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When the Dominion Government needed him at Ottawa, he loyally allowed his own inclinations to weigh less with him than the necessities of his former political friends. He resigned from the Bench of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia on November 25, 1885, and was immediately afterwards appointed Minister of Justice of the Dominion. In a leading article in the Mail at the time of his appointment, and when all Western Canada was curious about the new Minister from the East, appeared the following paragraph regarding him: "Starting, like nearly all young men of his time, as a follower of Howe in the Anti-Confederation period, more from personal fondness, perhaps, than from a profound conviction, he gladly acquiesced in the acceptance by Howe, in 1869, of the better terms which, by the wise determination of Sir John Macdonald, were made the sign and seal of Imperial as well as of Canadian politics. Since 1869 he has been a most faithful, high-minded, unselfish and respected advocate of the policy of the great chief of the Liberal-Conservative party of Canada. As a lawyer, his success has been remarkable. He has the faculty of the initiative, and is really learned in the law. As an orator, his style is usually subdued, but effective, and in due season, on proper provocation, he can exercise a power of declamation quite remarkable in one who is not effusive in manner. His gift of accomplished sarcasm has been the secret terror of a good many bumptious gentlemen. Every success he has won, and all the popularity he has preserved, and all the authority he has attained are due in part to the fact that his high and unstained personal character has obtained for him a position which no one has ever attempted with any hope of success to assail. He is more successful when he speaks from his place in the House than when he makes election addresses in a political campaign."

After the session of Parliament in 1886, he made a tour in Ontario in company with Sir John Macdonald, Hon. Thomas White, then Minister of the Interior, and Hon. George E. Foster, at that time Minister of Marine and Fisheries. His speech in the debate on the execution of Louis Riel had made him vastly popular throughout Ontario; and though, as a speaker,

he is perhaps too self-contained and deliberate to thoroughly arouse such audiences as he addressed during the campaign, the interest and enthusiasm increased constantly during the tour.

At the general elections, on March 5, 1891, He was again returned to represent Antigonish in the House of Commons. The election campaign, which was destined to be the last of the many through which Sir John Macdonald led his forces to face the fortune of political warfare at the polls, was contested stubbornly in all parts of the Dominion, and Sir John Thompson bore a distinguished share of its hardships and labors. The Minister of Justice owes his knighthood to the services which he rendered during the negotiation of the Chamberlain-Bayard Fishery Treaty, in 1887. He, in company with Sir Charles Tupper, went to Washington as the legal adviser of the British Plenipotentiaries, and prepared for them their briefs. The voluminous reports he had previously prepared upon the various questions of an International character which had arisen in connection with the Atlantic Fisheries had already received high commendation from Her Majesty's Government. In recognition of his valuable assistance on this occasion, Her Majesty conferred on him the Knight Commandership of St. Michael and St. George, in August, 1888. It should be said also that he was appointed Queen's Counsel in May, 1879, and that he was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1890. It is not needed that mention should be made in this place of the many statutes prepared by Sir John Thompson which have become law under his supervision to the great benefit of public and private interests. Every Session since he has been Minister of Justice, he has brought before Parliament a large volume of new legislation. His amendments to the banking laws and his constant revision of the criminal law may be specially noted as of great public advantage. In connection with the copyright question he went to England in 1890, and laid before the Home Government the argument on behalf of the Canadian Government in an able memorandum addressed to Lord Knutsford, Secretary of State for the Colonies. Copyright Act, to protect the interests of Canadian publishers in respect to foreign copyrights, was passed by the Dominion Parliament in the preceding year."

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Following the death of Sir John Macdonald, in June, 1891, came the brief Premiership of Sir John Abbott, during which Sir John Thompson led the House of Commons and participated in the events connected with the striking series of bye-election victories which marked the year 1892. Party considerations, based chiefly upon his personal religious views, had made Sir John Thompson, in 1891, unselfishly waive his claims to the Premiership, which, after those of Sir Charles Tupper, were by far the strongest of any public leader of that time. But on November 25, 1892, Sir John Abbott found that his health was giving way, and on the faint chance of its preservation resigned his post. With general satisfaction, not unshared by political opponents, Sir John Thompson was called upon to form Government, which he did on December 6, as follows:

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Prior to this event, and in the preceding February, Sir John Thompson with Mr. Mackenzie Bowell and Mr. G. E. Foster, had represented the Government of Canada at an important but resultless conference in trade matters at Washington. He had also taken an active part in obtaining the refusal of the Imperial Government to the Bond-Blaine arrangement of 1890, and was a member of a Conference held at Halifax in November, 1892, to discuss the ensuing difficulties between Canada and Newfoundland and the possibilities of the latter's entry into Confederation.

Shortly after becoming Premier Sir John Thompson was appointed a British Arbitrator at the Paris tribunal for the settlement of the Behring Sea question, and for his great judicial services in this capacity was called to the Imperial Privy Council. Upon his return from Paris the Premier, in 1893, made a political tour of Ontario and was given a most cordial reception. His last public function in Canada was the unveiling of the Toronto statue to Sir John A. Macdonald on October 13, 1894. A little later, on December 12, he died suddenly at Windsor Castle, a few minutes after being sworn in by the Queen as a member of the Privy Council. His ceremonial and national funeral-from the Royal Castle to a British battleship, and from the "Blenheim" to the stately Cathedral at Halifax-was an event of memorable import in the evolution of closer Imperial sympathy.

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CHAPTER XXVIII.

SIR MACKENZIE BOWELL.

BY J. LAMbert Payne.

Sir Mackenzie Bowell a Native of England-Of Humble Parentage-Begins Work at the Age of Eleven-An Apprentice in "The Intelligencer" Office, Belleville-At Eighteen Years of Age Attends School for Six Months-Wins a Teacher's Certificate-Returns to "The Intelligencer" Office as Foreman-Marries Miss Harriett Louisa Moore-Purchases “The Intelligencer" Plant--Establishes "The Diurnal"-In 1868 Publishes "The Daily Intelligencer "--Fond of Public Controversy-An Honest Politician-One of the Leading Citizens of Belleville - Becomes a Candidate for Political Honors in 1863-In 1867 Elected to the First Dominion Parliament-An Active Member of the Conservative Party-In 1878 Given Portfolio of Minister of Customs-In 1892 Becomes Leader of the Senate-On Death of Sir John Thompson Called to the Premiership-His Cabinet-Knighted by Her Majesty— A Prominent Orangeman-His Interest in Military Affairs-The Character of the Mau— Resigns the Premiership.

T was my privilege to know Sir Mackenzie Bowell for many years, and to serve him in a closely personal capacity during the eventful period of his Premiership, as well as for a long time anterior to that regime. The intimacy arising from that relationship, and the opportunities it afforded for learning his history and characteristics, make up the only excuse which can be offered for this brief biographical sketch being prepared by my hands.

Sir Mackenzie Bowell was born at Rickinghall, in Suffolk, England, on the 27th of December, 1823. His father was a builder, and, in 1833, emigrated to this country. One year later saw the boy apprenticed to Mr. George Benjamin, of Belleville, to learn the trade and handicraft of a printer. He was then eleven years of age, and Mr. Benjamin's printing office, whence The Intelligencer was issued, had all the inconveniences and primitive makeshifts of a country weekly in a practically pioneer settlement. The new boy started off as "printer's devil," and from confessions of mischievous pranks in those early days, it may fairly be assumed that the appellation in his case was not altogether misplaced. His apprenticeship took him from

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