esh appeal to the country.

The invitation to form an administration was received by Mr. Brown on
Thursday, July 28th. He at once waited on the governor-general and
obtained permission to consult his friends. He called a meeting of the
Upper Canadian members of his party in both Houses, and obtained from
them promises of cordial support. With Dorion he had an important
interview. Dorion agreed that the principle of representation by
population was sound, but said that the French-Canadian people feared
the consequences of Upper Canadian preponderance, feared that the
peculiar institutions of French Canada would be swept away. To assure
them, representation by population must be accompanied by
constitutional checks and safeguards. Brown and Dorion parted in the
belief that this could be arranged. They believed also that they
could agree upon an educational policy in which religious instruction
could be given without the evils of separation.

Though Mr. Brown's power did not lie in the manipulation of
combinations of men, he succeeded on this occasion in enlisting the
services of colleagues of high character and capacity, including
besides Dorion, Oliver Mowat, John Sandfield Macdonald, Luther Holton
and L. T. Drummond. On Saturday morning Mr. Brown waited upon the
governor-general, and informed him that having consulted his friends
and obtained the aid of Mr. Dorion, he was prepared to undertake the
task of forming an administration. During the day the formation of the
ministry was completed. "At nine o'clock on Sunday night," to give the
story in Mr. Brown's words, "learning that Mr. Dorion was ill, I went
to see him at his apartments at the Rossin House, and while with him
the governor-general's secretary entered and handed me a despatch. No
sooner did I see the outside of the document than I understood it all.
I felt at once that the whole corruptionist camp had been in commotion
at the prospect of the whole of the public departments being subjected
to the investigations of a second public accounts' committee, and
comprehended at once that the transmission of such a despatch could
have but the one intention of raising an obstacle in the way of the
new cabinet taking office, and I was not mistaken."[11]

The despatch declared that the governor-general gave no pledge,
express or implied, with reference to dissolution. When advice was
tendered on the subject he would act as he deemed best. It then laid
down, with much