Part 9 (2/2)
Brown may not have been free from the party man's delusion that when his party is in power all is well, and agitation for change is e the formation of political parties, and seee in the relations of Canada to the empire But these explanations do not alter the fact that his attitude caused the Liberal party to lose touch with a enerosity of sentih ill-defined national impulse, and destined to leave its mark upon the history of the country
CHAPTER XXIV
LATER YEARS
In the preceding chapters it has been necessary to follow closely the numerous public movements hich Broas connected Here we may pause and consider some incidents of his life and some aspects of his character which lie outside of these main streams of action First, a feords about the Brown household Of the relations between father and son so has already been said Of his mother, Mr Alexander Mackenzie says: ”We y, power and religious zeal froin: these qualities he possessed in an eree, united with the proverbial caution and prudence of the Lowlander” The children, in the order of age, were Jane, e; Isabella, ; Katherine, who died unmarried; Marianne, married to the Rev W S Ball; and John Gordon There were no idlers in that family The publication of the _Globe_ in the early days involved a trele Peter Brown lent a hand in the business as well as in the editorial depart in the _Banner_ and the early _Globe_ seems to bear the marks of his broad Liberalism and his passionate love of freedo editor Three of the daughters conducted a ladies'
school, which enjoyed an excellent reputation for thoroughness
Katherine, the third daughter, was killed in a railway accident at Syracuse; and the shock seriously affected the health of the father, who died in 1863 The mother had died in the previous year
By these events and by e Brown, as we have seen, married in 1862, and from that time until his death his letters to his wife and children show an intense affection and love of hoh, where she died on May 6th 1906 The only son, George M Broas, in the last parliament, h, and is one of the firm of Thomas Nelson & Sons, publishers In the saaret, married to Dr A F H Barbour, a well-known physician, and writer onother survivors are, E B Brown, barrister, Toronto; Alfred S
Ball, KC, police ent for Canada at Bire Broas busily engaged in public life, and a large part of the work of the newspaper must have fallen on other shoulders
There are articles in which one all George Sheppard spoke at the convention of 1859 like a statesher qualities than rew into the editorshi+p ”He had” says Mr E W Thoular power of utilizing suggestions, co several that were evidently not associated, and indicating how they could bereatest all-round editor I have yet had the pleasure of witnessing at work, and in the political department superior to any of the old or of the new time in North America, except only Horace Greeley” But Mr Thomson thinks that like most of the old-timers he took his politics a little too hard Mr Gordon Brown died in June, 1896
Mr Brown regarded his defeat in South Ontario in 1867, as an opportunity to retire from parliamentary life He had expressed that intention several months before He wrote to Holton, on May 13th, 1867, ”My fixed determination is to see the Liberal party re-united 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 s without control, beyond that which my conscientious convictions and the interests ofthe party fro that--is unfit to sit in parliament and that--is very stupid, makes journalism a very sreat journal do not harmonize”
In his speech at the convention of 1867 he said that he had looked forward to the triumph of representation by population as the day of his emancipation from parliamentary life, but that the case was altered by the proposal to continue the coalition, involving a secession from the ranks of the Liberal party In this juncture it was necessary for Liberals to unite and consult, and if it were found that his continuance in parliamentary life for a short time would be a service to the party, he would not refuse It would be impossible, however, for him to accept any official position, and he did not wish, by re in parliament, to stand in the way of those ould otherwise becoain e the functions of leadershi+p of a party and ement of a newspaper ”The sentiments of the leader of a party are only known fro act is co his shoulders” But it was otherith the journalist He had been accused of fierce assaults on public hts and the words daily uttered by other public men ritten in a book as mine have been, and circulated all over the country, there would have been a very different comparison between them and myself I have had a double duty to perform If I had been simply the leader of a party and had not controlled a public journal, such things would not have been left on record I ht have passed my observations in private conversation, and no more would have been heard of them But as a journalist it was necessary I should speak the truth before the people, no matter whether it helped my party or not; and this, of course, reflected on the position of the party
Consequently, I have long felt very strongly that I had to choose one position or the other--that of a leader in parliamentary life, or that of a monitor in the public press--and the latter has beenprobably more in consonance with my ardent temperament, and at the same time, in my opinion, more influential; for I arand offices that are now talked of--governorshi+ps, premiershi+ps and the like--I would rather be editor of the _Globe_, with the hearty confidence of the great mass of the people of Upper Canada, than have the choice of them all”
Of Mr Brown's relations with the parliamentary leaders after his retirement, Mr Mackenzie says: ”Nor did he ever in after years attes as conducted by the Liberals in opposition, or in the governive his opinion when asked on any particular question, he never volunteered his advice His opinions, of course, received free utterance in the _Globe_, which was more unfettered by reason of his absence froh even there it was rarely indeed that any articles were published which were calculated to inconvenience or discomfort those who occupied his former position”[21]
Left coed into far of fine cattle on his Bow Park estate near Brantford, an extensive business which ultimately led to the formation of a joint stock company The province of Ontario, especially western Ontario, was for him the object of an intense local patriotism He loved to travel over it and to meet the people It was noticed in the _Globe_ office that he paid special attention to the weekly edition of the paper, as that which reached the farave hi of kinshi+p and sy farmers over the estate It would be hard to draw a more characteristic picture than that of the tall senator striding over the fields, talking of cattle and crops with all the energy hich he ont to denounce the Tories
Broas appointed to the senate in December, 1873 Except for the speech on reciprocity, which is dealt with elsewhere, his career there was not noteworthy He seems to have taken no part in the discussion on Senator Vidal's resolution in favour of prohibition, or on the Scott Act, aprohibition by local option A popular conception of Brown as an ardent advocate of legislative prohibition may have been derived from some speeches made in his early career, and fro for governainst the provision for separate schools, warning the House that the effect would be to fasten these institutions on the West in perpetuity
In 1876 Senator Brown figured in a remarkable case of conteed Senator Si to bribery in the general election of 1872 It published also a letter fro hin fund On Senator Simpson's application, Wilkinson, the editor of the paper, was called upon to show cause why a criainst hiued before the Queen's Bench, composed of Chief-Justice Harrison, Justice Morrison, and Justice Wilson The judgainst the editor in regard to two of the articles coard to the third In following the chief-justice, Mr Justice Wilson took occasion to refer to Senator Brown's letter and to say that it ritten with corrupt intent to interfere with the freedoe of this kind to go unanswered, and in this case there were special circuer The publication of his letter in the Bownal for a fierce attack upon him by the Conservative press of the province It appeared to him that Justice Wilson had wantonly ht of his judicial influence to his enee had been in previous years supported by the _Globe_ in municipal and parliaeneral in the Macdonald-Sicotte governe Morrison had been solicitor-general under Hincks, and afterwards a colleague of John A Macdonald Each of theht have been expected from old political associations
A few days afterwards the _Globe_ contained a long, carefully prepared and powerful attack upon Mr Justice Wilson Beginning with a tribute to the Bench of Ontario, it declared that no fault was to be found with the judgratuitous comments of Mr Justice Wilson
”No sooner had the chief-justice finished than Mr Justice Wilson availed himself of the occasion to express his views of 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”
The article denied that the letter ritten with any corrupt intent, and it stated that the entire fund raised by the Liberal party in the general election of 1872 was only three thousand seven hundred dollars, or forty-five dollars for each of the eighty-two constituencies ”This Mr Justice Wilson may rest assured of: that such slanders and insults shall not go unanswered, and if the dignity of the Bench is ruffled in the tussle, on his folly shall rest the blame We cast back on Mr Wilson his insolent and slanderous interpretation The 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 coe or not who says so, this statement is false”
The writer went on to contend that there were perfectly legitimate expenditures in keenly contested elections ”Was there no such fund when Mr Justice Wilson was in public life? When the hat went round in his contest for the mayoralty, was that or was it not a concurrence in bribery or corruption at the polls?” Mr Justice Wilson had justified his coht take notice of ence was acquainted Fastening upon these words the _Globe_ asked, ”How could Mr Justice Wilson in his hunt for things which every person of ordinary intelligence is acquainted with, oeneral election fund of the Liberal party for that year (1872) was but three thousand seven hundred dollars, raised by subscription from a few private individuals, the Conservative fund on the same occasion amounted to the enoritious sale of the Pacific Railway contract to a band of speculators on terms disastrous to the interests of the country”
In another vigorous paragraph the writer said: ”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 have but poorly discharged our duty to the public”
No proceedings were taken in regard to this article until about five months afterwards, when Mr Wilkinson, the editor of the Bowmanville paper, applied to have Mr Brown coe assailed took no action and the case was tried before his colleagues, Chief-Justice Harrison and Judge Morrison Mr Brown appeared in person andportions of two days He pointed out that the application had been delayed five months after the publication of the article He contended that Wilkinson was not prejudiced by the _Globe_ article and had no standing in the case In a lengthy affidavit he entered into the whole question of the expenditure of the two parties in the election of 1872, including the circumstances of the Pacific Scandal He repeated on oath the statement made in the article that his letter was not written with corrupt intent; that the subscription asked for was for legiti to only three thousand seven hundred dollars for the whole province of Ontario He boldly justified the article as provoked by Mr Justice Wilson's dictum and by the use that would be e had chosen to intervene in a keen political controversy whose range extended to the Pacific Scandal; and in defending himself from his enemies and the enee He argued that to compel an editor to keep silence in such a case, would not only be unjust to him, but contrary to public policy For instance, the discussion of a great public question such as that involved in the Pacific Scandal, ht be stopped upon the application of a party to a suit in which that question was incidentally raised