Scarcely were the words out of his mouth
before Sir Hector Langevin rose, anticipating Blake, the leader of the
Opposition, by a fraction of a second, and moved the 'previous
question,' {133} thus shutting off all amendments, and compelling a
vote to be taken on the resolution as it stood. The Opposition had
naturally counted upon having an opportunity to present an amendment so
framed as to censure the Government for maladministration, without
categorically condemning the execution itself. In this design,
however, they were frustrated. Blake was completely outgeneralled, and
as Sir Hector had been fortunate enough to catch the speaker's eye
first, there was no help for it. Blake himself, his French-Canadian
supporters, and some others, voted for the condemnation of the
Government, but for some of the most prominent members of the
Opposition this was an impossibility. Many prominent
Liberals--including Mackenzie, Cartwright, Mulock, Paterson,
Sutherland, Fisher, and Davies--supported the Ministry against their
own leader. By a vote of 146 to 52 the House rejected Landry's motion.

Another important question of the time was the adoption of an Act for
the Dominion making a uniform qualification of voters. The British
North America Act laid down that, until the parliament of Canada
otherwise provided, the provincial laws relating to the qualification
to vote at elections should apply {134} to elections for members of the
House of Commons. Since 1867 parliament had gone on using the
provincial lists of voters, but for some years Sir John Macdonald had
chafed under this anomaly. It seemed to him obvious that the
parliament of Canada should determine its own electorate, and that the
franchise should, as far as possible, be uniform throughout the
Dominion. The system in vogue, under which members of the House of
Commons were elected under half a dozen different systems, over which
parliament had no control, was in his opinion not merely abnormal, but
derogatory to the dignity of the superior body. In defence of this
system the practice in the United States was sometimes pointed to, but
in this matter there was no real analogy between Canada and the United
States. The American Union is in reality a federation of sovereign
states, of which Congress is the creation. This being the case, it is
not incongruous that these states should retain control over
congressional elections. But the Canadian provinces are not sov