A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose

time. But he was then, and is now, in spite of many concessions to popular feeling, a Conservative of the British type, on the side of the classes, distrusting the masses, and resolved at whatever cost to maintain inviolate the supremacy of the Crown. In this fact is to be found the key to his policy during his forty-three years of public life. Fond of power, eager for success, indifferent as to the means of obtaining it, he has throughout been true to his flag. The ministry formed by Messrs. Baldwin and Lafontaine, under Lord Elgin, did not remain long in power. It was assailed by the Conservatives for proposing to pay losses incurred by residents of Lower Canada during the rebellion, a measure not called for by the country at large, but pressed upon the government by Mr. Lafontaine, a man of great ability and strength of will. Mr. Macdonald opposed the bill temperately, and was not believed to have given countenance to the violent proceedings which followed its passage. Nor did he take an active part in the crusade against the financial policy of the government which the Conservatives undertook after the removal of the executive and parliament to Toronto. In that movement the Conservatives were aided, and Messrs. Baldwin and Lafontaine ultimately coerced into resignation, by the “original Clear Grits,” under the leadership of Hon. Malcolm Cameron and Hon. W. H. Merritt. Mr. Baldwin was the most venerable figure in our political history, pure, honorable, high-minded, and during the struggle for responsible government rendered incalculable service to his party and cause. But he was a Whig rather than a Radical, a High Churchman, and therefore opposed to the secularisation of the clergy reserves, and incapable of stooping to the arts of the politician. He retired with Mr. Lafontaine, and Mr. Hincks became premier. During his brief reign George Brown commenced his agitation for representation by population, the secularisation of the clergy reserves, and against the further extension of the Separate School system in Upper Canada, and at the election of 1854 John A. Macdonald took an active part in inducing Conservative candidates to accept the secularisation plank of Mr. Brown’s platform, receiving in return the support of the powerful section of Reformers who went into opposition to Mr. Hincks on that and other questions. The result was the defeat of the government and the return of the Conservatives to office under the leadership of Sir Allan MacNab and Mr. Morin, Mr. Macdonald taking the office of attorney-general west, and practically the leadership of the Legislative Assembly being infinitely superior to his nominal chief in all that constitutes an effective parliamentarian. Mr. Macdonald then became, for the first time, an influential legislator, in the prime of life and fullest measure of his intellectual power. Mr. Macdonald took care in commuting the claims of existing clerical incumbents that great liberality should be shown. Simultaneously with this measure—the price in fact paid to the French Canadians for permitting the secularisation of the reserves—a bill was passed to abolish the seignorial tenure in Lower Canada, and emancipate the _habitants_ from their feudal dues. Hitherto Mr. Macdonald had been opposed to French Canadians as a class, and he now appeared as their ally. He himself had no fancy for reform or change, and rightly judged that the French would prefer conservatism to liberalism. The alliance thus formed was not broken till the execution of Riel, and the effects of that deed of justice are not likely to be lasting. It must not be inferred, however, that Sir John has placed himself under the control of the French. He has helped to build their railways in liberal fashion, but has resisted successfully many demands besides the pardon of Riel. They would gladly have had a land endowment for the Catholic church in Manitoba and aid to send French emigrants thither, but he yielded neither. At critical moments they have forced concessions from him, but he has always made a stout fight, and the money demanded has generally been spent in the development of the resources of the province. Very early in his career as minister, Mr. Macdonald was met by a demand for further subsidies to the Grand Trunk Railway, and he gave them freely. His warmest admirer will not say that he is an economist even now, when old age might have been expected to bring carefulness. But in youth he was lavish both in his own expenditure and that of the country. His best defence as to the latter is that the country has advanced under his care; that though the public debt is large, there is a great deal to show for it. The inception of the great public works of the country, however, did not come from him. The Grand Trunk was commenced by the late Sir Francis Hincks, the annexation of the North-West was pressed upon parliament by the late Hon. George Brown, and the Canadian Pacific was begun, and large sums spent upon it, by Hon. Alexander Mackenzie. But Sir John carried all these to completion, and may fairly claim renown on their account. He cannot be said to have a creative mind, but in dexterity, perseverance, and courage in carrying through important measures he stands unrivalled among Canadian statesmen, and few elsewhere can be held to have surpassed him. Sir John was singularly favored by circumstances in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Mr. Mackenzie helped him by the construction of the line from Pembina and Port Arthur to Winnipeg. Sir John made a _fiasco_ with Sir Hugh Allan in 1871, and the latter was no longer available as a contractor in 1878. But it happened that three Canadians had lately acquired great fortunes in railway enterprises, and were able and willing to enter upon new efforts. But for these circumstances Sir John might have been compelled to build the Canadian Pacific with public loans, by very slow degrees. With the aid of these capitalists he had but to guarantee an issue of government debentures to secure immediate construction of the road from the Atlantic to the Pacific. His policy was assailed, and not without reason, because the difficulties were great and the means of overcoming them not obvious to the public. But the result has justified Sir John’s audacity, and there are few who now question the wisdom of his policy. The road may not pay a large return to its shareholders at once, but it will do its work as a colonising agent, and ultimately must be a triumphant financial success, as well as of advantage to the great territory through which it takes its course. It is a triumph of Canadian enterprise, energy, and liberality, and has directed to the Dominion admiring eyes in every quarter of the globe. Sir John’s extraordinary capacity for conciliating contending factions and individuals has carried the confederated provinces through twenty years of their union. Difficult questions are now coming to the front, and the wonder is not that they should now appear, but that they should have been delayed so long. The British-American Act is a bundle of compromises put together to bring the provinces together, and not meant to be permanent. If Sir John should live to assist in revising its terms it will be a happy augury of success. At his age he cannot be expected to be fully in accord with the spirit of the rising generation, but his address, his personal influence, his vast knowledge, have always been of eminent service to the State. In the settlement of difficulties at various periods with the United States his influence has been used wholly for good. This was manifested particularly in the Washington treaty of 1871. His ambition and jealousy of rivals have sometimes led him astray, but when he is called away his errors will be forgotten; it will be said of him even by his political opponents that he was the greatest politician in Canada, the one who spent most of his time and strength in her service, and did more than any other to forward her material progress. “For forty years,” (says another writer), “a representative of the people in parliament, for thirty years the trusted and beloved leader of the great Conservative party, and for twenty-five years the premier of the Dominion of Canada, the career of Sir John A. Macdonald, is in one respect at least unique in the history of parliamentary institutions.” When the Parliamentary deadlock occurred in 1864, in consequence of the bitter antagonisms that had sprung up between our Canadian politicians, he joined with leading men of both parties in bringing about, in 1867, the confederation of the British North American provinces, which had the effect at the time of smoothing over many difficulties; and, in 1878, when the Mackenzie government fell, he was successful in inaugurating what is known as the National Policy, which has been instrumental in developing the industries of the country, and in no little degree in maintaining his hold of power. In the success of these public measures, Sir John owes much to his astuteness and dexterity, as well as to his personal magnetism and phenomenal influence over the great body of the electorate. Quite recently, it has been said that the premier himself has come under an influence which has hitherto been new to him, that of religion, and that some Ottawa revivalists, in his old age, have brought about in his case a change of heart. This is a matter too sacred for the biographer to touch, and must be left to him whom alone it concerns. Though he has never been known as what is called a religious man, and however lax have been his political ethics, no enemy has ever charged him with being personally corrupt. His own words in 1873, when defending himself from charges arising out of the Pacific Railway scandal, may be accepted and reechoed, that “there does not exist in Canada a man who has given more of his time, more of his heart, more of his wealth, or more of his intellect and powers, such as they may be, for the good of this Dominion of Canada.” * * * * * =Weller, Charles Alexander=, Peterborough. Judge of the County Court, Local Judge of the High Court Of Justice, and Local Master of the Supreme Court of Judicature, was born at Toronto, on the 29th March, 1830, and took up his abode in Cobourg in 1838, with his parents, William Weller and Mercy Wilcox Weller, now both deceased. Judge Weller received his education at the Cobourg Seminary (now Victoria College), and at Upper Canada College, Toronto. Having determined to adopt the profession of law, he studied with Boulton & Cockburn, and Hector & Weller, barristers, in Toronto. In 1852 he was admitted as an attorney, and the following year was called to the bar of Upper Canada. Having removed to Peterborough in 1852, he began the practice of his profession and soon succeeded in building up a good business. In February, 1857, he received the appointments of county crown attorney and clerk of the peace for Peterborough; and in March, 1875, that of master in chancery for the same place. In March, 1886, Mr. Weller was created judge of the County Court, retaining the master’s office. Since that period he has won golden opinions for himself as a just and upright judge, and one who takes a deep interest in all that pertains to the building up of the town in which he has so long resided, and the welfare of his fellow citizens. On the 20th October, 1852, he was married to Martha, eldest daughter of the late Dr. Gilchrist, of Colborne. The fruit of the union was two children, a son and daughter, Henry Boucher, late of Millbrook, barrister, deceased; and Eliza, who is married to H. B. Dean, barrister, Lindsay, and son of Judge Dean. * * * * * =Belanger, Louis-Charles=, Advocate, Sherbrooke, Quebec province, was born on 19th May, 1840, at Rapide Plat, province of Quebec (Flat Rapids), on the Yamaska river, about seven miles below the city of St. Hyacinthe, in the parish of Ste. Rosalie, county Bagot. He is the eldest son of Charles Belanger, farmer and master blacksmith, and Angélique Renault-Blanchard. The subject of our sketch, Mr. Belanger, has six brothers and six sisters, all living, ten of whom are in the province of Quebec, and two in Worcester, Mass. The last named two brothers edit _Le Courrier de Worcester_, a leading French newspaper in New England. One of his brothers, Louis-Arthur, is the managing editor of _Le Progrès de l’Est_, a lively newspaper published at Sherbrooke, and the only bi-weekly paper in the Eastern Townships. His paternal grandfather, Paul Belanger, came from Beauce, and was one of the pioneer settlers in the St. Hyacinthe district. The late Louis Renault-Blanchard, his maternal grandfather, sat in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, before