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CHAPTER XVIï

A CONTRAST IN LEADERSHIP

T two o'clock in the morning of April 28th, 1880, the House of Commons received an important communication. The Hon. Alexander Mackenzie rose just before adjournment and announced that he had determined to withdraw from the position of leader of the Opposition, and henceforth would speak and act only for himself. It was a thin House which received this unexpected statement, and for a moment dead silence rested over the Chamber. Then the leader of the Government, who must always be ready with the timely word and the fitting counsel, rose and said: "Of course we on this side of the House have nothing to say to such a decision. I hope the honourable gentleman who takes the place of the honourable member for Lambton, and his party, will display the same ability, earnestness, and zeal for what he thinks and believes to be for the good of the country as have been displayed by my honourable friend who has just taken his seat." There was a murmur of sympathetic applause, the House rose, Sir John Macdonald and Sir Leonard Tilley crossed the floor, and with grave kindliness expressed their regret at Mr. Mackenzie's withdrawal, while the press

correspondents hurried down from the gallery to put upon the wires the fact of Mr. Mackenzie's resignation, and the circumstances under which his decision was communicated to Parliament. "There was," said a Conservative writer of the time, "a certain sadness about the act of Mr. Mackenzie's resignation of his seat as leader of the Opposition. It was two o'clock in the morning. The House was weary. The members had all fled save the small band that usually remains on each side to the end; and at that hour, to that audience, and in a tone which witnessed some degree of suffering, Mr. Mackenzie communicated his resolve. We quite understand the ready natural kindness of Sir John Macdonald's reply. Statesmen seldom fail to regret the partial or total eclipse of foemen worthy of their steel; and as leader of the Opposition Mr. Mackenzie has proved himself in former, as well as in present times, a foeman worthy of any man's steel."

Mr. Mackenzie's statement was unexpected; yet for many months rumour had been busy with the name of Mr. Edward Blake in connection with the Liberal leadership, and there was a general impression in the country that a change was impending. In fact, many Liberal journals had openly advocated the appointment of Mr. Blake in the event of Mr. Mackenzie's resignation, while Mr. Mackenzie's parliamentary associates knew that his health was failing, and that he must soon prove

physically unequal to the cares, burdens, and responsibilities of the office. Owing chiefly to absence from the country, Mr. Blake was defeated in South Bruce at the general election of 1878; but through the resignation of Mr. Burk a vacancy was created in West Durham, and in the autumn of 1879 he returned to Parliament as the representative of that constituency. It was thought when this vacancy was created for Mr. Blake that an immediate change in the leadership was contemplated. For many months the Conservative press had hinted at a conspiracy to depose Mr. Mackenzie in revenge for the defeat of the party under his premiership.1 But Mr. Mackenzie served as leader during all of 1879, and as we have seen, until the closing days of the session of 1880.

There was ground, however, for the suspicion that his leadership had become unsatisfactory to the Liberal parliamentary party. Not once during the session of 1880 had he met his followers in council. This was resented by the parliamentary contingent; and as prorogation approached, dissatisfaction increased, and the demand for a caucus became irresistible. Mr. Mackenzie, however, was inexorable; and when at length a caucus was called for April 29th, the invitations were issued by the Liberal whip without the sanction of the party leader. On the eve of this meeting Mr. Mackenzie 1 "Mr. Blake's title to his place therefore is necessity; to talk of intrigue is senseless."--The Bystander, April, 1881, page 172.

announced his resignation in Parliament. It is significant that he did not make his communication to caucus. As leader of the Opposition he had no official status in the House of Commons. It is even more significant that his statement to Parliament was the first intimation his Liberal associates received that he had determined to withdraw from the leadership. For many years his relations with Mr. Blake were not entirely cordial, and there is no doubt he was firmly persuaded that in office he had received from Mr. Blake only a hesitating and intermittent support. There is on record a letter written by Mr. Mackenzie some months before the fall of his Government, in which he said: "From the first I was more willing to serve than to reign, and would even now be gladly relieved from a position the toils of which no man can appreciate who has not had the experience. I pressed Mr. Blake in November, 1874, to take the lead, and last winter I again urged him to do so, and this summer I offered to go out altogether, or serve under him, as he might deem best in the general interest." But though Mr. Blake would not accept the leadership in 1874, nor the office of Prime Minister, in Mr. Mackenzie's stead, in 1877, he now accepted the appointment from the party caucus which met on the morning after Mr. Mackenzie announced his resignation in Parlia

1 The Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, His Life and Times, by William Buckingham and the Hon. Geo. W. Ross, page 502.