Sir John Alexander Macdonald,
K.C.M.G., D.C.L., LL.D., was born in Glasgow on the 10th day of January,
1815.
He was the second son of Mr. Hugh
Macdonald, who lived originally in the parish of Rogart before moving to
Dornoch, Sutherlandshire, but who early in life (at age 38) removed to
Canada.
When the emigration movement began
after the Napoleonic Wars, Mr. Hugh Macdonald and his family (John Alexander
being then in his fifth year) took passage for British North America. Mr.
Macdonald settled near Kingston, then the most important town in Upper
Canada; and, after residing here for upwards of four years, the family moved
to the Bay of Quinté area, leaving John Alexander, then in his tenth
year, at school in Kingston. The lad was placed at the Royal Grammer School,
under the tuition of Dr. Wilson, a fellow of Oxford University, and
subsequently, under that of Mr. George Baxter.
After he had entered his sixteenth
year, his father took him away from school and had him articled
in the office of George Mackenzie, where he applied himself diligently to
study of the law. When he began to practice law, there were heard the
first mutterings of the storm soon to break over the country and the year
following, numbers of disaffected persons, in Lower Canada under Papineau,
and in Upper Canada under William Lyon Mackenzie, rushed blindly to arms.
A body of hunters - as the
invaders were called - under the command of a Pole named Von Shoultz,
crossed from the American side over to Prescott, but Shoultz was captured,
and his followers killed and dispersed. Courts-martial were established at
London and Kingston, and at the latter city, Shoultz and his
accomplices were tried for
there
their crimes.
Young Macdonald was counsel for the
unfortunate Pole, and by the skill and force of his address attracted wide
notice. In 1844, during the most intolerable portion of Lord Mercalfe's
rule, Mr. Macdonald was elected for Kingston in the legislature of Upper
Canada, defeating Mr. Manahan.
On first entering the legislature,
he sat unmoved at his desk while the frays for which that period of
parliamentary history was remarkable went on, "looking", says a gentleman
who remembers having seen him there, "half careless and half contemptuous.
Sometimes in the thick of the mêlée he was busy in and out of the library.
I scarce ever remember seeing him
then about the House that he was not searching up some case either then
impending or to come up at a later date. He was for a great part of his
time, too, buried in a study of constitutional history". His first speech
was in reply to the Hon. Robert Baldwin, and though it was daring, it was
based on a wide foundation of common sense. During the last days of toryism,
Mr. Draper, the Attorney-General, came one day to our subject and said,
"Your turn has come at last, Macdonald."
He became Receiver-General, but
after a brief period assumed the management of Crown Lands, where, in a
short time he reduced much confusion to harmony. But in 1849, the reformers
under Mr. Baldwin and Monsieur Lafontaine were triumphant and during the
riot and incendiarism of that year we see Mr. Macdonald's figure and hear
some of his impassioned utterances.
On the downfall of the Hincks-Morin
Cabinet, he became Attorney-General-West, under the leadership of Sir
Allan MacNab, but this ministry becoming unpopular, both in and out of
Parliament, and was forced to resign, and Mr. George Brown was called upon
to form a Cabinet. He undertook the task, but the Governor-General having
refused him permission to dissolve the House and appeal to the country, he,
after a few days, resigned, and the old ministry was recalled to power.
After a short time, however, Sir
Allan was relegated to the sick-room, and John A. Macdonald appeared as
leader of the Upper Canada section, that ambitious and persevering spirit,
George E. Cartier, leading the Lower Canada division. Then came the period
of transition, during which political events seem to pass before the eye
like objects in the kaleidoscope.
There was a wide gulf between the
Upper and Lower Canada, though for a lengthy period John A. Macdonald in his
own personality spanned the chasm. The seeds of discontent had borne Fruit,
and public sentiment was in a feverish state of unrest.
Then came Sandfield Macdonald upon
the scene as premier, but his administration crumbled away as if it had been
reared on sand. The Taché-Macdonald (John A.) administration followed, but
is tenure of life hung by the slimmest thread, and eventually it survived
only by the mercy of those who were really its enemies. It was out of this
dead-lock, or the "fatal balance of parties", that grew the impulse for a
confederation.
A coalition was formed, of which
George Brown, Oliver Mowat and William McDougall, on the part of the
reformers, were members.
Thereafter the figure of John A.
Macdonald stands boldly out. It was he who led and shaped the movement, and
conducted negotiations in the maritime provinces and in England; and in
recognition of his zeal and service he was called to lead the first
administration under confederation, and had a knighthood conferred upon him.
His career since that date is fresh in the memories of most who watch public
events.
Though achieving many brilliant
successes, once he found disaster, when in 1873 the Legislature declared him
guilty of corrupt collusion with Sir Hugh Allan in a transaction relating to
the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway; but whether this most
successful and able statesman was guilty of the charge laid at his door or
not, the people forgave him, and in 1878, with loud acclamation, took him
back again to power.
Sir John has always stood in high
regard in the mother country, and in 1879 was sworn in a member of Her
Majesty's Privy Council. In 1865, he received the honorary degree of D.C.L.
from Oxford University; he also received the degree of LL.D. from Queen's
University, Kingston; and likewise a D.C.L. of the University of Trinity
College, Toronto. Although he is now well advanced in years, he does not
seem to have lost any of his old vigour; friends press more closely around
him, and the circle of his admirers seems to grow larger every day.
Since 1878 he had been instrumental
in accomplishing several important acts of legislation, noteable among those
being the project, now nearly completed, of building the Canada Pacific
Railway. Sir John resides at Stadacona Hall, Ottawa, and his social
responsibilities are shared with admirable grace and success by his talented
and exceedingly popular wife, Lady Macdonald.
The following are some of the
measures of legislation accomplished by the right hon. gentleman since his
entry into public life: The secularization of the clergy reserves; the
extension of the municipal system; reorganization of the militia; the
reorganization of the civil service; the ratification of the Washington
treaty; confederation of B. N. A.; the construction of the Intercolonial
Railway; the extension and
consolidation of the
Dominion; the National Policy; and the measure for the construction of the
Canadian Pacific Railway.
You can read a book about him in
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