on who will join him." With much more to
the same effect. To Tarte, who was his intimate, Laurier at this
moment did not appear as one overcome with his destiny and drifting
with the tide, but as the resolute captain of the ship, who knew
where he wanted to go, had a fairly clear idea as to how to get
there, and also knew whom he wanted with him on the voyage. Later on
Tarte forgot about this.

THE MAKING OF THE GOVERNMENT

There was verification of Tarte's estimate in the job of cabinet-making
turned out by Laurier in July. In building the government the
lines of least resistance were not followed. A dozen men who deemed
themselves sure of cabinet rank found themselves overlooked; five of
fifteen portfolios went to men imported from provincial arenas
without Dominion parliamentary experience. Laurier knew the kind of
government he wanted and he provided himself with such a government
by the direct method of getting the colleagues he desired wherever
he could find them. No doubt he found plenty of employment for his
sunny ways in placating his disappointed colleagues. In time there
were consolation prizes for all, for this one a judgeship, for that
one a lieutenant-governorship, for the next a life seat in the
senate; the phalanx of fighting second-raters who had done valuable
work in opposition, reinforcing and buttressing the work of the
front benches disappeared gradually from parliament. And with those
he chose he too had his way, as witness the side-tracking of Sir
Richard Cartwright to the dignified but at the time relatively
unimportant department of trade and commerce. Between Sir Richard
and the Canadian manufacturers there was a blood feud. It was not
Sir Wilfrid's intention to make the feud his own or even to agree to
it being carried on by Sir Richard. He took for minister of finance,
W. S. Fielding, who justified his choice by successfully steering
the budget bark between Scylla and Charybdis for fourteen years in
succession before the whirlpool finally sucked him down. Where
Laurier went outside his following for colleagues he had equally
definite ends to serve.

The care with which Laurier chose his colleagues, and his
indifference to personal appeal, should have been proof sufficient
to the public that he was a prime minister who looked forward and
planned for the future. And the plan? Why to stay in power for the
longest possible period of time. It is as natural for a government
to want to stay in