The Day of Sir John Macdonald

Within a short time will be celebrated the centenary of the birth of the great statesman who, half a century ago, laid the foundations and, for almost twenty years, guided the destinies of the Dominion of Canada.

Nearly a like period has elapsed since the author's Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald was published. That work, appearing as it did little more than three years after his death, was necessarily subject to many limitations and restrictions. As a connected story it did not profess to come down later than the year 1873, nor has the time yet arrived for its continuation and completion on the same lines. That task is probably reserved for other and freer hands than mine. At the same time, it seems desirable that, as Sir John Macdonald's centenary approaches, there should be available, in convenient form, a short résumé of the salient features of his {viii} career, which, without going deeply and at length into all the public questions of his time, should present a familiar account of the man and his work as a whole, as well as, in a lesser degree, of those with whom he was intimately associated. It is with such object that this little book has been written.

JOSEPH POPE.

OTTAWA, 1914.

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CONTENTS

Page

PREFATORY NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii I. YOUTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 II. MIDDLE LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 III. OLD AGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

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ILLUSTRATIONS

SIR JOHN MACDONALD CROSSING THE ROCKIES OVER THE NEWLY CONSTRUCTED CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY, 1886 . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys.

THE MACDONALD HOMESTEAD AT ADOLPHUSTOWN . . . . . . Facing page 4 From a print in the John Ross Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library.

JOHN A. MACDONALD IN 1842 . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 12 From a photograph.

SIR ALLAN NAPIER MACNAB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 36 From a portrait in the John Ross Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library.

SIR EDMUND WALKER HEAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 42 From the John Ross Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library.

SIR ÉTIENNE PASCAL TACHÉ . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 70 From a portrait in the John Ross Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library.

SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD IN 1872 . . . . . . . . . . . " 96 From a photograph.

SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD IN 1883 . . . . . . . . . . . " 138 From a photograph.

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CHAPTER I

YOUTH

John Alexander Macdonald, second son of Hugh Macdonald and Helen Shaw, was born in Glasgow on January 11, 1815. His father, originally from Sutherlandshire, removed in early life to Glasgow, where he formed a partnership with one M'Phail, and embarked in business as a cotton manufacturer. Subsequently he engaged in the manufacture of bandanas, and the style of the firm became 'H. Macdonald and Co.' The venture did not prove successful, and Macdonald resolved to try his fortunes in the New World. Accordingly, in the year 1820, he embarked for Canada in the good ship Earl of Buckinghamshire, and after a voyage long and irksome even for those days, landed at Quebec and journeyed overland to Kingston, then and for some years after the most considerable town in Upper Canada, boasting a population (exclusive of the military) of about 2500 souls.

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