matter for what cause) would be to invite criticism of the most
caustic kind.

[9] From Sir John Macdonald to George Stephen, dated Ottawa, December
1, 1869.

[10] From the same to the same, dated Ottawa, December 9, 1869.

[11] From the same to the same, dated Ottawa, December 13, 1869.

[12] _Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald_, vol. ii, pp. 85-140.

[13] From Sir John Macdonald to Sir John Rose, dated Ottawa, March 5,
1872.

[14] To the Viscount Monck, dated Ottawa, October 11, 1872.

[15] For the full text of this letter see Pope's _Memoirs of Sir John
Macdonald_, vol. ii, pp. 174-89. In it Macdonald points out:

1. That Canada was under bonds to construct a railway from (say)
Montreal to the Pacific.

2. That the House of Commons in the session of 1871, during his
absence in Washington, carried a resolution, at the instigation of the
Opposition, obliging the Government to build the road through the
agency of an incorporated company.

3. That two rival companies--one under Sir Hugh Allan in Montreal, and
the other under Mr David Macpherson in Toronto--were formed with the
object of securing the charter.

4. That the Government, with a view to removing the great sectional
jealousies which had developed between the provinces of Ontario and
Quebec, in relation to this matter, endeavoured to secure the
amalgamation of these two companies.

5. That while these negotiations were going forward, the general
elections of 1872 came on, and, among others, Sir Hugh Allan, as he had
done previously for many years, subscribed largely to the Conservative
election fund.

6. That Sir Hugh Allan was told before he subscribed a farthing that
his railway company would not get the privilege of building the
railway. He was informed that the work would only be entrusted to an
amalgamated company, under the terms of the Act passed in parliament;
that such amalgamation would be effected on terms fair to the provinces
of Ontario and Quebec, as agreed upon between the representatives of
the two rival companies, and that such amalgamation would take place
only after the elections.

7. That under the powers vested in them by the Act, the Government
issued a royal charter in which they gave the preponderance of interest
to the province of Ontario, according to population. They gave a fair
representation to every one of the other provinces, and of the thirteen
shareholders and directors of which the company was composed, on