of all that has happened in the last forty years, it is
difficult to repress a smile when reading the impassioned invectives
poured out upon Sir John Macdonald by his political opponents of that
day in connection with the Pacific Scandal. According to them he had
basely betrayed his country, selling her honour for filthy lucre; he
had shamefully prostituted his office; he was a great criminal for
whose punishment justice cried aloud, and much more to the same effect.
Yet every one who dispassionately considers the affair to-day in its
true perspective sees quite plainly that, however indiscreetly he acted
in his {99} relations with Sir Hugh Allan, Sir John's sole thought was
for the advantage of Canada. In the face of great difficulties he had
carried Confederation, had pacified Nova Scotia, had brought Manitoba,
British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island into the Union; and in order
that this Union should abide, he was putting forth all his energies for
the construction of the great link that was to hold the distant
provinces together.

In all these matters he had to encounter at every step the rancorous
opposition of his political adversaries. It is, therefore, not
surprising that he attached much importance to the general elections of
1872. He had no personal ambitions unfulfilled--he was weary of it
all--but he entertained a profound {100} conviction that to confide the
destinies of Canada to men who, among other things, were opposing the
building of the Canadian Pacific Railway by every means in their power,
would be to undo the great work to which he had set his hand and to
disrupt the Confederation. 'With five years more,' he writes, 'I
thought we might safely consider that the gristle had hardened into
bone, and that the Union had been thoroughly cemented.' And so we find
him, though far from strong, throwing himself with vigour into the
elections of 1872, and, his colleagues being everywhere hard pressed,
himself doing much that might better have been confided to others.
Every one knows, to use the expression of the late Israel Tarte, that
'elections are not made with prayers.' Every one knows, and it is mere
hypocrisy to disclaim the knowledge, that there are election funds in
both parties, to which wealthy friends of the respective parties are
invited to contribute. Sir John's mistake was in asking favours of a
man who at that time was seeking advantages from the Government. No
matter how sure he mi