D’ARCY McGEE
Parliament adjourned on the 14th of June. It did not meet again till June 13, 1854, just a day within the limit allowed by the thirty-first clause of the Union act. The chief reason for this was the absence of the governor and the premier in England and at Washington, at which latter place, on June 15th, the treaty of reciprocity was signed between the United States and Canada. The parliament was dissolved in view of the general elections to come in July and August, when the attitude of the people on the two great questions so long postponed, the clergy reserves and the seigneurial tenure was to be taken as an index of confidence and trust in the government. Mr. L.H. Holton and Mr. (afterwards Sir) A.A. Dorion, the leader of the “Parti Rouge,” since Mr. Papineau did not seek reelection, were returned for Montreal. The country as a whole had pronounced in favour of the abolition of the seigneurial tenure and the secularization of the clergy reserves. The parliament met on the 5th of September. The rejection of the ministerial candidate, George Etienne Cartier, for speaker in the assembly, in favour of Mr. Sicotte, indicated to Mr. Hincks and Mr. Morin that they could not carry on the administration against the combined opposition of the conservative, clear grits and the “Parti Rouge.” This was confirmed on September 7th when, on a question of privilege, the opposition carried it. On September 8th the resignation of the Hincks-Morin ministry was accepted by Lord Elgin. The government fell without dishonour. It had obtained the imperial acts enabling the Canadian parliament to deal with the clergy reserves and the application of the elective principle to the legislative council. It had completed the reciprocity treaty with the States and had inaugurated the era of Canadian railway. Montreal largely shared in the prosperity which prevailed in its term. The task of forming a new ministry was entrusted by Lord Elgin to Sir Allan MacNab. With the concurrence of Mr. Morin, Sir Allan effected a coalition between his own conservative following and the late liberal government resulting in the liberal-conservative alliance as the only method possible of obtaining a majority in the assembly capable of conducting the administration in accordance with the now accepted principle of responsible government. The death knell of the old toryism had been sounded. It also marked the virtual extinction of the British party in Lower Canada as a separate political body. Since that date there may be traced the growth of a more united policy in Montreal in the common welfare.
A bill giving effect to the reciprocity treaty with the United States was introduced by attorney-general (East), Hon. L.T. Drummond. The long delayed bill for secularizing the clergy reserves was introduced by Attorney-General (West), Hon. John A. Macdonald, and that abolishing the seigneurial tenure originally introduced by Mr. L.T. Drummond became law. By the former not only the Anglican establishment, but all churches were deprived of any participation in the funds accruing from the reserved lands granted for the support of the Anglican communion since the commencement of the British régime, a privilege that had been all along keenly contested by other denominations. It was now enacted that all proceeds arising from the sale of these lands should be placed into the hands of the receiver-general, by whom, after expenses were paid, they were to be apportioned equally among the several county and city municipalities in proportion to population.
The Seigneurial Tenure Act while abolishing the system of feudal rights and duties so long prevailing in Lower Canada, authorized the governor to provide commissioners to appropriate indemnifications for the despoiled seigneurs. Thus the two great questions which had long been exercising Montreal politicians were at last solved. Parliament was prorogued on the 18th of December and Lord Elgin concluded his office as governor-general with credit and honour.
Parliament opened on February 23, 1855. It was marked by the retirement of Mr. Morin from the ministry. The McNab-Taché administration was therefore formed. The Crimean war was now on, and as it became necessary to remove the Imperial Troops from Canada “a militia act was passed, which was the first step toward the modern organization of a regular volunteer force in Canada.”
The fifth parliament was opened at Toronto on the 15th of February, 1856. On Her Majesty’s birthday, May 24th, through the resignation of Sir Allan McNab, the Taché-Macdonald ministry assumed the reins, in which John A. Macdonald held the whip hand. In this session the postponed elective legislative council act was passed for which imperial authority had already been given. While those already in the legislative council were to retain their seats for life, every future member was to be elected by the people for a term of eight years. This continued till confederation, in 1867, when the system of appointment for life was reverted to. The Montreal members in the legislative council for 1856 were the Honourables Peter McGill, William Morris, Adam Ferrie, James Ferrier, Denis B. Viger, James Leslie, Frederic A. Quesnel, Joseph Bourret and Charles Wilson. This year the stringency in the money market was felt as the result of the Crimean war.
The year of 1857 is spoken of as l’année terrible. The toll of death was exacted as the price of advancing civilization. Near Hamilton seventy lives were lost by a train crashing through a bridge spanning the Desjardins canal. The steamer Montreal which plied between Montreal and Quebec, was burned so rapidly near Cape Rouge that about two hundred and fifty emigrants lost their lives. The harvest was a failure. By the beginning of winter trade had become almost stagnant. Mercantile disaster which was to last for a long time stared the wholesale and retail merchants in the face. Mercantile credit collapsed and every industry was crippled. Agriculture also shared in the general paralysis. The cause of this disastrous state was the public extravagance in that era of public works and railway development. The whirlwind was being reaped. During the year the Taché-Macdonald government had sat continuously from February 26th to June 10th. The premier, Colonel Taché, resigned on November 25th and thereupon the Hon. John A. Macdonald and the Hon. George Etienne Cartier formed their administration. At the general elections held in consequence at Montreal, Mr. A.A. Dorion, leader of the “Rouge Party,” was one of the few of his party returned, but Mr. Holton was defeated by the new attorney-general.
A new member for the city was the brilliant young Irishman, Thomas D’Arcy McGee, who had only been a year in Canada. He was, however, well known in the United States as a powerful journalist and public speaker imbued with Irish-American ideas. He was born in Carlingford, County Louth, in Ireland, in 1825. In his seventeenth year he went to the States and began journalism. In 1845 he undertook the editorship of the “Freeman’s Journal” in Dublin. Becoming identified with the New Ireland party and involved with Charles Gavan Duffy in the Smith-O’Brien’s insurrection, he escaped to New York, where he started the “New York Nation,” which was suppressed by Bishop Hughes for the attacks on the Irish hierarchy. At Boston he founded the “American Celt” and continued it at Buffalo for five years. Gradually he became reconciled to the hierarchy and received their support, so that his paper was the exponent in America of Irish Catholic opinions. In 1857 he accepted an invitation from the Irish party in Montreal to settle here. After having fulfilled the necessary period of “domicile” he was soon nominated for parliament, as we have seen.
The new parliament assembled on February 25th. It had become known after the election that Her Majesty had fixed upon Ottawa as the permanent seat of government. Parliament had ratified the choice and a sum of money had been appropriated for the erection of buildings. But there was serious opposition in many quarters. It broke out in the House on July 28th, when Mr. Dunkin moved an address to the Queen, praying Her Majesty to reconsider the decision and have Montreal named instead of Ottawa. Mr. Brown moved for an amendment for delay in the erection of buildings and the removal of government offices to Ottawa, and Mr. Piché moved as a further amendment that “in the opinion of this house Ottawa ought not to be the permanent government for the province.” The amendment was carried, supported by the opposition, and being considered by the minority equivalent to a vote of censure on Her Majesty, the government resigned on the following day. Mr. George Brown was put in charge of forming a ministry which was announced on Monday, August 2d. At once a vote of want of confidence in the new Brown-Dorion government, moved by Mr. Hector Langevin, was passed in the Assembly and in the Upper House. On Wednesday afternoon after having been in office for forty-eight hours and without having initiated a single act, parliamentary or administrative, the short-lived administration was forced to resign. On August 6th George Cartier becoming prime minister, the Cartier-Macdonald ministry virtually resumed the situation of the Macdonald-Cartier government of a few days ago. The portfolios, however, were exchanged and thus, by making use of a statute of 1857 there was avoided the necessity of the ministers going to the people for reelection. This was known as the “Double Shuffle.” The reconstructed government found themselves with a strong majority. During the session of this year the question of “protection to home industries,” a live subject at Montreal, came up for legislation and was followed by the protective tariff of the following year.