after enduring
the long-drawn horrors of the middle passage, reached Canada only to
die like plague-stricken sheep of fever and sheer misery. The monument
at Grosse Isle does not tell half the shame and suffering of that
tragic time. And the Draper government showed no ability to cope with
the problem. At length, in December 1847, Lord Elgin dissolved the
House and a new election took place. It resulted in a complete victory
at the polls for the party of Reform. The leaders, Baldwin,
LaFontaine, and Hincks, were all returned. Only a handful of the other
party came back; but among them were Sir Allan MacNab and the young
Kingston lawyer, John A. Macdonald.

The new House met on February 25, 1848. In the trial of strength over
the Speakership the Reformers won. Sir Allan MacNab was {102} again
the nominee of the Tories; Baldwin nominated his friend, Morin, who had
command of both French and English, a necessary qualification for the
presiding officer of a bilingual parliament. And Morin was chosen
Speaker by a large majority. In accordance with the rules the remnant
of the Draper ministry resigned, and LaFontaine and Baldwin formed a
new Cabinet. This is known in Canadian history as the 'Great
Administration,' which lasted until the retirement in 1851 of both the
noted leaders from public life. The distinction is well deserved, not
only on account of the high character of the leaders, and the value of
the political principles affirmed and put in practice, but also on
account of the permanent value of the legislative programme which it
carried to successful completion. The ensuing session was very short;
for time was needed to prepare the various important measures which the
Reformers intended to bring forward. The troubled year of European
revolution, 1848, was rather colourless in the annals of Canada; not so
the year which followed.

The eventful session of 1849 opened on the eighteenth of January, in a
parliament building improvised out of St Anne's market near {103} what
is now Place d'Youville, Montreal. The Speech from the Throne
announces a programme of the more important measures to be brought
before parliament. In this case the Speech was a promise to deal with
such vital matters as electoral reform, the University of Toronto, the
improvement of the judicial system, and the completion of the St
Lawrence canals. It also contained two announcements most gratifying
to the French: first, that amnes