E-text prepared by Stacy Brown, Brendan Lane,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
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THE MAKERS OF CANADA
EDITED BY
DUNCAN CAMPBELL SCOTT, F.R.S.C.,
PELHAM EDGAR, Ph.D. and
WILLIAM DAWSON LE SUEUR, B.A., LL.D., F.R.S.C.
GEORGE BROWN
EDITION DE LUXE
This edition is limited to Four Hundred Signed
and Numbered Sets, of which this is
THE MAKERS OF CANADA
GEORGE BROWN
BY
JOHN LEWIS
EDITION DE LUXE
TORONTO
MORANG & CO., LIMITED
1906
Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada in the year 1906by Morang & Co., Limited, in the Department of Agriculture
PREFACE
The title of this series, "Makers of Canada," seemed to impose on thewriter the obligation to devote special attention to the part playedby George Brown in fashioning the institutions of this country. Fromthis point of view the most fruitful years of his life were spentbetween the time when the Globe was established to advocateresponsible government, and the time when the provinces wereconfederated and the bounds of Canada extended from the Atlantic tothe Pacific. The ordinary political contests in which Mr. Brown andhis newspaper engaged have received only casual notice, and the effortof the writer has been to trace Mr. Brown's connection with the streamof events by which the old legislative union of Canada gave place tothe confederated Dominion.
After the establishment of responsible government, the course of thisstream is not obscure. Brown is found complaining that Upper Canada isinadequately represented and is dominated by its partner. Variousremedies, such as dissolution of the union, representation bypopulation and the "double majority," are proposed; but ultimately thesolution is found in federation, and to this solution, and the eventsleading up to it, a large part of the book is devoted. Mr. Brown wasalso[Pg x] an ardent advocate of the union with Canada of the country lyingwest to the Rocky Mountains, and to this work reference is made.
Mr. Brown was one of those men who arouse strong friendships andstrong animosities. These have been dealt with only where they seemedto have a bearing upon history, as in the case of Sir John A.Macdonald and of the Roman Catholic Church. It seems to be aprofitless task for a biographer to take up and fight over againquarrels which had no public importance and did not affect the courseof history.
The period covering Mr. Brown's career was one in which the politicalgame was played r