CANADA, DOMINION OP. 



cr, now in his eightieth year ; Mr. Hugh John Mac- 

 donald, Premier of Manitoba; and Mr. George E. 

 Foster, long Finance Minister in the preceding 

 Conservative Govesnment, made a tour of the 

 country and were well received. Sir Wilfrid 

 Laurier, Mr. Fielding, and other members of the 

 ministry did the same, with a similar result. In 

 the Parliament thus dissolved the Government had 

 a majority of 59, which had grown up, through 

 successful by-elections, from about 30 majority 

 obtained at the polls in 1896. 



Mr. Foster left his previous constituency and 

 joined issue, in St. John, N. B., with Mr. Blair, 

 whose position as a Cabinet minister with a pre- 

 vious Liberal majority of more than 600 made the 

 result appear almost hopeless for the Conservative 

 leader. Mr. H. H. Cook, ex-M. P., long a well- 

 known Liberal in Ontario, issued a manifesto de- 

 nouncing his party upon an indictment containing 

 17 counts, and declaring them guilty of corruption 

 and absolutely indifferent to their pledges of pre- 

 vious years. He also charged the Government 

 Avith offering him a senatorship in return for a 

 $10,000 contribution to party funds. This Sir W. 

 Laurier promptly and earnestly denied. The other 

 charges were not answered by the Liberal leader. 

 Mr. John Charlton, also a prominent figure in the 

 same party, issued an address to his constituents 

 supporting parts of the Conservative platform and 

 condemning portions of the Liberal record. Sir 

 Mackenzie Bowell, a former Conservative premier, 

 revived the internal party troubles of 1896 by 

 going to the constituency of Hon. J. G. Haggart, 

 a former colleague of his own and of Sir C. Tupper, 

 and denouncing him with vigor. And so the con- 

 test proceeded, both parties in favor of closer Brit- 

 ish unity, but differing strongly in detail. The 

 preferential tariff was a prominent feature, Sir 

 Charles Tupper declaring that the Government 

 should have invited reciprocity from England, and 

 expressing the belief that such a result was possi- 

 ble. This the Government denied strenuously, 

 and in doing so certainly had the record of English 

 free-trade policy for fifty years. Mr. Tarte's al- 

 leged anti-British utterances made another strong 

 card for the Conservatives, and each party accused 

 the other of trying to raise racial issues in Quebec. 



The general result of the struggle, Nov. 7, was 

 somewhat extraordinary. The Laurier Govern- 

 ment was sustained by a majority of about 50. 

 The great bulk of this was from Quebec, which 

 gave a total of 57 Liberals to 8 Conservatives. 

 Ontario turned a Liberal majority of 14 into a Con- 

 servative majority of more than 20. The maritime 

 provinces increased their previous Liberal majori- 

 ties somewhat, and Manitoba, the Territories, and 

 British Columbia divided about equally. All the 

 ministers were re-elected from comparatively safe 

 seats; nearly all the Conservative leaders, includ- 

 ing Sir Charles Tvipper, Hon. George E. Foster, 

 Hon. Hugh John Macdonald, Sir Adolphe Caron, 

 and J. G. H. Bergeron were beaten in trying to 

 carry Liberal constituencies, or from spending all 

 their time speaking throughout the country. The 

 French of Quebec voted almost solidly for a French- 

 Canadian Premier, while the French in some of 

 the Ontario and Manitoban constituencies, and the 

 Acadian-French in all the maritime provinces, ap- 

 parently did the same. The day after the election 

 Sir Charles Tupper announced his retirement from 

 public life. 



Canada in the South. African War. Includ- 

 ing the Royal Canadian Regiment of 1,000 men 

 under Col. 'W. D. Otter, the Canadian Mounted 

 Eifles under Lieut.-Col. F. L. Lessard, the Royal 

 Canadian Dragoons under Lieut.-Col. T. D. B. 

 Evans, and the Strathcona Horse under Lieut.-Col. 



S. B. Steele, there were about 3,000 Canadian 

 troops in South Africa by January, 1900. There 

 had been some hesitation in sending the first con- 

 tingent, and for this the Government had to meet 

 severe party denunciation during the ensuing year. 

 Popular opinion forced its dispatch by having an 

 order in Council prepared which formally an- 

 nounced that the action taken should not be con- 

 sidered a precedent, which was promptly broken 

 through in the sending of a second and a third con- 

 tingent. Lord Minto hinted at this situation when 

 he said, in a speech of farewell at Quebec to depart- 

 ing troops, that " the Canadian contingent goes out 

 because you " (the people of Canada) " insisted 

 upon its going." This matter, and the fact that in 

 Quebec the Liberal leaders said they had " allowed " 

 the volunteers to go, while elsewhere they declared 

 with pride that they " sent " them, held a large 

 place in the subsequent elections. 



The Government paid for the equipment of the 

 contingents and their transportation to the Cape, 

 and after that they became British soldiers and 

 subject to similar rates and rules. In February 

 Mr. Fielding introduced into the House a vote of 

 $2,000,000, which was carried almost unanimously, 

 for the payment of these expenses and for an in- 

 crease in the regular army remuneration of the 

 men, to be given to them on their return. The 

 Strathcona Horse was equipped and all expenses 

 borne by the personal generosity of Lord Strath- 

 eona, Canadian High Commissioner in London, 

 who also privately arranged through Sir Charles 

 Tupper for an insurance of $1,000 each on the lives 

 of the men in the first contingent. Tributes to the 

 conduct of the Canadian troops were numerous, 

 and included the direct congratulations of the 

 Queen, Lord Roberts, Sir Alfred Milner, and Mr. 

 Chamberlain, and praise from almost the entire 

 British press. It appears to have been a revelation 

 of what colonial volunteers could do. At Paarde- 

 berg 13 men were killed and more than 30 officers 

 and men were wounded. Parliament promptly 

 expressed its gratulations to the living and its 

 sympathy for the dead and wounded in a dispatch 

 sent by the Premier. After this time the Royal 

 Canadians were brigaded with the Gordons and 

 other crack British regiments, and on July 16 

 Gen. Smith-Dorien issued the following congratu- 

 latory order: 



" The Tenth Brigade has achieved a record of 

 which any infantry might be proud. Since the 

 date it formed, namely the 12th of February, it has 

 marched 620 miles, often on half rations and sel- 

 dom on full. It has taken part in the capture 

 of 10 towns, fought in 10 general actions, and on 

 27 other days. In one period of 30 days it fought 

 on 21 of them, and marched 327 miles. The casual- 

 ties have been between 400 and 500, and defeats 

 nil." 



During the progress of the campaign the regi- 

 ment marched more than 1,000 miles. Most of 

 its members returned in October, 1900, and re- 

 ceived an enthusiastic greeting. In the year from 

 October, 1899, to the same month in 1900, the 

 Canadian losses were 61 killed or died of wounds, 

 180 wounded, 43 died from disease, and 52 were 

 missing or prisoners a total of 336. On June 7 

 the Premier moved in the House of Commons, 

 seconded by the Opposition leader, an address to 

 the Queen, which included the following para- 

 graph : 



" The feelings of pride and satisfaction with 

 which we hail every fresh addition to the long 

 and the glorious roll of deeds wrought by British 

 valor and resource are enhanced on the present 

 occasion by the proud consciousness that, through 

 the active operation of her sons on the battlefield, 



