BOOKS.

THE LATE SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD.* WITH a strong feeling of admiration and with a full knowledge of his subject, Mr. Pope has endeavoured in these volumes to describe the career of Canada's most distinguished statesman. Sir John Macdonald's loyalty and love of country, his large political sagacity, his skill in dealing with men, and an ex- haustless faculty for work, made him, during the significant

years through which Canada has lately passed, a prominent figure in the country. He was born to rule ; and few poli- ticians have had more favourable scope for their ambition. If he had to fight his way, he never shrank from fighting; he bore the slanders heaped upon him with equanimity, and is said not only to have inspired his followers with a devotion

almost without parallel in political annals, but also to have drawn to his side first one and then another political foe, until at last almost every leading man who had opposed him ended by being his colleague and friend.

The biography has been intrusted by the Baroness Mac-

donald of Earnscliffe to Mr. Pope, Sir John's private secre- tary, and in doing this, she has followed the wish expressed by her husband. "Joe shall write it," he said; "he knows

more about me than any one else, and you, Agnes, shall help him." The last part of the request, owing to the lady's ill-health, has not been fulfilled, and for these two weighty volumes Mr. Pope is solely responsible. The author writes with modesty and with unbounded esteem for his chief's personal and mental qualities ; he writes, also, with an intimate knowledge of Canadian politics; but, unfortunately, be is unable to distinguish between subjects of lasting interest and the idle controversies of the hour. There is, consequently, much in these closely printed volumes not only superfluous, but of a nature to conceal the central figure.

No English reader, and few readers, we suspect, in Canada, can now care a straw for the peddling animosities and the absurd scandals upon which Mr. Pope expatiates. He has hoarded up sayings and doings that ought long ago to have been forgotten, and wasted a great number of his pages in so doing. The Memoirs, in our judgment, would have been of twice the value had they been of half the length.

John Alexander Macdonald was born in Glasgow; but at five years of age was carried by his parents to Canada, where his education must have been of a meagre kind, for at the age of fifteen, he was earning his living in a lawyer's office. At twenty-one, he was called to the Bar; and in his first case came to blows with the opposing counsel, to the scandal of the Judge, who told the crier to enforce order :es.

"This crier was an old man, personally much attached to Mr. Macdonald, in whom he took a lively interest. In pursuance of his duty, however, he was compelled to interfere. Moving towards the combatants, and circling round them, he shouted in stentorian tones, Order in the Court, order in the Court,' adding in a low but intensely sympathetic voice as ho passed near his protege, Hit him, John 1' I have hoard Sir John Macdonald say that in many a Parliamentary encounter of after years, he has seemed to hear above the excitement of the occasion the voice of the old crier whispering in his ear the words of encouragement,' Hit him, John"

Macdonald's progress at the Bar was not rapid, and in the

beginning of his career he is said to have been unfortunate in criminal cases, several of his clients having been hanged. Very soon he was absorbed in politico, and already held the

belief which animated him through life that the prosperity of Canada depended on her connection with the mother-country.

In his thirtieth year he was elected for Kingston, and not long afterwards entered the Cabinet. Readers who wish to gain an acquaintance with the details of Canadian politics during Sir John's long and active life, in which for more than thirty years he was Prime Minister, will find ample materials in these volumes. From the abundant store provided we must be content to extract a few significant facts, leaving for those who care for such scandals, Mr. Pope's exposure of the sins of the Clear-Grit party, and of MaA:donald's life-long opponent, the Hon. George Brown.

The biographer describes with sufficient fullness the coalition of 1851, at which the Liberal-Conservative party was formed which, "almost constantly since, has controlled the destinies of Canada." In that Ministry Macdonald was

• Memoirs of the Bight Han, Sir John A. Macdonakt. G.C.B., First Prime IlFinivt,r of the Dominion of Canada, By Joseph Poi e. 2 vols. Loudon: Arno:A. Attorney-General for Upper Canada, and made his power felt as one of the strongest members of the Government. Three years later he became Prime Minister. This was in the days when Sir Edmund Head was Governor-General, and between him and Macdonald the warmest friendship sprang up. Sir John, who was ever foremost in all the measures proposed for the progress of the Colony on constitutional lines, early saw the benefits to be gained by a confederation of the provinces, and on him, in 1867, fell what Mr. Pope truly calls the herculean task of putting in motion the machinery of the new Dominion, and it was then that he received the dignity of K.O.B. There were difficulties ahead, however, in the dissatisfaction of Nova Scotia which prayed for a repeal of the union with Canada, but Sir John's able diplomacy averted this impediment to union. No one under- stood better than Macdonald the necessity of compromise, and on one occasion, to save the Government of the country from a deadlock, he came to an understanding with his arch- enemy, Mr. Brown, although for ten years not a word had been exchanged between them in social intercourse. Of that coalition, which occurred in 1864, Sir John says :—" We acted together, dined at public places together, played euchre in crossing the Atlantic, and went into society in England together. And yet on the day after he resigned, we resumed our old positions, and ceased to speak." Mr. Pope observes that although Macdonald was sometimes led into excesses of language and exhibitions of temper, he cherished no animosity against his opponents, and was incapable of resentment; but he admits that to this rule Mr. Brown was an exception. Sir John could bear the loss of office with equanimity. In 1873, he fell, according to his opponents, never to rise again. Some of his friends were of the same opinion. He himself said nothing:— " After announcing the resignation of his Ministry, Sir John moved the adjournment of the House. He then went over to his office, directed his secretaries to pack up his papers, drove home, went upstairs to his bedroom, and remarked quietly to Lady Macdonald,' Well, that's got along with.'—` What do you mean ' said she.—' Why, the Government has resigned,' he replied, arraying himself in his dressing-gown and slippers, and picking up two or three books from a table close by. It's a relief to be out of it,' he added, as he stretched himself on the bed, opened a volume, and began to read, intimating that he did not wish to be disturbed. That was all he said on the subject at the time, nor did he allude to it again. There were no bitter reflections upon those of his supporters who had failed him in the hour of need,—no harsh words against those who had passed over to his foes, no repining at fortune. . . . . . And indeed this habit of mind was eminently characteristic of Sir John Macdonald throughout hie career. No matter what happened of a die- agrebable nature, he invariably would say, after the first momen- tary exclamation of surprise, regret, or it might be annoyance,

• Well, it can't be helped,' and would then dismiss the subject from his mind."

On his resignation, the late Prime Minister called together his followers and urged them to choose a younger leader, and on their declining to fight under any other man, he adjourned the meeting till the next day, when he hoped to receive their answer :— "Not a single member of the party was anywhere to be soon. They would not by their attendance lend colour to the idea that they had even contemplated the possibility of a change of leader. Sir John bad experienced many a triumph ; he was destined to achieve many more, but at no time in his life, not on the ever-memorable September 17th, 1878 [when he returned to power with a great majority], not even when he was borne thmugh the passes of the Rocky Mountains to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, over the railway, which is perhaps the greatest monument of his courage and resolution, did he experience a prouder and more heartfelt satisfaction than when he walked from the deserted committee-room to the House of Commons, there to receive from his devoted followers the assurances of their undiminished attachment conveyed in ringing cheers which pre- saged his future triumph."

Comparatively little is related in the memoirs with regard to Macdonald'e private life, but he is said to have had an inexhaustible fund of anecdotes, and from a chapter headed "Personal Characteristics" we quote one which Sir John generally kept for friends who were total abstainers :— "Many years ago there resided in what is now the county of Elgin, a gentleman of the name of Colonel Talbot, who belonged to the family of Lord Talbot de Malahide. He was a gentleman of the old school. One day Sir James Alexander, who was at the time engaged in collecting materials for a history of Canada, passed near by Port Talbot and called on the Colonel, who

• received him hospitably, and pressed him to remain to dinner. Shortly after sitting down, the host turned to Sir James and said, Do you drink sherry or claret P Neither thank you,' replied Sir James.—The Colonel looked keenly at his guest, but said nothing, evidently making up his mind that he had some reason for not taking wine at the moment. When the cloth was removed, and the decanters were placed on the table, he said again to him, 'What wine do you drink, Sir James P '—The latter replied, 'Thank you, I never drink wine.'—' The devil you don't,' replied Colonel Talbot, reaching his hand for the bell-rope ; Order Sir James Alexander's horse,' he said to the servant, and he then and there turned his guest out of his house."

Sir John frequently visited England. He enjoyed the voyage and change of scene, and, above all, intercourse with English statesmen. "When I read occasionally," he wrote, "of the loss of the prestige and position of England, I am incredulous if only from the one fact that the statesmen of England are far superior to those of any other nation East or West." In early life he favoured an elective Upper House; but age and experience changed his mind, and he became a firm upholder of the nominative principle. He agreed with Professor Bryce that the need of a Second Chamber is con- firmed by reason itself, and was fond of relating the story told of Washington :— " Of what use is the Senate P' Jefferson asked, as he stood before the fire with a cup of tea in his hand, pouring the tea into his sauer as he spoke.—' You have answered your own question,'

replied Washington.--• What do you mean P Why did you pour that tea into your saucer P To cool it,' quoth Jefferson.— ' Even so,' said Washington, the Senate is the saucer into which we pour legislation to cool.'"

Macdonald's Conservatism showed itself in what some persons may regard as minor matters, and so strongly did he dislike American orthography that in 1890 he caused a Minute of Council to be passed directing that in all official publications the English practice should be followed.

Mr. Pope's elaborate and exhaustive Memoirs are likely to be more frequently consulted than read. They contain a mass of materials which may be serviceable to students of Canadian history, and much also, as we have already intimated, which the general reader will be forced to skip. This is a pity, since the career of few modern statesmen affords wider scope for an attractive narrative. The life of Sir John Macdonald is bound up with the history of a Dominion of which all Englishmen are proud. He loved England deeply, and Canada as a part of the mother-country, and it was fitting that his memory should have been honoured by a monument in St. Paul's Cathedral. In the Colony which he served so faithfully he has left a monument more enduring still.