"letter was not written for corrupt purposes-it was not written to "interfere with the freedom of elections-it was not an invitation to "anybody to concur in committing bribery and corruption at the "polls; and be he Judge or not who says so, the statement is "false.

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"Does Mr. Wilson mean to say that no party fund for proper pur'poses in election contests can exist—that there are no expenditures of money in keenly contested elections which are absolutely necessary, perfectly moral and legitimate, and highly conducive to good govern"ment? Was there no such fund when Mr. Justice Wilson was in "public life? When the hat went round in his contests for the "mayoralty of Toronto, was that, or was it not, a concurrence in "bribery and corruption at the polls?

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66 Probably there never was another general election in Ontario, or "Upper Canada, that on either side of politics cost so small a sum for general party purposes as the reform expenditure of $3,700 at the "election of 1872; and assuredly there was at it neither the design "that a penny of it should be spent for corrupt purposes, nor was "there a shilling to spare from the legitimate and necessary expendi"tures for any such purpose. How could Mr. Justice Wilson, in his "hunt for things that every person of ordinary intelligence is ac'quainted with,' omit to state that while the entire general election "of the liberal party for that year (1872) was but $3,700, raised by "" subscription from a few private individuals, the conservative fund 66 on the same occasion amounted to the enormous sum of $200,000— "raised by the flagitious sale of the Pacific Railway contract to a "band of speculators on terms disastrous to the interests of the country?

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"The law has been greatly changed since the election of 1872. "Every known method of spending money, under which even the suspicion of corrupting the electors could lurk, has been most properly forbidden under severe penalties, and successfully enforced. "But do election contests even now cost nothing? Are there no pure, "legitimate, and legal modes of expenditure still remaining? Of 66 course there are. In Ontario, official returns on oath are made of "the total expenditure by each candidate in every contest for a seat "in the provincial chamber. And what do these show? Why, that "in the last electoral contest the declared cost of Mr. John Robin"son's election for West Toronto was $893.75; of Mr. Platt's contest "in East Toronto, $972.76; of Mr. M. C. Cameron's contest in East "Toronto, $944.59; and of that of Mr. Crooks in East Toronto, "$957.10; or in all, for the expenses of these four gentlemen alone, $3,778.20-more than the entire amount of the fund of 1872 for "the general conduct of the entire Dominion elections of Ontario.

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"It is in the face of these facts that Mr. Justice Wilson had the "audacity-without any evidence that such a letter ever was written, or sent, or received, or acted upon, and without the slightest evidence as to the circumstances under which it might have been written, or the special purpose to which the money was to be applied "-to denounce as a thing of monstrous depravity a request by one "reformer to another for a subscription to a general election fund of "probably $50, but at most $100.

"We deeply regret being compelled to write of the conduct of any "member of the Ontario bench in the tone of this article, but the "offence was so rank, so reckless, so utterly unjustifiable, that soft 'words would but have poorly discharged our duty to the public."

The court or Judge so vigorously assailed did not take any formal notice of the article; and severe as it was, the general verdict of the country was that no man had a right to shield himself behind the judicial bench, the seat of justice, to make such assaults, and that if made they must be met.

Some months afterwards the editor against whom Mr. Simpson proceeded obtained a rule calling on Mr. Brown to show cause why a writ of attachment should not issue against him, or why he should not be committed for contempt of "this honourable court" for printing the said article. The case was tried before Chief Justice Harrison and Judge Morrison. Mr. Brown appeared in person and claimed, 1st, that the party obtaining the rule had no rights in the matter— that he was not charged with protecting the dignity of the court; 2nd, that five months had passed since the publication of the article, during which time the court was silent, and that Justice Wilson's judgment and the Globe's criticism were the subject of violent discussion pro or con over the whole Dominion; and that the time had elapsed within which the court could by any rule or usage call him to account for any offence against its dignity.

Mr. Brown then boldly justified the publication of the article, on the ground that he had suffered just provocation, and quoting one passage as follows: "No sooner had the Chief Justice finished than "Mr. Justice Wilson availed himself of the occasion to express his "views on the matter, with a freedom of speech and an indifference to the evidence before the court, and an indulgence in assumptions, "surmises and insinuations, that we believe to be totally unparalleled "in the judicial proceedings of any Canadian court."

"

I

Then proceeding, he said: "I wrote so then, 1 say so now. "have searched the law books in vain to find a case parallel to this, and I defy the learned counsel on the other side to show any language

ever used in the last half of the nineteenth century by any British or

"British colonial Judge, that for indiscretion and injustice bears the 66 'slightest parallel to that of Mr. Justice Wilson, for commenting on "which this complaint is made." Mr. Brown further pleaded "that the article was written under compulsion; that it was absolutely "" necessary to meet the bitter attacks on the government, on the "reform party, on public men on the reform side, and on himself, "by the conservative press, based on the official judgment of a Judge "of the court." He claimed that the ground could hardly be taken that a Judge could do no wrong—that he might say what he pleased of anybody, and if strong remonstrance were made, to summarily fine and imprison the offender without question or appeal. The speech was an able and eloquent one, and practically it justified the whole article.

Chief Justice Harrison decided against Mr. Brown on all the points. Judge Morrison decided, 1st, that the complaint was too late in point of time; 2nd, that the applicant failed to sustain the constructive contempt; and lastly, that the applicant, having failed to sustain his own complaint, was not entitled, under the colour of such a complaint, to ask the court to punish, at his suggestion, the publisher of the article, upon the ground that it contains a direct contempt of the court itself.

t

The motion, being supported by one Judge and opposed by another of the two present, fell to the ground. Mr. Brown, by his boldness and skill, succeeded in what he desired to do at the commencement of the case, to vindicate his right to defend himself against a gross attack made upon him by a Judge in court, where he was not present as a party to a suit or as a witness. In his day Mr. Brown had many a fight for popular rights and justice. In his journal he never hesitated to expose wrong-doing by high or low. In no case did he do such service as when he vigorously opposed and denounced the injustice of a Judge gravely attacking individuals apparently to gratify some personal feeling of hostility or political prejudice.

Mr. Justice Wilson had for years been supported by the Globe in municipal and parliamentary contests; he had, in fact, been made by the Globe, so far as his public life was concerned, and it is difficult to say what could have led to such an attack on his former patron. It is, however, charitable to suppose that he must have been labouring under some hallucination, and did not see the great wrong he had committed.

CHAPTER XXIII.

MR. BROWN, MADE SENATOR.-APPOINTED JOINT PLENIPOTENTIARY TO WASHINGTON.-DECLINES THE Lieutenant-GoVERNORSHIP OF ONTARIO, AND THE TITLE OF K. C. M. G.

A few weeks after Mr. Mackenzie's accession to office Mr. Brown was offered a seat in the senate, which offer he accepted. He was not anxious to take this position, or to enter at all upon parliamentary life again, but was induced to accept a seat in the body which he did so much to create under the new political system. At that time many of those who had sustained the proposal to have an upper House nominated by the Crown became convinced they had made a mistake. Mr. Brown, however, was firmly convinced still that if a second House existed at all it should not be elective. It was therefore peculiarly fitting that he should accept a nomination as senator. Other events prevented Mr. Brown taking his seat or performing any senatorial duties during the first session. Nothing had been done by the Canadian or British governments with the fishery clauses of the Washington treaty of 1871. Mr. Brown was asked by the government early in February, 1874, to proceed to Washington and ascertain what prospects there were of negotiating a commercial treaty which would also embrace a settlement of the fishery question. Mr. Brown was long and favourably known to prominent public men in the United States. The course he pursued as editor-in-chief of the Globe during the civil war in that country in upholding the national government and the anti-slavery party made him popular wherever his name was known. Mr. Brown from the first, as well as his brother, looked upon the struggle in the United States as one of vast interest to humanity—as involving the general interests of freedom all over the world. To him it seemed most revolting to see any Britons committing themselves to a support of the south, as that meant building up a slave power. The north might in some respects be wrong, but their cause was the cause of liberty. These views found eloquent advocacy in the columns of the Globe day after day until the battle was over. He was therefore peculiarly well qualified to act in this quasi ambassadorial capacity, apart from his possession of talents and tact to manage such inquiries. He met with a very cordial reception from the United States government and from many public men, including the lamented President Garfield, then a member of congress. He accord

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ingly reported to the government at Ottawa that he believed a very general desire existed in that country "for the establishment of better "commercial relations with Canada." The government at once determined to ask the Imperial government to accredit Mr. Brown to the Washington government as joint plenipotentiary with the resident minister. This step was taken in connection with the determination of Mr. Mackenzie's administration to have all questions of Canadian diplomacy dealt with by Canadians of course acting under general arrangements with Her Majesty's Imperial government, and subject to their approval. Canada, to be sure, was represented by the presence of one Canadian amongst the six high commissioners who negotiated the treaty of Washington. The humiliating conditions of that treaty to Canada showed only too clearly that the Canadian representative was either utterly powerless to accomplish anything or utterly incompetent to point out the true line which should be adhered to. Some years after the negotiation of this treaty a Canadian gentleman was discussing its terms with Mr. Disraeli, then Prime Minister, remarked to that gentleman, "I do not know what you think, Mr. 'Disraeli, of that treaty, but in Canada it was looked upon as a great "humiliation." Mr. Disraeli, holding up both hands, replied, "It was one of the most shameful things in our history." The Canadian remarked, "You never attacked it in public in that way, Mr. Disraeli." The response was, "How could I; Mr. Gladstone put NorthThe Tory leader had a just conception of what was wrong in the treaty, but Sir Stafford Northcote's presence on the commission sealed his mouth. Previous blunders of English diplomats respecting the Maine boundary and the North-West boundaries, were of a character which inflicted irreparable injury on British America, and could hardly have occurred if the negotiations had been conducted by an experienced Canadian statesman. So far as the determination of boundaries was concerned, all the mischief was done already that could be done; but questions respecting navigation, fisheries and commercial relations might be of vast importance still.

"cote on the commission."

and

In this case the Imperial government, after a brief delay, assented to the request of the Canadian government, and appointed Mr. Brown joint plenipotentiary with Sir Edward Thornton. On no other terms would the Canadian government or Mr. Brown have entered upon the negotiations.

The negotiations were formally commenced late in the month of March, and terminated about the end of June. During this time Mr. Brown had to maintain a very heavy correspondence with the government at Ottawa, much of it by cipher telegraph. He also placed himself in communication with a large number of the editors of leading newspapers in the United States, and obtained their co-operation.