nd they found more than an answer in Ontario,
where the leading ministerial organ, the _Mail_, declared it better to
'smash Confederation into its original fragments' rather than yield to
French dictation.

[Illustration: HONORE MERCIER From a photograph]

The general elections, held in February 1887, proved that in Ontario
the guilt of Riel was more to the fore than the misdeeds of the
Government, and the Conservatives lost only two seats. On the other
hand, the Liberals gained less in Quebec in the Dominion contest, where
the Riel question was a legitimate issue, than in the provincial
contest, where it properly had no place. The influence of the Church,
though now transferred to Mercier in provincial politics, remained on
the side of Sir John Macdonald in Dominion politics. Counting on the
Liberal side the former Conservatives who had deserted the Government,
the returns showed the province about equally divided; but after it was
seen that Sir John was again in power, several of the wanderers
returned to his fold, influenced by his personal ascendancy or by the
loaves and fishes of patronage and office.

[1] See _The Railway Builders_, chap. viii.

[2] Indians in the eastern provinces, however, were given a vote. This
gave rise to one of the most artful, yet amusingly simple,
electioneering documents on record. In the Haldimand, Ontario,
election of 1891 the Conservative candidate, Dr W. H. Montague,
afterwards minister of Agriculture, had the following circular
distributed on the Indian Reserve, with the royal coat of arms at the
top:

FOR INDIANS ONLY

To the Indians: The Queen has always loved her dear loyal subjects, the
Indians. She wants them to be good men and women, and she wants them
to live on the land that they have, and she expects in a little while,
if her great chief John A. gets into government again, to be very kind
to the Indians and to make them very happy. She wants them to go and
vote and all to vote for Dr Montague, who is the Queen's agent. He is
their friend, and by voting for him every one of the Indians will please

QUEEN VICTORIA.

Liberal (or rather Conservative) supplies of fire-water effectively
backed up this touching appeal of 'the Queen.'

[3] Mair made his last appeal but one in April 1884. Finding it
impossible to rouse the Government, he returned to Prince Albert and
brought his family back to Ontario, out of the way of the inevitable
rebellion. A final