DOMINION OF CANADA. 



was expected to increase the revenue from 

 $21,670,000 to about $24,120,000, and to soon 

 \\-i|>r out the deficit in the Treasury accounts, 

 which Imd been accumulating for four years, 

 ami which amounted altogether to about 

 $7,000,000. The division on the new tariff, 

 or the national policy, was taken in the mid- 

 dle of April, 130 voting in its favor and 53 

 against it. 



A constitutional question, arising from the 

 (!i-nii.->;i! by Lieutenant-Go vernor Letellier, of 

 Quebec, of the De Boncherville Ministry in 

 March, 1878, on account of what he judged to 

 be an infringement on the privileges of his 

 office and an official affront, became more and 

 more complicated by later events. The Prov- 

 ince of Quebec, already in a very unhealthy 

 state of political agitation, was wrought up to 

 a condition of feverish passion, and the excite- 

 ment spread throughout the Dominion, as the 

 Dominion Government, the Governor-Gener- 

 al, and finally the British Government, were 

 drawn into the controversy. The election of 

 a Conservative Parliament in September, 1878, 

 was the means of making the question of Le- 

 tellier's act a Dominion matter. The Mao- 

 douald Ministry decided in April, 1879, to re- 

 move Letellier, and advised Lord Lome ac- 

 cordingly. To this the new Governor-General 

 demurred, and applied to the Home Govern- 

 ment for instructions, being of opinion that 

 the interference of the Federal Government 

 was a violation of the prerogative of the 

 Crown on the one hand (as the British North 

 America Act of 1867 states that the office of 

 Lieutenant-Governor shall continue "during 

 the good pleasure of the Go vernor- General "), 

 and on the other hand that it plainly trenched 

 on the autonomy of the provinces, and openly 

 violated the principle of responsible govern- 

 ment, since the Joly Cabinet, which had suc- 

 ceeded the De Boucherville Ministry, had re- 

 ceived the support of the country in the next 

 provincial election. The Dominion Minister 

 of Public Works, Mr. Langevin, repaired to 

 England to present the case of the Govern- 

 ment before the British Cabinet. The position 

 of the Dominion Ministry was upheld by the 

 British Government, and the Marquis of Lome 

 was informed in dispatches from Sir Michael 

 Hicks-Beach that the advice of his constitu- 

 tional advisers must be followed. The right 

 of the Federal Government to remove the pro- 

 vincial Governor was thus established as a prin- 

 ciple of the Canadian Constitution and a con- 

 comitant of responsible government. This 

 decision, which was due partly perhaps to the 

 political exigencies of the moment, and to the 

 unwillingness of the home authorities to incur 

 any responsibility in the direction of colonial 

 affairs, not even so far as regards the interpre- 

 tation of the Constitution, creates a principle 

 against which the very people who were clam- 

 oring for Federal intervention might under 

 ordinary circumstances be the first to rebel; 

 the habitant of this same old French colony 



will probably bo the loudest in their protes- 

 tations against any further advances in the 

 direction of centralization. The Province of 

 Quebec had been long subjected to a chronic 

 political fermentation on account of the dis- 

 putes growing out of this situation. ThU was 

 one of the first questions to which the atten- 

 tion of the Governor-General was called upon 

 his arrival. He was unwilling to accede to the 

 demands of the Conservatives of the French 

 provinces to dismiss the Lieutenant-Governor, 

 and it looked as if the whole country might 

 be plunged through this affair into a constitu- 

 tional crisis of great peril. It seemed to the 

 Marquis of Lome to be straining the Federal 

 authority very much to dismiss the Lieutenant- 

 Governor for acts the entire responsibility for 

 which rested with and was assumed by his 

 constitutional advisers, who still retained the 

 confidence of the provincial Legislature and 

 were able to conduct the government of the 

 province. There was no precedent in this case, 

 and the question was settled by Sir John A. 

 Macdonald's insisting that his demands should 

 be acceded to, and by the prompt reply from 

 the Home Government, which complacently in- 

 terpreted the Constitution in the sense required 

 by the Federal Government. 



The transaction of the public business of the 

 province was facilitated through the happy 

 issue of a somewhat dangerous and violent act 

 of the Legislative Council, resulting in the re- 

 tirement of the Liberal Government and the 

 assumption of the reins of power by a Con- 

 servative Ministry. The ministerial crisis was 

 brought about by the refusal of the Legislative 

 Council to vote supplies, and a motion offered 

 by the Minister, Mr. Joly, in the Assembly for 

 indemnity for Government expenditures. Such 

 an application, being for a money grant, should, 

 according to all precedent, have been made in 

 the form of a message from the new Lieutenant- 

 Governor, Robitaille. An amendment pre- 

 sented by Mr. Lynch, which, without uphold- 

 ing the action of the Legislative Council, im- 

 puted weakness to the Government, was passed, 

 and was the occasion of the resignation of the 

 Joly Ministry. If the province had not tired 

 of the long rivalries and contentions, the course 

 of the Legislative Council would have aroused 

 the liveliest animosity. As it was, the motion 

 that Mr. Joly had " lost his usefulness " was 

 carried through the votes of several of his for- 

 mer supporters, who now desired tranquillity 

 above all things. Upon receiving the sense of 

 the Parliament thus plainly expressed, Mr. Joly 

 was perfectly free to resign, and Mr. Chapleau 

 to form a new administration. 



A late ministerial crisis in Manitoba recalls 

 unpleasantly the old dissensions which long 

 rent Lower Canada, when the people were 

 divided into hostile camps by a strict race and 

 creed line. When a Constitution was given to 

 Manitoba, and an inceptive Constitution to the 

 Northwest Territory, the ultra-Protestant ele- 

 ment found much fault with its provisions, de- 



