. He accompanied the
Premier to his private office to hear the account of
what had taken place. Sir John told him that he
1 Appendix, 11.

AN UNFORGIVEN OFFENCE 139

had briefly outlined the situation to his colleagues,
leaving the matter entirely open to them, without
expressing his own views. There was some time
spent in considering the merits of the case, and the
possibilities to the country of their failure. The
principal subject under discussion, though, was Donald
A. Smith's connection with the exposure of 1873, and
his desertion of the Tory party on that occasion —
the withdrawal of his support from the Government,
Sir John declared, being prompted by the hope of
personal benefit through their downfall. When he failed
to accomplish his purpose with the Mackenzie Cabinet,
he succeeded in using the present Government as his
unconscious tools to attain his object. Sir John told
Mr. Stephen that he could hold out no hope whatever
of the request for a loan being granted — the desperate
condition of the members of the syndicate did not
appeal to his colleagues under the circumstances.

XIV

Staggering under the load — An Irishman to the rescue — Frank Smith
and his colleagues — Cabinet , discussion — George Stephen's re-
morse— A Scotchman's revenge — The bitter cup.

It was a weary figure, with the face of a man suddenly
aged under stress of the most severe mental anguish,
who was leaving Ottawa that evening for Montreal. A
member of the Cabinet, Hon. Frank Smith, who had
evidently hurried to the station to see him, walked up
quickly and said, " Is that you, Stephen ? I have
been looking for you and I did not recognize you. I
am going to help you. You must remain here three
days." Stephen replied that nothing would induce
him to remain, and that he " would never be seen
in Ottawa again." Frank Smith's persuasiveness pre-
vailed, and Stephen returned to private quarters
where he would be free from the risk of being seen
by inquisitive reporters. Smith assured Stephen that
he would bring the matter up in the Cabinet at the
next meeting, as he hoped that the decision which
had been arrived at that day would be reversed. A
trusted Canadian Pacific official, Mr. G. H. Campbell,
who happened to be at Ottawa at the time, was
asked by Frank Smith to stay with Stephen, and not

to allow anyone to have access to him. Many years

140

THE PANGS OF ANXIETY 141

afterwards Mr. Campbell told the writer that these
three days were among the most anxious of his whole
life. He was the constant companion of a man torn
with anguish and remorse, whose heart seemed breaking
with compassion for the friends whose downfall he
felt himself responsible for, and with fear of the all-
too-probable failure of Frank Smith's valiant efforts
to save an almost ruined situation.

George Stephen was Donald A. Smith's cousin.
This was the first set-back met with in his long and
successful career. He, like Donald A., had risen
from the ranks. From small beginnings, by industry
and steadfastness, he had become one of the great
financial forces in Canadian commercial life. He was
wealthy, as wealth was counted in Canada forty years
ago, ere he had ventured on that expansive sea of
railway speculation with Donald A. Smith and J. J.
Hill at the helm. He had profited to the extent of
millions with his colleagues in the American railway
venture as the outcome of the fifty million gulden
which the Dutch bondholders had lost. The only fly
in that pot of ointment was the fact that a suit was
being threatened in the Minnesota courts by Jesse P.
Farley, the Official Receiver of the railway. Farley
was knocking at the door for one-fifth of the profits
which he claimed the Company held in trust for him,
and he claimed that it was in George Stephen's name
that the odd one-fifth was placed at the time of the
transaction. That there would be serious allegations
made by Farley in the courts there was no question,

U2 LORD STRATHCONA

although there might be some doubt as to whether he
would succeed with his claim. The allegations, how-
ever, would be damaging to the reputation of all the
persons concerned. But the recollection of anything
that might have occurred in the early history of railway
speculation gave place to the critical complications of
the present moment. Unless the advances the directors
had authorized the general manager of the bank to make
to the syndicate could be returned by the aid of a
Government loan, long and honourable careers might
. . . Oh, it was worse than madness to look into the
future ! Would the Cabinet relent ?

Hon. Frank Smith was the representative Roman
Catholic in the Dominion. He held a seat in the
Cabinet without portfolio. Very large financial inter-
ests engrossed his attention, and he had declined to
accept the responsibilities attached to a department.
He possessed the highest standard of personal honour,
and was blessed with that large-hearted Irish char-
acteristic of sympathy for friends and foes alike. He
could take greater liberty with the Premier than any
other of the latter's colleagues. In the Church he
exercised an influence with the clergy unequalled by
any score of persons in his own province, and the
clergy were, rightly or otherwise, credited with having
considerable political influence with their parishioners.
It was believed by Sir John Macdonald that Frank
Smith's influence with his co-religionists was so great
that a word from him would bring about great changes
in the Catholic vote. He might be charged with

WARM-HEARTED IRISHMAN 143

holding peculiar political views, because he is known
to have subscribed towards the election expenses of
a political opponent. This, however, was only when
the candidate whom he favoured belonged " to the
true Church," or when the one whom he did not
want to see elected belonged to that extreme wing
of Protestantism known as the Orange Order. He
was immensely wealthy, but no part of his wealth had
been secured by influences unduly exercised in the
responsible positions of confidence or trust which he
had occupied in public life. He belonged essentially
to the old school of Canadian statesmen.

Hon. Frank Smith made good the promise that he
gave to George Stephen. For three consecutive days
he brought up the question in the Cabinet of the
Government assisting the Syndicate. Twice he was
compelled to return to Stephen with the discouraging
news that nothing had been accomplished. After
the members of the Government had discussed the
proposition on the third day, Smith announced that,
unless his colleagues accepted his views and came to
the rescue of the Syndicate, he would resign his seat in
the Cabinet. He also added that he would not with-
draw his opposition to the Government until he had
accomplished the defeat of those who were then
sitting with him around the Privy Council Board.
Before retiring he said that he would wait their
decision, and that if they determined to continue in
their opposition, he would announce his resignation
that evening. The Cabinet knew that with Frank

144 LORD STRATHCONA

Smith's influence thrown against them their defeat
was more than probable. Shortly after sunset Frank
Smith rushed to George Stephen and told him that
the cause was won.

But the rank and file of the Government supporters
in Parliament had yet to be pacified. A caucus or
meeting of the members and senators was called,
where the decision of the Government was announced.
The number of those opposed to the proposition was
unprecedented upon a question of Government policy.
The members were willing to assist the syndicate,
" but not Donald A." For long the discussion waxed
hot and furious. Speaker after speaker pictured the
" treachery of 1873." They declared they would go
out of power (and power is dear to the heart of both
political parties in Canada) rather than give their
consent to any policy that would save Donald A. Smith
from the pit which he had so fearlessly dug for himself
and his friends. Many of the members of that caucus
forgot for the moment that it was the money of the
syndicate that had made their campaign successful
in 1878, even when Donald A. Smith was contesting
a constituency as a supporter of the Government of
Alexander Mackenzie ; that at every election since
the syndicate had poured out money like water to
meet their party demands ; that a number of those
present, large enough to give the majority necessary
to keep them in power, occupied seats in Parliament
solely because the great influence of the Company
had been exerted in their favour ; and, more humili-
ating from the national standpoint than all other

PAYING THE PIPER 145

considerations, not a few were sitting there with the
money in their pockets that they had " borrowed "
in some form or another from members of the syndi-
cate, with no thought of returning ; and this magnate
whom they were so strenuously denouncing, had
contributed a goodly share towards these " loans."
However, after blowing off steam, a safety valve for
indignation, calmer counsels eventually prevailed, but
not until Sir John A. Macdonald had promised that
some way would be found to humiliate Donald A.
Smith before the final settlement of the question.

Sir Charles Tupper, the most powerful speaker in
the Government, was about to be appointed High
Commissioner in London at the beginning of these
complications, but he remained in the Cabinet to
assist in keeping the recalcitrant Tories in line. His
presence in the House was also necessary, where, it
was expected, the Opposition would muster in strong
force against the Government proposals. The passage
of the loan was finally effected, but not until certain
members of the House had made their own terms
with the syndicate. Largess was distributed with a
bountiful hand. Common stock of the Company
was placed in trust with friends in the United States
for very prominent politicians in Ottawa, a fact which
came to light in later years, when Wills had to be
probated. A necklace was presented to the wife of
the Prime Minister, the Press ostentatiously announcing
the cost to be $200,000 (£40,000). Rumours were
circulated of large sums of money being found by other
members to their credit in their banking accounts,

146 LORD STRATHCONA

with no intimation as to the identity of the donor.
Duncan Mclntyre, who retired from the syndicate
a few years afterwards, remarked to friends on one
occasion, that the loan was an expensive luxury,
although it had saved the fortunes of all concerned,
and had averted a commercial calamity.

Previous to the legislation reaching the last stage
however, Sir John Macdonald had decided upon the
ingredients in the cup of humiliation to be taken by
Donald A. Smith. During part of the time which
had elapsed since the syndicate secured the charter
for the construction of the railway, Donald A. had
posed as an Independent Conservative, but really
with no pronounced political opinions. He never
had the settled convictions on public questions that
are regarded as essential under responsible Govern-
ment. Political predilections are strong in Great
Britain, and nowhere is this more evident than in the
Press, but they are much more pronounced in Canada.
The political stream there is far from sluggish. In
every condition in life — financial, professional, com-
mercial, manufacturing, agricultural, labour, and
unfortunately too frequently in clerical circles —
politics have a powerful hold on the community.
" The man in the street " is everywhere. Ninety-nine
per cent, of the people are politicians. Donald A.
Smith was peculiar even among the remaining one
per cent. Perhaps this attitude on public questions
and party government was owing to the fact that he
only entered the political arena after he had passed
middle life. But his attitude remains unique. Of no

A HIGHLANDER'S REVENGE 147

other public character in Canada can it be said that
he supported every Government in power in the
Dominion since Confederation. All the intrigues of
the syndicate to defeat the Liberal candidates through-
out the Dominion grew and waxed strong because
the Tory Government was always willing to assist in
any legislation they required ; while the Liberal party
was opposed to the extensive privileges and powers
conferred upon them, and which were being con-
stantly augmented by repeated acts of legislation.
Above all else the Liberal leader warned the State of
the danger of the syndicate becoming too potent a
factor in the political life of Canada.

The syndicate heard with dismay that Sir John
Macdonald insisted, as one of the conditions of the
loan, that Donald A. Smith should contest a Montreal
constituency at a future election, not only as a Govern-
ment supporter, but a personal admirer of his own.
It was an awful dose. To be asked, or rather com-
pelled formally to declare unbounded confidence in
the political leader whom he had publicly abandoned
in 1873, to express his personal admiration for the
leader of that Parliamentary mob which had thrown
such offensive epithets at him in the House of Com-
mons years ago, and who himself had deliberately
shouted, " That fellow Smith is the greatest liar I
ever met," a complete record of which still exists in
the pages of Hansard1 — was indeed drinking the cup
of humiliation to the dregs. He also knew that he
must publicly abjure friendship with those who had

1 Appendix, 4.

148 LORD STRATHCONA

been his only friends on the occasion of the incident
which was really the cause of the suffering he was
now doomed to undergo. Sir John A. Macdonald
was growing old, although apparently as strong and
healthy as ever. He had sweated blood over the
humiliation of the Pacific scandal of 1873, perhaps
not so much for what he had hastily and carelessly
done, as from the subsequent revelations. He had
colleagues who in that terrible hour had privately
intrigued to get him removed from the high position
of leader of the party. To force a certificate of
character from Donald A. at the present moment
was some satisfaction. There was no way of escape
for " the traitor." And Donald A. Smith had the
blood of Highlanders in his veins. It was a strange
coincidence that ten years later he should erect a
summer residence in the Vale of Glencoe, where
from his bedroom window of a moonlight night he
could see the solemn and lonely pillar commemorating
the cruel massacre of the Macdonalds — Scotchmen
who had been run in a different mould.

Only a Scotchman could conceive of making a
countryman of his own pay such a price as Sir John
demanded from Donald A. Smith. A more abject
humiliation was impossible. Donald A. Smith, how-
ever, took his medicine like a man, but his friends
knew that he would rather have paid a fortune and
have had the cup pass from him.

However, the loan of $30,000,000 (£6,000,000)
was secured and the situation effectively saved.

XV

Demoralization of public life — Members appeal for funds to the
syndicate — Fraudulent company subscriptions — A hungry lot —
Donald A.'s opinion — The cloak for many offences — A fortune
in a night — Demoralization run riot.

The point has now been reached from which dates

the open demoralization of the Canadian Parliament.

Year after year the syndicate came back for additional

legislation. The favours already received showed how

easily they could clamour for more. Members of

Parliament were publicly retained in the interests of

the Company. The corridors of the Senate and the

House of Commons swarmed with their lobbyists.

Parliament awakened to the fact that private fortunes

were being created by the votes in the House. The

prevalence of that idea in the minds of public men

could have but one result. If the power which they

exercised could distribute wealth, or its equivalent,

in the way of charters that might be sold to the great

corporation, the natural inquiry was " Where do I

come in ? " The cankerworm had reached the vitals

of the body politic.

To bask in the favour of the local Canadian Pacific

Railway magnates meant everything. In the purchase

of supplies, in the awarding of contracts, in options

149

150 LORD STRATHCONA

on proposed town sites along the line of railway, in
obtaining inside information about the prospective
route of branch-lines for speculative purposes, in
allowing special terms and prices in purchasing
railway lands, in the free distribution of paid-up
stock of the Company's subsidiary corporations,
members of the House of Commons were not for-
gotten. For those in professional life there were
always vacancies and liberal retaining fees. The
banking books and financial statements of members
of the syndicate showed demands made upon them
by members of Parliament in the form of requests for
subscriptions for bogus companies, incorporated for no
other purpose than to furnish an excuse for asking
these railway magnates to subscribe tens of thousands
of dollars, in return for which the subscribers never
received anything more than scrip, which was just so
much waste paper.

When telling the writer of some of his extra-
ordinary experiences with public men of the country
at this particular time, Lord Strathcona asked me if
I had any acquaintance with a certain gentleman, now
living, a member of the Canadian Legislature at this
period and a supporter of Sir John Macdonald. Lord
Strathcona went on to say that, upon one occasion,
immediately after he had sailed from New York for
Liverpool, a cheque was received at his office in
Montreal from the member in question, purporting
to be an interim dividend for three months on $ 10,000
stock which he (Donald A. Smith) had subscribed and

POLITICAL HIGHWAYMEN 151

was said to hold in Company, and of which the

sender was President. The amount of the cheque
was $150. Three days afterwards a demand Draft
or Bill of Exchange was received at his office for
$10,000 as payment for the stock which he " had
probably forgotten to remit." The manager of the
office paid the draft on presentation. At the end of
the year in looking over the accounts Lord Strathcona
came across this item. The manager explained.
When telling the story to the writer in 1900 Lord
Strathcona added : " I said nothing, and even now
my manager does not know that the whole business
was a carefully prepared fraud." He quietly added,
" They were a hungry lot in Ottawa then."

Among the list of directors mentioned in the
charter incorporating the Canadian Pacific Railway,
granted by the Canadian Parliament, are names
honoured in the history of Great Britain; names
significant of commercial, official and political promi-
nence, whose records stand unblemished. In this case,
however, they stood as a covert from the storm for the
Canadian end of the Company. It has never been
suggested for a moment, during the times of the
greatest possible interest in this question in Canada,
that these co-directors were associated in the remotest
degree with the painful and demoralizing events that
marked the operations of the syndicate in the Do-
minion. Whether any of them participated in the
profits that the Canadian directors accumulated or
not, does not necessarily form a subject of inquiry.

152 LORD STRATHCONA

Th4t they were kept in the dark about the other
matters is accepted without question. That for any
consideration whatever, they could become parties to
the conduct of business which they would condemn
in British politics, is impossible to imagine.

The mistake made by those in Canada who were
opposed to the syndicate was in not appealing to the
British and foreign representatives on the board of
directors to assist in putting an end to the objection-
able methods then in full swing in Canada. Perhaps
if this had been done, many of the darkest pages in
the political history of the Dominion would never have
been written, and the stigma that must ever remain
on great names would have been avoided.

A saturnalia of corruption on other lines also took
possession of Parliamentary life. It began at the head
and gradually made its way to the rank and file. The
fundamental article of faith under the new conditions
was that public men should use their representative
positions for purposes of personal gain. A state of
public morals soon arose that would have been utterly
abhorrent to the members of Parliament a decade
earlier. No one can think of Draper, Harrison, Howe,
the Camerons, the Richards, and a score of others
using Parliament as a stepping-stone to personal wealth.
Family history in those earlier times gloried in the
fact that the patrimony had all been spent in the
public service. In every one of the old provinces
there may be seen places telling of the ruined fortunes
of those who had once served the state. It may not

BUYING POLITICAL SUPPORT 153

be a matter for congratulation that the state accepts
a man's time and fortune and gives nothing in return ;
but it is a subject for pride that so many of those
representatives, in the first thirty years of responsible
Government, strove to raise so high a standard of
honesty and integrity in public places.

The arrangement with the syndicate provided for
early completion of the railway across the prairies,
and opened the door of unlimited possibilities to those
having access to the charmed circle at Ottawa.
Colonization companies were granted enormous areas
of the public domain within the fertile belt. The
personnel having control of these companies must, of
course, be persona grata to the Government. That
was the open sesame. Interests in these concessions
were available to many who were willing to change
their political faith for the sure and certain hope of
getting rich at the expense of the state. The only
wonder is that many more did not fall. The Dominion
Government, also, formally took possession of 100,000
square miles of the western part of Ontario, about
which % there was a dispute as to jurisdiction between
the province and the Dominion. The decision of the
Privy Council subsequently awarded the disputed
territory to Ontario. But in the meantime, while the
matter was sub judice, extensive areas in the territory
were parcelled out among supporters of the Govern-
ment. The land was covered with valuable timber
limits, for which a ready market was available with
the lumber kings in the state of Michigan, where the

154 LORD STRATHCONA

forests were already very much depleted. Scores of
members of Parliament were among those to whom
these lands were distributed.

Forests in the new western prairies, where timber
was comparatively scarce, were sold to certain members
at the nominal figure of $5 (£1) per square mile. One
of these concessions was secured by an influential
member of the House of Commons, the late John
Charles Rykert. He effected a sale to a millionaire
named Sands, of Detroit, receiving in payment thereof
four short-date promissory notes of $50,000(^10,000)
each, which were afterwards paid in full. Depart-
mental papers giving the details of this wholesale
distribution of the public domain among the supporters
of the Government, were brought down to Parliament
in the most unblushing manner.

Ministers of the Crown received subscriptions for
campaign purposes from contractors and those seeking
favours from their own departments, forgetting or
indifferent to the fact that the proof of Sir John A.
Macdonald and Sir George Cartier having done so
with Sir Hugh Allan in 1872 brought about the
downfall of the Government of that day. But things
had moved on in Canada since then !

Cabinet Ministers secretly held lands in their own
names and arranged with confidential officials to
unload their holdings on the public, a practice that is
in vogue while these notes are being written, but
matters have so far improved that the knowledge of
this is withheld from Parliament ; as is also the fact

DEMORALIZATION OF PUBLIC LIFE 155

that in very recent times a Cabinet Minister at the
head of one of the great spending departments has
personally collected toll from successful tenders before
awarding the contracts. In the period covered between
1880 and 1890 the majority in the House of Commons
boldly twitted their political opponents with "not
being in the swim." But these influences spread to
some extent to the other side of the House, where
substantial favours from the syndicate were secretly
distributed.

This was the deplorable state of affairs in the Cana-
dian Parliaments between 1880 and 1890 — the climax
of the demoralization of the public life in the Dominion.
It was the direct result of the corrupt means inaugur-
ated by a syndicate of capitalists getting possession of
the charter for the construction of the Canadian
Pacific Railway, as well as the portions of the completed
line that a previous Prime Minister had declared he
would leave as a heritage to the people of Canada.
As the syndicate came back to Parliament year after
year, for further concessions in the way of legislation,
so in a corresponding manner the circle of political
demoralization widened. The wonder is, looking back
upon the events of that dismal period in Canadian
history, that even a leaven of Liberal Members retained
their seats in the House, or made any attempt to stem
the tide of evil influences.

XVI

The American railway deal — Dealing with the Official Receiver —
Wants share of the spoils — Thirteen years* lawsuit — The syndicate
won in the courts — Profits from American deal.

It was fully expected, within a year from the time
that had now been reached, that the railway across
the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean would be
completed. Things had also been moving satisfac-
torily with the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba
Railway, the venture of ten years previously. Since
1882 dividends had been regularly received on the
$15,000,000 stock that the syndicate had presented to
themselves on the incorporation of the Company, the
only cost for which had been the account for printing.
The railway formed the basis of the extension to which
J. J. Hill was giving his attention, and in which the
original syndicate, including Donald A. Smith, retained
their interest. The much disputed Pembina Branch
of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway
had been long completed, and Winnipeg was connected
by rail with the outer world. An obliging Senate at
Ottawa discovered after the defeat of the Mackenzie
Government that stronger Imperial reasons existed
for the connection being made with the United States
railway system than had existed against it two years

156

EFFECT OF RAILWAY MONOPOLY 157

previously, and arrangements were made with the
syndicate for the construction of the Pembina branch
from Winnipeg to the international border as a branch
of the Canadian Pacific system. It was argued this
railway was now necessary as a means of transport for
construction supplies for the prairie end of the
Canadian system.

The query is perfectly natural as to why the syndicate
who got possession of the railway connection from
Minneapolis to Winnipeg should also want to control
the transcontinental line through Canada. This is
explained by one of the terms of the agreement be-
tween the Canadian Government and the syndicate —
the monopoly that was given of the railway system
in the Canadian west for twenty years. The Canadian
end of the syndicate could depend upon J. J. Hill
taking steps in the United States to prevent the
construction of any other line to the Canadian border.
The same capitalists were in both enterprises. Be-
tween them there would be no competition in rates,
so that the general public would be at their mercy.
And this is how it worked. The " Empire-Builders "
had the great farming community of the west between
the upper and nether millstones.

Meanwhile Jesse P. Farley, the former Receiver,
clamoured for his share of the spoils. He was the
principal factor in doing the Dutchmen out of their in-
vestment, and held an assurance from some one, that
one-fifth of the profits would fall to his lot. Had he
dealt honestly with the Dutchmen who trusted him,

158 LORD STRATHCONA

they would not only have received their interest

regularly, but eventually the principal as well,

amounting to sixty-five million gulden. Farley found

that—

"The downhill path is easy,

And there is no turning back."

He could not undo the wrong he had done, and he
had had no share of the good fruit. He was doubly
aggrieved. In Montreal and St. Paul princely man-
sions had been erected by those who had benefited by
his actions. Without him they could have done
nothing. His advice and co-operation had been
essential and effective. He said he had been promised
the one-fifth, but because of his position as Receiver
it was necessary that the transaction should not be
put into writing, and was to remain a secret agreement.
The syndicate had taken possession of the property
and then sold the whole concern out to themselves
under the name of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and
Manitoba Company. They now boldly declined to
recognize his claim and give him the fifth that he
alleged he was entitled to under the terms of the
original negotiations.

It is impossible to defend the code of morals that
allows a Receiver, who is a court officer, and has definite
trust responsibilities, to participate in the profits of
any such arrangements as he said had been made.
Donald A. Smith, as the one who first broached the
question of buying the railway, no doubt accepted
this view. To admit Farley's contention was to en-
courage dishonesty among trustees, and also to offer

HOW THE DUTCHMEN WERE WORKED 159

a premium on wrong-doing. Therefore Farley was
repudiated lock, stock and barrel. He finally got
tired of waiting and entered an action-at-law. For
thirteen long weary years the suit dragged its way
through the courts of the United States,1 finally
reaching the highest judicial tribunal in the Republic
in 1893, journeying twice in the meantime between
Minneapolis and Washington on legal technicalities.

When the suit came on for trial in the First Court
Jesse P. Farley told his story. His allegations were
clear and distinct — he had agreed to help the Canadian
syndicate to get the road, to force the Dutchmen to
sell their bonds, and to use his official position to
further the scheme. If he told the truth the trans-
action was not merely a scandal. He had made
a bargain with the Canadian syndicate altogether
incompatible with the most elementary principles of
honesty.

Farley was corroborated by Mr. Fisher, the president
of the St. Paul and Duluth Railway. Kittson, who was
also expected to confirm Farley's testimony, died before
the case came to trial. Alleged conversations with
Kittson were, however, given in evidence. On the
other side J. J. Hill declared there had been no such
agreement as Farley suggested. In this he was sup-
ported by affidavits from Donald A. Smith and George
Stephen. The court held that Farley's failure to
prove his claim by a written agreement would entitle
the defendant to a decision, and, even if there had
been an agreement in writing, it would have been
x Appendix, 19.

160 LORD STRATHCONA

improper and illegal on account of the trusteeship
which Farley was then exercising. But long before
the final decision of the Supreme Court at Washington
was given Jesse P. Farley had gone to that bourne from
whence no traveller returns. Donald A. Smith, J. J.
Hill, George Stephen, and the heirs of N. W. Kittson
(all Canadians) from now on, remained in peaceable
possession of the property.

Donald A. Smith, George Stephen and J. J. Hill
continued in intimate business relationship through
all these years. The St. Paul, Minneapolis and
Manitoba Company became one of the trunk lines of
the western states under another name, reaching out
its arms to the Canadian west at three or four points.
St. Paul and Minneapolis and Winnipeg became great
tributaries to this sytem, resulting in an enormous
accretion of wealth by the original syndicate which
had obtained possession of the rights of the Dutch
bondholders. No wonder Jesse P. Farley wanted his
share, when he saw, as the years rolled by, the colossal
fortunes that he had passed over to the Canadian
quartette. In twenty-seven years Donald A. Smith,
J. J. Hill and their associates in this venture received
$413,000,000(^82,600,000) interest bearing securities,
exclusive of annual dividends in the meantime, as the
result of the railway speculation that Donald A. Smith
outlined to J. J. Hill at " The Cottage " in Ottawa
in 1876 — the foundation of these colossal figures being
the payment of $6,000,000 (£1,200,000) to Dutch
bondholders borrowed from a bank of which Donald
A. Smith was a director, and afterwards repaid by a

A RAILWAY ELDORADO 161

new issue of bonds. And the Dutchmen still have a
vivid recollection how in buying those bonds they
figuratively had gone down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
From a memorandum prepared for the Interstate
Commerce Commission at Spokane by Attorney Brooke
Adams, grandson of John Quincy Adams, one of the
great fathers of the American Republic, these figures
show the amounts of interest-paying securities divided
between Donald A. Smith, J. J. Hill and their associates
in less than thirty years.

1879

$15,000,000

1898

$28,000,000

1882

2,000,000

1899

13,500,000

1883

9,000,000

1899

6,750,000

1888

2,000,000

I9OI

30,750,000

1890

4,200,000

I905

41,000,000

1892

4,125,000

I906

84,000,000

1893

2,000,000

I906

135,000,000

1898

30,000,000

The last item was issued in the form of Ore certificates ;
1,500,000 certificates of $100 each, the market value
of each certificate then being $90.

The syndicate owns a vast area of very high class
iron ore in Mesaba county in the state of Minnesota,
secured partially by purchase out of the earnings of the
railway company, the balance in the land grant that
formed part of the security of the Dutch bondholders.
The Company has a perpetual contract with the
United Steel Corporation for the full run of the ore
in these mines, furnishing a source of wealth for
generations, by itself an Eldorado.

XVII

The danger to the state — Loading the dice — Louis Riel still a factor
— Blake's resignation — Moments never to be forgotten — Blake's
farewell to Canada.

In inverse ratio, but to a corresponding degree, just
as the friends of the syndicate in Parliament secured
the support of this now enormously powerful corpora-
tion in the country, so were those opposed to the
demands and methods of the syndicate marked out
for political extinction. These members of the
Commons were followed to their constituencies, and
there found themselves opposed by candidates whose
election expenses were paid from some outside source,
and paid on a most liberal scale. Not a few were
unable to overcome such influences among their
hitherto faithful constituents. The Opposition was
apparently doomed to be as helpless in the country
as it was in the House. Many estimable, high-minded
and able representatives in the House of Commons
were forced out of public life for no other reason than
that they had been faithful guardians of the public
interests. The Company which had been incorporated
by Parliament was fast becoming its master — it had
already become a menace to the state. The dragon's
teeth so blindly sown in 1880 were bringing forth a

terrible harvest.

162

AN ADMISSION BY ONE WHO KNEW 163

For reasons that need not be particularized, Duncan
Mclntyre, one of the original members, withdrew from
the syndicate. He was opposed to the persistent
interference by the Company with the Government
of the country. He had some notion of fighting the
question out on the floor of the House of Commons,
and made known his wishes to the Liberal leaders. A
vacancy occurring in an Ontario constituency at this
time offered an opportunity. The writer presented
Mr. Mclntyre's name to the Liberal convention, and
he was accepted as the candidate. Mr. Mclntyre was
in the far west when he received word about his
nomination. The Government issued the writ and
hurried on the election in a most unusual manner.
Mr. Mclntyre, although he engaged a special train to
carry him over two thousand miles, only reached the
riding the day of the election. All the forces of the
syndicate were thrown against him, the constituency
was flooded with railway contractors and money, and
Mr. Mclntyre was defeated. In a conversation in the
local hotel when the disappointing returns came in,
Mr. Mclntyre turned to the writer and said : " You
will never know the force of the influences you are up
against. Canada is paying an awful price for being
ruled by my former associates."

The general election campaign of 1887 was marked
with more than usual bitterness. It had in many ways
ceased to be political, and had become personal. This
particular phase was no doubt due to the necessity of
publishing the names of the members of Parliament

164 LORD STRATHCONA

who had been participants in the distribution of the
public lands. The new Franchise and Voters' List
Act, modelled, it was alleged, after the British Act,
passed in the session of 1885, and came into operation.
The Revising Officers in all the fighting ridings were
extreme partisans. Liberals were heavily handicapped
in endeavouring to secure their rights. It is a sordid
tiresome story, and but one or two illustrations will
suffice. In the constituency represented by Edward
Blake, the Liberal leader, the discovery was made a
few days before the final revision that 165 Liberal
voters had been omitted from the lists. In a neigh-
bouring constituency among many flagrant errors was
the name " B. C. Church " on the list. Reference to
the assessment roll showed the property to be a church
belonging to the Bible Christian denomination. The
Revising Officer refused to remove the name when the
matter was presented to him, because " he " had
not been served with a formal notice that application
was to be made to remove " his " name from the list.
At the election " B. C. Church " subsequently voted.
He had not been seen in that district before, nor has
he ever been heard of since.

When the Voters' Lists were received from the
Government printing bureau, in many of the con-
stituencies it was found that in the doubtful ridings
numbers of well-known Liberals had been omitted and
were therefore unable to vote. There had been
added to several Ontario constituencies under the
recent Franchise Act, tribes of Indians as voters.

A NARROW MAJORITY 165

In one of these ridings which had been represented
by Liberals for many years, the night before the
election, what purported to be a Proclamation from
Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, was distributed through-
out the Indian reserve with a great flourish of trum-
pets, commanding the Indians to vote for the Tory
candidate.

In the province of Quebec the Government had no
easy time. The execution of Louis Riel for partici-
pation in a second North-west rebellion had given
rise to a Nationalist party amongst the Government
supporters, who professed to believe that Riel was not
punished so much for the second rebellion, as to
placate the Orangemen for the murder of Thomas
Scott in the first outbreak. These candidates for
Parliament publicly pledged themselves to vote against
the Government on any motion of want of confidence
that might be introduced in the first session. With
the exception of the western territories, the elections
throughout Canada were simultaneous, and the result,
counting the Nationalists as against the Government,
gave Sir John A. Macdonald a majority less than the
double figures — a majority that would soon cease to
exist if the Liberals could carry two or three of the
Prairie constituencies.

Mr. Edward Blake was physically exhausted by the
labour of the campaign, but otherwise seemed in
excellent spirits. The day following the election he
told the writer that, if it was to be a very small majority,
he preferred that it should be with the Government

166 LORD STRATHCONA

rather than with him, as his success would be the more
complete in the near future. Full of hope, a party
started for the west to assist in the elections in the
territories. When we reached Winnipeg, however,
we received the amazing news that Edward Blake,
previous to leaving home for a much-needed rest, had
publicly announced his resignation as leader of the
Liberal party, pending his early withdrawal from the
House of Commons. From a party standpoint the
immediate effect was staggering. A good fight was
put up by the opponents of the Government in the
Prairie constituencies, but the Liberal candidates were
buried under railway and official influences. Things
were done by the Government supporters that would
never have been attempted had they known that
Edward Blake would be in his accustomed place at the
head of the Liberal party in Parliament. They knew
that for a brief while, at least, the Opposition forces
at Ottawa would be disorganized by Blake's resignation,
and they therefore took risks they would not otherwise
have indulged in. This was where the first effect of
Mr. Blake's resignation was felt by the Liberal party.
I saw Mr. Blake on his return home. During
several years of very intimate political association he
had given me his unreserved confidence. In the
strain of the campaign I had taken complete charge
of his confidential correspondence. I knew his aspira-
tions, his hopes and his determination to model a
Government in the Dominion on the lines of the
loftiest ideals of British Parliamentary traditions. It

GIVING UP THE FIGHT 167

was a prospect worth living for. Now the pitcher
was broken at the fountain. He was sitting in his
library when I entered. In this room he had often
explained to me his hopes for the future of Canada,
his fears of the constant struggle for her birthright.
He had repeated frequently that, much as he desired
it, he would never assume power unless by the free
and unpurchased will of the electors. Here, also, I
had met Mr. Justin McCarthy, and in discussing the
question of Home Rule he more than hinted at the
great service Mr. Blake could render the cause if he
would consent to enter Westminster. But Mr. Blake's
reply invariably was : " My life's work is here." As I
grasped his hand on this occasion he simply pointed
to a chair. For a moment the silence was intense.
Then he said : " I know you are surprised. I came to
this decision alone. My life is too valuable and my
time is too short to further engage in the useless
struggle with the demoralizing influences in the public
life of this country which are the direct outcome of
the work of the syndicate. You will not live to see
the end. It will take two generations of fighting to
rid politics of its effect, no matter who is in power.
It is beyond me."

The question of the resignation was beyond argu-
ment. There may have been secret regret, but there
was no turning back. Nearly thirty years have rolled
by since then. Possibly Edward Blake was a pessimist
in some things, but he loved his native land with a
superlative love. He saw nothing ahead save the

168 LORD STRATHCONA

assertive power of private wealth, accumulated at the
cost of the state. And his prediction of " two
generations " bids fair to be realized. His withdrawal
from the leadership was a crushing blow to his party.
In his native province the most trying experience he
had to endure was the sudden solicitude by his political
opponents for his welfare. The Liberal party, in their
bitter resentment at his withdrawal, forgot the twenty
years of unwearied and unflinching struggle in the
cause of good government that Edward Blake had
given to Canada. His self-sacrifice, his fruitless labour,
his resignation and its cause, must ever rank as one of the
greatest tragedies connected with Canadian politics.

In an official letter to the people of Canada, Edward
Blake thus expressed himself upon the situation at a
later date, with lamentation and hope that may well
be remembered now —

" It has left us with lowered standards of public
virtue and a death-like apathy in public opinion ; with
racial, religious and provincial animosities rather in-
flamed than soothed ; with a subservient Parliament,
an autocratic executive, debauched constituencies and
corrupted and corrupting classes ; with lessened self-
reliance and increased dependence on the public chest
and on legislative aids, and possessed withal by a
boastful jingo spirit far enough removed from true
manliness, loudly proclaiming unreal conditions and
exaggerated sentiments, while actual facts and genuine
opinions are suppressed.

LAMENTATION AND HOPE 169

" It has left us with our hands tied, our future
compromised, and in such a plight that, whether we
stand or move, we must run some risks which else we
might have either declined or encountered with greater
promise of success.

" Yet let us never despair of our country ! It is a
goodly land ; endowed with great recuperative powers
and vast resources as yet almost undeveloped ; inhabited
by populations moral and religious, sober and indus-
trious, virtuous and thrifty, capable and instructed —
the descendants of a choice immigration, of men of
mark and courage, energy and enterprise, in the breasts
of whose children still should glow the sparks of those
ancestral fires.

" Under such conditions all is not lost. ' Though
much be taken much abides.' And if we do but wake
from our delusive dreams, face the stern facts in time,
repair our errors and amend our ways, there may still
remain for us, despite the irrevocable past, a future,
if not so clear and bright as we might once have hoped,
yet fair and honourable, dignified and secure."

XVIII

Muzzling the Press — Donald A.'s fear of criticism — Buying up the
Globe shares — Unsuccessful efforts at prostitution of the Press —
Personal admission by Lord Strathcona.

Following the loan of $30,000,000 by Parliament to
the syndicate, the Liberal Press made an appeal to
the corporation, now that the resources of the country
were again called upon for assistance, to cease from
active participation in the public life of the Dominion.
The Toronto Globe, recognized as the leader of Liberal
journalism, was particularly insistent in demanding
the withdrawal of the Canadian Pacific forces from
the political arena. Donald A. Smith and his associates
writhed under this criticism, as well as the appeals
to the honour of the members of the syndicate. A
determination was then arrived at to attack Liberal
journalism in some signal and effective manner.

It had long been evident that any journalist ven-
turing to attack the syndicate was duly noted. A
" jolly good fellow " was placed in charge of the Press
department of the railway. To him was left the
responsibility of distributing favours, railway passes,
and printing contracts. But if journalism could not
be taught the error of its ways by conciliatory methods,
then it must be made to feel the iron hand in another

manner. Donald A. Smith was particularly susceptible

170

MUZZLING THE PRESS 171

to newspaper flattery or criticism. In regard to the
latter there were many holes in his armour that might
be unpleasantly pierced. As his years increased he
became even more sensitive on this score. His remark
to a prominent Canadian who was receiving a good deal
of newspaper attention years later in London, " Your
name has no right to be there. It should be mine,"
was heard too often to be forgotten. The constant
criticism of the leading organ of the Liberal party
gave rise to the determination to silence it at any cost.
The founder of the Globe, George Brown, was dead,
the deeply mourned victim of assassination, the
work of a madman. The Globe was formed into a
company, odd shares being held in different parts of
the country. But the dividends were not such as to
justify very great anxiety on the part of the holders
to retain them as an investment. Secretly Donald
A. Smith's agents bought up all the shares that were
available. The probate of his Will shows that his
estate holds $100,000 (£20,000) worth of the Globe
stock. He learned, however, that the controlling
interest in the Globe was held by Nelson & Sons,
publishers, Edinburgh, as trustees for the widow of
the great founder of this journal. Mrs. Brown was a
sister of the Nelsons. Donald A. Smith instructed his
representative to proceed to Edinburgh and purchase
Mrs. Brown's interest at any cost. The sum offered
was far in excess of the then value of the shares, but
the object of the prospective purchaser was only too
evident — to silence one of the oldest and the most
influential exponents of public opinion in Canada — to

172 LORD STRATHCONA

prostitute the reputation of a great newspaper that
for fifty years had stood in the forefront of the battle
for the rights of the people, and was never known
either to be silent or to advocate any cause from
unworthy motives.

There could be but one reason why the syndicate
wanted to get possession of the Globe — to drag into
the dust this organ of public morality for its own
interested ends. But again, as in the case of Alexander
Mackenzie, the syndicate ran up against a descendant
of the old Covenanters. The reply that was received
settled the matter for that time. Mrs. Brown, true
to the memory of her distinguished husband, sent an
account of what was on foot to Canada, suggesting
that, to provide for contingencies in the future, it
might be advisable that the controlling interest in the
Globe should be in the hands of the Liberal party.
She suggested what she considered a fair price for her
interest, and it was learned afterwards that this was
far below the sum that had been offered by the agent
of Donald A. Smith.

When the news of the prospective transaction was
received in Toronto, the effect was startling. The
party was struggling along, ill-supplied with funds for
ordinary organization, but there could be no delay
about a matter so vital as this. Sir Richard Cartwright,
Hon. A. S. Hardy, Minister of Crown Lands in the
Ontario Government, Hon. George A. Cox, all now
deceased, Mr. Robert Jaffray, now senator, and the
writer discussed the situation. Messrs. Cox and
Jaffray offered to subscribe half the amount necessary,

A PLOT THAT FAILED 173

if the balance could be raised elsewhere. It fell to the
lot of the writer to visit Liberals in different parts of
the Dominion for the purpose of getting the balance.
The purchase was satisfactorily completed, and the
newspaper was placed beyond the possibility of falling
into the possession of the syndicate during the present
generation.

Thirty years afterwards, in the course of a conver-
sation with Lord Strathcona on journalistic work and
the influence of the Press, he said to the writer : " Do
you know that once I came nearly being a newspaper
man myself ? " I replied that I was aware he had
tried to get possession of the Globe in the 'eighties.
" Ah yes, you know, but I would not have changed
its politics, except as regards the Canadian Pacific.
It was very abusive then. I wanted it very much.
How did your party raise the money to get it ? "
I told him about our determination that he should
never have it, and my own personal efforts in collecting
the money. He added : " So it was you, so it was you.
And that I should only know it now ! But I would
have had it within a month if you had been much
longer. The Globe was very insulting, very personal.
It treated us as if we were robbers." The writer will
not deny that there was no possibility about the
language of that day being misunderstood. The
friends of the syndicate blamed us for the bitterness
that was expressed. Our justification was that we
were fighting against great odds, with no personal
ends to serve, and only protecting our country's
heritage in the face of all but insuperable difficulties.

XIX

Once more amid old associations — Political predilections — Disallow-
ance on Manitoba's legislation— Driving the golden spike-
Fighting against slavery — What Manitoba paid for liberty.

After the elections of 1887 Donald A. Smith found
himself again in the House of Commons. Seven years
had elapsed since his forced retirement from Parlia-
ment by the decision of the Supreme Court. There
were still many Tory members in the House who
were present on that memorable occasion in 1878,
when he was so shockingly insulted by the Tory party.1
Now he appeared as their associate and the dutiful
follower of their leader. In glancing around he could
see that not a few of those who sympathized with him
on that occasion were no longer in the House, and he
could reflect how much of the money of the syndicate
had gone, secretly, to ensure their absence. In looking
at the supporters of the Government he could recog-
nize some who had taken their part in the insulting
epithets thrown at him then, and remember that not
a little of the money which he controlled had gone
to keep them in their seats. The whirligig of time
had certainly brought great changes ! Now he was
forced to be on terms of intimacy with bitter personal
enemies, and to publicly repudiate those who a few
years previously were his personal and political friends.

1 Appendix, 4.
174

COMPLETING THE RAILWAY 175

Whatever was thought of the reasons which had
actuated him in deserting the Tory party in 1873,
there was no doubt as to why he was supporting the
Tory party in 1887. More than once in /the years
immediately following 1880 was he reminded of the
changed circumstances, as well as of the opinions his
present allies had expressed of him on that well-
remembered occasion. But to Donald A. Smith's
credit be it said he never lost his temper during the
nine years he remained in the House, amid the many
aggravating and annoying reminders of the past. His
philosophical disposition to accept the inevitable never
deserted him. His standard of political honour was
not high, but it served. To him it was always his first
duty to consider his personal interests, and he could
comfort himself with the reflection that he was no
worse than many who were sitting around him. Not
a few were there who had been and were now accept-
ing substantial favours from him as a return for the
enactment of legislation which the syndicate desired
from time to time.

In November, 1887, four years earlier than the
agreement stipulated, the transcontinental railway
was completed to the Pacific coast. It had duly
passed out of the possession of the Canadian people
and into the sole control of a few magnates, none of
whose personal wealth had been expended in the
construction of the line. Very properly the master
mind of the syndicate, the genius who had guided and
guarded them through the wilderness of difficulties,

176 LORD STRATHCONA

never losing heart or failing in courage, and had
brought them at last to the rainbow's foot, was
selected to drive the golden nail in the last rail which
connected the east with the glorious west. In after
years Lady Strathcona used often to wear, as one of
her most treasured possessions, the beautiful diamond-
studded spike which the grateful syndicate presented
to her on this auspicious occasion. By this act all the
members of the syndicate, and those who had become
associated with the enterprise, publicly acknowledged
Donald A. Smith's chief place in the great organization.

The prairie section of the railway had only been
in operation a short time when the west resounded
with the wails of the farmers against the excessive
rates that were being charged for carrying their
produce to market-centres. By the terms of the
original agreement, a loophole was left whereby the
Company could do just about as it pleased, and there
was no adequate protection for the public. Repre-
sentations were made at Ottawa for relief, but the
syndicate, like Shylock, pleaded the terms of the bond.

The Legislature of Manitoba, however, had become
an important body, and the Government was forced
to pass legislation incorporating companies for con-
structing other railways throughout the province.
All these Bills were disallowed with commendable
promptitude by the Ottawa Government, and the
impression took possession of the public mind of the
province that the Manitoba Cabinet also was the tool
of Donald A. Smith and his associates, and was less

A PROVINCE IN ARMS 177

willing to protect the struggling agricultural com-
munity than to interfere with the schemes of the
syndicate. The result was the defeat of the Norquay
Cabinet. They were followed by a party openly
avowing a policy of constructing railways within the
province regardless of disallowance by the Federal
administration at Ottawa. The public declared that
they would have competitive railways at the cost of
secession from eastern Canada, if necessary. The
people won. Disallowance ceased. Then a similar
agitation took place in the territory outside Manitoba.
When the Laurier Government came into power, in
order to secure an amicable reduction of freight or
goods-rates from the railway, several million dollars
additional subsidy was granted to the Company. It was
fully realized that the shackles the M Empire-Builders "
were forging on the general public could not be borne
without entailing conditions of absolute slavery.

The citizens of Manitoba now resolved to firmly
resist any further extortions imposed upon them by
Donald A. Smith's railway enterprises. A charter
was granted by the legislative assembly of the
province to a company to connect with the Northern
Pacific Railway of the United States — the rival of
J. J. Hill's and Donald A. Smith's American line. It
was found necessary to make a level crossing over the
syndicate's railroad in order to reach Brandon. The
employees of the Canadian Pacific company stood
guard over their line. But several hundred farmers
and citizens of Winnipeg appeared, armed with rifles,

178 LORD STRATHCONA

rushed the position, tore up the Canadian Pacific rails,
and protected the navvies while the diamond crossing
was laid. They held the fort for several days, threat-
ening violence on any attempt to interfere with the
new railroad. The syndicate finally realized, although
the courts would doubtless have assisted them,
the utter uselessness of engaging in a contest with
a province so unanimous in opposing their monopoly.
They retired to await developments.

Waiting was a game at which the syndicate was
past-master.

The astute " Empire-Builders " had another way of
" getting even " with the people of Manitoba. They
were at least familiar with the spirit of Byron's
Mazeppa —

" For time at last sets all things even —
And if we do but watch the hour,
There never was yet human power
Which could evade, if unforgiven,
The patient watch and vigil long
Of him who treasures up a wrong."

The following year the wheat crop of the province
was very poor, and much of it was damaged by an
early frost. The farmers of the prairies had not then
learned, as they afterwards accidentally discovered,
that wheat can be sown before the spring frost is out
of the ground, and thus secure the maturing of the
grain before the early autumn frosts. At this time
the Winnipeg grain-dealers could only find a market
for the damaged wheat in eastern Canada. The
syndicate's time had come ! No lower quotation could

MAKING THE FARMER PAY 179

be secured from the railway for carrying the grain to
the great lakes, from whence cheap transportation
could be had by water, than at the rate of twenty-eight
cents (is. lid.) per bushel, equivalent to about forty-
eight cents (2s.) per hundredweight. Therefore, the
buyers could only pay the farmers thirty-five cents
(is. 6d.) per bushel for their grain. The carrying
distance from Winnipeg to the lake port was less
than 600 miles over a railway that had cost the Cana-
dian Government $30,000,000 (^6,000,000), and which
had been passed over to the Pacific Railway syndicate
as a free gift by Parliament. At the time the Canadian
syndicate was making this charge for carrying Canadian
grain, Donald A. Smith's American railroad was carry-
ing the product of American farms at less than half
the rate for the same distance.

This fearful bleeding of the life's blood of the toilers
of Manitoba continued until Wilfrid Laurier came
into power. But before this occurred ten years had
elapsed. This was the price that the struggle for
liberty, or in fact the right to a fair reward for their
hard labour, cost the people of Manitoba. They had
ventured to cross the path of the Juggernaut that was
rolling across the Canadian prairies.

Very early in the last session of that Parliament
(1896), Donald A. Smith announced his intention of
retiring from the House of Commons. The great
head of the Tory party for thirty years, Sir John
Macdonald, had passed over to the Great Majority
amid the universal lamentations of his faithful followers.

180 LORD STRATHCONA

The third reorganization of the party had taken place
since Sir John's death. The Premier could not be
said to have much in common with the head of the
Pacific syndicate. Donald A. Smith was quite willing
to use him, as he had used other instruments, but Sir
Mackenzie Bowell had never forgiven him for his
desertion of the party in 1873. Thus there was more
likelihood of the First Minister being in the way than
otherwise. This fact was made abundantly evident
during the latter part of the session. There was then
nothing in either the intellectual calibre, or the social
standing of the remnant of the great party that had
ruled Canada for eighteen years, to attract Donald A.
Smith. He had ceased to take much interest in the
proceedings in the House. The announcement, there-
fore, that he purposed retiring was looked upon by
many as perfectly natural.

The rank and file of the Tory party heard of his
proposed withdrawal from Parliament with mingled
feelings. They were not sorry he was leaving, but
they wondeied if his withdrawal from the House was
indicative of a move in the direction of the rising star
of Wilfrid Laurier. It was acknowledged that the
political barometer distinctly indicated that but a
brief period would elapse before the Liberals would
be in power, with Laurier as Premier. And it was
equally evident that the Tory party had reached a
point when cohesion was impossible. For the time
being the public was utterly in the dark as to Donald
A. Smith's ultimate intentions. One thing only was

INTRODUCING YANKEE MANAGERS 181

certain, and that was, whatever course he might
adopt, there would be only one paramount con-
sideration. But, as in his early Parliamentary career,
he was keeping his own counsel.

In the meantime history was being made. The
Canadian Pacific Railway in fifteen years had developed
into one of the most stupendous corporations that the
world has ever seen. The ramifications of its business
extended throughout America, Europe, Asia and
Australia. In reality its interests had encircled the
globe. The members of the original syndicate had
amassed such wealth that their own affairs required
undivided attention. The methods of managing the
railway, and also of retaining that influence in political
circles which they regarded as a necessity, demanded
other experts. To meet this situation officials were
imported from the great railroads of the United
States to take the management of the railway. No
one in Canada was regarded as sufficiently competent.
Men were required who had experience in extensive
railroad control, as well as in the manipulation of
American politicians. A Parliamentary humourist,
and also one of the warmest friends of the Company
in the House, justified the policy of the syndicate by
jocularly inquiring " What can a draper accustomed
to measure cotton by the yard, or his companion,
whose principal calling in life has been to trap musk-
rats in the North-west, know about railway manage-
ment ? " Practical experience and up-to-date methods
were necessary for the most obvious reasons.

182 LORD STRATHCONA

In a half-apologetic manner the syndicate had asked
financial men to accept seats on the board of directors.
The new officials suggested that, with the presence of
Donald A. Smith in the House of Commons again,
it was time to make an advance all along the line. It
was also opportune that directorships should be given
to members of the House of Commons. And instead
of treating with the rank and file of either of the
political parties in the House, the services of party
whips should be engaged as far as possible. By
securing their co-operation, more than one object
could be attained. It might be possible through
their influence to prevent the nomination of certain
candidates for the House, who, so far, had failed to see
eye-to-eye with the syndicate, especially one on the
Liberal side of the House, who had been most insistent
in declaring that it might be necessary for a Royal
Commission to inquire into the political actions of
the syndicate. The syndicate had no longer any
thought of being a suppliant at the feet of Parliament.
Its mastery might now be asserted.

There was surely no reason why members of the
Board should not be secured from among those
occupying the highest positions in the gift of the
people. With an eye to the future this policy was
agreed upon, and in carrying it out excellent results
were obtained. Donald A. Smith had the satisfaction
of seeing both a Speaker of the House, and a First
Minister of the Crown on his board of directors.
With such aids it would be surprising if any legislation

LOOKING FOR FURTHER PLUNDER 183

that might be desired was looked for in vain. With
such a public acknowledgment of their influence in
the state one would have thought the syndicate might
rest on their laurels. They had been given all they
demanded, and they had demanded much. But there
seemed no satisfying their ever-recurring pangs of
hunger. Their appetite was stupendous. So once
again they set to consider whether there was not
something else in the possession of the people of
Canada that they could get their hands on. Among
them were those who had no narrow views as to the
limits of exploiting public property, provided it could
be done with some outward pretence of furthering
general public interests, or for which some alleged
Imperial necessity could be used as a cloak.

XX

" And Ahab spake unto Naboth " — Looking for another grab — The
Intercolonial railway — An unsatisfactory Prime Minister — Sir
Mackenzie Bowell — The " nest of traitors " — A successful cabal.

" And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me
thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden
of herbs, because it is near unto my house :
and I will give thee a better vineyard than it ;
or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the
worth of it in money.

" And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid
it, that I should give the inheritance of my
fathers unto thee. . . .

" And Jezebel his wife said unto him, . . .
I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the
Jezreelite."

Under the original agreement with the Government

the Pacific Railway syndicate received a bonus of

$25,000,000 (£5,000,000), 25,000,000 acres of selected

lands which will realize the Company $350,000,000

(£70,000,000), and portions of the main line of the

Pacific Railway upon which the people of Canada

had expended nearly $30,000,000 (£6,000,000). In

addition to all this, Donald A. Smith and his associates

had borrowed from the Government $30,000,000

(£6,000,000) in 1883, and a further $15,000,000

(£3,000,000) in 1884. If the Canadian public had

184

PLANS TO STEAL A RAILWAY 185

not by this time become so accustomed to the man-
oeuvres of the Company as to be too apathetic to
resist them, the fact that they were once again looking
around for yet another dainty dish to set before their
king, might have caused surprise as well as uneasiness.
Inasmuch as it did not, shows how completely the
people were then under the heel of the Canadian
Pacific syndicate.

The Canadian Government owned a railway, 1500
miles long, running from Quebec to two Atlantic
ports — St. John and Halifax — the route lying through
the Maritime Provinces. This line had cost Canada
about $65,000,000 (£13,000,000). In its inception
it was looked upon more as a political necessity than
as a business investment. In fact the construction
of the line was one of the terms of the Confederation
of the provinces. It can scarcely be claimed that the
management had always been business-like, the result
being that it was a constant bill of expense to the
people of Canada. Almost every year Parliament was
asked to vote large sums of money for maintenance,
and of late it had been under the political control of
a Minister who was an ardent supporter of everything
that the syndicate wanted. As if in preparation for
subsequent events, little had been left undone to
make the public dissatisfied with Government owner-
ship of the line.

Donald A. Smith's presence in the House of Com-
mons again was coincident with influences being
brought to bear on the Minister in charge, whereby
the Canadian Pacific Railway was given free running

186 LORD STRATHCONA

powers over one-fifth of this line, with full permission
to compete with the Government trains for local
traffic. Ahab coveting Naboth's vineyard was a
righteous desire in comparison with the longing eyes
that the syndicate set on this Government railway.
Ahab was willing to pay for the land that he wanted,
but in this case the great corporation was looking for
a political Jezebel to let them have the line as a gift.
It was their intention that the Canadian exchequer
should not get anything out of the transaction. It
might be necessary to give certain politicians practical
proof of the value of their services, but that was a
detail which could easily be provided for out of the
sale of the securities for which the property could be
bonded.

For several reasons, 1894-5 was considered an
opportune time to commence an agitation for the
disposal of the Intercolonial Railway to the Canadian
Pacific Company. The public was told with great
seriousness that the railway could never be made to
pay under the management of a department of the
Government. The annual votes of Parliament were
quoted to show the burden of expense that it had
already proved. These grants might fairly be taken
as an indication of what the future had in store for
Canadian taxpayers.

The newspapers subject to the influences exercised
by the Pacific Railway supported the suggestion to
get rid of the " incubus." The Maritime Provinces,
where the people are more directly interested, were the
first to take alarm. But it was suggested that a

MEASURING UP THE PROSPECTS 187

Canadian Pacific management would bring about
many necessary reforms, making the line of greater
local service, and they were also assured that it would
then be the main line of the great transcontinental
system. Apparently the general public were lulled
into a sense of false security, and the subject ceased
to engage special interest, although the Liberal Press
strongly denounced the proposal as inimical to the
best interests of the country.

The unparalleled success with which the syndicate
had so far manipulated Canadian politicians, had long
since given them the necessary courage to pursue the
even tenor of their way, utterly regardless of the views
that the Liberal party might entertain on the ques-
tion. But they were well aware that there would
have to be a change in the personnel of the Govern-
ment, before getting their covetous desires realized in
respect to the Intercolonial Railway.

Sir Mackenzie Bowell was First Minister at this
time. He succeeded to the Premiership by right of
seniority, on the death of Sir John Thompson. He
was in no sense regarded as belonging to a brilliant
order of statesmen. Yet amid corrupt political
associations he preserved a reputation for sterling
honesty. It might be truthfully said that he was
moulded on exceedingly narrow lines. He was singu-
larly intolerant towards every one not attached to the
Tory party. This was probably due to his early and
continued association with the Orange Order. The
Order was a quasi political-religious association, essen-
tially Protestant, but far from being essentially religious

188 LORD STRATHCONA

in its character. Its members professed the belief
that the Order was the bulwark of Protestantism. But
the outlook would have been very discouraging for
Protestantism if its future depended upon such a
broken reed. Although originally founded to per-
petuate the memory of the Battle of the Boyne, and
therefore purely northern Irish in its character, in
Canada it numbered among its adherents almost every
nationality and colour. Even Indians were initiated
into the mysteries associated with membership during
that brief period when the tribes were allowed to vote
for Parliamentary candidates between 1887 and 1896.
The Order had long been a force in the Tory party,
but for more than forty years it had failed to furnish
the party with a single politician above mediocre
ability. Nevertheless Sir John Macdonald had always
acknowledged the head of the Order for political prefer-
ment. For many years the Grand-Master's position
was associated with a portfolio in Tory Cabinets.

Sir Mackenzie Bowell was strong in two extremes
of character — admiration and hatred. His admiration
for Sir John Macdonald, and the reverence that he
entertained for the memory of that great personality
was to him a religion. His hatred for the Tupper
family, although one was a colleague in his own
Cabinet, and the other was his High Commissioner in
London, also partook of the nature of religious fervour.
Upon Sir John Macdonald's reputation there was one
stain, at least — that growing out of the Pacific scandal
of 1873. And it was on this account that Sir Mackenzie
Bowell had never allowed himself to forgive the part

DRIVING OUT A PRIME MINISTER 189

that Donald A. Smith had played in that ex-
posure. In his opinion Donald A. should never have
been recognized by the party again. This mental
attitude certainly formed the foundation of an in-
superable barrier to the realization of the Railway
syndicate's aspirations to secure the Intercolonial
Railway as a free gift.

So far Sir Mackenzie Bowell had not been wanting
in loyalty to the Pacific Railway syndicate as a corpora-
tion, but he had been equally emphatic in denouncing
the desertion of Donald A. Smith in 1872. That he
would be a party to the proposal to present the Inter-
colonial Railway as a gift to the syndicate was regarded
as beyond the range of possibility. Therefore as
First Minister he must be deposed. How this was to
be accomplished was a problem. Great care would
have to be exercised to prevent such a political crisis
as might precipitate the downfall of the whole party.
His colleagues were sounded as to the possibility of
the chief's retirement, and their report was that he
was determined to remain First Minster until after
the then-approaching elections.

Then determined efforts were put forth with the
object of driving him out. The proceedings at
Cabinet meetings ceased to be secret. His sugges-
tions in the Privy Council Chamber regarding the
policy of the party and the transaction of business
in Parliament, then assembled, were met with insulting
laughter and scorn. His recommendations for appoint-
ments to vacancies in the service were promptly nega-
tived. No Order-in-Council which he introduced was

190 LORD STRATHCONA

passed. For weeks the Executive Council Chamber
was little better than a comic opera. Every time he
called the Cabinet together it was to receive additional
humiliation and insult from those whom a stronger
man would have dismissed at once. Public business
was at a standstill. All shades of politicians realized
" that there was something in the wind." Meanwhile,
Donald A. Smith was flitting to and fro, looking as
imperturbable and unconcerned as on that memorable
occasion in 1873 when he first absorbed all the lime-
light on the scene.

Within the inner circle it was well known that
the proposed presentation of the Intercolonial Railway
to the Pacific Railway was making progress. Like a
bolt out of a clear sky, the startling information was
given to the public (1896) that seven members of the
Cabinet had tendered their resignations to the Premier.
It was thought by the political Jezebels that if the
First Minister would look upon this act on the part of
his colleagues as a hint that he no longer enjoyed the
confidence of the party, he might be replaced by a
Premier who would see the Intercolonial Railway
project through that session. The influence of the
syndicate practically dominated both the Senate and
the House of Commons at this time. Days were
succeeded by weeks, and still the cabal continued.

Sir Mackenzie Bowell administered the affairs of
the Government with less than half a Cabinet. He
declined to notify the Governor-General officially of
the resignations of his colleagues, although the humili-
ating political situation was discussed in both Houses.

THE NEST OF TRAITORS 191

He sent word to them that if they did not return to
their portfolios he would advise the Governor-General
to call on Wilfrid Laurier to form a Government.
They knew that was an idle boast, and they had only
to remind him that such an action would bring down
on his head more bitter maledictions from his own
party, throughout the country, than had been poured
out on the traitors of 1873. They refused to return.
They openly boasted that they " would drive the
old dog out." At the same time he was referring to
them in the most public manner as a " nest of
traitors."

The most influential personality on the Govern-
ment side of the House of Commons just then was
Donald A. Smith. He may not have been admired
by the rank and file of his party for the time being,
but they knew his power. One word of encourage-
ment or sympathy from him and BowelPs Cabinet
would have been reorganized. The " nest of traitors "
would have been out, Bowell would have been con-
firmed in his position as Premier, and then have gone
to the country with a reorganized and probably a
fairly strong Cabinet.

But Donald A. Smith had not forgotten that
memorable scene in the House eighteen years previously
when his associations were with the opposite political
party, and Mackenzie Bowell was one of the most
active in hurling insults at him across the floor of the
House. And the consideration might also have had
some weight, that, if the Bowell Cabinet remained in
office, the Intercolonial Railway would continue in

192 LORD STRATHCONA

the Government possession. There were many reasons
why the cabal should be allowed to succeed. Donald
A. Smith was again keeping his own counsel.

It was evident that the Tory party, which had
proved invincible for eighteen long years, largely
through the influences of Donald A. Smith and his
colleagues, was fast going to pieces. The canker-
worm had eaten into the body politic and had com-
pletely destroyed the vitality of the greatest political
party that Canada had seen up to that date. Sir
Charles Tupper, who had been in and out of the
position of High Commissioner, as party needs dictated,
and whose son was one of the " nest of traitors," was
sent for, to see if he could not bring about a better
state of affairs. On his arrival he proceeded to act
as intermediary between the factions.

Although Sir Mackenzie Bowell did not hold the
High Commissioner blameless in the intrigues to get
rid of him, he gracefully accepted the inevitable, and
agreed, if the " traitors " would return, to resign the
Premiership as soon as the session was concluded.
He also promised that he would then advise the
Governor-General to send for Sir Charles Tupper to
form a Government. The Canadian Pacific magnates
had undoubtedly won. A distinct advance had been
made in the prospects of the Intercolonial Railway
passing out of the possession of the Government.
A Prime Minister who might have stood in the way
had been deposed. The intriguers knew that some
Canadian statesmen could be approached, but Mac-
kenzie Bowell was not among the number.

XXI

A satisfactory First Minister — Fishing for forty millions — Sir Donald
as High Commissioner — Laurier's political strength — Stirring up
religious strife — Hierarchy recognized by the state — Laurier
successful — The coming Prime Minister.

On the accession of Sir Charles Tupper to the Premier-
ship, coincident with the dissolution of Parliament,
Sir Donald A. Smith was appointed to the position
of High Commissioner for Canada in London. He
had previously been knighted on the recommendation
of Lord Aberdeen. The announcement that the new
knight would take up his residence in London as the
official representative of the Dominion, was received
with mingled feelings. It was believed that his
enormous wealth would be freely expended at the
heart of the Empire in bringing Canada to the front,
and that he would soon become a not unimportant
figure in official circles. But at the same time it
was well known that Donald A. Smith had never taken
any action in his life that was not the subject of
cautious calculation beforehand. The routine of the
London office could have no possible attraction for
him, nor yet its official character, unless there were
other considerations. As to whether there were any,

the public was left to conjecture. In his connection
n 193

194 LORD STRATHCONA

with the politics of Canada Sir Donald A. Smith had
always carried his cards up his sleeve. It was known
in an inner circle that he was not adopting on this
occasion a policy inconsistent with that characteristic.

The preliminary arrangements for the passing of
the Intercolonial Railway over to a syndicate in the
interests of the Pacific Railway had advanced to such
a point as to justify the London market being sounded
on the question of bonding the line. The amount
that it was thought might be raised was between
thirty and forty million dollars (six or eight million
pounds sterling) ; the latter figure was finally decided
upon. The report received by the prospective bene-
ficiaries in Canada from London was that, with a
representative in the office of the High Commissioner
in London who was friendly to the project, all the
money that was needed could be easily secured. There
could be no better selection for the position, in the
opinion of those who wanted to see the project go
through, than the highly respected original backbone
of the syndicate, Sir Donald Smith, and, moreover, he
had long been considered the Ahab in the suggested
transaction. It was calculated that with forty million
dollars in cash or Intercolonial Railway bonds, allowing
a reasonable margin for " expenses " of the character
that had been necessary in previous Government
transactions, there would still be over thirty millions
of dollars for their own pockets.

This particular syndicate had learned through
twenty years' association with Canadian politics that

EMBRACING OFFICIAL LIFE 195

certain opportunities to those who have power seldom
come more than once in a lifetime. But when they
do, the value of services on the second occasion are
higher than on the first. Those having this matter
in charge well considered this phase of the question.
As was said by Lord Clive, when he heard his offences
enumerated in the House of Lords, that he was amazed
at his own moderation ; so certain members of the
syndicate had reason to measure not a few Canadian
politicians by their previous illuminating experience —
expensive lessons, but enduring. They, therefore,
intended to exercise every care to make sure of their
own haul out of the sale of the bonds, before handing
the railroad over to the management of the Canadian
Pacific. So satisfied was the clique that the oracle
could be worked that a prospectus was printed, and
everything arranged to make a public issue. One-
half of the bonds were to be taken by the syndicate.

Sir Donald A. Smith found himself in London as
High Commissioner for Canada — the highest position
at the disposal of the Dominion Government — the
official representative of the country to which he had
emigrated as a friendless lad sixty years before. In
that western country he had played for heavy stakes,
both in the western States and in Canada, and he had
won ; but in the game of chance or skill he had not
yet won his last trick. He could count upon, as
the instruments of his will, many men who had ranked
as brilliant statesmen. Perhaps some in the wider
field of Imperial politics would have been more careful

196 LORD STRATHCONA

of their own honour, and the permanent interests
of their country. And he had met statesmen in the
Canadian Parliament whose sense of honour, and love
for their adopted country's future, had made it
impossible for him to use them for the advancement
of his personal interests.

One wonders whether Sir Donald A. Smith ever
reflected if all that he had won was worth what
it had cost. He and his colleagues had gone through
fire, though not of the sort that purifies. They had
fought many battles, and had come forth with colours
flying and ranks intact. What mattered it to them,
that from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic the country
was dotted with the political tombstones of those who,
struggling to protect the public interest, determined
to hold fast their integrity, never wavering in
their patriotic belief in the great future of their
country, ever standing firm in opposing the syndicate,
had been wiped out of existence ? At this moment
a Government was in power which was to a greater
extent his individual creation than any of the several
with which he had had experience. If this administra-
tion could be successful at the pending elections, the
Intercolonial Railway stood a good chance of falling
into the capacious maw of the great railway syndicate
which he had brought into existence, What were the
Canadian electors likely to do ? That was the problem
that was awaiting solution. Sir Charles Tupper was
Premier, and if he was successful at the polls, he
would certainly dominate his Cabinet. He would not

EFFORTS TO WORK THE CHURCH 197

tolerate intriguers as Sir Mackenzie Bowell had done.
No Canadian politicians had better cause to under-
stand each other than the High Commissioner and the
First Minister of Canada. They had exchanged con-
fidences in the early 'seventies such as few men give one
to the other. They had fought like Kilkenny cats on
that memorable occasion in the House of Commons
in 1878 until scarcely the tails of personal reputations
were left. But Sir Charles Tupper was not Scotch,
he had a forgiving nature, and had long since forgiven
the " treachery of 1873." Lord Strathcona, although
he was Scotch, always pardoned offences if the offender
would serve him later. With such charmingly diversi-
fied dispositions it would be a pity if they could
not agree !

Surely the fates were propitious. Wilfrid Laurier
was leading the Liberals apparently on a forlorn hope.
The clergy in Quebec, Laurier's own province, were
believed to be unfriendly, and the Pacific Railway
organization set to work systematically to inflame the
Catholic electors against him. The managing director
of the railway, Mr. (now Sir) Thomas Shaughnessy,
recently an American citizen, was an ardent adherent
of the Mother-Church. He could prove his de-
votion to the Church, if not the earnestness of
his religion, by his strenuous opposition to Laurier,
the Liberal, and at the same time keep a watchful
eye on the interests of the railway. With the
railway management, as with the operations of the
syndicate, politics and business had run together for

198 LORD STRATHCONA

•

many years. There was no reason to suppose that a
little religion should not prove an equally good running-
mate.

Another reason actuating the Pacific Railway opposi-
tion to the Liberal party was the Royal Commission,
so strongly threatened by influential Liberals, to
inquire into the political expenditures of the company
during the preceding fifteen years. But the argument
advanced to the Catholics why they should vote against
the Liberal candidates was that Laurier had opposed
the Remedial Bill which the Government of Sir
Mackenzie Bowell, at the request of Archbishop
Langevin, had introduced to Parliament. This mea-
sure was to re-establish separate Catholic schools
in Manitoba, which some years previously had been
abolished by the legislature of the province. It
seemed probable that, if the passions of the electors
could be appealed to successfully on religious grounds,
the syndicate might ensure the defeat of the Liberal
party, and thus avert the threatened inquiry into the
Augean stable of political corruption in which the
syndicate had revelled since 1878. It was a sight for
the gods — descendants of those who had followed
John Knox trying to find a hiding-phce behind the
soutane of the Roman Catholic hierarchy.

The contest was a battle-royal. In almost every

constituency in Quebec the clergy, moved by common

impulse, denounced the Liberal candidates.1 To an

outsider the issue must have seemed inevitable, and

1 Appendix, 15.

THE POWER OF THE CLERGY 199

that Laurier could win in the face of such overwhelming
odds an impossibility.

It should be remembered that the French population
in Canada is truly religious above everything else.
The late Monsignor Stoke-Robinson told the writer
many years ago that they are regarded in Rome as
amongst the most devout in the entire Catholic world.
They have little use for one of their own faith who has
too liberal views in religion. Their religious fervour
demands entire submission to the teachings of the
Church, and they were not encouraged to discriminate
between Liberal politics and Liberal Catholicism.

The Church had been accustomed from time
immemorial to take a more or less prominent part
in the politics of the country. Under the grand-
monarque, Louis XIV, the right of the Church to a
seat in the governing council was acknowledged, and
the authority of the clergy in the Government of the
country was unquestioned in the early days of British
rule, as in the treaty ceding Canada to Great Britain
their rights were specially recognized. When emis-
saries from the American revolutionists in 1775 en-
deavoured to seduce the French Canadians from their
allegiance, the influence of the clergy, without ex-
ception, was exercised in favour of the British Crown ;
and on the occasion of the rebellion in 1837, the clergy
denounced the action of Louis Papineau, the leader
of the malcontents in Lower Canada, and his followers.
It was not until the later 'seventies that clerical inter-
ference in an isolated election was seriously questioned,

200 LORD STRATHCONA

but in the meantime the breach was slowly widening
between Ultramontanism, represented by clerical
interference in the political life of the province, and
that section of the Church which thought such an
attitude on the part of the clergy inconsistent with
democratic government.

However, in spite of all the dust thrown up by
local complications and religious difficulty, Laurier's
supporters never wavered. The Liberal leader's atti-
tude upon the Remedial Bill was boldly justified on
the ground that the subject of education was entirely
within the rights of the legislatures of the provinces.
To admit the claim that the Federal Parliament could
force a system upon a province in opposition to the
expressed will of the people, was to establish a pre-
cedent at Ottawa that might be quoted some day as
justification for interference with the autonomy
enjoyed by the Catholics of Quebec. There might be
a temporary gain by the adoption of the Remedial Bill,
but the consequences were fraught with disastrous
possibilities in the future from even the Catholic
point of view. Laurier's supporters in Quebec pointed
out also, to enthusiastic gatherings, that now was a
chance to have a French-Canadian and a Catholic
as Prime Minister in an English-speaking and largely
Protestant Dominion — an opportunity that might
never occur again. This appeal to the pride of race
proved more powerful than the terrors of excom-
munication threatened by so many of the clergy.

Among other questions of interest, not the least

A DYING POLITICAL PARTY 201

was the general opposition to the part the syndicate
persisted in taking in the elections. While the
individual members of the syndicate, largely repre-
sented in the public eye by Sir Donald A. Smith and
Lord Mount Stephen (formerly George Stephen), both
of whom were pronounced Imperialists, the manage-
ment of the railway was really in the hands of recently
imported citizens of the United States, who had
taken the short cut allowed by the Canadian laws to
become full-fledged " British subjects." The humilia-
tion of having erstwhile American citizens, very recent
at that, attempting to direct the politics of the
Dominion was rather a noxious dose even for those
Imperialists who were not occupying the seats of the
mighty.

The public resentment against this open and un-
reserved attitude on the part of the Canadian Pacific
undoubtedly helped to throw the balance of power
into Laurier's hands in 1896. The Tories were led
by Sir Charles Tupper, one of the ablest statesmen
Canada has produced. He had been kept in London
by the jealousy of mediocrity. He was sent for when
it would have been easier to revivify an Egyptian
mummy of the time of Pharaoh. The Tory party was
afflicted with dry-rot. Nevertheless, he entered the
campaign with magnificent courage, and boundless
resource. The corporations subsidized by the Govern-
ment and an army of officials put up a good fight.
Neither the Tory party nor the syndicate could
believe other than that a miracle had happened when

202 LORD STRATHCONA

Laurier carried a majority in almost every province.
The Tories and the Ultramontanes had forced the
issue in Quebec, and they were hoist by their own
petard. The Liberal candidates swept the province
like an avalanche, notwithstanding the action of the
clergy, in fact even assisted by it. During the years
that the Liberals had been in Opposition a new
generation had arisen in public life. Laurier was
surrounded by a galaxy of talent such as Parliament
had not seen for twenty-five years. The Liberal
victory was regarded on all sides as a red-letter day
in the history of Canada. The whole country was
ripe for a change, and great things were expected from
the coming administration.

XXII

Donald A. changing his politics again — Intriguing against Laurier's
colleague — The power of wealth — The monetary kings win —
Where the blow fell — Ambitions never realized — Liberals and
the hierarchy — An appeal to Rome — Ultramontane and Orange
— A Papal decree.

If the syndicate had lost by the defeat of the party
with which they had been so intimate, the next best
thing was to make friends with the new rulers as soon
as possible. It did not signify, in their estimation,
that, because they had expended enormous sums of
money in keeping the Liberals out of power at Ottawa
for nearly two decades, they should not make peace
with them when they were in. They did not allow
any false sense of modesty to stand in the way of
approaching Wilfrid Laurier and his followers with
the olive branch ; for had not the Liberal leaders
threatened that as soon as they came into power they
would issue a Royal Commission to inquire into all
the political expenditures authorized by the syndicate
and the Company ? It was bad enough to have their
hopes of securing possession of the Intercolonial Rail-
way crushed, as had certainly been done by the defeat
of Sir Charles Tupper's Government, without having
to face an exposure that would " stagger humanity "

wherever responsible government was known.

203

204 LORD STRATHCONA

Those who had become honoured and distinguished
knew that such an investigation would reveal a more
demoralizing state of affairs than the exposure of the
former Pacific scandal, which had been so vehemently
denounced by Donald A. Smith in 1873. They were
prepared to stand the loss of the profits which might
have been realized by the Intercolonial Railway project
going through ; but none could stand the revelations
shown up under the searchlight of a Royal Commission.
Therefore, no time must be lost in propitiating the
prospective First Minister. They all knew that
Laurier's ideals of public life were too high to allow
influences, such as they were accustomed to exercise,
being brought into operation. However, with finan-
ciers of that class the resources of wire-pulling are
seldom exhausted.

The master-minds of the intriguing combination
were going to take no risks by placing all their eggs
in one basket — that of the good-will which they
hoped might be cultivated with the coming First
Minister. Wilfrid Laurier's most prominent colleague
was Sir Richard Cartwright, who held very pro-
nounced views on two particular subjects — the tariff
and the political immorality of the Canadian Pacific
syndicate. To the latter he attributed the flood of
corruption that had swept over Canadian politics
since 1880. He was more insistent than any other
prominent Liberal, since Edward Blake's retirement,
in threatening an investigation under Royal Com-
mission. To clip Sir Richard's wings, and perhaps

WIRE-PULLING BY THE SYNDICATE 205

crush his spirit, was regarded as essential. In early
political life Cartwright had been regarded as the
rising hope of the Tories, but he afterwards found
himself out of sympathy with his leader. With the
single exception of Sir Francis Hincks there has been
no one in Canada with the peculiar aptitude for
Government finance that Cartwright possessed. He
had been Finance Minister in Alexander Mackenzie's
administration from 1873 to 1878. No one else was
thought of, during the long years between 1878 and
1896, as head of the Treasury in a prospective Liberal
Government. In every suggestion about the pro-
spective personnel of the Laurier Cabinet, Sir Richard
Cartwright's name appeared as Minister of Finance.
It was the accepted view.

But there were breakers ahead, undreamed of by
the rank and file of the party. A Liberal member
of the House of Commons and the party whip, Mr.
James Sutherland — who was personally unfriendly to
Cartwright, and who was known to have very intimate
relations with the Pacific syndicate — organized a depu-
tation of official representatives from all the Banks for
the purpose of protesting to Wilfrid Laurier against
the appointment of Sir Richard Cartwright as Finance
Minister. The principal reason given was his alleged
advocacy of a reduction in the tariff. The deputation
claimed that Cartwright's appointment would create
uneasiness in manufacturing and financial circles,
as indicating drastic changes in the fiscal policy of
the country. Laurier defended Cartwright warmly,

206 LORD STRATHCONA

pointing out that the Finance Minister under the
present form of Government had no more authority
to effect changes in the tariff than any other individual
member of the Cabinet, and that the tariff, in what-
ever changes might be proposed, would be the policy
of the Government as a whole. The bankers, how-
ever, had not come to argue, but to act. They
finally declared that if Sir Richard was given the
portfolio of Finance, they would immediately with-
draw all their call loans, amounting to $125,000,000
(£25,000,000) and thus bring on a financial crisis.

Wilfrid Laurier did not realize his power at the
moment, and indeed, perhaps, it was not sufficient at
that time. In later years he would have certainly
treated such an audacious threat with the contempt
that it deserved. But he then yielded to the monetary
magnates, and regretfully decided to meet their views.
He felt he could not afford to have his Government
face to face with a commercial crisis on the threshold
of its existence. Another might have taken the risk.
It is needless to discuss the reply which would be
given to a deputation of that kind by a British states-
man, or even the possibility of such a deputation being
organized in Great Britain. Cartwright did not get
the portfolio of Finance, and the ambitions and hopes
of eighteen years were blasted. Both the Canadian
Pacific and the manufacturers had scored in the first
round with the victorious Liberal party.

Wilfrid Laurier's caution at this critical period was
prompted by no want of loyalty to a faithful colleague.

A VICTIM OF INTRIGUE 207

His esteem for Cartwright amounted almost to affec-
tion. He was genuinely anxious to protect Cart-
wright from the tide of adverse influences that were
being so cleverly engineered. But he was strongly
advised to surrender by two very intimate and trusted
confidantes. They were both Scotch — one was thor-
oughly honest in his fears and the other was not. One
was Sir Oliver Mowat, the most timorous and con-
scientious of statesmen, and among whose Tory and
official social surroundings in Toronto there was no
sympathy with Cartwright, the aristocratic Liberal.
The other was Mr. James Sutherland, M.P., the
organizer of the deputation, whose close intimacy with
the syndicate was not so well known then. It was a
different Laurier whom a party cabal met twelve
years later, when Cartwright had almost ceased to be
a political force. Then, when they requested the
Prime Minister to replace him with younger blood, his
reply was briefly : " No, Cartwright will be my colleague
as long as he desires to remain in public life."

Sir Oliver Mowat was in Montreal when the deputa-
tion met Laurier, and wrote to one of his colleagues
suggesting that the writer should see Sir Richard at
Kingston, inform him of what was going on, and tell
him what was likely to be Wilfrid Laurier's decision.
Sir Richard was calmly waiting the current of events
in his delightful home on the banks of the St. Law-
rence, just where the waters of the Great Lakes enter
the river. The news of the intrigue was like a bolt
out of a clear sky. Nothing of the kind had been

208 LORD STRATHCONA

eVen dreamed of. The blow was staggering. The
writer can never forget that sight of a strong man
suddenly crushed. Silently we went out on the lawn
down to the water's edge while he tried to recover
himself. At last his spirit flamed up and asserted
itself as he exclaimed passionately : " This is the
syndicate. They are hiding behind the manufac-
turers. The Banks dare not carry out their threat !

It is a vile plot ! Laurier cannot, cannot " he

added brokenly. However, subsequent events proved
the inevitable. Cartwright accepted the portfolio of
Trade and Commerce, but he was never the Cart-
wright of old again. For eighteen years he had spared
neither time, energy, nor fortune in his party's interest.
His private affairs had not received his personal atten-
tion. His sacrifices on this point had been immense.
He had dreamed dreams of bringing about more
intimate political and commercial relations with the
Mother-country ; and perhaps, also, for playing a
leading part in negotiations for closer ties between
Great Britain and the United States — an English-
speaking alliance as an influence among the Great
Powers. These were aspirations worthy of the highest
ideals of Imperial statesmanship. But this ambition
was shattered, and became lifeless under the new
conditions. A great mind that had seen Imperial
visions, narrowed into bitterness, resentment and
jealousy. The political python which had crushed
the aspirations of scores of prominent Liberals during
the preceding sixteen years, whose only offence was

CRISIS IN POLITICAL LIBERTY 209

their love of country, had found another victim.
But far worse was yet to follow.

After the election, the Liberals, smarting under the
clerical denunciations to which they had been sub-
jected, resolved upon drastic measures to prevent
their recurrence. Truly the Canadian Pacific Railway
in organizing the Church campaign against Laurier
and in fanning into flame the smouldering embers of
religious intolerance, had built up the cause of
Canadian political liberty better than they knew. It
was realized on all sides that a crisis had been reached,
between those in the Church who supported clerical
participation in the political affairs of the country,
and those who thought the time had come when such
a course was inconsistent with democratic govern-
ment ; the latter claimed to represent the vast majority
of the Catholic electors in Laurier's native province.
Shortly after the formation of the Laurier Govern-
ment a meeting was called of all the Catholic repre-
sentatives of Quebec. The influential character of
the conference stands unquestioned — Wilfrid Laurier
and his Catholic colleagues of the Federal Cabinet,
Senators and Members of the House of Commons,
Sir Louis Gouin, Premier of Quebec, and his colleagues,
and Members of the Legislative Council and of the
Legislative Assembly of the Province. No country
over which the successor of the First Bishop of Rome
exercises spiritual sway could bring together more
devoted adherents of the Church. Among them were
statesmen who were destined to stamp their personality

210 LORD STRATHCONA

upon the history of Canada to a degree far exceeding
that of any who had gone before, and whose adminis-
tration of the public service would bring about a
national development heretofore unparalleled in the
life of the Dominion. It was resolved to memorialize
the Sacred College of the Propaganda at Rome. The
signatories were all Catholics fervently devoted to
the interests of the Church. They represented the
great majority of the Catholic population of the
province. They claimed that the right to political
liberty was not inconsistent with the spiritual life of
the Church. They viewed with alarm the increasing
strain that must be inevitable between the parishioners
and the clergy by a continuation of the extraordinary
political activity of the hierarchy so recently evident
throughout the province, and they humbly prayed
that the subject might receive the attention of the
Holy See.1

The Ultramontane wing of the Church was up in
arms at the unparalleled audacity of the Liberal party,
steps being immediately taken to prevent the official
acceptance of the memorial at Rome. And for a time
it looked as if they might succeed.2 But Laurier and
his associates had taken the bit in their teeth, and
were not going to be turned from their purpose. In
fact they were more determined to press the matter.
Laurier was no longer the leader of a forlorn hope in
a Parliamentary minority. He was a Prime Minister
of a great Colony, recently knighted at Queen Victoria's
Diamond Jubilee, and had been the social and political
1 Appendix, 1 6. 2 Appendix, 17.

AN APPEAL TO ROME 211

lion of the last London season. His request for a
hearing at Rome was not as a voice crying in the
wilderness. It was determined to reach the Great
Head of the Church himself, Leo XIII, whom the
world now recognizes as a great statesman and
diplomat, with the memorial. The good offices of
Lord Russell of Killowen and other prominent
British Catholics were secured, and eventually His
Holiness was made aware of the serious position of
the Church in that part of the Catholic world where
her supremacy had hitherto given no cause for anxiety
to the careful watchmen on the towers of Rome.

To the Protestant world, in which sectarian issues
also become sometimes acute, the subsequent events
in the province of Quebec are of more than ordinary
interest. In the then recent elections in Canada
the great bulk of the Catholic clergy had supported
the Tory candidates, who in turn were political
followers of Sir Mackenzie Bowell, the late Dominion
Prime Minister and the acknowledged head of the
Orange Order. Not a few had been threatened with
excommunication from the Church as the penalty of
voting for the Laurier candidates. Lord Londonderry,
Sir Edward Carson, or Captain Craig never expressed
themselves more fearful of Catholic domination or
Rome Rule than had Sir Mackenzie Bowell in his
1 2th of July orations. Yet Orange and Ultramontane
had walked arm-in-arm to the polls for a quarter of a
century. Once again they managed to find common
ground upon which to attack Laurier. Both de-
nounced his appeal to Rome — Orange alleging that

212 LORD STRATHCONA

Laurier, by the memorial of the Liberal Catholics,
formally admitted the right of the Holy See to political
jurisdiction in Canada; and Ultramontane alleging
Laurier's determination to undermine the authority
of the Church in his native province.

Meanwhile events were moving at Rome, regardless
of influences at work within and without the Sacred
College. His Holiness appointed the present Secretary
of State at the Vatican, Cardinal Merry Del Val, as
Papal Legate to Canada to investigate the whole
matter. This representative of the Church was the
youngest priest ever sent on such an important mission.
It may not be for a Protestant to express any opinion
about his fitness for the post to which he was appointed ;
but the wisdom of the selection was never questioned
in French Canada. Of Spanish descent, educated in
England, presenting a most charming personality, he
mingled freely with all the different factions in Canada
for a year. During his residence there the slightest
hint of the trend of his thoughts never reached the
leaders on either side. But shortly after his return to
Rome a pronunciamento was issued by Leo XIII
prohibiting further active participation by the clergy
in the political affairs of the country. By this decision
the Church gave another illustration of the reasonable-
ness of the conclusion arrived at by Lord Macaulay
in his review of Ranke's History of the Popes. And this
all-important struggle for political liberty in which
Laurier gained the hall-mark of Church authority
upon his victory, is the most vivid illustration of the
" biter bitten " it would be possible to find in any history.

XXIII

Making peace with the new ruler — The threatened Royal Com-
mission— Laurier and Sir Donald — A seat with the Peers — Cecil
Rhodes and Strathcona.

Before Wilfrid Laurier realized what was taking place,
immediately following the satisfactory returns from
the polls, he found himself burdened with congratula-
tory cables and telegrams from many through whose
opposition he had suffered for eighteen years. And not
the least important were from those connected with the
Pacific Railway. Canadian contractors have a reputa-
tion for changing their politics as quickly as the personnel
of Governments. But members of the old syndicate
did not wait for the change to take place. They out-
distanced the contractors by weeks. Thus, long before
Laurier was summoned by the Governor-General to
form a Cabinet, leading Liberals were loaded down
with the proffered support of erstwhile opponents.

It became evident to the public from the beginning
of the Liberal rSgime^ that the prospect of the oft-
threatened Royal Commission of Inquiry into the
political character of the Canadian Pacific Railway
taking place was problematical. Wilfrid Laurier was
taken in the flush of victory, just at the time when

one is inclined to be at peace with the world, and

213

214 LORD STRATHCONA

magnanimity is one of Laurier's strong characteristics.
It was only necessary to offer friendship to secure
forgiveness. He needed to be more than ordinarily
magnanimous to have forgiven so readily, for he had
much to forgive, and but few of his party approved
of the course he adopted. Had he known the full
measure of his strength, and the public conviction
behind him which had put him in power, perhaps
he would not have been so easily overcome. And if
the course had been taken that the circumstances
justified, he would have saved Canada from not a few
pitfalls in the years to come.

The High Commissioner in London has always
occupied the most confidential relationship with the
Cabinet at Ottawa. The position, hitherto, had been
filled by a political associate of the Government of
the day. Sir Donald A. Smith had only been in the
office a few weeks when the Tupper Government
which had appointed him was defeated at the polls.
Sir Charles Tupper immediately cabled Sir Donald
A. Smith, urging him not to tender his resignation,
following his cable with a letter strongly suggesting
to the High Commissioner to act on his advice. The
reasons for this course are fairly obvious. With Sir
Donald A. Smith's appointment as High Commissioner
confirmed by the new Government, the threatened
inquiry into the political relations between the
syndicate and the Tory party might be made very
difficult, if not impossible. The Tory leader, Sir
Charles Tupper, knew that it was most desirable that

HIS ABSENCE DESIRED 215

such an inquiry should be avoided at all costs. It
was only natural to believe that, if the head of the
syndicate became an official of the new Government,
there would be no inquiry. But Sir Donald A. Smith
had a stronger sense of the proprieties of the situation
than his political chief, Sir Charles Tupper, and he
offered his resignation to the Government. Wilfrid
Laurier must have known that there was no more
dangerous political power in Canada than Sir Donald
A. Smith. He was especially to be feared because he
never ventured into the open. All his influence was
exerted in the background. Perhaps Laurier thought
that by keeping him out of Canada there might be an
opportunity of raising the tone of Parliament, which
was not possible with the chief member of the syndi-
cate continually in evidence. Perhaps the new First
Minister may have been anxious to conciliate Sir
Donald, knowing that he had been most useful as a
supporter of every Government which had existed in
the Dominion since Confederation. Certainly no
qualms of conscience that Sir Donald was not capable
of overcoming would prevent his accepting with
commendable grace the advent of a new political
party at Ottawa. Laurier may have believed that the
influence of the Canadian Pacific would never be
turned against his party with Sir Donald as a Govern-
ment official, and it was quite certain that the shrewd
head of the syndicate could be depended upon to
remember the humiliation of his removal from London
by a substantial contribution to the Tory party funds.

216 LORD STRATHCONA

The Tories had convinced themselves that Laurier's
victory was an accident that would not be repeated.
Five years in the life of a party are but as a day, and
they thought the elections of 1901 would remedy
the catastrophe which had overtaken them. In the
meantime steps were taken at Montreal to induce the
Liberal leader to allow Sir Donald to remain in London
as High Commissioner. He was himself anxious to
get into the good graces of the new Cabinet, and,
with his growing wealth and influence was becoming
personally and officially well known in London. Upon
these mutually satisfactory grounds Sir Donald was
confirmed in his appointment to the public service of
the Dominion Government.

But the syndicate had won the trick in the new
deal of cards. The threatened investigation became
impossible. Had it taken place it is inconceivable
that some action would not have been taken by
Parliament to prevent a continuance of such influences
being exercised.

In the Diamond Jubilee year of Her late Majesty,
a peerage was conferred on Sir Donald A. Smith.
The journey had been stormy and tempestuous from
the bleak shores of Hudson Bay in 1837 t0 a seat in
the Red Chamber of the British aristocracy sixty years
later, 1897. The British race has always recognized
success, and, if success in life is to be measured by the
accumulation of wealth, the subject of this honour
was worthily recognized. Charity may cover a
multitude of sins, but it must give first place to

HOME-COMING TOO LATE 217

wealth. The new peer desired to assume the title of
Lord Glencoe. But strong protests were received
from countrymen of his own who claimed a first
interest in that particular title.

At this time Lord Strathcona secured a lease of a
small estate originally belonging to the Macdonalds
of Glencoe, including the ancestral home. This
property is situated on the west coast of Scotland,
near Ballahulish. Hard by stands the memorial pillar
that was erected by the remnant of the Macdonald
clan, to perpetuate the memory of those who perished
in that needless and heart-breaking massacre of the
Macdonalds at the end of the seventeenth century.

Their old homestead had long been in the hands
of others. The representative of the clan had been
absent in distant lands for many years, seeking his
fortune with his star of hope always pointing towards
the return to his native land. His dream by day and
night was to rescue the home of the clan from strangers,
and establish again, within its humble walls, the
hospitality of his ancestors. This had been his
inspiration as he slowly gathered sufficient money
to realize his purpose. But he delayed his home-
coming a few weeks too late. The option of the
property had passed into the possession of the new
peer, followed, shortly before the return of the head
of the clan, by the title-deeds, much to the grief and
disappointment of the remnant of the Macdonalds.
He wanted to buy it from the new owner, but the
matter had gone too far for reconsideration. Then

218 LORD STRATHCONA

overlooking the old homestead at the foot of the hill,
and beneath the shadow of the famous Glencoe Pap,
Lord Strathcona erected a magnificent country seat.

Lord Strathcona's career is sometimes coupled with
that master Empire Builder, Cecil Rhodes. For many
reasons it is pardonable to say that there is little to
compare, and much to contrast, not only in their
early, but also in their later careers. Neither was a
native Colonial. The one made South Africa, the
other Canada, his adopted country. They both
accumulated enormous fortunes in the lands of their
adoption ; both entered public life, both had great
private interests at stake, both had wonderful capacity
in their respective spheres, both were the constant
dread of their opponents, neither ever allowed an
opponent to cross his path with impunity.

The one, young in years, ranked as a statesman and
a leader of men soon after he entered public life ; his
vast wealth was accumulated beyond the influence of
legislative enactment ; his personal interests never
dominated a public action ; he entered the open lists
with his personal or political opponents, with true
British manliness ; he projected a great railway from
the Cape to Cairo, but not with a suggestion of
personal profit thereby. And when an untimely
death cut short a brilliant career, he left the Parlia-
mentary arena in South Africa, with all its associations,
as free from stain and reproach as is the Parliament
at Westminster.

The other entered public life when years of dis-

CONTRAST WITH OTHER COLONIES 219

cretion had arrived ; he was in no sense a Parliamentary
leader ; his private interests became entangled from
the beginning with the politics of the country;
legislation enacted by Parliament added vastly to his
wealth and influence, and Parliamentary machinery
was deliberately used to attain this end. His personal
interests dominated the legislation of his country ; his
opponents, either political or personal, or those whom
he chose to place in that category, only knew of his
antagonism towards them when he had secretly
obtained their defeat or ruin. And when he withdrew
from public life, he left a Parliamentary atmosphere
thoroughly vitiated and corrupt, through the influences
of a great corporation which he had brought into
existence and of which he had been the controlling
influence.

In South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, by
the authority of Parliament, enormous expenditures
have been incurred in the construction of railways
that are the property of the State. There is no
record showing that the public men of those Colonies
participated in the profits associated with these under-
takings. Consequently, the humiliating contrast,
proved by the Parliamentary records, in connection
with railway enterprises in Canada, is appalling in
the extreme.

XXIV

Protecting the toilers — Opposition to rival railway lines — Knifing
the Government policy — Standing by the combine — What
negligence has cost Canada — Taking the farmer's life blood —
Departmental neglect.

The degree of gratitude that the toilers in the western
provinces owe Lord Strathcona is not remarkable for
its warmth. With his associates he secured the only
channel in the United States through which the
products of the prairies could find an outlet for many-
years. He also obtained control of the Canadian
charter, and secured an absolute monopoly of all the
carrying trade, outward and inward, of the whole
western country. By the terms of the agreement with
the Government the syndicate was confirmed in this
monopoly for twenty years, extensive concessions
relieving the corporation from the payment of taxes
and rates while it was practically allowed to charge
the most extortionate freight rates — the last-named
privilege being exercised to the fullest extent. Lord
Strathcona seems not to have troubled himself with
this aspect of the case. The management was left
to the control of imported officials. Presumably he
never heard about the complaints by the western
farmers who were indeed earning their bread by the

sweat of their brow. Perhaps it was a mistake on

220

PROTECTING PERSONAL INTERESTS 221

the part of the victims of the greed of the great
corporation that they did not interview him, as both
the United States lines for many years were acting upon
an agreed schedule of rates with the Canadian Pacific.
Discussions took place in the Parliament of which he
was a member, and very frequent reports of this
agitation appeared in the Press, but possibly such
complaints escaped his observation.

During the years that he was High Commissioner
questions arose of an equally serious character to the
vast body of the toilers in Canada. The grain pro-
ducts of the west had increased to such an extent that
Parliament was forced to consider the construction
of other transcontinental railways. These projects
would open new territory, and furnish railway accom-
modation in many necessary directions. But they also
meant competition with his American and Canadian
railways. To favourably consider the means of pro-
viding relief to the overburdened worker who was
striving against great odds to make a success of his life,
when it meant loss, however insignificant to himself
or his projects, was probably expecting too much from
ordinary human nature. At any rate he had too much
to do to give thought to those who amid the loneliness
of those boundless prairies were seeking the hard-
earned bread of existence.

Sir William Mackenzie came to London year after
year with securities that were gilt-edged, in order to
push on the construction of the Canadian Northern
Railway. But the financial doors were closed, when

222 LORD STRATHCONA

a word from the " Empire-Builder " who represented
Canada as High Commissioner would have made all
the difference at that time between failure and success ;
although Sir William Mackenzie finally won in spite
of the opposition of the High Commissioner's office.
The securities he disposed of have long since proved
their intrinsic value. In not an instance have the
railway projects upon which they were issued failed
to meet annual obligations, nor have the guarantors
ever been called on for any part of the responsibility
they assumed.

And yet again. The emigration flood and the
opening of undeveloped areas convinced the Govern-
ment that the third transcontinental railway was re-
quired to move the products of the west to the markets
of the world. Parliament guaranteed the Grand
Trunk Pacific Railway bonds, and they were offered
in the London market. All the wealth and responsi-
bility of the Dominion stood sponsor for the issue.
Consols could offer no better security for investment.
But the cold shoulder was given by the High Com-
missioner's office, and the bonds only realized 83,
entailing a loss of $6,000,000 (£1,200,000) which the
Canadian taxpayers, by the decision of the courts,
had to make good.

During Lord Strathcona's occupancy of the London
office the Canadian Pacific Railway Company estab-
lished steamship communication between Liverpool
and Montreal. The Company immediately entered
into a binding agreement with the J. Pierpont Morgan,

THE STEAMSHIP COMBINE 223

the Hamburg-American, the North German Lloyds
and other foreign companies to increase the passenger
rates to North American ports, so as to exact still
higher toll from the masses who were emigrating to
Canada from Great Britain and the Continent.

These increases in the emigration rates during the
last thirteen years, Lord Strathcona all that time
being High Commissioner, have cost the struggling
emigrants to the Dominion over and above what was
regarded as a fair rate in pre-combine times —

From the Continent . . $11,500,000 £2,300,000
From Great Britain . 32,500,000 6,500,000

Total . $44,000,000 £8,800,000

These figures represent only the excess above the rates
available before the establishment of the combine.
The total amount in excess of pre-combine rates paid
by poor emigrants from the continent of Europe and
Great Britain to Canada and the United States, in the
same period, exceeds $90,000,000 (£18,000,000).

How far this enormous sum might have assisted the
emigrants in getting a start in a new country, or what
suffering and hardship it might have avoided, may be
left to the imagination.

A steamship agreement has also gone merrily along
whereby the freight rates on British goods to Canada
have been increased fourfold as an " encouragement "
of the commercial relations between the Dominion
and the Mother-country. Certain natural products
that find a market in this country pay a higher freight

224 LORD STRATHCONA

rate from Canada than the same commodities from
United States ports. During the last two years the
freight rates on grain and flour from Canada to Liver-
pool have been doubled, entailing an additional cost
for transportation annually to exporters of Canadian
products to Great Britain of $4,750,000 (£950,000).
This extra cost must come out of the pockets of the
Canadian farmers.

All these remarkable incidents have taken place
during Lord Strathcona's tenure of office as High
Commissioner for Canada. One looks in vain in
departmental documents for the slightest protest by
Lord Strathcona in the interest of the Canadian people
against these enormous demands. The cry of the
western farmer staggering under the load which demands
so large a share of his corn before he can eat his bread —
the stolid endurance of the eastern emigrant who,
with only hope to cheer him forward, must pay so
much of his precious savings into the Combine, before
he can reach the Promised Land — these received no
consideration from the " Empire-Builder." But when
these struggling masses meet on the fertile stretches of
Western Canada, perhaps they will find that Nature,
at least, is more considerate, giving generously for trust
and work and love.

XXV

Starting new official life — An ancestral mansion — The ghosts in
every room — Trouble with Agents-General — Sir Claude Mac-
donald — Official invitations — Resenting interference.

In accepting the responsibilities of the High Com-
missioner's office Lord Strathcona set a pace in many
ways that other Canadians will be wise in not attempt-
ing to follow. He was no stranger in London, having
many personal and financial connections outside the
Anglo-Canadian colony. As soon as he realized that
the Intercolonial deal was off, and that the papers
that had been prepared were useless, he adopted a
course that was calculated to wipe out the part he
had played in the political life of the Dominion for
twenty-five years. He evidently proposed, by enter-
taining on a scale hitherto beyond the means of his
predecessors, to create an entirely new atmosphere
around the High Commissioner's office, and, if possible,
forget his political experiences. Official business was
to give way entirely to the Goddess of Society, who, if
at times fickle, can generally be propitiated with gifts.
He looked around for a country residence, where
during week-ends he might entertain. He finally
decided upon leasing that magnificent Elizabethan

mansion, Knebworth, the ancestral home of the
p 225

226 LORD STRATHCONA

Lyttons. It is truly a lordly pile. The walls are
decorated with family portraits of statesmen whose
names stand out in bold relief in the honoured roll of
British history. The panoply of war, ancient armour
and weapons of defence stand in the stately hall.
The banner that flaunted in the breeze when Earl
Lytton held the Viceroy's Durbar at Delhi and pro-
claimed the assumption of the title of Empress of
India by Queen Victoria hangs from the ancient
rafters. Within the beautiful grounds there is
much to remind visitors of the great author of The
Last Days of Pompeii. There are the bedrooms
which were occupied by Hampden, Pym and Crom-
well when they met in solemn conclave to consider
how England could get rid of a tyrant King and a
corrupt Parliament. The ghosts and memories of
these noble Puritans, clamouring for a Parliament
free from all sinister influences, and legislation only for
the public good, was strange company for Donald A.
Smith fresh from his Canadian experiences. Yet,
what a coincidence ! They had made history — so had
he. And here for ten years Lord Strathcona enter-
tained right royally. Canadian guests rubbed shoulders
with Royalty, Peers, and Commoners. The annual
gathering became one of the notable events of the
Season, and the sight of the kindly, venerable sep-
tuagenarian and Lady Strathcona moving graciously
among the guests will ever be a delightful memory
to all who were favoured with invitations on these
occasions.

TOLERATING NO OFFICIAL RIVALS 227

Lord Strathcona, after he had been in office two or
three years, decided to assert his position as the only
official representative of Canada in London. This
attitude placed him at once in conflict with the
Agents-General of the provinces, who up to this time
had been also acknowledged. He intimated to them
that they were without official standing, as their title
was not recognized by legislative enactment ; therefore,
in the future they must only expect to be recognized
as ordinary persons. The late Mr. Duff-Millar, Agent-
General for New Brunswick, said that he would not
submit to this dictum. In view of the approaching
Season, he ordered an Agent-General's uniform from
a court tailor. The tailor, however, with official
caution, telephoned to the High Commissioner's
office for information about the bona-fides of his
distinguished customer, and was informed that he
had no locus standi in official circles. Naturally the
paint and feathers were not forthcoming at the
appointed time, and the Agent-General had fain to
be satisfied with his ordinary evening suit.

These official pretensions suited Lord Strathcona
admirably. It was the chief factor's jurisdiction over
again. In the Canadian wilds he could not prevent
the Indian from donning his paint and feathers, but
he could prevent the presumptuous white man from
doing so here. This was the first appearance of a
peculiar trait that developed later in a more pro-
nounced form — an intensely jealous spirit towards
everything that might for the time being overshadow

228 LORD STRATHCONA

the High Commissioner's office. The appearance of
a letter in a newspaper from a Canadian official, not
under his jurisdiction, would immediately cause a
scene. He made more than one trip across the
Atlantic for no other reason than to get officials whom
he did not like, removed.

Like all well-appointed Government offices the
High Commissioner's was managed upon the most
up-to-date red-tape principles. With the appoint-
ment of a Canadian to look after the emigration work
of the offices, all inquirers about the Dominion were
passed on to this official, unless it was made certain
that they were not " common folk," in which case
they had the doubtful honour ( ?) of an interview with
an official of the permanent staff. Upon one occasion
a visitor called just as a high-placed official entered
the office. The stranger said that he wanted special
information about Canada. Before he could say any
more, and without turning his head to look at the
inquirer, the official called to a messenger, " Take him
over to the other office." He was brought to the
writer's office with the curt introduction, " Wants
information about Canada." The visitor, who was
dressed in a plain tweed suit, was offered a chair. He
handed the writer his card : " Sir Claude Macdonald,
His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to Japan." Sir
Claude had just returned from that ever memorable
heroic defence of the Embassy at Pekin on the occasion
of the Boxer rising, and his name and fame were in
every one's mouth. He briefly explained that he was

CURBING SOCIAL ASPIRATIONS 229

leaving for Tokio via Vancouver, and wanted a private
car for the journey across Canada ; that he had been to
Cooks', and to the Canadian Pacific Railway, but could
get no satisfaction. " From the High Commissioner's
office," he laughingly added, " I have been referred
to you." The mistake of the official in refusing an
interview to " the farmer-like looking chap," as he
afterwards humbly explained to Lord Strathcona,
was only on a line with the usual procedure of the
office. The following day the writer was able to
show Sir Claude a cablegram from Sir Wilfrid Laurier
conveying the assurance that a Government private
car would be at his disposal on his arrival in Canada.
When all the arrangements were completed I showed
the cablegrams to Lord Strathcona, only to hear his
severe comment : " You had no right to do this. Sir
Claude Macdonald should have come to me. Cour-
tesies of this kind belong to my office."

The experience that Lord Strathcona gained on
the occasion of the coronation of King Edward proved
more than useful when King George's turn came. All
applications to the Lord Chamberlain for invitations
to various functions were transmitted to the official
representing the country or colony with which the
applicant was connected. Therefore, any visitor
from Canada had to run the gauntlet of revision by
the High Commissioner. The disappointments were
many. Those in favour had the inside track. Among
those to whom Lord Strathcona had taken a strange
dislike was the manager of the Bank of Montreal,

230 LORD STRATHCONA

Threadneedle Street, now Sir Frederick Williams-
Taylor, general manager at Montreal. Sir Frederick's
name was most persistently struck out of every list
for invitations to coronation functions by Lord
Strathcona. Inquiries only elicted the reply : " The
Lord Chamberlain says that his list is complete."
" Commands " were out for a Garden Party at
Windsor Castle. Sir Frederick waited impatiently
for his. All his aristocratic neighbours were invited.
He endeavoured to inquire the reason for the delay
from the official secretary of the High Commis-
sioner's office, telling the attendant at the 'phone
his name and the reason why he wanted to speak to
the official. He heard a voice, which he recognized,
say : " Tell him I am engaged with Lord Strathcona
just now." When the Bank of Montreal finally got
into connection there was some plain talk. The result
was, however, in Lord Strathcona's opinion, that the
office had been " insulted," and Sir Frederick had no
longer a chance of any invitation to coronation func-
tions through the office of the High Commissioner
for Canada. But Sir Frederick had very influential
connections outside. His name was placed on another
list for everything that was going, Windsor Castle,
and, later on, his knighthood. But for having
succeeded in getting behind the ordinary official
channels he was never forgiven by the London
representative of the Canadian Government.

Any interference with matters that Lord Strathcona
regarded as pertaining to his official preserve was most

RESENTING INTERFERENCE 231

hotly resented. And any effort to get the ear of the
Ottawa Government, except through his office, brought
down the most disastrous consequences on the innocent
offender. The numerous proposals for the erection
of an official building in London, unless first submitted
to him, were condemned unhesitatingly in official
letters. An enthusiastic advocate of one of these
Canadian building projects presented an admirable
proposal to the Ministers at Ottawa. He was advised
to return to London immediately, and explain it to
Lord Strathcona before allowing anything to appear
in the Press. But in an evil moment he took an
Ottawa reporter into his confidence, the news was
cabled to London, and when the promoter interviewed
Lord Strathcona he was politely informed that as he
had gone to Ottawa without consulting the High
Commissioner's office, he (Lord Strathcona) could
not now entertain it.

Lord Grey made arrangements with the London
County Council for the famous island site on Kings-
way without first consulting Lord Strathcona. The
usual result followed. To smooth the way for the
acceptance of one of these proposals for a Canadian
building on a site that the Government was considering,
a member of Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Cabinet suggested
to the High Commissioner that, if it was a good move
on the part of the bank with which he was connected
to erect commodious offices in Threadneedle Street,
why should not Canada do likewise ? Lord Strathcona
replied that the experience of the bank furnished the

232 LORD STRATHCONA

strongest possible argument for not following that
example : " because," he added, " since we moved
into that building the officials have lost their heads.
They are looking for nothing but social distinction and
titles, and are neglecting their duties."

It is no longer a secret that " the important official
communication " that Lord Strathcona insisted in
writing, about which inspired paragraphs appeared in
the Press a day or two before he passed away, was a
long letter to Ottawa denouncing in somewhat uncom-
promising terms all the proposals that had been sent
to Ottawa from time to time through unofficial
channels about a Canadian building in London, and
strongly advocating the adoption of the recom-
mendation that he had submitted, which was that
the site of the Westminster Hospital should be pur-
chased by the Dominion Government, and that it
was the only suitable place for the proposed Canadian
building.

XXVI

Personal characteristics — Never lacking in courage — Reputations
destroyed — Development of Canada — Solving the emigration
problem — Strathcona threatened with arrest in Germany — Lord
Salisbury's warning — Posing as the successful emigration worker
— Hon. Clifford Sifton's work — Assistance of British Journalism
— The Coronation Arch — Further Imperial honours.

Amid the most gloomy and discouraging periods in
the history of the Pacific Railway, Lord Strathcona
never doubted but that a brighter dawn would
eventually appear. When all the other members of
the syndicate were growing prematurely old under the
severe strain of hope and fear, his courage never
faltered. Had there been less of that course which
can only be condemned, and more of that which
was commendable in the internal management, there
would have been less occasion for the temporary
trouble that overtook the Company.

The enormous sums that were expended in corrupt-
ing the body politic did not by any means represent
the actual cost of that policy. Those moneys only
represented the direct cost. The indirect expense
to the Company and syndicate was much larger.
It was not that they had to meet certain conditions
in the political life of the country, but they deliberately
made the conditions themselves. They had gone into

233

284 LORD STRATHCONA

tRe whole business with their eyes wide open. Once
having entered on a course which cannot be condemned
too strongly, the whole management of their business
became as questionable as the recent condemnation
of the management of the great insurance companies
in the United States. It was the knowledge of the
corrupt phases of the operations of the Company, in
the great financial centres of the world, that caused
doubt about the reliability of their securities. The
financiers of the world had a clearer estimate of what
was going on than the Canadian public.

The Canadian Pacific syndicate followed exactly
the same course at Ottawa that Huntingdon and
Ames did with the Southern Pacific Railway in the
western States and at Washington. Great concessions
of land and money subsidies were secured, and repre-
sentatives in Congress became the recipients of railway
favours. The day of reckoning arrived in the great
republic when an indignant people became roused,
and the long-delayed inquiry was instituted. As a
result of the investigations, reputations of men high
in public estimation tumbled like houses of cards. But
not before a state of affairs was revealed that was
looked upon as impossible even in the United States.
Nothing but the large magnanimity of those whom
patriotism and self-protection forced to be the op-
ponents of the Canadian syndicate, has prevented the
fate that overcame prominent statesmen in the United
States, as well as De Lesseps in France, from engulfing
a similar class which dominated the politics of the

A GREAT CORPORATION 235

Dominion for so many years. And the unreserved
magnanimity that was shown to them has been taken
as evidence of cowardice.

Lord Strathcona lived to see the enterprise which
owes its charter to his political foresight increase
beyond his most sanguine anticipations. The Com-
pany now owns sixteen thousand miles of railway in
active operation ; two great steamship lines traversing
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans ; to say nothing about
cable and telegraphic properties. The annual revenue
of the Company exceeds $150,000,000 (£30,000,000),
and upon the stock and bonds of the Company satis-
factory dividends are promptly and regularly paid.
The capital of the Company is announced as being
$485,000,000 (£97,000,000). The records of the
decade between 1897 and 1907 will be remembered
as the great turning-point in the history of Canada.
The imports and exports more than doubled — the
public revenue almost trebled — the manufacturing
industries expanded enormously — notwithstanding a
largely increased expenditure surpluses aggregating
$200,000,000 (£40,000,000) accumulated, and portions
of the national debt falling due were paid out of the
revenue. No country in modern times has had such
a record of permanent development and prosperity.

Nothing but these extraordinary conditions enabled
Canada to withstand the severe strain which was
placed upon its financial life by the methods adopted
by the Pacific Railway syndicate. The Dominion
certainly could not stand further experience of this

286 LORD STRATHCONA

character. The danger still exists that others may
look towards the Dominion as the field for another
attempt to emulate the actions of the Pacific Railway.
Such a course could not but bring disaster in its train.

It is a singular fact that the permanent advance in
the fortunes of the Pacific Railway became particularly
evident shortly after the Liberal party assumed power
at Ottawa, though to keep this party out of office
hundreds of thousands of pounds were spent in cor-
rupting the electorate by the syndicate. The
enormous increase in the receipts of the Company is
due entirely to the great wave of prosperity that has
been sweeping over Canada for the last fifteen years.
This was brought about by the tide of emigration
from all parts of the world being successfully directed
to the Dominion as the result of the policy instituted
by Hon. Clifford Sifton, to whom must ever be given
the honour for this significant turning-point in
Canadian history.

Mr. Clifford Sifton was the representative of the
great west in the Laurier Cabinet. He was Attorney-
General in the Manitoba Government when Wilfrid
Laurier offered him charge of the Department of the
Interior. He came from the prairie provinces full
of enthusiasm about the possibilities of that vast area
between Winnipeg and the Rocky Mountains. For
thirty years successive Ministers had endeavoured to
solve the immigration problem at Ottawa, each one
apparently leaving the question in worse shape than
his predecessor. The High Commissioner's office had

CANADA EXPECTING MUCH 237

been placed in charge of the emigration propaganda
in Great Britain and Europe. The results to the
Dominion were nil.

Canadians congratulated themselves when Sir Donald
A. Smith became High Commissioner. It was thought
that something would be done of a practical character
in regard to emigration, but he too settled down to
the ordinary official status quo. As the result of
correspondence with Sir Donald Smith, Mr. Sifton
proposed that a Canadian official should be sent to
London to take charge of emigration work. Sir
Donald in reply thought that a minor clerk at a small
salary would answer the requirements. But the
Minister decided that a much more responsible official
was necessary. Before this could be accomplished,
however, Sir Donald had been High Commissioner for
more than two years.

In the meantime Sir Donald decided to do some-
thing. He was impressed with the idea that he
should visit the Continent and see what could be done
to assist emigration. At Hamburg he issued letters
of invitation to fifty or sixty attaches of booking agents,
stating that " Lord Strathcona, High Commissioner
for Canada " would like to confer with them at his
hotel on the question of emigration to Canada. An
invitation from an English lord brought a fairly large
attendance of a certain class. The High Commissioner
addressed them, pointing out the advantages offered
to emigrants by Canada, impressed on them the fact
that a bonus was paid upon each emigrant to the

238 LORD STRATHCONA

Dominion, and asked their cordial co-operation in
this work. Fortunately Lord Strathcona did not
prolong his stay in Germany beyond that day.

On his return to London he immediately wrote an
extended report about his trip to the Continent in
the interest of emigration, addressing a copy to the
Prime Minister and also one officially to the Department
of the Interior, giving a summary of his address " to
a crowded meeting of booking agents." He proposed
to show the Ottawa Government that, with such
activity on his part, the occasion for sending over a
responsible official to take charge of emigration was
altogether unnecessary.

But, alas for this incursion into unfamiliar fields !
Scarcely had this long report of the Hamburg meeting
reached the mail-box, than Lord Strathcona received an
urgent message from the Right Hon. Joseph Chamber-
lain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, saying that he
wanted to see him at the earliest possible moment on
a matter of grave importance in the Foreign Minister's
Department. The Colonial Secretary informed Lord
Strathcona that the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury,
had received an official visit from Count Hatzfeldt,
the German Ambassador, who stated that the High
Commissioner for Canada had, contrary to the German
law, and also in violation of the police regulations of
Prussia, addressed a meeting of booking agents in
Hamburg, inciting them to emigration work. The
Ambassador desired Lord Salisbury to advise Lord
Strathcona that, under no circumstances whatever,

THREATENED WITH ARREST 239

would it be advisable for him to visit any part of
Germany, because the police at the frontier had
instructions to arrest him without ceremony for his
flagrant violation of the law. Lord Salisbury also
advised Mr. Chamberlain that it would be well if
Lord Strathcona could submit a statement proving
that the German authorities were under a misconcep-
tion as to the facts of the case.

The German authorities were quite astray in one
particular. The " booking agents " of Hamburg had
not responded to the invitation to confer with the
English lord. If Lord Strathcona wanted to see them
on business, they had decided that he might better
call at their business offices. The distinguished
company who favoured the Canadian High Commis-
sioner with their presence were the street-runners
or " tooters " connected with the competitive steam-
ship companies. They had rushed to the Hamburger
Hof merely to see a real live English lord.

The High Commissioner returned to his office after
his interview with Mr. Joseph Chamberlain deeply
crestfallen. For diplomatic reasons, and in order to
preserve his standing with the Prime Minister and
the Colonial Secretary, he desired to explain away the
incident. But there were those letters on the way to
Ottawa ! Lord Strathcona, however, took the plunge
by cabling to Ottawa an urgent request to regard
his correspondence on his continental tour as " con-
fidential." He then addressed an official letter to
Lord Ampthill, who at that time was private secretary

240 LORD STRATHCONA

to the Colonial Secretary, giving a markedly different
account of his incidental meeting with the booking
agents at Hamburg than that which he had sent to
Ottawa a few days previously. He also expressed the
hope that his denial of the charges sent to Berlin by
the Hamburg police, that he had incited an emigra-
tion propaganda on the occasion of his recent visit to
the Continent, would be accepted by the German
authorities.

To all appearance official records of Lord Strath-
cona's connection with the matter at issue were out
of the way. But punctilious officialism, even in
Canada, dearly loves a report, more especially one
signed by a lord. To allow such a communication
to be anywhere else than on the principal files of the
Department would be an unheard-of breach of
etiquette. So the report about the visit to Germany
on emigration duly reached the correspondence clerks.

Some years later the correspondence was produced to
a Committee of the House of Commons, and the official
inconsistencies between the report to Ottawa and the
letter to Lord Ampthill became public property.

This visit to the Continent, carried out with a
flourish of trumpets, and which had such humiliating
consequences, was Lord Strathcona's first and last
personal effort to direct an emigration movement to
the Dominion of Canada. He had no more to do
with the magnificent work that was done to rouse an
interest throughout the emigrating world to the
advantages offered by Canada than had the men who

SOLVING THE EMIGRATION PROBLEM 241

aimlessly haunt the Embankment, parks, or squares
of London. The official eulogies of Lord Strathcona
published on this phase of his official work have not
the slightest foundation in fact.

The great tide of emigration which has turned
towards Canada during the last fourteen years is the
direct result of the policy instituted by Hon. Clifford
Sifton. He entered the Cabinet determined that the
failures of thirty years should be overcome. He
believed that the genius of Canadian statesmanship
could find a solution for the problem, and to it he gave
his undivided attention. He appointed Hon. James A.
Smart Deputy-Minister, Mr. Frank Pedley Super-
intendent of Immigration, Mr. W. J. White Com-
missioner to the United States, and a Commissioner
of Emigration to Great Britain and Europe. These
officials were assured of the confidence of the Minister,
were told that their recommendations would be
accepted, and that all the money needed to insure
success would be forthcoming. The officials in London
connected with the emigration work were removed
from the control of the High Commissioner's office,
so as to allow the fullest freedom of action. In the
work in this country the value of the assistance that
was given, without an exception, by the British Press
can never be over-estimated. Without this hearty and
gratuitous co-operation on the part of British journal-
ism no such magnificent results could ever have been
obtained. For the first time in the history of Great
Britain, under this propaganda, the number of

242 LORD STRATHCONA

British emigrants to Canada far exceeded those going
to the United States. To apportion any part of the
credit of this marvellous work to Lord Strathcona is
to delve into an atmosphere of fiction. In point of
fact the success of Mr. Sifton's propaganda by officials
outside the control of his office was a subject of con-
stant jealousy to Lord Strathcona. He regarded their
success as a reflection upon the High Commissioner's
office, and he only became reconciled to the situation
when Hon. Clifford Sifton had withdrawn from the
Government and the successful officials had been
removed to other fields of government work.

The impression must not be created that Lord
Strathcona was uninterested in emigration work.
On the contrary he was interested for the most
obvious reasons ; although when the writer discussed
the matter with him for the first time in 1898, he was
exceedingly dubious about the possibility of any
great movement from this country being directed to
Canada, instancing the comparative failure of the
emigration work that had been carried on in Great
Britain and the Continent under the supervision of
his own office, and also by that of the Canadian Pacific
Railway. These unsuccessful efforts, he feared, did
not give a basis for much hope in the future, more
especially as he was assured that every possible plan
had been tried by the High Commissioner's office
to awaken an interest in Canada on this side of the
Atlantic. This, in fact, was the generally accepted
view everywhere. The late Mr. Moberly Bell, of

THE CORONATION ARCH 243

The Times, told the writer that he feared it was
impossible to induce the British emigrant to go to
Canada, or to interest the general public in the
Dominion. But at the same time Mr. Bell freely
offered the columns of The Times in any manner
desired to assist in the official propaganda.

An unexpected opportunity was afforded Lord
Strathcona in the summer of 1902 to be of signal
service. Arrangements were then being made to
decorate London on the occasion of His late Majesty's
coronation. The writer, after consulting the High
Commissioner, and with the consent of the Depart-
ment at Ottawa, requested permission from the West-
minster Council to erect a Canadian Arch in Whitehall.
The assurance was given that it would be done on a
scale suitable to the occasion, and on the recommen-
dation of the Earl of Onslow, who was Chairman of
the Council, the permission was granted. The an-
nouncement in the Press that Canada intended taking
this step caused a sensation. Instructions, however,
came by cable from Ottawa that only £600 would be
authorized by the Department for this purpose. In
reply to pressing cables, the Department finally con-
sented to an expenditure not exceeding £1200.

At this point it may be mentioned that Lord
Strathcona, while de facto an official of the Dominion
Government and occupying a position to which
there was a large salary attached, had persistently
declined to accept any salary. This undoubtedly
allowed him liberty of action that could not be taken

244 LORD STRATHCONA

witn impunity by ordinary officials. On learning of the
latest instructions from Ottawa about the proposed
arch he inquired what the expenditure was likely to
be. When told that it would probably reach £6000,
if the plans then being considered were adopted, he
said : " Go on with the work, I will see you through,
if the Government raises any objection. We cannot
afford to stop now." However, when the Minister
learned about the instructions that had been cabled
by the Department, he unhesitatingly assumed all
responsibility for the expenditure. From the begin-
ning to the end Lord Strathcona took an intense interest
in the progress of the work, and was quite pleased with
having decided to over-ride departmental instructions
for the time. The cost, as might be expected, ex-
ceeded the original estimates. Parliament not only
cordially approved of the expenditure, but the Oppo-
sition, with unprecedented magnanimity, complimented
the London management of the Emigration Depart-
ment for taking advantage of the opportunity to
make the resources of Canada known throughout the
world.

It is probably not generally known that, except for the
first day or two, none but foreigners were engaged in
the construction and maintenance. English labourers
refused to work either on Saturday afternoons or after
regular hours, although offered double rates of wages
for overtime. Consequently there was a hurried visit
to the foreign settlements in the East End, and Belgians
and French were given the profitable employment.

A NEW PACE IN DECORATIONS 245

Several of the discharged British labourers came to
the scene of activity and threatened to set fire to the
structure. This alarmed the authorities to such an
extent that special fire and police protection was
considered necessary.

As the massive pile of timbers rose, Whitehall became
a centre of attraction. Street decorations upon such
a scale are unknown in this country, although they are
not uncommon in Canada. When the late King visited
the Dominion in i860 he saw them in every place.
London for the most part confines its extravagance
in street decorations to the same old Venetian masts,
enthusiastically trotting them out upon every con-
ceivable occasion. The extravagance of Canada there-
fore created a record. The crimson roses alone that
were purchased in Paris and Hamburg to decorate
the lower part of the structure, and which only
arrived rich in fragrance the night before the corona-
tion, cost more than all the other public decorations
on Whitehall. In point of publicity Canada received
ample return for the expenditure. The arch was the
great feature of the coronation decorations. Pictures
appeared in tens of thousands of publications through-
out the world. Hour after hour as many as one hun-
dred and fifty at the same time pointed their kodaks
at the structure. The issue of picture postal cards
ran into tens of millions. Scores of excursions were
run from all parts of England to London with the
special attraction of seeing the Canadian Arch. Canada
had reason to be satisfied.

246 LORD STRATHCONA

But it came very near to being the occasion of a
shocking accident. During the march down Whitehall
on Dominion Day of the Canadian contingent that
Sir Henry Pellatt brought to London, while Sir
Wilfrid and Lady Laurier with a number of friends
had taken places on the main balcony of the arch,
two or three gentlemen in the lower part of the
structure were suddenly attracted by a faint cracking
of timber ; and looking up saw with horror that the
upper floor was giving way. They quickly rushed
with spare timbers that fortunately were near, to
support the slowly-sinking platform. The crowd was
removed from above, having but a faint knowledge of
the serious accident that had been so narrowly averted.

Upon the recommendation of the Governor-General,
acting for the Prime Minister, Donald A. Smith was
knighted in 1896. In the distribution of honours on
the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee his name was
submitted by Sir Wilfrid Laurier for a barony. This,
however, was only a life peerage. In 1909 Sir John
McNeil informed the writer that Lord Strathcona had
been to see him several times in order to get his
assistance in having his title arranged so that the re-
version would pass to Hon. Mrs. Howard and her heirs.
Sir John had mentioned the matter to the Queen,
the Prime Minister and the Colonial Secretary, but
it was clear that official regulations made it very
difficult, if not impossible, to do anything without
the concurrence of the authorities in Canada. I had
several interviews with Sir John, and finally decided

HOW A TITLE BECAME HEREDITARY 247

to go to Ottawa, where I found the impression with
the Government that Lord Strathcona wished the
title to become extinct at his death. However,
fortunately, I had Sir John's letters on the subject,
and they left no room for doubt. The day following
my discussion with Sir Richard Cartwright, he told
me that the Premier had seen Lord Minto, the
Governor-General, who had immediately communi-
cated with the Colonial Office. Sir Richard was
anxious that I should tell Lord Strathcona on my
return to London what he, Sir Richard, had done.
This I fully intended doing, but prefaced my inten-
tions with congratulations on the change in the
character of his title, full particulars of which had
already been published. He replied, before I could
say any more : " I do not know how these things are
done. The Queen has been pressing this upon me
for some time, but I did not feel justified in accepting
until now." I was silenced, but enjoyed a good laugh
with Sir John McNeil over it later. Shortly after-
wards the announcement was made in the Press that
Lord Strathcona had purchased an island on the
west coast of Scotland from Sir John for £30,000.

XXVII

Election journey to Canada — Keeping the C. P. R. quiet — Still afraid
of investigation — The standard of British politics — Danger to
the State.

The failure to investigate the well-known Pacific Rail-
way methods in Canada emboldened that great cor-
poration to continue its peculiar practices on more
than one occasion. Four general elections have taken
place since Sir Wilfrid Laurier's assumption of office —
1900, 1904, 1908 and 191 1. In connection with the
first an unexpected development occurred. There
was a house party at Glencoe, the writer being among
the guests. The campaign in Canada was then in full
swing. It was immediately after breakfast that morn-
ing telegrams were handed in. Lord Strathcona had
the usual number. Calling me into the library he
told me that he had to leave for Canada the following
day, but he wanted the guests to continue their visit
as if nothing had happened. He said that his presence
in Canada was imperative, handing me a cable that had
just been received. The information, which was not,
however, from the Government, was that the Canadian
Pacific officials in Montreal were preparing to oppose
the Government with their old-time vigour. To
prevent this he hurried off to Canada, taking up his

248

KNIFING CANADIAN PROJECTS 249

quarters in Montreal, where he stood guard over the
officials of the Company until all fear of the threatened
participation had passed. The course that he had
been willing the original syndicate should take, he
was averse in his later years to leave as a legacy to the
great corporation that he had founded, or as a justifi-
cation for continuing to interfere with the politics of
the Dominion. Nevertheless, in 1904, the influence of
the company was let loose against the Liberal Govern-
ment, the principal reason given for this action being
that Laurier favoured the construction of the Grand
Trunk Pacific Railway. The annoyance of the Com-
pany at being unable to prevent a charter being
granted to the Grand Trunk for a line to the Pacific
coast, was made the occasion of a declaration by a
very prominent Canadian Pacific official that he
would prevent the Grand Trunk from getting money
in London to build the road. Previous to this the
Canadian Pacific influences had endeavoured to pre-
vent the Mackenzie and Mann lines from finding money
to carry on their railway construction. The Company
which has grown out of the original syndicate has
since acted as if it owns the country. Its schemes
have been successful in Parliament for so many years
that such a conclusion seems natural.

In the elections of 191 1 all reserve was thrown to
the winds, and the full army of 75,000 employees was
marshalled against the Government. Such conduct
on the part of any corporation in Germany, Austria
or France, would result in the officials finding them-

250 LORD STRATHCONA

selves in prison with little loss of time. It could not
take place in Great Britain, nor could any candidate
be found, even with a certainty of election, willing
to accept support of that character. Yet the people
of Canada pride themselves upon the idea that their
Legislature is built on the model of the Mother of
Parliaments !

The revelation at a recent session of the British
House of Commons, that the directors of the London
and North-western Railway had subscribed £200 to
an election fund, was sufficiently startling to both
sides of the House to cause the immediate stoppage of
legislation then being enacted in the interest of the
company, until an apology could be offered, and
evidence adduced that the money had been returned
to the company by the directors. There is no need
to inquire as to what action the British Parliament
would take, if evidence was available that a railway
corporation had expended half a million pounds
sterling, and turned the whole machinery of its
organization into corrupting the political life of the
country. It may be interesting to ask what kind of an
uproar would there be in British politics if, in seeking
an extension of the powers of the Chartered Company
of South Africa from the British Parliament, Sir
Leander Starr Jameson, the President of the Company,
should present the wife of the Prime Minister with a
necklace of jewels costing £40,000, loan the Chancellor
£10,000 to £20,000, deposit to the credit of another
Member of the Cabinet from £50,000 to £100,000

BALLOT-BOX MUST BE FREE 251

for his personal use, contribute .£100,000 to the
Liberal Whip for party purposes, and scatter the
Chartered Company's shares among members on both
sides of the House ! And yet this is exactly what was
done in the Dominion Parliament to advance the
interests of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In regard
to the participants, the receivers are " Honourable
Gentlemen," and the contributors are " Empire-
Builders." There is a healthier element now on both
sides of the House, sick and tired of this sinister domi-
nation of the public life of the country. The little
leaven will yet " leaven the whole lump." And, when
that time comes, reputations, both of the living and
the dead, will suffer.

No country can afford to have its public interests
overshadowed by the active influence of a great
corporation. This is particularly objectionable if
such a corporation has developed under bounty drawn
from the public exchequer. Corporations have a
proper position in every country, but their place, as
corporate bodies, is not at the ballot-box. The ballot
is a personal possession, not corporate or collective in
its character. It is the nation's " pearl of great
price." The rich and poor must stand upon a perfect
equality with the ballot and at the ballot-box. There
is no liberty of action when a powerful corporation,
either secretly or openly, attempts to dominate
elections. Such corporate monstrosities must be
throttled.

If the genius of statesmanship has not discovered a

252 LORD STRATHCONA

way to enact legislation, punishing with the utmost
severity all possible attempts to interfere with the
liberty of the subject, the sooner it is done the better.
If it is not done now, if will be done later, and then
" vested interests " will suffer. The Dominion Legis-
lature is a Parliament, possessing full Parliamentary
powers. And with public opinion behind it, there is
no influence to stand in its way. The solution of this
problem has long since been settled in British politics,
but it has yet to be solved in the most important
colony of the Empire.

The Canadian people, calmly pursuing their peace-
ful avocations, were new to the conditions introduced
into Dominion politics in the interest of the syndicate.
Officials were imported from the United States, with
an intimate knowledge of the methods employed in
manipulating public men in railway interests in the
west, and were placed in charge of the Canadian Pacific.
Under their instructions, the most improved tactics
were brought into play to complete the demoralization
of Canadian public life, and at the same time to secure
the control of the Parliamentary institutions of the
country.

The general public had not time or opportunity,
amid the struggles for home and family, to watch too
closely the actions of those who so loudly claimed to
be patriotic. Canadians as a class are actuated by
high principles. This heritage has fallen to them
from the noble bands of English, Scotch, Irish and
French who emigrated to Canada in its earlier years,

CANADIAN PEOPLE ARE HONEST 253

and whose self-sacrificing toil laid the foundation of
an honest race. The people had every reason to be-
lieve that the standards of honour and honesty that
prevailed in the ordinary walks of life were finding
expression in the administration of government.
That the Parliament of the Dominion of Canada should
be the medium of creating private wealth is as
repugnant to them as it is to the electors of Great
Britain. They believed that the British ideal existed
in their own manner and form of government. No
other conception of public life prevails in the minds
of the masses of the Canadian people. The lives of
Brown, Mackenzie, Holton and Dorion more properly
represent the characteristics of this people than the
record of those, living or dead, who have caused other
considerations to prevail in high places.

XXVIII

Distribution of wealth — The Strathcona Horse — Consternation at a
banquet — Visits from the troopers' families — A share in the good
times — Subscription to British political funds — The All-Red
Route — The ruling passion — Fear of possible successor — Sir
Frederick Borden and Sir Gilbert Parker — A pathetic scene —
Conclusion there is no hurry to resign — Lady Strathcona.

The romance of Lord Strathcona's life between the
western prairies and the House of Lords would be
incomplete without a reference to gifts that will
cause his name to be remembered. The Queen
Victoria Jubilee Hospital at Montreal, in co-operation
with another Pacific syndicate magnate, Lord Mount
Stephen, was erected at an enormous cost, and in its
appointments is one of the best institutions on the
continent of America. The King's Hospital Fund,
London, in which he was also joined by the nobleman
referred to, established a record in subscriptions of
that character ; McGill University, Montreal, in the
equipment of which Lord Strathcona and Sir William
Macdonald expended several millions ; the Strath-
cona Horse, a contribution to the Empire during the
South African War, has no precedent in the history of
any country.

A props of the Strathcona Horse, it will be re-
membered that on the return of the force from South
Africa, the officers and men were much feted in
London. The amusements provided for the non-
254

TOO MANY COMPLIMENTS 255

commissioned officers and men were on a most
extensive scale. The officers enjoyed receptions
and banquets galore. So many compliments were
dinned into their ears by the beauty and fashion of
the day that it is not surprising, if, during the late
hours at well-laid-out banquets where everything of
a gastronomic character that the heart could desire
was generously provided, the compliments assumed en-
larged proportions, and a faint idea took possession of
some of the officers' minds that the Strathcona Horse
had really turned the tide of victory in South Africa.
As a final farewell to the gallant Canadian force, Lord
Strathcona gave a banquet to the officers at the Hotel
Cecil. The guests were among the most notable in
the Empire. Heads of the Army and Navy, Field-
Marshals and Admirals, Foreign and Colonial officials,
in a goodly company, gathered round the festive
board. If anything had been left unsaid about the
wonderful fighting character of the force, it was
amply compensated for on this occasion. There was
no longer any doubt about the marvellous achievements
of the Strathcona House. Queen Mary would never
have lost Calais, Bonaparte might have won Waterloo,
and Napoleon would have saved his Empire at Sedan,
if the Strathcona Horse had been with the defeated of
those days. Lord Strathcona proposed the " Health
of the officers of the Strathcona Horse," the title of
which he said the guests knew he was not responsible
for. He expressed his personal appreciation of their
bravery, and of their anxiety to help the Empire in the
hour of trouble. After the toast had been properly

256 LORD STRATHCONA

honoured, one of the officers rose to reply. With
flashing eyes and in a voice indicating intense earnest-
ness, he assured the gathering that he was not a public
speaker, but he was a fighter. (Loud applause.)
Raising his glass " To the Strathcona Horse," he said :
" We are the Boys " (loud applause). " We can lick
anything in sight " (applause and laughter). " One
of us is worth any five Frenchmen " (consternation),
11 and we can lick h — out of the Germans." A look
of horror appeared on every face. Privy Councillors
half rose from their seats. Two prominent guests
immediately endeavoured to get the enthusiastic
fighter to resume his. But his appetite had been
sharpened for the blood of a foreigner. With great
difficulty, and amid a rattle of dishes to drown any
further references of a similar character, the brave
soldier was pushed towards the exit, repeating over
and over again, " We can lick," etc., etc. The repre-
sentatives of diplomacy were horrified. A feast which
promised so much that was pleasant had suddenly
turned to ashes. Word was passed down the table that
the incident must be regarded as never having taken
place. But the ghost of international complications
haunted the banqueting-hall for the rest of the evening.
As the company dispersed a very prominent diplomat

was heard to say : " D the Strathcona Horse ! "

There was another phase of the Strathcona Horse
that gave Lord Strathcona not a little anxiety, and
which, of course, could not have been foreseen. In
anticipation of the return of their husbands, the
wives of three or four of the troopers, young and

UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENTS 257

bonny, came to London to meet the idols of the nation.
The Canadian Press had enlarged on the gratitude of
the Empire to the force, and outlined a programme
that was being prepared for the troopers on their return
from the scene of active operations. Why should not
the wives have a share of the good things that were
going ? Had they not suffered also ? Some of these
anxious spouses anticipated their lords' return by
many months. They could not do less than visit the
office of the great man whose liberality had provided
the means for their husbands to seek glory in South
Africa, and it was from him, also, that they were likely
to get the most reliable information about the return
of the troops. The officials at the High Commis-
sioner's office were unusually courteous and atten-
tive, and they were also very solicitous that the ladies
should not interview Lord Strathcona. But they
succeeded in passing the official barriers and intro-
duced themselves. The natural inquiries as to how
they were getting on without their husbands opened
the floodgates, and more information was forthcoming
than was wanted. The bread-winners were away
fighting to save the Empire. They were having a
hard time in looking after themselves. The appeal
was irresistible — proper provision was immediately
made on a most liberal scale. One or two of these
anxious wives learned that their benefactor kept late
office hours, and they found fewer officials obstructing
their entrance than during the day. So they chose
the evenings for their visits to Victoria Street. Visits
of that kind were capable of serious misapprehension,

258 LORD STRATHCONA

unjust misconstruction from every possible stand-
point, but that possibility never occurred to the sturdy
Canadian matrons. One evening when Lady Strath-
cona had come down from Grosvenor Square with the
object of taking Lord Strathcona home at a more
reasonable hour than he was accustomed to leave his
office, one of these evening visitors entered. She
informed the official in the outer office that she must
see Lord Strathcona. The official explained that Lady
Strathcona was with him, and, also, he was very busy.
But if Lady Strathcona was there it was all the greater
incentive, as she was very anxious to meet Lady
Strathcona as well. The official, however, was obdurate.
The best he could do was to take her card into his
Lordship. The visitor's card was therefore laid on
Lord Strathcona's desk. After a moment's hesitation
Lord Strathcona said : " Tell him that I cannot
possibly see him to-night. Come to-morrow morn-
ing." But it was no use. The official returned with
the message, " He says he really must see your Lord-
ship, and he will wait in the library at your con-
venience." Evening visitors, after this experience,
were barred for a long time at 17 Victoria Street, but
Lord Strathcona gave instructions that there must be
no difficulties raised by the officials to prevent these
people from seeing him during the daytime.

Lord Strathcona experienced not a little uneasiness
at the persistent efforts of several members of the
British House of Commons in a certain direction,
during the early session of Sir Henry Campbell-Banner-
man's administration, to trace a persistent rumour to

LIBERAL POLITICAL SUBSCRIPTION 259

the effect that the High Commissioner for Canada had
contributed £150,000 to the funds of a political
organization that was then carrying on a very costly
and extensive propaganda throughout Great Britain.
For three or four weeks repeated notices of inquiry to
the Government were given to the officials of the
House on the subject, but these never appeared on the
official records. All kinds of objections were raised by
those charged with responsibility about the form and
procedure in such cases. Although it was evident to
the inquirers who wanted to make the matter public
that their intentions were going to be blocked, they
led the officers of the House a lively dance, by the
various forms in which the subject was presented from
time to time. It was believed by those high in
authority that it was not in the public interest that
Lord Strathcona's practical sympathy with this
question, in view of his official position, should be
generally known. The fear of having his association
with a political policy that was opposed by the Govern-
ment to which he was accredited announced to the
public, to say nothing about his oft-repeated assurance
to friends that he took no interest in British party
politics, disturbed Lord Strathcona's equanimity sadly.
It was obviously a case where it was advisable that the
right hand should not know what the left was doing.
One other incident of a public character in con-
nection with Lord Strathcona's later life stands out
as worthy of note. During the session of the Colonial
Conference in 1907 there was much unofficial talk
about a line of steamships connecting direct with

260 LORD STRATHCONA

railways through British possessions to the Antipodes,
familiarly known as the All-Red Route. The idea
had taken a good hold of the public mind, regardless
of the vast steamship interests plying between Australia
and Europe.

At any rate Sir Wilfrid Laurier introduced a
resolution to the Colonial Conference recommending
that imperial and colonial assistance be given to such
a project. He announced during the course of his
speech that he had discussed the question with Lord
Strathcona, who was willing, on the terms proposed,
to throw the influence of his great wealth into the
scale and make the All-Red Route a success. The
minimum terms suggested were on the basis of a
subsidy from the governments of Great Britain,
Canada, New Zealand and Australia of $5,000,000
(£1,000,000) annually, for twenty years, totalling
$100,000,000 (£20,000,000), with which to start.
With Lord Strathcona's experience of issuing railway
bonds to the public, and paid-up ordinary stock to
himself, the only cost being the printing account, this
proposal certainly opened up magnificent possibilities.
Others did not see them at the moment, but he took
in the situation at a glance. The project was hanging
fire, the early imperialistic enthusiasm having sub-
sided about the time that a great newspaper amal-
gamation or shuffle was on the cards in London.
Money was wanted to carry the rearrangement of the
newspaper ownership through. Lord Strathcona was
consulted, and he offered to subscribe from £150,000
to £300,000, provided the newspapers concerned in

RUMOURS OF RESIGNATION 261

the deal should take special interest in advocating the
All-Red Route. However, the idea of the so-called
Imperial Route, and the amalgamation of the news-
paper interests in question died a natural death.

In connection with the oft-repeated rumours of
Lord Strathcona's intended resignation, which never
had any foundation, he was particularly disturbed at
the suggested appointment of Sir Frederick Borden,
or Sir Gilbert Parker, as his successor. He would
have left nothing undone to prevent either of these
notable gentlemen from being High Commissioner.
The truth is that he had no intention of resigning, but
the name of a probable successor seemed to indicate
that his resignation was desirable. In regard to Sir
Frederick, information was given by an official in the
High Commissioner's office which formed the foun-
dation of an article in a leading periodical in London,
which, if based on fact, would have rendered the
appointment impossible. Sir Frederick promptly in-
stituted proceedings for libel against the writer and
the publishers. A full and unqualified apology was
given to Sir Frederick, and the charges were acknow-
ledged to be without foundation, and a substantial
sum was paid into court in mitigation of damages.
Respecting Sir Gilbert Parker, Lord Strathcona asked
me if I had heard about Sir Gilbert's alleged aspirations
to be High Commissioner. As I was well aware of
the conversations that had taken place at Ottawa, I
ventured the remark that I thought Sir Gilbert
Parker could do Canada great service in many ways
as High Commissioner, if he (Lord Strathcona) was

262 LORD STRATHCONA

determined to resign. " Utterly useless, utterly use-
less ! He would only use the office to get into the
House of Lords. That is all he wants it for," was
his reply. It was evident that the hour had not
then come for his withdrawal. Leading politicians
on both sides of the House would gladly have heard
of his resignation any time within the last six or
seven years of his life. In fact it was confidently
looked for. Both sides knew that any suggestion
from one would mean an open purse for election
purposes at the disposal of the other. Neither party
wanted him in Canada, each being fearful of his
possible support of the other.

Finally, in the early months of 191 1, he announced
that the Dominion Day dinner would be the last
occasion at which he would appear in public as High
Commissioner for Canada. He requested Sir Wilfrid
Laurier to make the official announcement, on the
evening of the gathering, that he desired to be relieved
from the cares of office. The occasion when Lord
Strathcona rose to address the company was exceed-
ingly pathetic. The frail figure with snow-white
hair, the shoulders drooping with the burden of years
far beyond the allotted span, the voice faint and
trembling, uttering farewell, sent a thrill of over-
powering emotion through the room. It was the
passing away of a great character. If wealth, honours
and success meant everything, he had nothing left to
desire. But he had already grown tired. As the crowd
withdrew from the banqueting-hall there was a subdued

PROMISED RESIGNATION WITHHELD 263

feeling of sympathy and regret. For the moment one
wished that history could be rewritten, or blotted out !

The resignation was to be delivered to Sir Wilfrid
at an early date. The Canadian Prime Minister
offered the post to Sir Frederick Borden, one of his
most faithful, as well as capable colleagues, who had
been Minister of Militia for many years. At Euston
Station, on the morning of Sir Wilfrid's departure
for Canada, he said to Lord Strathcona in his usual
urbane manner : " Allow me to introduce your
successor, Lord Strathcona," pointing to Sir Frederick.
" I hope you will enjoy life in London, Sir Frederick ;
it is a pleasant place to live in," replied the High
Commissioner. Farewell courtesies were exchanged
and the train was off.

Lord Strathcona returned to his office. A chance
visitor found him in a deep study. He said that he
had just been formally introduced to his successor by
Sir Wilfrid, and it seemed like breaking all associations
with the atmosphere in which he had lived for forty
years. Three or four weeks afterwards a cable de-
spatch appeared from Ottawa in the London Press
that Sir Frederick had not yet been appointed High
Commissioner because Lord Strathcona's official
resignation had not been received by the Premier.
This was shown the same day to Lord Strathcona.
His reply was : " There is no hurry, there is no hurry*
is there ? " The resignation was never sent. The
same day that the news was confirmed that Sir Wilfrid's
Government was going out, he took passage to Ottawa,

264 LORD STRATHCONA

and on arrival naturally paid his respects to the
incoming Premier.

Few men had more personal charm than Lord
Strathcona. In his relations with the public and as a
host nothing could exceed his grace and courtesy. He
might have belonged to the ancient regime. The
official position of his later years threw him into
association with lifelong opponents, but to the most
extreme of these he never lacked politeness and friend-
liness. Whatever his feelings might be, and he was
only human, his mastery over himself was complete.
This was a strong characteristic. Nothing could dis-
turb his equanimity. Many who affect this manner
of life succumb to nervous exhaustion by suppression
of the natural emotions. Lord Strathcona's lengthened
years proves his heritage. No one will say that he
carried his heart on his sleeve — few men do. Almost
everyone has some secret that the world has no right
to know. His fine natural manner gave all the im-
pression that he was as free and open as the sun.

" * Let us be open as the day,*

Quoth he who doth the deeper hide."

Certainly there was great natural kindness in his
character, — his splendid gifts to universities and
hospitals prove this. No one could so support insti-
tutions for the intellectual and physical betterment
of his fellow-men without deep human sympathies.
For friends, too, he would do anything, and strangers
in need rarely appealed to him in vain. He gave not
grudgingly, but bestowed generously. With oppo-

HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN 265

nents, or those who crossed his will, his method was
to try first to win them over without any of the
appearance of the mailed fist. Courtesy and gold were
pressed into service to make rough places smooth and
overcome opposition. But if the subjects of his
consideration remained obdurate, then he crushed
without delay, taking pains, however, that Strathcona's
hand was never seen in the matter. There were always
others willing to accept the responsibility. He de-
veloped his power in this direction into a science.
He never allowed himself to show resentment. So
far as possible he avoided arousing thoughts of reprisals
in the hearts of his opponents. However the end
might justify the means, the reason for the means
was not in evidence — his hand was never visible. In
fact, he more often than not tempered the wind to the
shorn lamb, with an appearance of personal sympathy.
Lord Strathcona had great qualities — his foresight
and his perseverance amounted to genius. He could
have succeeded in any walk of life. He had some
bent towards religion, and if circumstances had led
him in that direction, in the opinion of the writer,
he might have been a great power, leaving a name
not less venerated than Wesley or Booth. He might,
too, have been a great statesman, history giving him
a place with Clive and Rhodes. The opportunity
was there for one who had the diviner dreams and
larger loves of the altruist for his country. He had
the foresight and the splendid daring of genius. But
he chose personal power and wealth for Donald A.
Smith. That opportunity, also, was there in a large

266 LORD STRATHCONA

degree only possible in the western United States
and Canada forty years ago. He took the chance
Fortune offered him, played for enormous stakes with
the weapons that the circumstances of the time
permitted him to forge. And he won. He deserved
to win. He gained enormous fortune, immense
power, high honours for himself — exceeding in all
these particulars any romantic dreams that he might
have indulged in. But just in the degree that Lord
Strathcona succeeded for himself, it is a question for
history to finally decide, whether he did not fail in
the larger test — that of true and noble patriotism.

The story of his life is written upon the public
records of the country, so that he who runs may read.

Those who were favoured with Lady Strathcona's
friendship and confidence came to know a candid and
kindly nature. Her perfect frankness was her charm.
In the old days in Labrador, when the Indians would
gather at the post apparently determined to make a
quasi permanent stay, diplomatic suggestions from
the head of the house that it was time to go had no
effect whatever. She, however, took a hand in the
dismissal, treating them like the children of Nature
that they were, and, as the writer heard her tell the
story of her experiences in this particular, she said :
" They moved quickly for me, when they would not
budge for Donald A."

In London Lady Strathcona was so overshadowed
by the official and personal prominence of her husband,
that many who only casually knew her as the social
head of the Canadian circle failed to appreciate her

A CHARMING PERSONALITY 267

diffident and unassuming womanliness. Honesty and
candour were ever present in her intercourse with
people, but never unkindness. Entering, as Lady
Strathcona did, the highest social circles of the Empire
when the shadows of life had long lengthened, she
never lost herself — there always remained a sweet
personality. Those who were admitted to that inti-
macy will always have the pleasantest recollections of
her charm, her gentle kindness, and her sympathy.

If sometimes she wished for more of the quietness
of family life, and less incessant social demands — the
part of life in which Lord Strathcona revelled, it is
not a matter of surprise.

During Lord Strathcona's lease of Knebworth,
nothing gave him greater pleasure than to invite friends
there for the week-end. Upon one occasion he left
word at Grosvenor Square, when he was leaving for
the day, that he had invited Sir Charles and Lady
Tupper to go to Knebworth with them, and that
Sir Charles was to send a message whether he could
go or not. Just at the moment that the telephone
rang Lady Strathcona happened to be in the hall.
The butler, receiving a message, turned to Lady
Strathcona, saying, " It is Sir Charles Tupper, your
Ladyship. He says that he and Lady Tupper will be
glad to go to Knebworth this afternoon." " Oh, bother
the Tuppers," said Lady Strathcona, " I don't want
them at Knebworth this week." The butler, knowing
Lord Strathcona's wishes, did just what any well-
trained butler would have done under the circum-
stances and replied to Sir Charles with studied

268 LORD STRATHCONA

decorum, " Lady Strathcona is delighted to hear you
are going, and will meet you at King's Cross Station
at three o'clock." The last shot from Lady Strathcona
before the 'phone was hung up was, " You have no
right to say that."

However Sir Charles and Lady Tupper were at the
station in time to meet the other guests and take the
train for Knebworth. Sir Charles was very quiet.
He was far from forgetting what he had heard at the
other end of the 'phone, and wondered how he could
even up with the little woman with the candid tongue.

During dinner Sir Charles turned the conversation
to the general convenience of the modern telephone.
He was sitting a little distance from Lady Strathcona.
Suddenly addressing her he said, " But you know,
Lady Strathcona, telephones are very dangerous things
to have around sometimes." " Are they indeed, Sir
Charles ? Do tell me how, because I am very near ours
quite often." The company was all attention as Sir
Charles leaned over, and with a kindly smile said,
" Yes, very dangerous, Lady Strathcona, because I
heard every word you said to-day when I 'phoned to
Grosvenor Square." Quick as a flash the reply came,
" Well, Sir Charles, I meant every word of it." Of
course the company insisted upon hearing the story,
which was told by Lady Strathcona amid roars of
laughter, in which Sir Charles joined most heartily.
In conversation after the ladies had retired from the
dining-room, Sir Charles said good-humouredly,
" Lady Strathcona is too sharp for me, but I do enjoy
her candour."

XXIX

Lord Strathcona's Will — Cancellation [of Canadian loans — Securing
friends in high places — Sir George E. Foster — Sir Richard
Cartwright ruined by rival company — The great Samson shorn
of his strength — Bleeding the Canadian public — Comparison
with British procedure — Winnipeg — An unforgiven offence —
The unaccepted atonement.

Under Lord Strathcona's Will, which was probated
in New York, he left his Scottish estates and half a
million of money to the heirs succeeding to the title.
Subject to a number of legacies, Lord Strathcona
bequeathed the residue of his estate to his daughter,
now Lady Strathcona. Among the legacies are the
following : —

St. John's College, Cambridge (in addition to £

£10,000 given during his lifetime) . . 10,000
Royal Victoria College, Montreal (under
deduction of any payments made during
his lifetime, and in addition to the
College buildings and site provided by
him at a cost of about £80,000) . . . 200,000
Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal . . . 100,000
Yale University, Connecticut, U.S.A. . . 100,000
University of Aberdeen for Chair of Agri-
culture 5,000

Leanchoil Cottage Hospital, Forres . . . 10,000

269

270 LORD STRATHCONA

Queen Alexandra Extension Home and Hos-
pital for Incurables, Streatham . . . £2,000
National Hospital for Paralysed and Epi-
leptics 2,000

London University College Hospital . . 2,000

Middlesex Hospital 2,000

Church of Scotland, Aged and Infirm

Ministers' Fund 10,000

Queen's University, Kingston, Canada,

Extension Fund 20,000

Principal, Church of Canada Presbyterian

College, Montreal 12,000

" £1,000 to my godson, son of Mrs. Arthur Jameson,
of Dorcourt, Red Hill.

" £1,000 to my godson, Baden- Powell.

" £1,000 to Rupert Anson, son of Lord Lichfield.

" £1,000 to Neil McGrigor, younger son of Sir James
D. McGrigor, baronet.

" £1,000 to my god-daughter, the daughter of Sir
Peter Stewart Bam.

" £1,000 to my trusted friend, William Gar son,
Writer to the Signet, Edinburgh.

" £1,000 to J. G. Colmer, who has given me valuable
assistance for many years.

" £1,000 to James Garson, Writer to the Signet,
Edinburgh.

" £1,000 to W. L. Griffith, at present secretary to
the High Commissioner for Canada.

" £1,000 to Principal Adam Smith, of Aberdeen
University, personally.

REMEMBERING FRIENDS 271

" 1,000 guineas to Sir Thomas Barlow, in addition
to the legacy of a similar amount left to him in my
Will.

" S00 guineas to Dr. Pasteur, in addition to the
legacy of similar amount left to him in my Will.

" An annuity of £100 during her lifetime to Miss
Sydney Stuart.

" An annuity of ^120 jointly during their lives and
to the survivor to the two daughters of son of my Uncle,
Patrick Stuart, at one time Town Major of Belfast.

" An annuity of £150 to Margaret McLennan, for
many years my late wife's maid and personal help,
also a useful attendant of myself.

" A legacy of .£1,000 to Principal William Peterson,
of McGill College, personally.

" A legacy of £300 to Robert Garson, to assist him
to complete his studies.

" A legacy of £250 to Christy E. Mackay, Montreal.

11 A legacy of £250 to Rosa Pitts, at one time trained
nurse to my late wife.

" I specially request my daughter and other trustees
to contribute generally as they know I would do for
the benefit of all personal servants, including Abraham
May, my assistant secretary, and all others who may
be in my service at my death, according to length and
value of their services.

" Retired Chief Factor, Roderick MacFarlane, and
other retired factors of the Hudson's Bay Company
who are now receiving a reduced allowance, each
during his lifetime, but in different proportions one

272 LORD STRATHCONA

from the other, to be given out of my estate not
exceeding one-half of what each gets from the Company,
the allowance in each case ceasing on the death of the
individual and the highest proportion allowed to any
one individual not to exceed £50 annually.

LEGACY AND ESTATE TO HIS STEPSON

" In trust for James Hardisty Smith, named in my
Will, and his children, a sum of £5,000, in addition to
the sum of £25,000, mentioned in the fifth article of
my Will, and subject to the same conditions in all
respects."

BEQUEST TO NIECES

The trustees are directed to invest £20,000 and
pay the income thereof to " my niece, Margaret M.
Smith, of Stuart Lodge, Polworth Terrace, Edinburgh,
daughter of my late brother, John Stuart Smith, M.D.,"
and upon her death to her issue, " whom failing, to
her sister Mrs. Eliza Jane Grant, of Thornhill, Forres,
widow of the late Robert D. Grant, whom failing, to
the children of the said Eliza Jane Grant, and the
issue of any children who may have predeceased, such
taking their parents' share, and the said legacy shall
vest when the same becomes payable."

Also £20,000 to be invested for the said Eliza Jane
Grant, and upon her death to her issue.

REMISSION OF DEBTS

" I remit and cancel the debts owing to me by (1)
the estate of the late Right Hon. Richard Cartwright,
(2) the estate of the late Lieut. -Colonel William White,

AN ENORMOUS FORTUNE 273

one time Deputy Postmaster-General of Canada, (3)
the Hon. George E. Foster.

TO MR. BURNS FOR THE LEPERS

" Further, I give and bequeath to the Right Hon.
John Burns the sum of £5, 000 for the purpose of a
home and maintenance for a number of some fifty
lepers in the United Kingdom, but none of this sum
to be expended on or for other lepers who may come
into the United Kingdom.

TO LADY STRATHCONA AND HER CHILDREN

" I direct my trustees to pay, convey and transfer
to Margaret Charlotte Howard, in the event of her
surviving me, the whole residue of my means and
estate, heritable and movable, real and personal,
wherever situated, and in the event of the said Margaret
Charlotte Howard predeceasing me, I direct my
trustees to hold the said residue until the youngest of
her children, wrho shall survive me, attain the age of
twenty-one."

Lord Strathcona's Will was also rendered for probate
at Somerset House, May 26th, 1914. The value of
personal estate in the United Kingdom, £418,500;
personal estate abroad, £4,232,000; total value of
personal estate, £4,651,000. The estate duty payable
was £837,000.

The principal property consisted of : Great Northern
Railway in the United States, $6,606,000 ; Northern
Pacific Railway of the United States, $3,380,000;

274 LORD STRATHCONA

Canadian Pacific Railway, $4,112,000; Bank of Mon-
treal, $645,000 ; Laurentine Company of Quebec,
$466,000 ; Dominion Steel Corporation, $400,000 ;
Hudson's Bay Company, £248,000 ; Anglo-Persian
Company, £56,000 ; Baring Brothers, £44,000.

The statement was made in the House of Commons
that Lord Strathcona held £1,000,000 Ordinary Stock
in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.1 It was well known
that he held various other stocks of considerable value
in numerous companies. As no record of them appears
in the probate statement, colour is lent to the rumour
that was going the rounds a few years ago, that a large
part of his estate had been distributed long before his
death, when his wealth was placed at a much higher
figure than his actual possessions at the time of his death.

A clause in Lord Strathcona's Will that aroused
mingled feeling of surprise and dismay in Canada was
the public cancellation of alleged indebtedness to him
by the late Sir Richard Cartwright and Sir George
Foster, formerly Ministers of Finance in Liberal and
Tory Governments. The latter is now Minister of Trade
and Commerce, as the former was in the recent
Government. Sir George Foster represents Canada
on the Imperial Trade Commission. Why the public
should have been taken into confidence in these
transactions in this manner, when there were others
of a similar character, must ever remain a mystery.
There were certainly no public reasons why these
statesmen should receive exceptional treatment in this

1 Appendix, 13.

UNLOOKED-FOR PUBLICITY 275

respect at his hands. The clause in the Will was
evidently inserted after the death of Sir Richard.

Sir George Foster, like many Colonials has had a
varied career. He owes his prominence in public life
less to personal popularity than to natural ability.
Next to Sir Charles Tupper he stood head and shoulders
over all the others of his party as a fine public speaker :
impressive, brilliant, incisive and extraordinarily critical
of political opponents. Formerly Professor of Litera-
ture in a New Brunswick college, he soon learned that
a man hath no honour in his own country. He went
west to Ontario where a Prohibition campaign was in
full swing, being received as the guest of the President
of the Temperance League, Mr. D. B. Chisholm, a
prominent Liberal and wealthy citizen of Hamilton.
His host gladly engaged him as a speaker at $10 (.£2)
per meeting. He soon established a reputation for
platform oratory, with the result that he successively
entered the political field in his native province as an
independent temperance candidate for the House of
Commons in 1882.

Sir John Macdonald, always on the look-out for
new talent, in 1885 offered Mr. Foster a seat in the
Cabinet, promoting him in 1888 to the responsible
position of Finance Minister. He held this office
during the successive changes in the Cabinet under
Sir John Abbott, Sir John Thompson, and Sir Macken-
zie Bowell. In the session of 1896 he joined the cabal
within the Cabinet against the Premier. He was one
of the six Ministers who tendered their resignations,

276 LORD STRATHCONA

and sat on the cross benches of the House of Commons
for several weeks, during which time Government
business came to a standstill.

He was deeply indebted to the First Minister, Sir
Mackenzie Bowell, as the latter had used his kind
offices with Lady Aberdeen in a matter of deep personal
concern to Sir George Foster, but gratitude and
loyalty were never Sir George's strong points. The
determination to deprive Sir Mackenzie of the leader-
ship of the party on the occasion of the resignation
of half his Cabinet, is strong evidence of the decadence
of the party at that particular period. And the
bitterness that existed between the factions may be
better understood from the statement, that when the
returns were published in the evening of the general
election of 1896, announcing the defeat of the
Government of which Sir George Foster was a
member, the Bowell family joined in the public
jubilation of the Liberals.

Sir George Foster came to London to take part in
the Tariff Reform propaganda in 1904, with a chance
of permanently remaining in England. Although on
the question of Protection he has probably no equal
on the platform, his presentation of the case did not
meet with general favour. The Tariff Reform Com-
mittee vainly offered London newspapers sixpence
per line to print a risumt of his speeches. The
whirligig of time brought its revenge, however, in
191 2, on his return to London as a member of
Sir R. L. Borden's Cabinet, when he became the

THE INCONVENIENCE OF POVERTY 277

honoured guest of the Constitutional Club, and had
his every utterance chronicled with great eclat. Sir
George Foster's financial position was not flourishing
during the long period when his party was out of
office. It is unfortunate that the personal rancour
introduced into Canadian politics in the last thirty
years has often followed faithful public services into
private life, and not infrequently crippled individual
earning-capacity. Poverty is no crime, but extremely
inconvenient ; then wealth in the hands of other
parties may be a cause of offence. It is as hard to
kick against wealth as it was for Saul to kick against
the pricks. Borrowing money from Lord Strathcona
was, perhaps, natural enough. Lord Strathcona could
afford it, and was willing to lend. If the debt had not
been cancelled in the Will, a discriminating public need
not have been called upon to take an interest in the
matter.

It is a strange coincidence in regard to these trans-
actions that Sir Richard Cartwright and Sir George
Foster were both ex-Finance Ministers, and during
the years they were in opposition, that particular
portfolio should have been ear-marked for them
both, against the time when fortune should favour
their respective parties. The intrigue to keep Cart-
wright out of office was because it was feared his
official policy would be on a line with his public declara-
tions. But there was no wire-pulling necessary to
prevent Foster being Finance Minister when Sir R. L.
Borden formed his Government. It had recently

278 LORD STRATHCONA

been proved before a Royal Commission that Sir
George Foster had negotiated for a secret commission
to himself, while manager of the Union Trust Com-
pany, in a large financial deal. The editor of the
Toronto Globe repeated the charge in a very offensive
manner, and Sir George Foster entered an action for
libel, but lost the case. Sir George's excessive humilia-
tion was all that his most bitter opponents could desire.
But he received many expressions of sympathy from
prominent Liberals, as no public man worthy of the
name could rejoice in any stigma being attached to
one who had been prominently in the service of the
country. Foster's mistake, which may well be called
merely an error of judgment, cost him the portfolio
of Finance. Important financial negotiations were
pending, and therefore, another was elected for the
post who was sans peur et sans reproche.

The other beneficiary under the Will was Sir Richard
Cartwright, once the bulwark of the Liberal party,
respected by friend and foe for his dauntless courage
and unflinching integrity. From none had come
more impassioned denunciations of those in public
life who accepted favours from, or placed themselves
under the influence of, the Pacific Railway magnates.
For many years he was most bitterly hated by the
Tory party. He was blamed for the strong language
that he used against the evils of the time. His
justification was his desire to protect public interests.
In his fighting years he was the leader of the Radical
and anti-syndicate Liberals. All young Liberalism

EVER WATCHING FOR PREY 279

had been brought up at the feet of this Gamaliel.
Because it would probably ruin Cartwright's holdings
in another company, Tory Members were canvassed
to vote for certain legislation incorporating a sub-
sidiary company in the interest of the syndicate.
Dating from the formation of that company Sir
Richard was crippled financially. Opportunities had
not been wanting in his public life to secure wealth,
but he was unimpeachable.

Shortly after the formation of the Laurier Govern-
ment in 1 896, to the surprise of his friends, Cartwright
became very sympathetic to the Pacific Railway
demands. Lord Strathcona was well aware of Cart-
wright's financial difficulties, and he had transferred to
him a large number of shares, representing a consider-
able sum of money, in a company that Cartwright
was slightly interested in. The correspondence gives
evidence of Strathcona having heard Cartwright say
in the presence of friends, that he wished he had a
larger holding in a. certain company. When Strath-
cona returned to London he sent these shares to
Cartwright, telling him at the same time that he
could pay for them at his convenience. This was
apparently done without any prearrangement. It
was, therefore, a strictly confidential transaction, as
was also Mr. Foster's, and probably for that reason
all the more objectionable from a public standpoint.
Money as a direct bribe could not have bought either
Sir Richard Cartwright or Mr. Foster. But Sir
Richard's necessity was Lord Strathcona's opportunity.

280 LORD STRATHCONA

No one could have a stronger sense of gratitude
than a high-souled man like Cartwright. This fine
phase of his character now proved his weakness. In
Strathcona's hands he became as clay to the potter.
From this time he was dominated by the man who
had come to his rescue in the hour of his need. The
Will revealed in this unmistakable manner how deeply
the canker had eaten into the body politic, when even
the great Samson of Canadian Liberalism was shorn
of his power.

The Department of Trade and Commerce is specially
responsible for the Government policy respecting
steamship services. The Canadian Pacific has enor-
mous dealings with this branch of the public service.
There is no denying the fact that since these loans
were made the annual subsidy to the syndicate Pacific
Ocean service has been largely increased ; the Atlantic
service has been treated with even greater generosity ;
regulations have brought into force that the preferen-
tial tariff of thirty-three per cent, upon British goods
shall only be allowed on steamships sailing direct to
Canadian ports ; and Atlantic mails, unless specially
endorsed, are sent by Canadian steamship lines. The
value of these concessions to the Canadian Pacific
Railway is simply enormous.

How completely Lord Strathcona dominated the
department as soon as he had Sir Richard Cartwright
under compliment, was further illustrated in another
phase of departmental policy. In 1904 Sir Richard
gave the writer instructions to arrange for commodious

HOW DEPARTMENTS WERE CONTROLLED 281

offices in London for his department, with a view to
encouraging British trade on much the same lines as
Clifford Sifton was doing with emigration. It was
intended to appoint an official who would not be
connected with the office of the High Commissioner ;
but Lord Strathcona cabled his objections to a policy
whereby any official of that department should be free
from responsibility to his office. Negotiations for
offices were held up. Sir Richard tried to overcome
Strathcona's objections. But arguing with one to
whom you are indebted is like getting annoyed with
a telephone — utterly useless. Cartwright reluctantly
abandoned the project, and told the writer after-
wards that he did not carry out his intentions because
of Lord Strathcona's opposition. The influences at
work to so effectively change departmental policy
were inexplicable then, inasmuch as Sir Richard
seldom turned back once having set his hand to the
plough. Now the reasons are only too self-evident.
Through the medium of this Will Lord Strathcona's
dead hand has been stretched out to deface the memory
of one upon whose shield there had been no stain.

The full extent of Lord Strathcona's influence with
the Department of Trade and Commerce will never
be known, but it was vastly more serious than in the
matter already referred to. No steps whatever were
taken by him to protect the Canadian public against
the enormous increase in the freight and emigrant
rates of the heavily subsidized Atlantic services con-
trolled by the Canadian Pacific syndicate. The

282 LORD STRATHCONA

co-operation of these companies renders the North
Atlantic Combine effective, and the direct cost of
the Combine to Canada is enormous. The recent
doubling of the freight rates on grain and flour alone
takes millions of dollars annually out of the pockets of
the hard-working agricultural masses of the Dominion,
before these products can reach the British market.

The debts that were owing to Lord Strathcona by
responsible Ministers of the Crown in the Dominion,
which he so calmly provided should be publicly
announced in his Will, present a most extraordinarily
interesting situation. The sordid significance of the
matter, though, is painful. Students of British
Parliamentary institutions may well be astounded at
these revelations. Comparison in the administration
of public affairs between the Colonies and the Mother-
country are sometimes made. In the " possessions
beyond the seas " there should be as high a conception
of the proprieties of political life as at Westminster.
In South Africa and the Antipodes it is so. The
situation in Canada unfortunately is otherwise. The
frank explanations and regrets that were considered
necessary following the Marconi transactions will long
be remembered. But what would be thought of the
First Minister and Secretary of War borrowing
money from Kynochs — of the First Lord of the
Admiralty obtaining a loan from Armstrong-Whit-
worths — or the Postmaster-General from Signor
Marconi — or the Chancellor of the Exchequer from
the Tobacco Trust on the eve of a budget ? Is it
necessary to say that the nation would hang its head

WINNIPEG NEVER FORGIVEN 283

in shame, honoured names would be buried in oblivion,
and neither wealth nor position could protect the
participating contractors and trusts from an indignant
public. This also was the generally accepted standard
of political life in the Dominion previous to the
advent of Donald A. Smith into the Parliamentary
arena at Ottawa.

It is perhaps interesting to note that the western
prairie city, built on the site of the old headquarters
of the Hudson's Bay Company, has no mention in
Lord Strathcona's Will. There is nothing to mark
his association with that great outpost of civilization,
from whence the Company exercised such undisputed
sway over scattered tribes of uncivilized Indians.
The reason why Winnipeg was omitted, notwith-
standing its needs for hospital and university extension,
is not a secret. Winnipeg as a part of the electoral
district of Selkirk, under the widened franchise,
declined to elect Donald A. Smith as its representa-
tive to the Commons in 1880. Colonel Scott, a rough
western diamond, contested the seat against the great
railway magnate — and the people chose Scott.1 The
election in question was conducted under severe
conditions. The other candidate was popular and a
resident, and Donald A. was neither. This is not said
in personal disparagement, because he was absent from
the west a great deal, and he had other much more
important matters in hand than endeavouring to curry
favour with the shifting population of the new
settlement.

1 Appendix, 18.

284 LORD STRATHCONA

Nearly thirty years have elapsed since then. Win-
nipeg has grown to be a city with a population of
125,000. Its citizens are not those of its early days,
but the action of a place called Winnipeg was never
forgotten.

As are the needs of Winnipeg, so are they of the
western provinces. In the public schools of Winnipeg
thirteen different nations or languages are now
represented. Into that country people of every
kindred, nation and tongue will flock for many years.
They will require hospitals and colleges more than
the thickly populated east. Perhaps the population
in the distant future will read history and execrate
the memory of those who opposed Donald A. Smith
in 1880. In the meantime, however, the hundreds
of thousands who have made their homes there in
the last twenty years are witnesses to his munificent
bounty in the United States, Britain, and eastern
Canada. But the land which had been in truth to
Lord Strathcona the Golden West, the land both of
promise and of fulfilment, in which he had conceived
his inspirations and cradled his ambitions — this land
was not by his Will to have any of that stupendous
fortune whose deepest foundations it had laid, and
the corner-stone set when the rolling prairie laid bare
her breast to the golden rivet which forged the last
link in the girdle across the continent. Yet, his wish
was that none of the wealth that this wonderful
country had so freely poured into his outstretched
hands should ever return to help her even in the
hour of need.

A DISAPPOINTED DEPUTATION 285

The Winnipeg of a generation later amply atoned
for the severity of its early judgment, and in 1909
gave Lord Strathcona a reception worthy of a monarch.
An opportunity was afforded him of delivering the
speech that was impossible so long as Archbishop
Tach6 was alive. Yes, it may be argued, this is
all true. But then a deputation interviewed him
and pressed for a subscription for $1,000,000 (.£200,000)
towards the Selkirk Exhibition. It took the gloss off
the good feeling of the hour. Lord Strathcona
received the deputation most affably. He promised
to consider their request, and, if convenient, he
would let them know his decision on his return from
the Rocky Mountains. But the time did not prove
convenient — his private car came through Winnipeg
at midnight, the hour when all good citizens should
be in bed. The deputation that was at the station
to see him had not been notified that he was coming,
but they had taken their own means to keep informed
of the hour of his probable arrival. There was no
invitation to enter the darkened car with the closely
drawn blinds. The coloured porter "could not
possibly allow his Lordship to be disturbed." Perhaps
it had begun to dawn on Lord Strathcona's mind that
the welcome given to him had some connection with
the request for a million dollars. It is quite true that
behind the scenes there had been warm discussions as
to how much the " Grand Old Man " could be
induced to " cough up."

" Some one had blundered ! "

XXX

What Donald A. Smith has cost Canada — Kingdom stolen from the
public heritage — What might have been if . . . — Public obliga-
tions to be met — What the future will cost — The burden bearers
— Strathcona's legacy to the Dominion — Ottawa and West-
minster— Hope from Laurier and Borden.

The cost to Canada of the influence that Lord

Strathcona was able to exercise with parliaments,

governments and statesmen, whereby the railway

across the continent passed from being an asset of the

Dominion into the possession of himself and his

associates, is incalculable. The cash subsidies paid to

the syndicate for the construction of the main line ;

special subsidies on branch, subsidiary and other

subsidized railways absorbed by the syndicate ; and

the cost of the sections constructed by the Government

and handed over to the syndicate amounts to more

than $75,000,000(^15,000,000). The land grants for

the main line, and to other companies absorbed by

the syndicate, will realize not less than $400,000,0000

(£80,000,000).

Add to these figures the subventions and subsidies

to the other transcontinental railways that had at last

to be constructed to compete with the Canadian

Pacific, heavily subsidized in cash and guarantees,

including the cost of the part of the Grand Trunk

286

WHAT HE COST CANADA 287

Pacific constructed by the Government, and these
items aggregate $600,000,000 (£120,000,000). The
value of the land grants to these competing systems
runs into $50,000,000 (£10,000,000).

These items aggregate in cash and land values the
enormous sum of $1,125,000,000 (£225,000,000) :
more than the entire cost of the Boer War to the
tax-payers of Great Britain. In the case of the
Boer War Great Britain secured a United South
Africa. The Dominion on the other hand has nothing
but the satisfaction of knowing that the railways run-
ning through the country belong to others.

To this add the indirect cost to the general public
by the imposition of exorbitant freight-rates upon
the toiling masses on the prairie lands of the west,
and the figures loom up in a haze where language
fails to find expression in arithmetical calculations.

But that is not all. The land-grabbing that followed
the adoption of the principle so energetically worked
for by the syndicate, opened the door for the wholesale
robbery of the public lands only then made possible.
Sir J. A. M. Aikens, K.C., M.P., of Winnipeg, in a
speech in the House of Commons, in the early part of
May 1914, made the astonishing statement that no less
than 43,000,000 acres, or 65,000 square miles of land,
all in the fertile belt of the prairies, the finest wheat-
growing land in the world, had been given away to
railways and other corporations in the last thirty years.

This means that a territory nearly twice the size
of Ireland, or an area larger than England and Wales,
or greater than Belgium, Holland, Denmark and

288 LORD STRATHCONA

Greece together, has passed out of the possession of
the people of Canada for no return whatever to the
public treasury. This may seem inconceivable, but
it is absolutely true. The fact becomes more evident
than ever, that if Donald A. Smith had never suc-
ceeded in getting possession of the charter for the
Canadian Pacific Railway, this shameful sacrifice of
an invaluable heritage could never have been made.

Had the Canadian Government expended the
necessary part of the $600,000,000 (£120,000,000)
represented in the form of cash and guarantees, as
Alexander Mackenzie and the patriots who supported
him loyally decided should be done, the Dominion
would own to-day every mile of the three trans-
continental lines. This calculation makes no allowance
for the value of the land, free grants of which to cor-
porations would not have been made, but the proceeds
from which would be a national asset.

A statement of these facts is necessary to a history
of the times to which reference is being made. It
will be well for the present and future generations to
calmly realize the consequences following injudicious,
ill-advised, or corrupt handling of a national heritage.
The people have not finished with the question yet.
Lord Strathcona's syndicate will be the ever-present
death's-head at the feast for many years. The account
is far from being settled. More than one government
will come and go before the bill is finally paid.

Enormous grants have been made to competitive
transcontinental lines. But the wealth of the Canadian
Pacific, so generously endowed by the public, gives

GRINDING THE FARMERS 289

the railway a tremendous advantage over the others.
It is well known that this line is able to earn a good
dividend for its shareholders upon a schedule of rates
which, if generally adopted, might seriously affect
the financial position of the others ; even though this
is, to a certain extent, compensated for by the much
easier grades and the larger train-loads that can be
transported by the routes adopted on the later con-
structed lines. The general public interest will
demand, however, that all invidious distinctions shall
not be allowed to continue.

The Canadian Pacific has reduced its rates only
when compelled to do so by Parliament, or by the
Railway Commission. In the threatened action of
the latter, the attitude of the Company was : " Do it
if you will. We can stand it better than the others,
and your securities will pay the difference on the
London market."

The public must either pay the penalty in their
financial dealings with London, or the farmers must
contribute to the inflated rates for the delivery of
their products to market-centres. There is no escape
from one or other of these hard facts. And sooner
or later this extraordinary situation will have to be
faced by Parliament.

To allow present conditions to continue means that
the hard-working agriculturists of the country — the
class that should be encouraged rather than trodden
underfoot — must bear the brunt of the burden.
This is one of the great problems the syndicate has
bequeathed to future generations in Canada to solve.

290 LORD STRATHCONA

The west, with fifty or sixty members in the House
of Commons, will swing the pendulum of political
supremacy. No party lines will prevail. The greatest
possible measure of relief will be demanded, and the
demand will not be as a voice crying in the wilderness.
One or two alternatives will have to be faced — to
cancel in whole or in part the loans that have been
made by the Government of Canada to the trans-
continental companies competing with the Canadian
Pacific, so as to place them all on a reasonably even
footing ; or secure Government control of these
railways at an additional cost to the Dominion
Treasury of from two to three hundred million
dollars. In any case high courage will be demanded
in the solution of this problem.

It may as well be acknowledged from the beginning
that the wealthier corporation will not be allowed to
absorb or control either of the transcontinental com-
peting lines. A deal of such a nature would be
disastrous to too many " vested interests." Public
patience would then reach the breaking-point.

The odds are that the situation will be relieved by
the abandonment of Government claims for loans or
assistance to the new railways, combined with a far-
reaching policy of protection to the producers of the
country. The question, until it is permanently
settled, will dominate Canadian politics more certainly
than Irish interests control Westminster. Until it
is disposed of the Dominion will be overshadowed
by forces which threaten to sap the foundations of
the liberty of the people. There is no escape to any

IF PATRIOTISM HAD WON 291

Government from the penalty of neglecting to face
their responsibility in this matter.

The agricultural classes of the Dominion are the
backbone of the country. Without the wealth that
is gathered from the soil Canada would be bankrupt.
Its hope for greatness is in its agricultural possibilities.
But as a class the farmers are the least likely to have
their interests considered by Governments and Par-
liaments in North America. For some unexplained
reason the urban influence predominates. In European
countries the agricultural population is looked upon
as the bulwark of the state — the source of wealth,
strength and future greatness. In every Parliament
their requirements receive special consideration ;
Germany, France, Austria, Hungary, Holland, Den-
mark and Scandinavia telling the same story. The
farmers are fast reaching the point when they must
make themselves masters of the situation at Ottawa.
When they do, the electors will have an opportunity
of still further realizing the financial obligations that
must be met on account of the wealth and privileges
that their legislators in 1880 conferred on a remarkable
syndicate of presumptuous "Empire-Builders."

Instead of the situation as it is, what might it have
been had Donald A. Smith been thrown into ordinary
commercial life in those stirring times that were
taking place in Old Canada on his arrival, and in the
subsequent years ? Had he mingled with Papineau
and Taschereau, Holton and Dorion, Mackenzie and
Brown, Gait and Howe, perhaps he would have been
moulded like one of them. How different would have

292 LORD STRATHCONA

been the history of the last thirty years ! What a
heritage the Dominion would now possess ! If, at
times as he went his way, he found the chains galling
that bound him to the course he was taking, he could
comfort himself with the thought that they were one
with the gold which was ever his lodestar. To call
Lord Strathcona an " Empire-Builder " is a misnomer.
If others follow in his footsteps they will be Empire-
Wreckers.

With the passing of Lord Strathcona, the " last of
the Mohicans," members of the original syndicate are
not now identified with the railway. Two of the
signatories to the agreement are still living, — J. J. Hill
and Lord Mount Stephen. It is understood, however,
that both long since parted with their shares. The
time, therefore, seems opportune for an abandonment
of the policy that was inaugurated by Lord Strathcona
and his associates, and is still continued, to justify
the active participation of the Montreal management
in the general politics of the Dominion.

This legacy to Canada from Lord Strathcona presents
serious aspects, the full meaning of which must sooner
or later be thoroughly understood by the electorate.
For thirty years the Canadian Pacific Railway has
been a dominating force in the Parliamentary life of
the Dominion. Senators and Members of the House
have been publicly retained by this great corporation.
Cabinet Ministers have borrowed large sums from
individual members of the syndicate, which they were
never asked to repay. The acquiesence of Parliaments
and Governments to ever-recurrent demands of

THE HONOUR OF PARLIAMENT 293

railway lobbyists was, therefore, obvious. Directors
of the company, having seats in Parliament, with
most engaging candour and frankness, are listened to
calmly while they argue in favour of, or in opposition
to proposed legislation solely from the standpoint as
to how the interests of the company will be effected.
Compared with representative legislative chambers
throughout the world, the situation in Canada has no
parallel. It is inconceivable to any student of British
Parliamentary institutions, either in Great Britain,
New Zealand, Australia or South Africa. Yet Cana-
dian statesmen, within the four walls of Parliament,
and politicians outside, flatter themselves with the
idea that their legislative procedure is modelled on
the lines of Westminster. To an impartial observer
the contrast is appalling ! The slightest suggestion
that a Peer was acting as the representative of any
corporation, or that a commoner owed his election
to the assistance or influence of a corporation or con-
tractor in receipt of grants from the public treasury,
or that a Cabinet Minister had borrowed large sums
of money from anyone whose personal interests were
involved in departmental favours, would ensure drastic
action by both sides of the House. Political warfare
in English public life is bitter, political affiliations are
powerful, but the honour of Parliamentary represen-
tation overshadows every other consideration. The
domination or influence of Parliament by corporations
or contractors, whether earning public money or
not, is regarded as absolutely incompatible with the
dignity and purity of British public life.

294 LORD STRATHCONA

If there is one national characteristic more prominent
than another which impresses all visitors to Canada
it is the ardent loyalty of the people. The opinion
finds frequent expression that " Canadians are more
loyal than the King." It is not a passing sentiment,
but is an integral part of the national life. And, yet,
what was said to the rich young man may be repeated
to Canada, " One thing thou lackest." In this case
it is an appreciation of the dignity and purity of
parliamentary life. The Canadian people wish to
follow in the footsteps of the Mother-country. With
their lips, at least, looking towards Westminster, they
repeat what Ruth said to Naomi: "Whither thou
goest, I will go. Thy people shall be my people. Thy
God shall be my God." But the national conscience
has been seared as with a hot iron. This is the result
of the sordid influences exercised in Dominion poli-
tics from the time the possession of the great trans-
continental railway passed from the Government to
the Canadian syndicate.

The immediate hope of freeing parliamentary life
from such a legacy is threefold : the leaders of the
two political parties, the British and European
directorate of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the
large accession in recent years to the British-born
population of the Dominion.

There is a slumbering force throughout the Do-
minion that will yet insist upon Government con-
forming to the loftiest British traditions. Sir Wilfrid
Laurier and Sir R. L. Borden, in private life and
public ideals, represent the highest aspirations of

POLITICAL LEADERS WHO ARE PURE 295

political purity. They each have many influential
followers who would gladly purge Parliament of every
influence that is inconsistent with the honour and
dignity of a healthy democratic administration.
Whether they will co-operate or act independently on
this question remains to be seen.

There may be justifiable disagreement with the
political views of both Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Sir
R. L. Borden, but there is none in regard to their
political morality. Not a breath of scandal has
touched their careers. In view of occasional warped
judgment among followers, with whom each has had
to associate, the wonder is that the outlook is not less
favourable. An atmosphere that has, in a more or
less degree, vitiated the political arena for thirty
years, cannot be easily purified. It may, perhaps,
only be altogether successfully accomplished by leaders
yet unknown. But progress is being made in the
right direction. Within a few years public opinion
will demand the enactment of law, rendering election
subscriptions from corporations and contractors in-
dictable offences, and interference in parliamentary
elections by managers of corporations that have been
subsidized by the public treasury punishable with
imprisonment. Canada will never have freedom of
government until this is done. The Dominion
Parliament will yet be free, and the time will come
when no political leader will be strong enough to give
a portfolio in his Cabinet to any public man who has
accepted money from those having dealings with the
public service.

296 LORD STRATHCONA

If the British and foreign directors are wise they
will not fail to insist that the unwarranted interference
of this corporation in the political life of the Dominion
shall cease.

Then, if neither of these influences can be successfully
exercised, the hope of the Dominion rests with the
one million British immigrants who have settled in
Canada during the last fifteen years co-operating with
the large leaven of Canadian honesty that has been
untouched by corruption. The British immigrants
know how untarnished is the parliamentary escutcheon
of the Mother-country, and how carefully it has been
protected for many generations. That they will
desire that the land of their adoption should be
marked by the ideals that have been reached through
great tribulation in this country there should be no
question.

If it happens that the people of Canada are only to
secure a Parliament modelled upon British ideals as
the result of public agitation, it may be taken for
granted that the $10,000,000 (£2,000,000) that are
freely alleged to have been taken from the corporation
by the syndicate and those in charge of the management
of the railway, to corrupt the public life of Canada,
will find its way back to the innocent shareholders ;
just as surely as the British Parliament unanimously
demanded the personal repayment of the £200 by
the Directors of the London and North Western Rail-
way, which they had subscribed from the company's
funds for political purposes. The plea of " vested
rights," or the Statute of Limitations, will not avail.

XXXI

A retrospect — The Hudson's Bay Company retarding Canada — Thirty
years too late — Romance of Canadian life — Hope for the future
— A fascinating personality — The records of irrevocable history.

The Winnipeg of 1907 should have been in existence
thirty or forty years earlier. Before Canada secured
possession of the Hudson Bay Territory the national
life of the country had been crippled from lack of
opportunities for expansion. The farming population
of the old provinces had reached the third generation,
and they had to look around for new homes. It is
the history of agricultural life in Canada, as well as
in the United States, that the third generation
produces the development of a character that neces-
sitates either a larger area for cultivation than is
available in the older settlements, or is inclined to
go into town life. There was no room for such on
the old homesteads, or in the neighbouring towns.
To remain at home, and have the family property
divided and redivided, meant limiting their capability
and narrowing their aspirations. They, therefore,
were compelled to look elsewhere. Many to whom
these conditions applied were descendants of those
United Empire Loyalists, who preferred, after the

revolution (1775-83), to settle in the wilds of Canada,

297

298 LORD STRATHCONA

rather than live under the flag of the new Republic ;
others were the descendants of the first immigrants
from Great Britain ; and Lower Canada also furnished
a large quota of restless spirits for whom there was
no room around the old firesides. The vast majority
of these would rather have settled somewhere under
the British flag. But there was no place available.

That portion of the North American continent
under British control, which should have furnished
homes for all of them, was then in the unrelenting
grasp of the Hudson's Bay Company. They had kept
it thirty years too long. An exodus began of the
flower of the population from Canada to the United
States. Once having started, like all such streams,
it grew ever larger and larger, until it assumed pro-
portions that were absolutely appalling. The latest
official returns from the United States furnish the
proof that no less than 1,250,000 native-born Canadians
have homes in the Republic. Without question they
are lost to the British Empire. They and their families
at this moment number more than 6,000,000 souls.

Had there been no Hudson's Bay Company, or had
the company not deliberately prevented the expansion
of western Canada for so many decades after it should
have been open to the world, the population of
Canada would now be nearer twenty than seven
millions. If the Stuart dynasty blighted English
history, it also cast its evil spell over Canada at the
time the Hudson's Bay Company was chartered. For
the sake of the private interests of a few friends of

HEROES IN THE BACKGROUND 299

the monarch who wanted to traffic with a public
franchise, an incalculable loss of millions of a sturdy
race of people was inflicted on the Empire.

Canada has had its fair share of difficulties in the
past. It has been struggling mostly, until now, with
the necessaries of life. Romance and fancy have been
largely left out of her category of good things. But
these, with the other sides of intellectual life will, in
course of time, assert themselves. There have been
many men in Canada whose lives would furnish
inspiration for poetry and romance. Away in the
interior, in the lonely struggles of the early pioneers,
there have been great deeds done, and these have left
a heritage of good that is moulded into the very fibre
of the people.

The country has not been without its hero-worship.
That is inevitable wherever civilization exists. In the
early days this was to be found in the memories of
General Wolfe and General Brock. The one lost his
life in winning a continent for the Empire, the other
in saving it from the invaders' grasp half a century
later. They were followed by the heroes of the
" Family Compact " — a class modestly satisfied with
securing for those within their own circle the offices
of emolument at the disposal of the Crown, and who
guarded the public lands, with an almost religious
fervour, as a sacred heritage for those who might
come after. Then came the heroes of the rebellion
of 1837-39, out °f whose great tribulation appeared
the dawn of responsible government. The money-

300 LORD STRATHCONA

making hero is now prominent in Canadian life. The
whole community vibrates with earnestness before
the shrine of wealth. The charm of success has ap-
pealed to these sober people, who know the struggle
and toil only too well, and who are everywhere called
on to judge the value of the much by their own hard-
earned little.

It was only in the later days that land-grabbers and
charter-hunters appeared. No one envies either their
positions or their riches, but the time has come when
they shall not continue to lay unholy hands on the
ark of the covenant — for such is the government of
the country. Ever to have introduced methods into
a young country tending to lower the standard of
political life is a serious offence — to have persisted on
that line for a quarter of a century is criminal. A
young country, like a youth entering upon the re-
sponsibilities of manhood, has nothing equal in value
to a true discrimination between right and wrong.
Once weaken that moral sense and the responsibility
is serious — to continue the destroying influence, and no
palliation can be offered for such a crime. Parliaments
were created to wrench from Crowns the control of
public interests that were being exercised for personal
gain. They were never intended as media for the
creation of private wealth.

In Canada, Parliament has been used for the most
improper purposes, under the most extraordinarily
demoralizing influences that ever became operative
among a free people. The Donald A. Smith syndicate

THE PROBLEM TO BE FACED 301

is entirely responsible for this state of affairs. To
rid itself of the accumulated evils in the body politic,
resulting from the continual prostitution of a legislative
body which had been left without a single blemish by
the earlier statesmen of the country, is the problem
now to be solved in Canada.

" How we can only wait till the day, wait and apportion our shame.
These are the dykes our fathers left, but we would not look to the

same.
Time and again we were warned of the dykes, time and again we

delayed,
Now it may fall we have slain our sons as our fathers we have

betrayed.

Walking along the wreck of the dykes, watching the work of the

seas,
These were the dykes our father made to our great profit and ease.
But the peace is gone and the profit is gone, and the old sure day is

withdrawn . . .
That our house shows so strange when we come back in the dawn."

Kipling: The Dykes.

APPENDIX

i. Committee of the House of Commons, 1874, re
North-west Rebellion.

2. Resolution proposed by Hon. L. S. Huntingdon,
charging Ministers with receiving money from Sir
Hugh Allan in consideration of the charter for the
Pacific Railway, 1873. Committee of Inquiry by the
House of Commons, and Royal Commission issued by
the Governor-General.

3. Steenerson v. Great Northern Railway, 69, Min-
nesota, 372, by Judge Canty —

" Of the lines of railway here in question, 565
miles were built and owned by other railroad
companies prior to the foreclosure sales of 1879.
At one of these sales the promoters of the St. Paul,
Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway bid off a part
of the property (for $1,500,000 as shown in the
court records of St. Paul) and the company itself
after it was organized bid in the rest of the said
property. These properties, the franchise con-
nected with the same, and a large land grant
earned and to be earned, were bid off for the
aggregate sum of $3,600,000, subject to a prior
lien of $486,000. The promoters transferred to
the new company the part bid in by them, and
the properties were immediately bonded by the
new company for $16,000,000, and it issued
to the promoters its stock to the amount of
$15,000,000."

302

APPENDIX 303

4. Extract from the Hansard of the House of
Commons, filed in the Library of the Colonial Office,
Downing Street —

House of Commons, Friday, May 10, 1878.
The Speaker took the Chair at twenty minutes to
three o'clock.

Prayers
Question of Privilege

Mr. Smith (Selkirk) : I rise to a question of privilege.
I notice by one of the public prints of Ottawa that
the Right Hon. member for Kingston (Sir John
Macdonald) — has spoken of me in this House in a
manner which, I think, I can characterize as most
unfair and most unjustifiable. I will read what is
stated in the Free Press. It is as follows —

11 A brief but violent discussion arose over the
action of the Senate with regard to the Pembina
Branch. The Premier severely criticized the
conduct of the Senate in throwing out this Bill,
and was followed by Sir John A. Macdonald,
who insinuated that the Bill was merely an
arrangement by which the Government could
reward a Member of the House for his servile
support, and that this member had been com-
pelled to admit in the House that he was interested
in this monopoly."

In the first place I say I never did make such an
admission in this House to the hon. gentleman, and
even had I done so, I think that the hon. gentleman
had no right to speak of me as he did on that occasion.
Whatever I have done in this respect I have done in
the most open manner possible. When it was found
that others could do nothing in the way of getting
better railway facilities and completing the railway
connection with Manitoba, I certainly, as Member

304 APPENDIX

from that province, did my utmost to effect that.
And, as I said on another occasion in this House, for
two or three years back I have laboured earnestly to
that end in connection with some friends, and no
sooner did it become possible to get that which was
so much required — indeed an absolute necessity for
the country — than the hon. gentleman and his friends
put every obstacle in the way of its being carried out.
He comes down to this House and says that the
Government are actuated by unworthy motives in
proposing to make running arrangements with the
ot. Paul and Pacific Company over the Pembina
Branch and that it was their intention to reward me
in this way for my servile adherence to them. Now,
I would like to ask the hon. gentleman the member
for Kingston and any other member of his Govern-
ment, if on any occasion they found a disposition on
my part to ask or receive any favour from the Govern-
ment, either for myself or for that corporation which
has been so much spoken of and which I have had the
honour of representing — that is the Hudson's Bay
Company. I would ask the hon. member if I have
received one sixpence of public money or one place,
either for myself or any other person connected with
me, and if at this moment there is one single person
related to myself who receives one sixpence of the
public money ; and I would ask the hon. member
if this is so with all those who may have claims upon
himself. But perhaps it would not be very generous
to refer to these matters particularly.

Sir John A. Macdonald : Refer to what ?

Mr. Smith : This is

Sir John A. Macdonald : What would it be un-
generous to refer to ?

Mr. Smith : I mentioned that there was not one
relative of mine who drew one sixpence of the public
money, who held any place in the public service, and

APPENDIX 305

said, perhaps, it might be otherwise with those con-
nected with and related to the Right Hon. Gentleman.

Sir John A. Macdonald : Hear, hear.

Mr. Smith : Not that there would be anything
wrong even if it were so, as regards the hon. gentle-
man's friends, but I say I always desired to keep myself
entirely free and independent with regard to these
matters of one government or of the other govern-
ment. I would ask the hon. gentlemen on this side
of the House if I have desired any favour for myself
or anything for any one except for such of my con-
stituents as have applied to me for places under the
government ; and I ask, further, if, on any one oc-
casion, where I have recommended a single individual
for any place, or any position, or any appointment,
I have done so without the saving clause that it was
conditional on his being found in every respect well
fitted for it, both as to character and ability. This
unwarrantable attack of the Right Hon. gentleman
is but a continuation and repetition of what he and
his friends have been saying of myself, both inside and
outside of this House, for some time back. The hon.
gentleman who sits on his left, the hon. member for
Cumberland (Dr. Tupper), has not been slow to use
my name, as I find by another public print. I find

that the hon. gentleman says I think it was at

what is called the Orangeville picnic. I know very
little of these picnics, I have not followed them
closely, nor indeed have I followed them at all. I
was otherwise I trust honestly and more properly
occupied in the pursuit of my duties.

Sir J. A. Macdonald : More profitably engaged,
no doubt.

Mr. Smith : I trust so — more profitably and more

properly. I find that the hon. gentleman, the

member for Cumberland, says here, speaking of

certain names that were given in the Globe of those

u

306 APPENDIX

who did not support the Right Hon. gentleman at a
critical moment in 1873

Mr. Tupper : Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question of
order.

Mr. Smith : It will be remembered that

Mr. Speaker : A question of order is raised.

Mr. Tupper : I rise to a question of order, and I
put it to you, whether it is not an abuse of the right
to read from a newspaper, for the hon. gentleman
has had that speech here during the three months
that we have been in session, and to speak at the
moment when Black Rod is coming to the door, and
thus to shelter himself from the answer which he
would otherwise get.

Sir John A. Macdonald : And the punishment he
would otherwise get.

Mr. Smith : I have had no such opportunity.

Mr. Tupper : A more cowardly thing I have never
seen ventured on in this House.

Mr. Smith : I am not surprised at this from the
hon. gentleman.

Mr. Tupper : Anything more cowardly I have never
heard of. I am responsible for every word I have
uttered on the platform. I have sat here for three
months, and no reference had been made to this by
the hon. gentleman or anybody else

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : Neither the hon. gentleman

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : Nor any other hon. gentleman

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : Has ventured to challenge one word
I have uttered during the recess of Parliament.

Mr. Smith : The charge of being a coward I throw
back on the hon. gentleman.

Sir John A. Macdonald : Let the poor man go on.

Mr. Smith : The hon. member for Cumberland
said —

APPENDIX 307

" He would give his hearers the names men-
tioned by the Globe as having left because of the
Pacific scandal. It would be remembered that the
Government of that day had a majority of from
twenty-five to thirty in 1872, and in order to
gain a majority, the Opposition had to take half
of them away. How many of them did the
Globe mention ? Would his hearers believe it ?
Three. But they who did suppose were paraded
before the people in that connection ? He would
read their names. For what purpose did Mr.
Glass, Hon. D. A. Smith, and Colonel Ray, not
to mention others — all men who had supported
Sir John A. Macdonald in the first session of
1873 — desert Sir John but for his conduct in
connection with the Pacific scandal ? Then
they said Hon. D. A. Smith. Did the Globe
suppose the people of Canada had no memories,
and they that did not know that Hon. Mr. Smith
gave unqualified evidence that the Canadian
Pacific Railway had nothing to do with his
changed attitude towards Sir John A. Macdonald ?
Mr. Smith was a representative of the Hudson's
Bay Company and he had been pressing a claim
on his Right Hon. friend for public money ;
Sir John had been holding back, and Mr. Smith
came to the conclusion that it would be just as
well to jump the fence if there was to be a change
of Government. But Mr. Smith was a canny
man ; he held back and sat on the fence and
watched the course, certainly not in the interests
of his country, because he did not want to jump
too soon and find that he had jumped into a
ditch. But, when he came to the conclusion that
the Government was going out, he made the
bolt, and he (Dr. Tupper) had no doubt but that
he had had a great deal of reason since for con-
gratulating himself on having jumped as he did."

308 APPENDIX

Mr. Smith : That is the insinuation, the broad
assertion, made on the part of the hon. member for
Cumberland at his picnic, and reiterated here, and I
give it the most positive denial, and say that never
was anything received by me or desired by me from
the present Government any more than from the
former Government. What are the particulars of
this affair of 1873, as regards myself ? Does the hon.
gentleman not know ? And does not the Right Hon.
gentleman know, too, that members of the late
Government approached me before the eventful 4th
of November, and that they wished to sound me and
know how I was going to vote in this matter ; and that,
some days in advance of that time, I was requested
to meet the hon. member for Charlevoix in the
Speaker's room, and did meet him there ? And do
they not know that an hon. gentleman from the
other House, the Hon. Mr. Campbell, a gentleman
for whom I have a very high respect personally, also
met me there, and that to both these gentlemen
during a long interview, at which was present also
another gentleman who was then likewise a member
of this House — Mr. Nathan, a personal friend of mine
— I declared that I could not vote for the amendment
to the amendment that was even offered by Mr.
Macdonald of Pictou ? Do they not know I said :
" No, I cannot do so ; I cannot possibly do so ; I
cannot conscientiously do so."

Mr. Tupper : Does the hon. gentleman deny

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : That he telegraphed down here

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : That he would be here and support
the Government

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : After he knew everything about the
Canadian Pacific Railway affair ? Does he deny that ?

APPENDIX 809

Mr. Smith : I do deny it. I never telegraphed I
would be here and support the Government. Never,
never. I know that the Right Hon. gentleman wrote
me, asking me to come down, but the hon. gentleman
cannot say — dare not say — I ever telegiaphed I would
support the Government, and no oilier hon. gentle-
man can say so.

Sir John A. Macdonald : I will tell you what I can
say.

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Sir John A. Macdonald : I telegraphed the hon.
gentleman.

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Sir John A. Macdonald : He dare not listen to an
explanation.

Mr. Smith : On the occasion referred to in the
Speaker's chamber, I said that I could not support
the Government, but I offered and proposed that
there should be another amendment, and a very
different one : that is, the Government should frankly
confess their fault to the House, and then, if the
country condoned it, and Parliament condoned it, it
would be a very different thing. That is what I
proposed to the hon. gentleman, and this was
reduced to writing at the time.

Mr. Tupper : That

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : Is not what you telegraphed.

Sir John A. Macdonald : Hear, hear.

Mr. Smith : The hon. gentleman is altogether in
the wrong. I telegraphed simply in courtesy in reply
to a letter that I would be in Ottawa by the 23rd
October. I saw the Right Hon. gentleman himself
in one of the rooms. He sent for me. Mr. Mitchell
came and informed me that the hon. member for
Kingston desired to see me ; and let me say to Mr.
Mitchell's credit, that he has got up in many an

810 APPENDIX

assembly where I have been and said I was perfectly
justified in doing as I did, as Mr. Mitchell knew all
the circumstances.

Sir John A. Macdonald : I am sure he did not.

Mr. Tupper : Will the hon. gentleman name

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : One single meeting where Mr.
Mitchell ever made such a statement anywhere, and
where the record of it is to be found, except out of
the hon. gentleman's own mouth

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Smith : I could do so.

Mr. Tupper : And that goes for a very little in
this House or out of it.

Mr. Smith : I can bring forward a number of
gentlemen of high respectability, whose word will be
taken all over the country and all over the world.

Mr. Tupper and Hon. Members : Name, name.
Where, where ?

Mr. Smith : I could mention a dozen.

Some Hon. Members : Name.

Mr. Smith : A dozen most respectable men in
Montreal, and some in Ottawa, too.

Some Hon. Members : Name.

Mr. Smith : A dozen of them.

Mr. Tupper : I never heard of these meetings and
statements.

Mr. Smith : And if necessary I am prepared to do
so at another time. On the occasion spoken of, I did
see the hon. gentleman in the room. I think it was
No. 6 or 5, and the hon. gentleman then did try to
persuade me to vote for him, but the hon. gentleman
will not dare to state I said I could support him ; and
what did the hon. gentleman say to me then at
length

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Smith : He said, " If I am not supported now

APPENDIX 811

I will appeal to the country." The Right Hon.
gentleman during the present session spoke of Selkirk
— the constituency I have the honour to represent —
as being a rotten borough, an Old Sarum, but in
speaking to me as he did on the evening of that 4th
November, he must have counted on the whole of
Ontario being one great rotten borough, a veritable
Old Sarum, and he said that if he appealed to it he
could have Ontario to a man with him.

Some Hon. Members : Hear, hear.

Sir John A. Macdonald : There is not one single
word of truth in that statement — not one single word
of truth. The hon. gentleman is now stating what
is a falsehood.

Mr. Rochester : How much did the other side
offer you ?

Mr. Smith : The hon. gentleman says he did not
say so ; certainly, the spirit within him said it ; for
the words came out of the hon. gentleman's
mouth.

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Smith : If he did not say so, the spirit within
him did. These words were uttered by the hon.
gentleman.

Sir John A. Macdonald : They were not uttered
by me.

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Sir John A. Macdonald : They were not uttered
by me.

Mr. Smith : They were as surely as the hon.
gentleman and I are here.

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Smith : The hon. member for Cumberland
the same evening told me that the Right Hon. gen-
tleman was not capable of knowing what he said ;
and will he deny

Some Hon. Members : Order.

812 APPENDIX

Mr. Smith : The hon. member for Cumberland
said next morning

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question of
order, and I want to ask you whether it is competent
for any hon. gentleman to stand up in this House
and detail what he himself admits are private con-
versations. Is it competent for a man to detail private
conversations while falsifying them ?

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : And his word passes for nothing here
or elsewhere.

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : I have never witnessed such

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : Cowardly abuse of

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : Of the privileges of this House, as
for an hon. gentleman to be guilty of making a
speech when there is no possibility of a reply being
made to it.

Mr. Smith : The hon. gentleman

Mr. Speaker : The hon. gentleman is defending
himself against a very grave charge made against him.

Mr. Smith : The relating of private conversations
may be held to be very improper, but it is not un-
parliamentary.

Mr. Tupper : I do not complain of the relating of
private conversations ; I complain

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : I complain of the hon. gentleman
falsifying private conversations and detailing that as a
conversation which he knows to be falsified.

Mr. Smith : I do not look upon them as private
conversations and I give the exact truth. I was sent
for as a member of the House by the gentleman at
that time the head of the Government, and he

APPENDIX 313

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Smith : Endeavoured to get me

Mr. Tupper : Will the hon. gentleman

Mr. Rochester : They could not give you enough.
Mr. Smith : Will he deny that the next morning

when I met the hon. gentleman here, who is on the

other side

Some Hon. Members : Give

Mr. Smith : At Mr. Tupper's office when he was
Minister of Customs. Will he deny he said to me
that as soon as it was possible to make the Right Hon.
gentleman to understand right from wrong, or to
that effect

Mr. Tupper : The hon. gentleman has asked if I
will make a statement.

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : I tell him that if he will allow me
five minutes

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Smith : Only for an apology.

Mr. Tupper : I will show that the very first state-
ment he commenced with to-day

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : The statement that he never sought
a favour from the late Government

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : Is as false a statement

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : As ever issued from the mouth of any
man, and he has continued

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : With a tissue

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : Sir, of as false statements as were ever

uttered

Some Hon. Members : Order.
Mr. Tupper : By any man.

8U APPENDIX

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : That is what I will show him.

Mr. Smith : I never asked, prayed for, desired, or
got a favour from the late Government.

Mr. Tupper : Will the hon. gentleman allow me
to tell a favour he asked for ?

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : The hon. gentleman begged of me
to implore

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : The leader of the Government to
make him a member of the Privy Council of Canada.

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : That is what he asked for, and he

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : Was refused ; and it was the want of
that position, and that refusal, which, to a large
extent, has placed him where he is to-day.

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Smith : The hon. gentleman knows that he
states what is wholly untrue, and, driven to his wits'
end, is now going back to a journey he and I made
to the North-west in 1869, and I give the most
positive denial to any assertion made by him or any
other person, that I asked for or desired any favour
from the Government.

The Serjeant-at-Arms : Mr. Speaker, a message
from His Excellency the Governor-General.

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Smith : I now

Mr. Speaker : I have very much pleasure in in-
forming the House that it now becomes my duty to
receive the messenger.

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Smith : He knows

Mr. Tupper : Coward ! Coward ! Sit down !

Mr. Speaker : I

APPENDIX 815

Mr. Smith : He knows-

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : Coward ! Coward ! Coward !

Mr. Smith : You are the coward.

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Smith : Nay, further, there were two gentle-
men, members of this House

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Smith : The day after that 4th of November

Mr. Tupper : Coward ! Coward !

Mr. Smith : Who came to me with a proposition
to throw over the Right Hon. gentleman and the
present member for Charlevoix, if I would consent
to give up the position I had deemed it my duty to
take in the House the evening before, and would
support the Government by voting against the
amendment of the hon. member for Lambton.

Some Hon. Members : Order.

Mr. Tupper : Mean, treacherous coward !

Mr. Smith : Who is the coward, the House will
decide — it is yourself.

Mr. Tupper : Coward, treacherous

Mr. Smith : I could not support them.

Mr. Speaker : Admit the messenger.

Sir John A. Macdonald : That fellow Smith is the
biggest liar I ever met.

A Message from His Excellency the Governor-
General, by the Gentleman Usher of the Black
Rod— '

" Mr. Speaker —

" His Excellency the Governor-General desires
the immediate attendance of this Honourable House
in the Senate Chamber."

Accordingly, Mr. Speaker, with the House, went
up to attend His Excellency.

816 APPENDIX

5. Journals of the House of Commons, December
9th, 1880.

The Dominion Contr averted Elections Act^ 1874.

Election of a Member of the House of Commons
of Canada for the Electoral District of the County of
Selkirk in the Province of Manitoba, holden on the
19th and 26th days of September, 1878.

Between —

David Young and Archibald Wright,
(Petitioners), Appellants,
and
Donald Alexander Smith,
(Respondent), Respondent :
It appearing from the reading in the above cause
transmitted to this Court that the Honourable
Mr. Justice Betourney rendered judgment in the
said cause on the nth day of October, a.d. 1879,
whereby it was adjudged and determined that the said
Petitioners had not proved any of the allegations of
the said Petition, that the said Election was and is
valid, and the said Donald Alexander Smith was duly
returned and elected to represent the said Electoral
District in the said House of Commons, and the said
Appellants having appealed from the said judgment
to this Court, which said appeal was by notice given
by the said Appellants pursuant to the Statute on
that behalf, limited to the following specially defined
questions or cases : —

1. The case of Donald Alexander Smith as briber,

and John F. Grant as bribee, and numbered
13 in the particulars of the allegations con-
tained in the Petition herein.

2. The case of James Penrose as briber and Henry

King as bribee, as numbered 14 in the par-
ticulars of the allegations contained in the
Petition herein.

APPENDIX 317

3. The case of Elias George Cocklin as the person

hiring teams, and John Henry Mason as the
person from whom the said Elias George
Cocklin hired the teams as contained in
paragraph 1 in the particulars of the allegations
contained in the Petition herein.

4. The case of Donald Alexander Smith and Henry

Blanchard bribers, and Jean Baptise Lapointe,
Elzear Lafemodiere, Louis Deschambault,
L.J. A. Laveque, J.A.N. Provencher, Alexander
Begg and A. F. De Gauthieras bribers, and
numbered 26 in the particulars of the alle-
gations contained in the Petition herein.

And the said Appeal having come to be heard before
this Court on the 12th and 13th days of May, 1880,
in the presence of Counsel as well for the Appellants
as the Respondent, this Court was pleased to direct
that the said Appeal should stand over for Judgment,
this Court did order, judge and determine, that the
said Appeal should be and the same was allowed with
costs to be paid by the said Respondent to the said
Appellants.

And the Court did order, adjudge and determine
as follows : —

1. That the said Donald Alexander Smith was not

duly returned or elected, and the said Election
was void.

2. That so far as appeared by the said Appeal,

limited as aforesaid, no corrupt act has been
proved to have been committed by or with
the knowledge or consent of any candidate at
such Election.

3. That the said Elias George Cocklin, an agent of

the said Respondent at the said Election, did
hire a certain team and vehicle to carry voters

818 APPENDIX

to the Poll or to the neighbourhood thereof,
and did pay one Mason for the hire of such
his team for the purpose of conveying to the
Poll or the neighbourhood thereof at the said
Election, whereby the said Elias George
Cocklin offended against the 96th section of
the Dominion Election Act, 1874, and under
the 98th section of the said Section 96, which
wilful offence is acclaimed to be a corrupt
practice within the meaning of the said Act.

4. That so far as appears by the said Appeal limited

as aforesaid, corrupt practices were not, nor
is there reason to believe that corrupt practices
have extensively prevailed in the said Election.

5. That the sum of one hundred dollars deposited

by the said Appellants as security for costs
of said Appeal be returned to them.

6. That the original record in the above cause be

transmitted by the Registrar of this Court to
the proper officer of the Court below from
whom the same was received.
Certified.

Robert Cassels,

Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada.

To the Hon. J. G. Blanchett,

Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada,
Ottawa.

6, 7, 8. Hansard, House of Commons, December
1880.

9. Hansard, House of Commons, p. 107, 1880.

10. Sir Hugh Allan's charter, Statutes 1872, pro-
vided for a grant of $30,000,000 (£6,000,000), and
50,000,000 acres of land, to be allotted in alternate
blocks along the entire length of the railway from
Lake Nipegon to the Pacific coast. The grant in the

APPENDIX 819

prairie section would have been about 15,000,000
acres along the railway line. The Canadian syndicate
received in cash and in the completed portions of the
railway, $55,000,000 (£11,000,000), and 25,000,000
acres of selected land in the fertile belt of the prairies.

11. Mr. George Stephens, letter to the Prime
Minister, January, 1893, Sessional Papers, 2230, 1883.

12. No. 879, Interstate Commerce Commission,
City of Spokane v. Northern Pacific Railway Company.

13. Anglo-Persian Oil Company statement in the
House of Commons, May 1914, by Mr. Pretyman,
M.P., "Lord Strathcona holds £1,000,000 of the
Ordinary Stock of the Company." Extract from
letter from Mr. Pretyman, June 20, 1914 : —

" The sum which Lord Strathcona invested in
the Persian Oil Company was £50,000. There
is really nothing more to tell about his connection
with the Persian Oil Company. What I said in
the House of Commons pretty well covers the
ground."

14. Hansard, House of Commons, December 17th,
1880.

Sir Richard Cartwright : We must swallow it
whole . . . lest the people of Canada come too soon
and too quickly to the conviction that their rights
were being trampled on and their property wasted.
. . . This Bill, in every important clause, every im-
portant feature, appears to have been so drawn to
offend every honest instinct, every wholesome preju-
dice, of every important class from one end of the
Dominion to the other. . . . We see wise and ex-
perienced business men asking themselves whether the
name of the Minister of Railways, which I see upon
the last page of this document, really means the agent
of the party of the first part, or the agent of the party
of the second part. ... I don't care which of my

820 APPENDIX

three hypotheses you adopt, whether you say that
these honourable gentlemen (the Government) were,
as in my first hypothesis, crazy ; or in my second,
bought ; or in my third, sold. Possibly there may
have been a little of all three.

15. On the eve of the election in the Province of
Quebec the following pledge was demanded from
candidates for the House of Commons by Bishops of the
Catholic Church —

" The Laurier-Greenway settlement of the
Manitoba Catholic School Act having been
judged to be unacceptable on the authority of
the Bishops, I solemnly pledge myself, on my
faith and on my honour, without restriction
whatever, if I am elected member, against the
settlement, or against any other which shall not
have been accepted by the same religious authority,
according to the terms of the constitution of
Manitoba, and the judgment of Her Majesty's
Privy Council.

" As a devoted son of the Catholic Church, I
pledge myself to absolutely prohibit all who act
for me in the present electoral campaign, whether
on the hustings or in conversation with the voters,
to utter one word in favour of the Laurier-Green-
way settlement, because it has not been accepted
by religious authority. Therefore I have signed
this pledge to the satisfaction of Monseigneur the

Bishop of , in the presence of Rev. and

Rev. , who have signed with me."

16. Memorial from Canadian Liberals to Rome.

"To His Holiness, Leo XIII.
" Most Holy Father —

" We, the undersigned, members of the Senate
and House of Commons of Canada, and representing

APPENDIX 321

therein the Liberal party, present ourselves before
Your Holiness as respectful and devoted children of
Holy Church, to complain of the existence of a
state of things, which if allowed to continue, must
be extremely dangerous to the constitutional liberties
of this country, as well as to the interests of the
Church itself.

" Your Holiness has already been made aware of
the conduct and attitude of certain prelates and of
certain members of the secular clergy who, during
the general election in this country in the month of
June last, intervened in a violent manner in restraint
of electoral freedom, taking sides openly for the Con-
servative party against the Liberal party, and going
so far as to declare guilty of grievous sin those of the
electors who would vote for the Liberal party.

" Sincerely attached to the institutions of our
country which ensure to us Catholics the most com-
plete liberty, we respectfully represent to Your Holiness
that these democratic institutions under which we
live and for which Your Holiness has many times
expressed sentiments of admiration and confidence,
can only exist under perfect electoral freedom.

" Far be it from us to refuse the clergy the plenitude
of civil and political rights. The priest is a citizen,
and we would not for a single instant, deprive him of
the right of expressing his opinion on any matter
submitted to the electorate ; but when the exercise
of that right develops into violence, and when violence
in the name of religion, goes to the extent of making
a grievous sin of a mere political act, there is an abuse
of authority of which the consequences cannot but
be fatal, not only to constitutional liberty, but to
religion itself.

" If in a country such as ours, where a population
consisting of persons of various creeds, and wherein
the Protestant denominations are in the majority,

822 APPENDIX

Catholics did not enjoy, in all matters relating to
legislation, the same political freedom as their fellow-
countrymen, they would ipso facto be placed in a
position of inferiority, which would prevent them from
taking the legislative part which they are entitled to take
in the government of the country, with the possibility,
moreover, of conflicts between the various groups of
the population which history shows to be ever fraught
with danger.

" Then again, an active and violent intervention
of the clergy in the domain of political questions sub-
mitted to the people must, of necessity, produce
against the great mass of the Catholic population a
degree of criticism, manifestly prejudicial to that
respect which religion and its ministers should ever
inspire and command.

" Some twenty years ago His Holiness Pius the IX,
Your illustrious and lamented predecessor on the
Pontifical Throne, acting through the Sacred College
of the Propaganda, deemed it his duty to put a stop
to certain abuses of a similar character, and forbade
the intervention of the clergy in politics. This
prohibition was generally respected so long as His
Eminence Cardinal Taschereau was able to guide the
Church in Canada ; but since old age and infirmities
have paralysed his guiding hand, the abuses to which
Your Illustrious predecessor had put a stop, have begun
again, and threaten once more to create trouble among
us and to compromise, not only Catholic interests in
this country, but the peace and harmony which should
exist between the various elements of our population.

" Again affirming our absolute devotion to the faith
of our fathers and to the Church of which you are the
Supreme Head ; affirming our respect and attachment
for the person of Your Holiness ; our attachment to
the interests of our country and to the Crown of Great
Britain, its aegis and protector, we beg that Your
Holiness will renew in our behalf the most wise

APPENDIX 323

prescriptions and prohibitions of Your Illustrious
predecessor ; protect the consciences of the Catholic
electorate, and thus secure peace in our country by
the union of religion and liberty — a union which Your
Holiness has many times extolled in those immortal
encyclicals whose precious teachings we desire in all
things to follow ; and, lastly, grant to the children of
the Church now addressing Your Holiness the Apostolic
Benediction.

" (Signed by Wilfrid Laurier and forty-six members
of the Senate and House of Commons.)

" Ottawa, Canada, 1896."

17. Hansard, House of Commons, p. 239, March
30, 1897.

Hon. Mr. Tarte (Minister of Public Works) :
The First Minister of this country (Hon. Wilfrid
Laurier) was accused in Rome to the Papal authority
of being a Freemason. Five Bishops went to Rome
and several of them accused the Liberal party with
being an anti-religious party. But they did some-
thing more. They said at the head of affairs was a
bad Catholic, while at the head of the Opposition was
a very pious man indeed, and of course it was better
to replace that very bad Catholic by that most pious
man.

Mr. Casgrain : Do I understand the honourable
gentleman to accuse the five Bishops who went to
Rome, or any of them, of having said that the First
Minister of the Dominion was a Freemason or a bad
Catholic ?

Hon. Mr. Tarte : The Bishop of Chicoutimi was
interviewed a few days ago, and in the public Press he
stated that he had himself told the Papal authorities
that Wilfrid Laurier knew so little about religion that
he did not expect anything else from him but neutral

3?4 APPENDIX

or godless schools. I say on my responsibility here
that some of the Bishops told the Pope himself and
the Propaganda that the honourable gentleman who
is at the head of affairs to-day is a very bad Roman
Catholic. The Papal Delegate is my witness."

1 8. At the General Elections in September 1878
the result of the voting was —

Donald A. Smith .... 555
Hon. A. Morris .... 546

Maj. for D. A. Smith ... 9

Through the election having been declared void by
the Supreme Court reversing the judgment of the
trial judge, a bye-election was held September 10,
1880, resulting as follows —

Colonel Scott 735

Donald A. Smith .... 577

Maj. for Col. Scott ... 158

19. File 257, 1893, Supreme Court of the United
States.

20. Joint Stock Companies, 1914, Canadian Pacific
Railway —

Ordinary Stock . . . $260,000,000

4% Preference . . . £15,173,563

4% Consolidated Debenture Stock £33,725,385
Note Certificates . . . $52,000,000

Printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay & Sons, Limited,

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