Canada Under the Administration of Lord Lorne (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. POLITICAL AND SOCIAL HISTORY?1879. DURING the preceding autumn, the Conservatives had overwhelmingly defeated their opponents at the polls. Commerce for many years before had been on the down race, and when Sir John Macdonald's ministry came to power, it had nigh reached the bottom of the hill. Pope says that " blunt truths more harm than nice falsehoods do," and the poet is right. The patient will be most grateful to the physician who holds out encouragement, though doctor and sufferer both know that the sands of life are running themselves away, than to him who with a gloomy face tells the sick one that he is now past the reach of skill; and the bruised spirit, even against logic, will turn to hope as the flower does to the sun. The unfortunate labourer who has knocked in vain at every door for work does not wish to be informed in the hour of his need that his position is likely to be worse before it can be better; but will regard as his friend the one who tells him to be of good cheer, that happier times will come, even though the encouragement he hears may be only shallow words. For years owing to causes beyond control of good or bad financiers, enlightened or retrogressive governments, the trade of Canada had been going from bad to worse; commercial houses and banks which had been believed enduring as the hills had top- pled down; trade was stagnant in every channel, while many of our factories were, closed, and most of those open were running on three-quarters time. Capital had shrunk timidly away, and confidence was fairly gone out of the country. " For some time previous to 1874, the customs duties on unnumerated imports had been fifteen per cent.; but in the session of the last named year, Mr. (now Sir) Richard J. Cartwright, minister of finance, int...