in which he described the path of the
attorney-general [Macdonald] as studded all along by the gravestones
of his slaughtered colleagues. Well, there are not wanting those who
think they can descry, in the not very remote distance, a yawning
grave waiting for the noblest victim of them all. And I very much fear
that unless the honourable gentleman has the courage to assert his own
original strength--and he has great strength--and to discard the
blandishments and the sweets of office, and to plant himself where he
stood formerly, in the affections and confidence of the people of this
country, as the foremost defender of the rights of the people, as the
foremost champion of the privileges of a free parliament--unless he
hastens to do that, I very much fear that he too may fall a victim,
the noblest victim of them all, to the arts, if not the arms of the
fell destroyer."

There was a little humorous exaggeration in the personal references to
Macdonald, for Holton and he were on friendly terms. But there was
also matter for serious thought in his words. Though Macdonald had
outgrown the fossil Toryism that opposed responsible government, he
was essentially Conservative; and there was something not democratic
in his habit of dealing with individuals rather than with people in
the mass, and of accomplishing his ends by private letters and
interviews, and by other forms of personal influence, rather than by
the public advocacy of causes. Association with him was injurious to
men of essentially Liberal and democratic tendencies, and
subordination was fatal, if not to their usefulness, at least to their
Liberal ideals. Macdougall and Howland remained in the ministry until
confederation was achieved, and found reasons for remaining there
afterwards. At the Reform convention of 1867, when the relation of the
Liberal party to the so-called coalition was considered, they defended
their position with skill and force, but the association of one with
Macdonald was very brief, and of the other very unhappy. Mr. Howland
was not a very keen politician, and a year after confederation was
accomplished he accepted the position of lieutenant-governor of
Ontario. Mr. Macdougall had an unsatisfactory career as a minister,
with an unhappy termination. He was clearly out of his element. Mr.
Tilley was described as a Liberal, but there was nothing to
distinguish him from his Conservative colleagues in his methods or his
utterances, and he became