the victim of much difference of opinion as to the proper policy to be pursued. The decision of the Judicial Committee of the Imperial Privy Council, declaring that the Roman Catholic minority had the right to appeal to the Governor-General-in-Council in connection with the Provincial abolition of their Separate Schools, had made the issue a Dominion one, which the Government thought should be settled by remedial legislation in the Dominion Parliament. There was disagreement, however, as to the principle and as to details, and finally Sir Charles Tupper resigned his High Commissionership and joined the Ministry in January, 1896, as Secretary of State, for the purpose of strengthening its hands and saving the party, if possible, from disintegration and defeat. With characteristic energy he took the leadership of the House of Commons, and, if determination and vigour could have won, he would have saved the situation. But the approaching demise of Parliament by efflux of time made legislation impossible under existing political conditions, and at the end of the session Sir Mackenzie Bowell resigned and Sir Charles Tupper was called upon to take the Premiership and form a new Ministry, which he did on May 1, 1896, as follows: Premier and Secretary of State.... Minister of Railways and Canals.. Minister of Justice.... Minister of Agriculture... President of the Council.. Minister of Public Works.. Minister of Militia and Defence.. Comptroller of Customs..... Without Portfolio.... Without Portfolio.. Without Portfolio... Solicitor-General without a seat in Cabinet. Sir Charles Tupper, Bart. . Hon. G. E. Foster. . Hon. W. B. Ives. .. Hon. A. R. Dickey. . Hon. W. H. Montague, .. Hon. A. R. Angers. Hon. A. Desjardines. .. Hon. H. J. Macdonald. . Hon. J. F. Wood. Sir Frank Smith. He had practically assumed responsibility four months earlier for a defined policy regarding the Manitoba Schools-a policy originally taken up by the party leaders when he was in England-and this he now proceeded to carry out Legislation was introduced into the House of Commons along the line of compelling the restoration of their educational rights to the Catholic minority of Manitoba. But with all the large normal majority possessed by the Conservatives in the House it could not be carried in view of the obstruction resorted to by opponents. General elections followed, Sir Charles Tupper was beaten at the polls (especially in the Province of Quebec), and after a serious dispute with the Governor-General over certain appointments to office, he resigned on July 8, 1896, and was succeeded by Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal party. During the elections his platform, as announced in an address to the people of Canada, included continued protection to Canadian industries, preferential trade with Great Britain, the strengthening of the national defences, the promotion of a fast Atlantic Steamship service, the admission of Newfoundland to the Confederation and the encouragement of judicious immigration. At the meeting of the new Parliament in August he was re-elected leader of the Conservative party and has since then fought the Government with never-failing energy of voice and agitation, and has exhibited a degree of mental and physical vigour which has been the envy of his friends and the admiration of his enemies. Sir Charles Tupper, during his long career, has had many public honours. He has been Premier of his native Province and of the Federated Dominion. He has represented his country at the heart of the Empire, and both the Dominion and the Empire on important missions abroad. He has had many honorary degrees from Home Universities, and has been made an LL. D. of Cambridge and Edinburgh in the Old Land. He is an Hon. Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and is, or has been, a member of the governing bodies of the Imperial Institute, the Royal Colonial Institute, the Imperial Federation League and the British Empire League. He has been at the head of his profession in Canada, and was for years President of the Canadian Medical Association. The Crown has given him many of its highest honours and in doing so has endorsed the people's approval of a career which, with inevitable imperfections and mistakes, has been a great and valuable one. Personally, Sir Charles has always been accessible, courteous in manner and kind in disposition. His memory is remarkable, whether for faces, facts, figures, similies, illustrations or history. His industry has been indefatigable, his energy exhaustless, his oratory powerful, his physical endurance marvellous. In an old age which shows infinite variety of resource and tenacity of purpose his political enemies are fond of describing his two faults as being those of a proneness to speak of the past of Canada and his share in its history and a lack of that power of conciliating opponents and holding friends which Sir John Macdonald possessed in so wonderful a degree. A word may be said here upon these points. In the first place it is a good thing in a young, aggressive and democratic community, looking ever to the future and forgetful of the experience of its fathers, to have some reminder of what has gone before and of the men who have made the country what it is. And who is there in Canada that has described this history so effectively, so vigorously, and from the standpoint of a living and still fighting leader, so accurately, as Sir Charles Tupper? It is not the least of his services to the country that he has in the last few years taught young Canada something of the men and events connected with the establishment of the Dominion. As to the absence of political conciliation, much has been alleged by political opponents, and it has been claimed that a little more of that quality might have prevented the opposition to Confederation in Nova Scotia coming to so bitter a head and might have helped the party at Ottawa in passing the Manitoba Remedial Bill. On the other hand there is the known record of the clever manner in which Dr. Tupper broke up the Liberal party in his own Province in the early fifties, of his effective and conciliatory policy toward Howe in 1868, of his magnanimity in connection with the formation of the first Dominion Cabinet, and of his able diplomacy in the Atlantic Fisheries Treaty and other cases. Taken altogether Sir Charles Tupper was, and is, a good illustration in energy, mental and physical power, eloquence, experience and probity of character of the best elements in Canadian public life during its formative stages, its constructive period and its national present. |