[bourinot] builders OF NOVA SCOTIA 87 



VI. Sir Charles Tapper, Sir John Thompson, and others. — On the re- 

 tirement of Mr. Johnston from the field of political competition the 

 leadership of the Conservative party devolved naturally upon Dr. 

 Tupper, a descendant of a pre-loyalist stock. He became one 

 of the most influential actors in the public affairs not only of 

 Nova Scotia but of the new Dominion. He established the present 

 admirable system of public education in the country, where it 

 was previous to 1864 in a most deplorable condition. It was 

 largely through his remarkable pertinacity that the Confederation 

 was eventually established, and though so many years have passed since 

 those eventful and trying times, he is still an active and conspicuous 

 figure in political life, while the voices of his famous compeers have long 

 since been hushed in the grave. He continues to show that tenacity of 

 opinion, that power of argument, that confidence in himself, and that 

 belief in Canada's ability to hold her own on this continent, which have 

 been always characteristics of a remarkable career, and though he is now 

 drawing to the end of his eighth decade of years, time has in no 

 sense dimmed his intellect, but on the contrary he is capable of the same 

 vigorous oratory which was first displayed in the old chamber of the 

 assembly of Nova Scotia, while the progress of age has only given 

 additional breadth to his statesmanship.^ It does not, however, fall 

 within the scope of this paper to refer to men who are still alive. The 

 time has not come for speaking calmly and dispassionately on the merits 

 of men like the venerable chief of the Opposition who has, naturally, in 

 the course of a remarkable life, evoked many antagonisms. Be that as it 

 may. Nova Scotians, Liberals and Conservatives alike, cannot fail to 

 admit that his intellect, energy and oratory, entitle him to the highest 

 place in the roll of Nova Scotia's most distinguished statesmen. 



I have still before me the well-known figure of Sir John Thompson, 

 the friend of my early manhood as well as of later yeai-s. All will admit 

 he was a statesman of worthy ambitions and noble motives, a remarkable 

 close reasoner, and a logical speaker who had hardly an equal for clear- 

 ness of expression in the House of Commons of Canada. His life in the 

 Dominion field of politics was one of promise rather than of performance 

 in successful statesmanship, and I doubt very much if he could ever have 

 been willing to master all the arts and intrigues of a successful politician. 

 In him Canada lost a man who, above all others, would have brought to 

 the supreme court of Canada, or to the judicial committee of the privy 

 council of the empire a clearness of intellect, a soundness of judgment, 

 and an accumulated store of legal knowledge as well as intensity of 

 purpose which would have been invaluable to this country during this 

 practically formative stage of our constitution ; but that obdurate fate, 

 which has hovered over the Conservative party since the death of Sir 

 John Macdonald, the great prime minister, struck Sir John Thompson 



