had gone out of office upon an issue
which, with confidence, he counted upon time to vindicate. He had
long cherished a purpose to write a history of his times. The moment
was, therefore, opportune for retirement; and it must be assumed
that he gave some thought to the advisability or otherwise of living
up to his St. Jerome pledge. But neither his own inclination nor the
desire of his followers pointed to retirement; and the next session
of parliament found him in the seat he had occupied twenty years
before as leader of the opposition. The party demand for his
continuance in the leadership was virtually unanimous. There was
only one possible successor to Sir Wilfrid--Mr. Fielding. But he was
not in parliament. Also he was in disfavour as the general whose
defensive plan of campaign had ended in disaster. His name suggested
"Reciprocity"--a word the Liberals were quite willing, for the time
being, to forget. He was left to lie where he had fallen. For some
years he lived in political obscurity, and it was only the emergence
of the Unionist movement which made possible his re-entrance to
public life and his later career.

THE REVIVAL OF LIBERAL HOPES

When Sir Wilfrid resumed the leadership after the formality of
tendering his resignation to the party caucus it meant, in fact,
that he intended to die in the saddle. Thereafter Sir Wilfrid talked
much about the inexpediency of continuing in the leadership, and
often used language foreshadowing his resignation--indeed the
letters quoted by Professor Skelton in the latter chapters of his
book abound in these intimations--but these came to be regarded by
those in the know as portents: implying an intention to insist upon
policies to which objections were likely to develop within the party.

Notwithstanding the severity of their defeat--they were in a
minority of 45 in the House--the Liberals in opposition showed a
good fighting front, and ere long hope revived. The Borden
government found itself in difficulties from the moment of taking
office--largely by reason of the tactics by which Laurier's
supremacy in Quebec had been undermined. The Nationalist chiefs
declined an invitation to enter the government, but they controlled
the Quebec appointments to the cabinet, and thus assumed a
quasi-responsibility for the new government's policy. The result was
disastrous to them; for the Borden government, subject to the
influences that had enabled it to sweep Ontario, could not