Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 03.pdf/378

 The

Vol. III.

No. 8.

Green

BOSTON.

Bag.

August, 189 1.

THE LATE RIGHT HON. SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. By J. A. Chisholm, LL.B. AT Ottawa, on the sixth day of June, 1 89 1, Sir John Macdonald, the greatest Canadian of the age, closed his re markable career. On the evening of May 29th the members of the Dominion House of Commons were engaged in a fierce debate, when it became the painful duty of Sir Hector Langevin to announce to the House that the Premier had been stricken by paralysis, and that his medical attendant ex pected his death hourly. The voice of party strife was at once hushed, and the House adjourned for some days. But the heroic man fought death bravely, and the struggle continued for more than a week. Each day brought the news to his sorrowing country men that the Premier, although still alive, was getting weaker. Finally, on the evening of the 6th of June, the most distinguished of Canadian and one of the most distin guished of contemporary statesmen passed quietly away. To write the history of Sir John Mac donald is to write the history of Canada for the long period of his service as a public man; and the history of Canada for the last forty-seven years has been too eventful to be disposed of in a magazine article. Nothing, therefore, is attempted in this sketch beyond giving the barest outlines of a life which has been phenomenal in its rapid and continual success. John Alexander Macdonald, the son of Hugh Macdonald and Helen Shaw, was born in Glasgow on the 1 ith day of January, 1815. The family emigrated in 1820, and settled at Kingston. Ontario, at that time the 45

chief centre of the Scottish population of Upper Canada. The future Premier was placed in the Royal Grammar School under the tuition of Dr. Wilson, an Oxford man; and he soon gave token of the splendid talents which later in life displayed them selves in his country's service. He had an excellent memory, and a special aptitude for mathematics; and it is said that when the head-master was showing off his pupils to visit ors, he always called upon young Macdonald. In his sixteenth year the young man entered the law office of George Mackenzie, a lead ing barrister, and he was called to the bar of Upper Canada in 1836. He soon became prominent in his profession. Two years after his admission Von Schultz, a Polish adventurer, who led a band of raiders from the United States into Canada, was captured and put on his trial. Mr. Macdonald de fended him with great ability, though unsuc cessfully, and a Montreal paper describing the event said the young lawyer would soon be one of the first men in Canada. Five years later, in 1844, he turned his steps to the sphere in which he was after wards to shine so brilliantly. A general election was pending, and he contested Kingston in the Conservative interest. He was returned, and during the next few years he showed such wisdom and moderation in his treatment of public questions that in 1847 he was asked to take the portfolio of Receiver-General in the Sherwood-Daly ad ministration. He accepted, and soon ex changed his post for the Crown Lands. His party, however, was growing weak; and