loped for
achieving his ends in the face of opposition within the party. Upon
occasions of this kind he was addicted to confronting his associates
and followers with an accomplished fact, leaving no alternative to
submission but a palace rebellion which he felt confident no one
would attempt. By such methods he had already rounded several
dangerous corners, as for instance his committing Canada to submit
her case in the matter of the Alaska boundaries to a tribunal
without an umpire--though it was the clearly understood policy of
the Canadian government and the Canadian parliament to insist upon
an umpire; and he resorted again to a stroke of this character in
1905. Professor Skelton's story of the crisis is the official
version, but there is another version which happens to be more
authentic.

Following the general election of 1904, the government decided to
deal without further delay with the matter of setting up the new
provinces. It was known that there was danger of revival of the
school question, for during the election campaign a Toronto
newspaper had sought to make this an issue, contending that the
delay in giving the provinces constitutions was due to the demand of
the Roman Catholic church that they should include a provision for
separate schools. The policy agreed upon by the government was to
continue in the provincial constitutions the precise rights enjoyed
by the minority under the territorial school ordinances of 1901.
There was a vigorous controversy in parliament as to whether the
autonomy bills in their original form kept faith with this
understanding. Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Mr. Fitzpatrick, minister of
justice, contended vehemently that they did. Clifford Sifton, who
was the western representative in the cabinet and the party most
directly interested, held that they did not. Mr. Sifton was absent
in the Southern States when the bill was drafted. He reached Ottawa
on his return the day after Sir Wilfrid had introduced the bills to
parliament. He at once resigned. Fielding, who had also been absent,
was credited with sharing to a considerable extent Sifton's view
that the bill introduced did not embody the policy agreed upon. The
resulting crisis put the government in jeopardy. A considerable
number of members associated themselves with Mr. Sifton and the
government was advised that their support for the measure could only
be secured if clauses were substituted for the provisions in the act
to whi