Another member, the late J. Sheridan Hogan—who, after writing for the Colonist, had gone into opposition, and was elected member for Grey—told me that it was impossible to help liking Sir John—he was so good-natured to men on both sides of the House, and never seemed to remember an injury, or resent an attack after it was past.
Hence probably the cause of the differing careers of these two men. Standing together as equals during the coalition of 1862, and separating again after a brief alliance of eighteen months' duration, the one retained the confidence of his party under very discouraging circumstances, while the other gradually lapsed into the position of a governmental impossibility, and only escaped formal deposition as a party leader by his own violent death.
I am strongly under the impression that the assassination of George Brown by the hands of a dismissed employee, in May, 1880, was one of the consequences of his own imperious temper. Many years ago, Mr. Brown conceived the idea of employing females as compositors in the Globe printing office, which caused a "strike" amongst the men. Great excitement was created, and angry threats were used against him; while the popular feeling was intensified by his arresting several of the workmen under an old English statute of the Restoration. The ill-will thus aroused extended among the working classes throughout Ontario, and doubtless caused his party the loss of more than one constituency. It seems highly probable, that the bitterness which rankled in the breast of his murderer, had its origin in this old class-feud.
Sir John is reported to have said, that he liked supporters who voted with him, not because they thought him in the right, but even when they believed him to be in the wrong. I fancy that in so saying, he only gave candid expression to the secret feeling of all ambitious leaders. This brusque candour is a marked feature of Sir John's character, and no doubt goes a great way with the populace. A friend told me, that one of our leading citizens met the Premier on King Street, and accosted him with—"Sir John, our friend —— says that you are the d—st liar in all Canada!" Assuming a very grave look, the answer came—"I dare say it's true enough!"
Sir John once said to myself. "I don't care for office for the sake of money, but for the sake of power, and for the sake of carrying out my own views of what is best for the country." And I believe he spoke sincerely. Mr. Collins, his biographer, has evidently pictured to himself his hero some day taking the lead in the demand for Canadian independence. I trust and think he is mistaken, and that the great Conservative leader would rather die as did his late rival, than quit for a moment the straight path of loyalty to his Sovereign and the Empire.
CHAPTER LIII.
JOHN SHERIDAN HOGAN.
I have several times had occasion to mention this gentleman, who first came into notice on his being arrested, when a young man, and temporarily imprisoned in Buffalo, for being concerned in the burning of the steamer Caroline, in 1838. He was then twenty-three years old, was a native of Ireland, a Roman Catholic by religious profession, and emigrated to Canada in 1827. I engaged him in 1853, as assistant-editor and correspondent at Quebec, then the seat of the Canadian legislature. He had previously distinguished himself at college, and became one of the ablest Canadian writers of his day. He was the successful competitor for the prize given for the best essay on Canada at the Universal Exhibition of 1856, and had he lived, might have proved a strong man in political life.
In 1858, Mr. Hogan suddenly disappeared, and it was reported that he had gone on a shooting expedition to Texas. But in the following spring, a partially decomposed corpse was found in the melting snow near the mouth of the Don, in Toronto Bay. Gradually the fearful truth came to light through the remorse of one of the women accessory to the crime. A gang of loose men and women who infested what was called Brooks's Bush, east of the Don, were in the habit of robbing people who had occasion to cross the Don bridge at late hours of the night. Mr. Hogan frequently visited a friend who resided east of the bridge, on the Kingston Road, and on the night in question, was about crossing the bridge, when a woman who knew him, accosted him familiarly, while at the same moment another woman struck him on the forehead with a stone slung in a stocking; two or three men then rushed upon him, while partially insensible, and rifled his pockets. He recovered sufficiently to cry faintly, "Don't murder me!" to a man whom he recognised and called by name. This recognition was fatal to him. To avoid discovery, the villains lifted him bodily, in spite of his cries and struggles, and tossed him over the parapet into the stream, where he was drowned. In 1861, some of the parties were arrested; one of them, named Brown, was convicted and hanged for the murder; two others managed to prove an alibi, and so escaped punishment.