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184 The Last Forty Yeurs.

the Cabinet on the 26th of November, and was succeeded in the Receiver-Generalship by Colonel Taché. This arrangement left vacant the office of Chief Commissioner of Public Works, which was filled on the 13th of December by the appointment of Mr. Chabot, one of the members for Quebec City. Mr. Caron retired from the Cabinet in November, but retained his place as Speaker of the Legislative Council. Mr. Malcolm Cameron, Assistant Commissioner of Publie Works, also withdrew from the Government, owing to differences of opinion with his colleagues. The nature of these differences gave rise to much newspaper controversy at the time. Mr. Cameron asserted that his withdrawal was due to his not having been consulted by his colleagues on important public questions, and to his conviction that two Commissioners for the department of Public Works were unnecessary, and therefore a useless expense to the country. On the other hand, it was claimed that Mr. Cameron had been ambitious of ministerial advancement in a direction which his colleagues were unable to gratify, and that he had retired from mere spleen. The only thing certain about the matter is that Mr. Cameron resigned in December, though his resignation did not formally take effect until the appointmens i his successor in the following year. Mr. Blake’s retirement from the Solicitor-Generalship for Upper Canada—a non-ministerial office— has already been chronicled. He was succeeded by Mr. John Sandfield Macdonald, of Glengarry, who entered upon the duties of his office on the 14th of December.

Soon after the advent of the new year (1850) it became evident that other ministerial changes were desirable. Public opinion pointed to Mr, Merritt as the most competent man in the country to be entrusted with the department 0° Public Works, to which Mr. Chabot had just been appointed. At the end of March urgent private reasons compelled Mr. Chabot to resign, and a vreek later Mr. Merritt succeeded to the office. This left the Ministry with

A ftermath. 185

only seven members; but on the 17th of April the Hor. Joseph Bourret, of Montreal, a French Canadian and a member of the Legislative Council, accepted the office of Assistant Commissioner of Public Works, which had been vacated by Mr. Cameron.* Mr. Bourret at the same time became President of the Council, which position Mr. Merritt had demitted upon his acceptance of the Chief Commissionership. The composition of the Ministry thenceforward remained unchanged until near the end of the year.

It was during this period that the combination known in our history as “the Clear Grit Departure ” took its rise. Ever since the prorogation in 1849 there had been indications of dissatisfaction with the Government on the part of certain Upper Canadian Reformers. The Reform party was large, and composed of heterogeneous elements, some of which did not readily assimilate. “It cannot be expected,” says Sir Francis Hincks,t “ that there will be the same unanimity among the members of a party of progress as in one formed to resist organic changes. In the former there will always be a section dissatisfied with what they think the inertness of their leaders.” The distinction here drawn is one which has long been a recognized fact in politics. The difficulty experienced by Reformers, as compared with their Conservative opponents, in the matter of efficient party organization, has become proverbial in Canada. It made itself clearly apparent before the close of the year 1849. The

* Mr. John Wetsnhall, who represented the county of Halton in the Assembly, and who was President of the Provincial Agricultural Society, had been appointed to the Assistant Commissionership, as Mr. C'ameron’s successor, in the beginning of February, His acceptance of office vacated his seat in the Assembly, and he was compelled to enter upon what proved to be a vigorously-conducted election contest with Mr, Caleb Hopkins, of the township of Nelson. Early in the campaign Mr. Wetenhall': mental powers gave way under the pressure upon his nervous system, and it was found necessary to confine him in the Provincial Lunatic Asylum. Mr. Hopkins was elected, and Mr, Wetenhall's appointment of Assistant Commissioner of Public Works never took effect. The latter died in the Asylum under very painful circumstances a few months afterwards,

+" The Political History of Canada between 1840 and 1855 ;” p. 3

186 The Last Forty Years.

most radical element in the party complained that the Ministry did not move fast enough. This allegation was made upon various grounds, but the principal complaint was that Ministers were dilatory in pushing through the settlement of the Clergy Reserves. The origin and nature of this question will be disclosed in the next chapter. As the months passed by the discontented ones became more pronounced in their opposition to the Ministry, and by the beginning of the year 1850 had formed themselves into a distinct and separate party. They laid down a platform, enlisted the services of the press, and acquired a distinct party cognomen which has survived to the present day.

The platform embraced, among other radical changes: (1.) the application of the elective principle to all the officials and institutions of the country, from the head of the Government downwards ; (2.) universal suffrage; (3) vote by ballot; (4) biennial Parliaments ; (5.) the abolition of property qualification for Parliamentary representatives ; (6.) a fixed term for the holding of general elections, and for the assembling of the Legislature ; (7.) retrenchment in the expenses of carrying on the Administration; (8.) the abolition of pensions to judges; (9.) the abolition of the Courts of Common Pleas and Chancery, and the giving of an enlarged equitable jurisdiction to the Court of Queen's Bench; (10.) reduction of lawyers’ fees ; (11.) free trade and direct taxation; (12.) an amended jury law; (13.) the abolition or modification of the usury laws; (14.) the abolition of the doctrine of primogeniture, as applied to real estate ; (15.) the secularization of the Clergy Reserves, and the abolition of the rectories. Many of these were already well-known planks in the plattorm of the Reform Party generally, and to some of them the Ministry were practically committed.* As regarded others, they

* Reform of the suffrage, stringent retrenchment, reduction of law costs, further reform of the Judiciary, free trade, the opening up of the Clergy Reserves, the revocaiion of the 57 Rectory patents, if found to be fraudulent, the abolition of the law of primo-

Aftermath. 187

were such as the Government could not approve. For instance, the proposed sweeping application of the elective principle and universal suffrage were among the reforms which, in the language of the chief ministerial organ, “embody the whole difference between a republican form of Government and the limited monarchy of Great Britain.”* The chief newspaper organ of the new party, during this early period of their existence, was the Toronto Examiner, which had long been weary of following in the wake of the Globe as an exponent of ministerial views.

Chief among the advocates of the advanced platform were Messrs. Caleb Hopkins, Peter Perry, David Christie, James Lesslie, Dr. John Rolph, and William McDougall. With these Mr. Malcolm Cameron formaily allied himself after his secession from the Administration.

Mr. Hopkins was a farmer, resident in the township of Nelson, in the county of Halton. He was a man of considerable energy and native sagacity, and posesssed much local influence. He had represented the East Riding of Halton in the First Parliament after the Union, and in March, 1850, he was again returned for the county against the ministerial candidate.+ Peter Perry resided at Whitby, in what was then the East Riding of York—now the County of Ontario— where he had long been engaged in mercantile pursuits, and was known as an able man, of great enterprise and public spirit, albeit somewhat deficient in educational acquirements. He was one of the founders of the Reform Party of Upper Canada in 1824, and had ever since been recognized as one of the most efficient “fighting men” in its ranks. From 1824 to 1836 he represented the United Counties of Lennox and Addington

geniture, the abolition of the usury laws, and the reform of the jury system—are practical questions on which the Reform Party of Upper Canada are generally united, and which we have always contended for, . . There was no need to set up a new party for the agitation of these topics.” —Globe, March 23rd, 1850,

* Globe, March 23rd, 1850, + Ante, p. 185, note,

ie 188 The Last Forty Yeurs.

he : in the Upper Canadian Assembly. Since the Union he had been to some extent overshadowed by Mr. Baldwin and others, and

pe had remained out of Parliament, though he stood high in the : confidence of his party, and carried considerable weight. He î was extreme in his opinions, and demonstrative in expressing

RUN : them, whereby he made for himself a good many enemies ; but he | ne was a most effective stump orator, and an important factor in local | 1L election campaigns. He had been a prominent supporter of Solicifi h: tor-General Blake, and had been largely instrumental in securing that gentleman’s return to Parliament for the constituency in which Mr. Perry resided. Upon Mr. Blakes resignation of his seat, | consequent upon his acceptance of the post of Chancellor, Mr. + Perry was elected in his stead, and once more entered public Éte. David Christie was a farmer, resident in what is now the county of Brant, where he took an active part in politics, and was known as one of the leading agriculturists of the country. F0 James Lesslie, who still resides in the neighbourhood of Toronto, | was the proprietor of the Examiner, and had long been a lead-

ing advocate of Reform interests. Dr. Rolph has already been

partially introduced to the reader.* He was unquestionably one of

î the ablest men who have figured in political and professional life in this country. He was of English birth, but came over to Canada ‘Ed in his youth, and settled in the county of Norfolk, whence he sub-

; sequently removed to Dundas, and thence, in 1832, to Little York.

ï He attained high repute at the bar, as well as in the ranks of the | Î Reform Party. For some years he sat in the old Upper Canadian 3

: Assembly, and did excellent service to the Reform cause, both in and 4 4 out of Parliament. His famous speech on the subject of the secu-

4 larization of the Clergy Reserves, delivered in the Asserably in 1836,

u was à notably brilliant speciraen of argumentative oratory,and went

* Ante, Vol, I., pp. 299, 313.

Aftermath. 139

over the entire question of the connection between Church and State. After practising at the bar with great success for many years, he abandoned that pursuit, in consequence, it is said, of his dissatisfaction with certain decisions of the Chief Justice, the Hon. (afterwards Sir) John Beverley Robinson, and took up the medical profession,* in which he also attained a foremost place. His connection with the rebellion of 1837-38, his escape to the United States, and his subsequent pardon and return to Canada, have all been referred to in former pages. After his return he resumed the practice of the medical profession in Toronto, where he founded one of the leading medical schools in the Province. He was à man of very remarkable subtlety and versatility of intellect. It is impossible to contemplate his long and chequered life without feeling respect for his great abilities; though, owing to certain unpleasant passages in his career, he failed to command the confidence of some leading members of the Reform Party. William McDougall, who at the present day still presents all the appearance of one enjoying a hearty and vigorous prime, was then a young man with a reputation still to be made. He is a native Canadian, born at York in 1822, so that he was still under thirty years of age at the period under consideration. He had studied law in Toronto, in the office of James Hervey Price, and had been admitted as an attorney and solicitor in 1847. Though he practised his profession, his time was chiefly taken up by journalistic pursuits. He was a contributor to the columns of The Examiner, and published an agricultural paper on his own account called The Cunada Farmer. During the year 1850 he was largely instrumental in founding the North American newspaper at Toronto, of which he assumed the editorship, and which he conducted with much ability and vigour. It was founded as the

* In his youth, before leaving England, he had studied medicine under Si: Astley Cooper, and had also been called to the bar of the Inner Temple. He practised both law and medicine simultaneously during many years in Canada.

nr pe nn montent qd son vestes UT LE

190 The Last Forty Years.

authorized exponent of Clear Grit principles, the Examiner not being sufficiently advanced in its radicalism to meet the views of some of the leaders of the new party. We shall meet Mr. McDougall many times in the subsequent course of the narrative. Such were the chief propounders of the Clear Grit * platform.

A similar movement was about the same time set on foot in the lower section of the Province, under the auspices of Mr. Papineau. It was organized at Montreal, under the title of “ Le Partie Rouge.” Its membership was chiefly confined to young French Canadians, though a few advanced radicals of British stock were also to be found in its ranks. Its platform seems to have been very elastic, and many of its adherents were disposed to go even farther than the Clear Grits in western Canada. They not only advocated such reforms as universal suffrage and the abolition of property qualification for members of the Legislature, but pronounced in favour of the repeal of the Union, a republican form of Government, and more or less speedy annexation to the United States. They also professed themselves hostile, not only to a State religion, but to any religion at all. In short, the Rouges of Lower Canada seem to

* Various accounts of the origin of this not very dignified party designation have been given. The one which appears to be best authenticated refers it to a conversation between the late Mr. Brown and David Christie. These two gentlemen, it is said, were discussing the merits of the proposed “ departure ” early in the autumn of 1849. Mr. Brown declined to join the movement, and mentioned the name of a common friend of Mr. Christie and himself as also likely to hold aloof, ‘‘Him ! ” exclaimed Mr. Christie —‘ we don’t want him! We want only men who are clear grit.” Soon afterwards the Globe began to refer to the members of the new party as ‘ Clear Grits.” We find them s0 designated by that journal several times during the month of December, 1849, They seem to have accepted the designation, for we soon after tind them applying the term to themselves in the Examiner and elsewhere. In the Globe for January 10th, 1850, we find the following passage in an editorial on ‘* The Clear Grits : ”—‘ The Globe merely gave the name which they themselves had assumed to a little miserable clique of office-seeking, bunkum-talking cormorants who met in a certain lawyer”’s office in King St., and announced their intention to form a new party on ‘ clear Grit” principles.” The ‘‘ certain lawyer ” was Mr. William McDougall.

+‘ Le partie rouge,” says La Minerve, ‘‘ s’est formé à Montreal sous les auspices de M. Papineau, en haïne des institutions anglaises, de notre constitution déclarée viceuse, et

Srmetetié

Aftermath. 191

have been well-intentioned but rather feeble copies of their prototypes in the French Convention. Their chief organ was L’Avenir, and among the leading members, in addition to Mr. Papineau, were Antoine Aimé Dorion, J. B. E. Dorion, L. H. Holton and Charles J, Laberge.

As the time drew near for the meeting of the session of 1850, the discussion of the Clergy Reserves came even more conspicuously to the front than had ordinarily been the case of late years. The question was not to be finally set at rest for some sessions yet to come, but during the interval it was the most absorbing topic of public interest, and some knowledge of the subject is absolutely necessary to a proper understanding of the history of the time. Before carrying the narrative any farther, therefore, a brief historical retrospect is desirable.

surtout du gouvernement responsable regardé comme une duperie, avec des idées d’innovation en religion et en politique, accompagnées d’une haine profonde pour le clergé, et avec l'intention bien formelle et bien prononcée d’annexer le Canada aux Etats-Unis.”