Part 7 (1/2)

Meanwhile Mr Laurier had been obliged to face the same difficult issue

He was a sincere Catholic He syionists for schools in which their faith would be cherished, and believed that at the creation of the province all parties had understood that such schools were assured He knew, too, the power of the Church in Quebec, and the fierceness of the storm that {163} would beat upon hirip on fact He saw clearly that any attempt by the Dominion to set up a separate school system, which would have to be operated by a sullen and hostile province, was doo policy and urged investigation and conciliation by es of the agitation, he would not go In spite of entreaties and threats and taunts froton, 'within the lines of Torres Vedras'

At the session of 1896 the Governanization and maintenance of distinctly separate schools in Manitoba The Catholic authorities accepted the bill as in full coies to secure its adoption A _ electors to support only candidates ould pledge themselves to restore separate schools And in January Mr Laurier received a letter written by Father Lacombe in the nahout Canada This letter besought the Liberal leader to support the bill, and warned hirant, you do not believe it to be your duty to accede to our just deive us the pro in its policy to the end, I inforret that the episcopacy, like one y, will rise to support those who may have fallen to defend us'

Mr Laurier est speeches he reviewed the whole tangled issue He adal power of Canada to pass and enforce the bill, but denied that the judgment of the Privy Council made such action automatically necessary

It was still the Governate and seek a coh a bill framed in darkness and obstinacy The minority itself would be more effectually and more permanently benefited by amendments made voluntarily by the province as the result of reasonable compromise Then he turned to the threats of ecclesiastical hostility:

Not h quarters in the Church to which I belong, that unless I supported the School Bill which was then being prepared by the government, and which we have now before us, {165} I would incur the hostility of a great and powerful body Sir, this is too grave a phase of this question for me to pass it by in silence I have only this to say, that even though I have threats held over nitaries in the Church to which I belong, no word of bitterness shall ever pass ainst that Church I respect it and I love it Sir, I a dominant in France and other countries of Continental Europe, which refuses ecclesiastics the privilege of having a voice in public affairs No, I a claih or lohether rich or poor, whether ecclesiastic or layman, to participate in the administration of public affairs, to discuss, to influence, to persuade, to convince, but which has always denied, even to the highest, the right to dictate even to the lowest

I a not Roive an account of my stewardshi+p to all classes

Here am I, a Roman Catholic of French extraction, entrusted with the confidence of the reat and iovern such a position--that I am to be dictated to as to the course I am to take in this House by reasons that can appeal to the consciences of my fellow-Catholic members, but which do not appeal as well to the consciences ofas I have a seat in this House, so long {166} as I occupy the position I do nohenever it shall become my duty to take a stand upon any question whatever, that stand I will take, not from the point of view of Roman Catholicism, not from the point of view of Protestantism, but from a point of viehich can appeal to the consciences of all rounds which can be occupied by all men who love justice, freedo, not an equivocal amendment, as had been expected by the Governative A few Catholic Liberals supported the Govern band of erstwhile orously that the Govern end of the legal term of parliaanized his Cabinet, and carried the question to the country

A strenuous can followed Mr Laurier took, in Ontario and Quebec alike, the firm, moderate position he had taken in the House of Commons The issue, in his vieas not whether the constitutional rights of the Catholics of Manitoba had been violated; {167} for he believed that they had been The issue was, Could these rights be restored by coercion? The Conservatives and the Church said Yes True to his political faith, Mr Laurier said No Up and down the province of Quebec he was denounced by the ultramontane leaders Here was sheer, stark Liberalism of the brand the Church had condemned Bishop Lafleche declared that no Catholic could without sin vote for the chief of a party who had forevin called upon every true son of the Church to stand by those who stood by it In Ontario and the other English-speaking provinces, on the contrary, the welkin rang with denunciations of hierarchical presuour and fearlessness that had always anized by internal strife, weakened by long years of office, weighted down by an i in their leader and in a cause which stirred the enthusiasm of a united party The election resulted in a decisive victory for the Liberals Strange to say, Manitoba ith the Conservatives and Ontario gave the Liberals only {168} forty-four out of ninety-two seats, though seven fell to independents opposed to the Reht seats out of its sixty-five to the party which its spiritual leaders had denounced

{169}

CHAPTER IX

NEW MEN AT THE HELM

The school settleht of opposition was over The critics were to be given the opportunity to do constructive work Under the leader who had served so fitting an apprenticeshi+p they were to guide the political destinies of Canada for over fifteen years These were to be years of change and progress, years which would bridge the gulf between the stagnant colony of yesterday and the progressive nation of to-day

[Illustration: The Liberal Governathered round hile Canadian Ministry To aug he called froest men[1] and took them into his Cabinet The prime minister himself, warned by the experiences of Mackenzie and Macdonald, did not burden hith {170} and tiuidance of the Government

The first task of the new Ministry was to seek a peaceful settlement of the Manitoba school question A compromise was {171} doubtless facilitated by the fact that the sa The province would not restore the system of state-aided separate schools, but amendments to the provincial laere effected which rerievances of thein the last half-hour of the school day, when authorized by the trustees or requested by the parents of a specified ht provide such teaching, upon days to be arranged Where the attendance of Roman Catholic children reached twenty-five in rural and forty in urban schools, a Catholic teacher should be engaged upon petition, and equally a non-Catholic teacher should be engaged for a Protestant minority similarly situated Where ten pupils spoke French or any other language than English as their native tongue, bi-lingual teaching should be provided In the ordinary work of the school the children were not to be divided on denominational lines, and the schools were to remain public schools in every sense

The settleenerally in the country as a reasonable ending of the strife--as the best that could be done in the {172} circumstances Edward Blake, counsel for the Catholic islation which could have been secured by coercion Speaking in the House of Coain declared his doctrine, 'that the smallest measure of conciliation was far preferable to any measure of coercion' The settleeous to theyears of agitation, when the passions of hest pitch, it was not possible to obtain more, nor for the Government of Manitoba to concede more, under present circumstances'

By the Catholic authorities, however, the compro a system of mixed and neutral schools which the Church had condehts of the orously attacked the settlement and all the parties to it, and soreed with him Voters in by-elections were told that they had to choose between Christ and Satan, between bishop and erring politician The {173} leading Liberal newspaper of Quebec City, _L'Electeur_, was formally interdicted--every son of the Church was forbidden to subscribe to it, sell it, or read it, 'under penalty of grievous sin and denial of the sacraments' So the ent on, until finally a number of Catholic Liberals, in their private capacity, appealed to Ror Merry del Val, caht to an end a caerous to the permanent welfare of the Church itself as it was to political freedoured in the general elections was the tariff At the approach of power the fiscal policy of the Liberals had moderated, and it was toand conservative influences of power itself The Liberal platform of 1893 had declared war to the knife upon protection In 1896, however, it was es would not be effected hastily or without regard to established interests In correspondence with Mr G H

Bertram of Toronto, published before the election, Mr Laurier stated that absolute free trade was out of the question, and that the policy of his party was a revenue tariff, {174} which would bring stability and permanence, and would be more satisfactory in the end to all manufacturers except monopolists He added prophetically that 'the advent of the Liberals to poould place political parties in Canada in the saland, who have no tariff issue distracting the country every general election'

The new Govern with the problem A tariff commission was appointed which sat at different centres and heard the views of representative citizens Then in April 1897 Mr Fielding brought down the new tariff It was at once recognized as a well-consideredplatfores were effected, such as abolition of the duties on binder twine, barbed wire, and Indian corn, substantial reductions on flour and sugar, the substitution of _ad valore the duty on goods controlled by trusts or combines The duties on iron and steel were reduced, but increased bounties were given on their production in Canada More ies was the adoption of the principle of a minimum and maximum tariff {175} A flat reduction of twelve and a half per cent, to be increased later to twenty-five per cent, on all goods except wines and liquors, was granted to countries which on the whole admitted Canadian products on terh not so nominated in the bond, amounted in intention to the British preference which the Liberal party had urged as early as 1892, for, except New South Wales and possibly one or t-tariff states like Holland, Great Britain was believed to be the only country entitled to the ian and German treaties, already mentioned,[2] by which Great Britain had bound her colonies, stood in the way While those treaties remained in force, so the law-officers of the Crown advised, Gerium would be entitled to the lower rates, and automatically France, Spain, and other favoured nations It Canada was to be free to carry out her policy of tariff reform and imperial consolidation, it became essential to end the treaties in question Sir Charles Tupper, now leading the Opposition, declared that this could not be done

[1] These were: Sir Oliver Mowat, Willia, Andrew G

Blair--prime ministers respectively of Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick--and Clifford Sifton, attorney-general of Manitoba, who joined the Ottawa Ministry a few months later

Mr Laurier's administration was formed as follows: