MACDONALD 



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MACDONALD 



MACDON'ALD, GEORGE (1824-1905), a Scot- 

 tish poet and novelist, called "the apostle of 

 the spiritual meaning of life." He was the 

 author of a long list of novels, notably David 

 Elginbrod, The Seaboard Parish, Robert Fal- 

 coner, Malcolm and What's Mine is Mine, in 

 all of which the story interest is secondary to 

 the spiritual element. He also published sev- 

 eral books of verse, and was particularly suc- 

 cessful in his stories for children, of which The 

 Princess and the Goblin, Dealings with Fairies 

 and At the Back of the North Wind rank with 

 the best ever written. Macdonald was born at 

 Huntley, Aberdeenshire, and was educated at 

 Aberdeen University. Later he studied for the 

 ministry, but on account of ill-health gave up 

 the idea of becoming a preacher. His novels, 

 which are full of the quaint dialect of the peo- 

 ple of Aberdeenshire and the Northeastern 

 counties, show his deep insight into Scottish 

 character. In 1872 he lectured in the United 

 States and Canada. 



MACDONALD, SIR HUGH JOHN (1850- ), 

 a Canadian barrister and statesman, son of 

 Sir John A. Macdonald, the first premier of 

 the Dominion. The son was educated at 

 Queen's College, Kingston, and at Toronto 

 University, from which he was graduated at the 

 age of nineteen. He then studied law, was 

 called to the bar, and practiced law in Toronto 

 from 1872 to 1882, when he removed to Win- 

 nipeg. There he began to take part in public 

 affairs, and in 1891 was elected as Conservative 

 to the Dominion House of Commons. In 1896, 

 during the brief service of the Tupper Ministry, 

 Sir Hugh was Minister of the Interior. Later 

 he was chosen leader of the Manitoba Con- 

 servatives, and in 1899-1900 was premier of the 

 province. His term of office was not an event- 

 ful one, and in 1900 he resigned in order to 

 reenter Dominion politics. He was, however, 

 defeated for election to the House of Com- 

 mons, and returned to his law practice. Never- 

 theless he maintained his interest in politics, 

 and continued to stand high in the Conserva- 

 tive ranks, and at least on one occasion led the 

 party in a general election in which defeat was 

 a foregone conclusion. On December 12, 1911, 

 Sir Hugh was appointed a police magistrate of 

 Winnipeg. 



MACDONALD , JAMES ALEXANDER (1862- ) , 

 a Canadian clergyman, editor and publicist, 

 for many years known as the editor of the 

 Toronto Globe, which he made one of the most 

 powerful journals in Canada, but in recent 

 years conspicuous as an advocate of arbitration 



in international disputes. Not merely with the 

 pen but with the tongue Dr. Macdonald spread 

 his views until he became one of the most 

 famous religious and political speakers in 

 America. 



Macdonald was born in Middlesex County, 

 Ontario, and was educated at Edinburgh Uni- 

 versity and at Knox College, Toronto. In 

 1891 he was ordained a Presbyterian minister, 

 and in the same year became pastor of a 

 church at Saint Thomas, Ont. After five years 

 he removed to Toronto, to become editor of 

 the Westminster, a monthly journal of a re- 

 ligious character. He afterward served as edi- 

 tor of the Presbyterian, a weekly paper. At 

 the same time, from 1896 to 1901, he was prin- 

 cipal of the Presbyterian Ladies' College. In 

 1902 he assumed the editorial direction of the 

 Toronto Globe, through which he became one 

 of the best known and most influential mold- 

 ers of public opinion in Canada. He con- 

 tinued his activity along religious lines and 

 served as a member of the committee on union 

 of the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congrega- 

 tional churches of Canada. After 1911, and 

 more especially after 1915, when he resigned 

 as editor of the Globe, Dr. Macdonald gave 

 much of his time to lecturing and writing about 

 international peace, both in Canada and the 

 United States, and quite aside from the fact 

 that after 1911 he was a director of the World's 

 Peace Foundation, was without question the 

 foremost Canadian advocate of arbitration. 



MACDONALD, SIR JOHN ALEXANDER (1815- 

 1891), a Canadian statesman, the first Premier 

 of the Dominion and for a generation the 

 dominant figure in Canadian public life. The 

 career of Sir John Macdonald cannot be stud- 

 ied apart from 

 the history of 

 Canada. He was 

 in some respects 

 the typical Cana- 

 dian public man 

 of his day am- 

 bitious, energetic, 

 independent, oc- 

 casionally forget- 

 ful of the meth- 

 ods he adopted 

 to secure legiti- 

 mate needs. 

 What is looked 

 upon as the greatest mistake in his career is the 

 Pacific railway scandal, yet even in this case lie 

 did not personally profit. Allowance should be 



SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD 



