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Date: 1866-08-10
By: Montreal Herald
Citation: “THE MINISTRY” Montreal Herald (10 August, 1866)
Other formats: TBA

THE MINISTRY.

—It has been evident for some time back that all has not been peace and harmony in the Cabinet, and that the millenial days have not yet come when the wolf can dwell with the lamb, the leopard lie down with the kid, and the lion eat straw like the ox. As long as the fear of hunger was before their eyes the happy, though incongruous family, composing the present administration, could be kept together, but as soon as they began to feel secure in their seats, the first victim to the sanguinary instincts of the leonine branch of the establishment, was George Brown, who with a child-like innocence thought he could lead them, but found to his sorrow that even his own oxen turned round to gore him, seeming to prefer the succulent pastures of the Government fields to the dry straw, which was all their former leader could promise them. But time brings its revenges. No one who has watched carefully can fail to have drawn his conclusions from the reluctance shown by the Administration to bring forward the measures for which chiefly the present session was so long delayed. Mr. Galt would allow of no hesitation on the part of the House nor give time for deliberation upon the important fiscal changes which he proposed. But when the opposition demanded to know when the Constitutional measures, which were to affect the future political relations of the Provinces in their new relation to each other, were to be brought down, the answer was always to-morrow or at an early day, and so reluctant members were coaxed on to support Mr. Galt’s policy lest a worse evil should befal them. It is well known that long, angry and acrimonious discussions were taking place in the Cabinet with respect to the School Bill, notwithstanding all the statements of the Attorney-General to the contrary. It was quite understood that when Mr. Galt came to Sherbrooke to attend the Convention held there, that private terms were come to which were not then to be made public, but were to be kept to the last until the Bill itself could be produced and, if possible, hurried through. It is not a little singular, too, that the petition from the Roman Catholic Bishops on the question should be presented so soon after Mr. Cartier was entertained at St. Hyacinthe, on the occasion of the installation of the new Bishop, when in the midst of a busy session he was able to absent himself from his many and anxious labours at Ottawa, to unbend at the festival which crowned the sacred ceremony. No doubt, he will say, all politics were excluded, but with so keen a politician, who can turn every thing to account, this is not likely. The other Dromio, the Attorney-General West, in spite of the engagement made by Mr. Galt with the British representatives of Lower Canada, an engagement made with the full knowledge of at least the two leaders, stated positively that he would support Mr. Bell’s bill, knowing at the same time that it could not be carried and that its only effect would be to defeat the one for Lower Canada. But, indeed, the latter would never have been produced at all, except for the efforts of the opposition, who insisted that the country should know the nature of the proposed measure so as to be able to judge of its merits and how far it would be satisfactory. Before this was done, however, the wires had been pulled and every secret influence set to work to have the bill defeated. The result proved the astuteness of those who undertook to blind the Eastern Township members who, as a whole, have voted steadily and consistently with the Cartier-McDonald party. Rightly or wrongly, their constituents believe that without some guarantee their political and social privileges are in danger. They have never been very much inclined for Confederation as proposed to be carried out, although a legislative union was regarded with a little more favour. They have simply accepted it as a thing inevitable. Now a feeling has been gaining ground that their claims have been sacrificed, and that the British population in Lower Canada is doomed to political annihilation. Questions are beginning to be discussed that bode little good to the continuance of the friendly feeling that was growing up between the two races, and the parties are entering upon a union, in which neither believe. Great part of this feeling of uneasiness and suspicion has been fostered by men who now say that really after all these guarantees are not of any importance, being in the words of Mr. Pope “lesser concessions not, perhaps, in the opinions of the members themselves, of absolute necessity, but demanded by the state of public opinion in the portion of the country which they represent.” In other words out of deference to the ignorance, as they lead us to infer, of their constituents, Messrs. Galt and Pope consented to make demands which they believed to be wrong, and put on an affectation of sincerity in trying to obtain them. Yet, these are the representatives of British interests in Lower Canada. It is already evident enough the course which Mr. Galt and his colleagues are prepared to adopt. Having paid the deference to public opinion, which hypocrisy pays to virtue, the ex-Finance Minister, after a decent interval of, say fourteen days, but certainly within the thirty, will resume his place as Finance Minister, experience having taught the men of many a shuffle, that this is a perfectly safe operation, as within the time specified there is no necessity for a Minister holding office who has resigned and resumed it, to go before his constituents for re-election. He will then go as one of the deputation to Britain, to watch over the interests of the British population of Lower Canada, at the urgent request, it will probably be put, of His Excellency himself. By the time he returns, he hopes the little plot will have been forgotten, and nothing remembered but the halo of his martyrdom. It is well the public should see how these things are done, and obtain a glimpse of the means which have been employed to carry Confederation. It is evident now, that however illusory the promised guarantees were, that they are no longer to be afforded, and when it is found that men like Mr. Cauchon claim boldly in the House the complete control of Education in Lower Canada, regarding the proposed appointment of a Protestant deputy superintendent as a direct insult to his race, people who have hitherto looked upon Confederation or no Confederation as a matter of little consequence, begin to perceive that there is something after all in the warnings given, but in vain, to consider with a little attention a scheme which required something more to recommend it than the crude dreams of those who in all honesty thought solely of the bright side, or the crafty designs of others, who saw in  it a means of retaining place and power, or some fat job from business occasioned by fiscal changes. We have every desire to do justice to our French Canadian fellow-countrymen, we believe that they do not intend to oppress us, but a majority does not always feel how hardly it may be bearing upon a minority, particularly when the numbers are so disproportionate as in this case. When bound hand and foot and left to fight their own way in the local legislature, British Lower Canadians will perhaps remember that they assisted at a little comedy played by Cartier, McDonald, Galt & Co., which may turn out to be a tragedy for those most deeply concerned.