copied into the
poll-books from old directories of towns in the state of New York, and
of Quebec city, where such names as Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte,
Judas Iscariot and George Washington appeared on the lists. The
Reformers attacked these elections in parliament without success, but
in 1859 the sitting member for Russell and several others were tried
for conspiracy, convicted and sentenced to imprisonment. That the
government felt itself to be much weakened throughout the country is
evident from Mr. John A. Macdonald's unsuccessful effort to add
another to his list of political combinations by detaching Mr. John
Sandfield Macdonald from the Reform party, offering seats in the
cabinet to him and another Reformer. The personal attack on Mr. Brown
in the session of 1858 has already been mentioned. The chief political
event of the session was the "Double Shuffle."

On July 28th, 1858, Mr. Brown succeeded in placing the ministry in a
minority on the question of the seat of government. Unable to decide
between the conflicting claims of Toronto, Quebec, Montreal and
Kingston, the government referred the question to the queen, who
decided in favour of Ottawa. Brown had opposed the reference to the
queen, holding that the question should be settled in Canada. He also
believed that the seat of government should not be fixed until
representation by population was granted, and all matters in dispute
between Upper and Lower Canada arranged. He now moved against Ottawa
and carried his motion. During the same sitting the government was
sustained on a motion to adjourn, which by understanding was regarded
as a test of confidence. A few hours later the ministers met and
decided that, although they had been sustained by a majority of the
House, "it behoved them as the queen's servants to resent the slight
which had been offered Her Majesty by the action of the assembly in
calling in question Her Majesty's choice of the capital." The
governor-general, Sir Edmund Bond Head, sent for Mr. Brown as the
leader of the Opposition to form a government. It was contended by
Liberals that he ought not to have taken this step unless he intended
to give Mr. Brown and his colleagues his full confidence and support.
If he believed that the defeat of the government was a mere accident,
and that on general grounds it commanded a working majority in the
legislature, he ought not to have accepted the resignation, unless he
intended to sanction a fr