LETTER TO MR. HOLTON,

TORONTO, Oct. 23, 1863.

MY DEAR HOLTON,—I have this moment received your letter of yester day, and hasten to give you the reply you ask for. Of course, you are responsible for the financial steps to be taken at this moment. You and you alone will bear the burden if any error is made, and you have the credit if credit is won. It is therefore right that you should pursue the course that seems to your own mind the best; and in what I am about to write, therefore, you will understand that I am only giving you my own view of the situation at your request, and that I expect you will give it that influence, and no more, in making up your own mind, to which the arguments seem to be entitled. I understand your present inclination is to borrow from the Bank of Montreal a sufficient sum to secure your account with the English agents, and, in consideration of this accommodation, to transfer to the Bank of Montreal the government account. I admit that some advantage is to be gained from this arrangement. But on the other hand, there are very serious dangers that may arise from it. In the first place, you take from the commercial circles of the province a large portion of the capital of the Bank of Montreal that ought to be employed in developing the trade of the country. In the second place, you strike a blow at the Bank of Upper Canada that may be disastrous to that institution, and will certainly be most hurtful to the commercial interests of this section of the province. This bank is not in a condition to withstand a pressure, and a pressure will certainly come if you withdraw your government account. In turn they will press all their customers, and where that will end who can tell? I am led to believe that the board is gradually working through its difficulties, and that two years more would put it past serious trouble. If this is so, would it not be assuming a serious responsibility to take a step that may bring widespread ruin on Upper Canada? Let me add for myself, however, that I think the people of Upper Canada would have good cause to dread the accumulation of this great additional power in the hands of the directors of the Bank of Montreal. It is a Montreal institution, soul and body, and most hostile to Upper Canada interests. Its true spirit was displayed in the panic of 1857. I am persuaded that the removal of the government account to the Bank of Montreal at this moment, when the Bank of Upper Canada is struggling through its difficulties, would not only be an act of great injustice, but highly impolitic as regards the general interests of the country. It will certainly be viewed, coming from you, as a Montreal blow aimed at Upper Canada. I know well that no such feeling animates you, but assuredly this will be believed here, and it will very much surprise me if strong and excited feeling in Upper Canada does not flow from it. Frankly, the step would be a very grave one in my opinion, politically, financially, and every other way, and I would not like to have the responsibility of it on my shoulders. Nothing but absolute necessity could justify a step involving risks so serious, and I do not see the necessity. You are not responsible for the debt. No one will blame you for borrowing to secure accounts; and certainly, under better auspices, you can easily borrow in England. I have no doubt you can make what arrangements you like with Baring and Glyns. But failing them, you could get whatever you want in London, for any length of time you wish, by hypothecating debentures on moderate terms. All the Bank of Montreal proposes is to do with the money of Canadian merchants what you can do with the money of English capitalists. From an Upper Canada point of view, I could fancy few acts on the part of the present government more suicidal. I have written you my full mind in this matter, but of course

with only partial knowledge of the subject. I am persuaded, however, I have expressed what will be the strong feeling of nine-tenths of the people of Upper Canada until the contrary is known.

Ever faithfully yours,

GEORGE BROWN.

HON. L. H. HOLTON, Montreal.

LETTER TO MR. HOLTON.

TORONTO, Jan. 19, 1864.

MY DEAR HOLTON,—I dare say you are thinking you are not to hear from me again, and perhaps you think I am out of sorts about the bank matter; but you are wrong if such is your notion. I did think you wrong in that matter. I think so still; but it was your own affair, and had I been in your place, I would have carried out my own ideas. But I decline to discuss, for it is au fait accompli. 1 did not look at it from your point of view; I did not think your arguments were satisfactory. But what will it avail for us now to argue it out; the thing is done, and let it rest there.

I hope Richards will be re-elected for Leeds. Knowing nothing of the constituency, I cannot say anything as to the chances. The opposition are cock-a-hoop; but the minister seeking re-election is hard to beat. I think the appointment was a very wrong one. Notman should have been Solicitor-General; failing him, Shuter Smith, or Ferguson Blair, or Mowat should have taken it, and allowed a new man, not a lawyer, to come into the cabinet. I think the appointment of Richards was not in harmony with the arrangement under which the cabinet was formed. Richards holds, and did hold, all the views of the Macdonald-Sicotte ministry. Mowat and Wallbridge were taken in to give confidence to those who did not hold those views, and Wallbridge's successor should certainly have been of like opinions. Of course there was no bargain to that effect, but I think the government would have felt the benefit of it had this been done.

I am much concerned about the reciprocity treaty. It appears to me that none of us are sufficiently awake about it. I see very serious trouble ahead if notice of the repeal is given. Such a feeling will be manifested here as will determine the United States to repeal it. They will see then, if they do not now, how essential it is to our prosperity here in Canada, and what many here are prepared to do to secure its re-enactment. I do think you are taking on a very serious responsibility in not opening negotiations at Washington, as well with the committees of the House and the senate as with the executive. It would be a thousandfold easier to negotiate before notice than after; before members have committed themselves, by speech or otherwise, than afterwards, I hear we are not to meet before Valentine Day. I am sorry, though it suits me personally much better than an earlier day.

But a truce to politics. Let me turn to more agreeable matters, and congratulate you heartily on she marriage of your daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Britton were here and spent an evening with us. They have all the prospects before them of as useful and happy a future as heart could wish, though it must have been a great trial to Mrs. Holton to part with her daughter. You would notice, perhaps, that Mrs. Brown had a little

daughter a week ago. They are both doing well, and we regard it as a vast addition to our happiness.

Faithfully yours,

GEORGE BROWN.

HON. L. H. HOLTON, Montreal.

LETTER TO MR. HOLTON.

TORONTO, January 29, 1864.

MY DEAR HOLTON,-Here's a pretty mess. Perhaps Sandfield will now have his eyes opened to the fact that it is only on the liberal constituencies the government can rely when the pinch comes, and that, convenient to him as it may be, and his friends in the ministry, it wants something more than his choice to get them there. I was astonished to hear that Sandfield had said I had consented to Richards' appointment. The very opposite is the fact. But both Gordon and I saw, as plainly as possible, that Sandfield was bent on making the appointment, and while I urged my views of the matter on him, I refrained from speaking against Richards. It was not for me to say that Richards' appointment would be a gross injustice and breach of faith, with the understanding at the forma tion of the government, while Sandfield was protesting all the time that he had no thought of appointing him and would do nothing without letting me know-a promise I had no wish for, and which was never thought of after it was uttered. What is to be done now? Can any single man in our party now fail to see that the policy you and I chalked out at the end of the session was the only safe one, and the only right one? If you come down with a weak speech, get defeated, and an election should follow, where would we be? And how about your tax scheme? Will you venture to go on with it in a House in which you are so weak as the present one? Don't you regret you had not made a stand before now? Sandfield will, I have no doubt, have shown you my answer to his letter about the reciprocity matter. You are the only man to go there. You can go with authority. I have no idea of going to Washington as a lobby agent, to be snubbed by Lord Lyons for meddling in a matter he was sufficiently able to settle.

Faithfully yours,

HON. L. H. HOLTON, Montreal.

GEORGE BROWN.

LETTER TO MR. HOLTON.

TORONTO, February 6, 1864.

MY DEAR HOLTON,-Your note of the 3rd has this moment reached me. I do not quite understand what you are driving at. Did my urging you to go into the government last May make me responsible, or impose on me the obligation of approving all that the government has done since? Did not you and I both see clearly at the end of last session that another such was not to be contemplated, but that a crisis during the recess was the wise and prudent mode of avoiding a great break-down in the coming session? Must I, whether I can honestly do so or not, approve of the course of the government on the bank matter, the seat of government matter, reciprocity, South Leeds, and the North-West business, on all of which I was consulted iter the thing was done, or when it was too late to do anything; and

because I do not and cannot approve of the course of the government on these points, does it follow that I will not stick to my party, and will not aid to pull it through in spite of the course taken? Have I ever shrank from my share when the pinch came? You speak of the men with whom I cordially act as the main core of the party; but what one step has been taken by the government to strengthen us, or even to please us? No, not one step, except the first move about the York roads, and there it hangs to let a new government undo it. I think Mowat and you should not have. allowed matters to get into the shape they have. I have done my duty in urging you both and warning you of coming troubles from my point of view. You have not seen proper to go upon it. But I did not take the pet on that account. The question is not what I thought ought to have been and might have been, but what is. However, we up here will exert ourselves to get through the coming session. I see you do not think a breakup imminent. Well, I sincerely hope you will prove right, for a break-up now is not only to lose the reins, but to ruin the party west. I don't want that; and little respect as I have for a portion of the government, I cannot separate them from the great reform party. You ask why I did not write to you, and you complain about Richards' appointment. I answer because Sandfield left me declaring it would not be made, and I heard not a word more about it till I heard the deed was done. I complained to Mowat; but, in truth, what is the use of complaining?

HON. L. H. HOLTON, Montreal.

Faithfully yours,

GEORGE BROWN.

LETTER TO MR. HOLTON.

TORONTO, January 17, 1867.

MY DEAR HOLTON,-I agree with you in your suggestion that it might not be a bad dodge for John A.'s purpose to shove off the confederation settlement, and that it would be characteristic; but he cannot do it. Nearly all the others consider it either now or never. It is immediate or political death certain. Cartier perfectly understands his position, and

the sooner confederation comes the better. I never was so confident as at this moment that the movement was a right one, and will prove a great boon to the province; and how any liberal politician could doubt that any settlement of the constitutional question must place his party in the ascendant and give a new face to the whole politics of the country, I never could understand, and don't now. Of course, you in Lower Canada have a difficult card to play; but those who settle this question, it appears to me, are playing your game for you, Don't fancy there is any great change in public opinion here. There is a lull, a doubt, an uncertainty, but the moment the right chord is struck, the response will be as of yore, only more so, or I am no judge. In great haste,

Faithfully yours,

HON. L. H. HOLTON, Montreal.

LETTER TO MR. HOLTON.

GEORGE BROWN.

TORONTO, May 13, 1867.

MY DEAR HOLTON,-Yours of the 25th came duly to hand, but being busy since, I could not reply sooner. I think the ground you take quite

consistent, truly patriotic, and one on which we can all meet. I hope you will have entire success in your effort to carry the Rouge party with you. I quite understood what you said about control. I had no objections to it from your point of view, but my fixed determination is to see the liberal party reunited and in the ascendant, and then make my bow as a politician, As a journalist and a citizen, I hope always to be found on the right side and heartily supporting my old friends. But I want to be free to write of men and things without control, beyond that which my conscientious convictions and the interests of the country demand. To be debarred by fear of injuring the party from saying that is unfit to sit in parliament, and that is very stupid, makes journalism a very small business. Party leadership and the conducting of a great journal do not harmonize.

I had an hour's talk with Mr. Howland. He tells me Lord Monck told him John A. Macdonald would form the new government, and urged him to take a seat in it, but that he absolutely refused to come to any decision until he got out to Canada. Mat. Cameron writes me that McDougall is quite undecided how to act; that he was intensely disgusted at the reception given to John A. on their joint arrival.

The list of senators was to be settled on Saturday and telegraphed to London; the proclamation is to be issued as soon as it reaches England, or rather as soon as the Queen returns from Balmoral. The union is to come into operation on the 1st July, and the elections are to follow as soon as possible thereafter. I have given you all the news I heard. Write me what you have. Good-by.

Faithfully yours,

GEORGE BROWN.

HON. L. H. HOLTON, Montreal.

LETTER TO MR. HOLTON.

TORONTO, July 5, 1867.

MY DEAR HOLTON,-Yours of yesterday reached me this afternoon. I was much amused at the life-like picture it presented of Sandfield's position. I have no doubt your surmises as to his expectations from the enemy are well grounded. I am not quite so sure that he will refuse their overtures. The question now is what to do about the eastern counties. Shall I take their case in hand myself, and make a raid through them, or leave them to the chance of Sandfield's moving? I have several very strong letters from M., urging action and promising cordial cooperation, but he failed to come to the convention, I am offered addresses and invitations from several counties of central Canada to visit them and speak on public affairs, and if I thought Macdonald would not move soon, and move vigorously, I would accept some of them, and stir up the dead bones. The Tories are in alarm about the movement. If Currie accepts

the nomination from Peel, the Grand Master will certainly be beaten. We have had no communication whatever with the Roman Catholic clergy, but they, of course, know all about the position, and have probably determined not to interfere. The fact is, that there has not a word been passed, or a demand been made, or inducement sought or offered, that might not be cried from every housetop in the country; and the most interesting part of the business is that the most pronounced of them heretofore show a modera tion, common sense, and confidence in our good faith exceedingly satisfactory. I observe a Mr. Roden by name is likely to oppose you in Chateauguay, but hope it will amount to nothing. Stories of all kinds are