know your good nature. Will you go up to-morrow morning; you arrive about four? If you can't manage it, will you ask Charlie to go?-Always yours, J. A. McD.

I went off to Kingston and proposed Sir John's candidature, and he was subsequently returned by the largest majority he had ever received.

The Conservatives went to the country pledged to a continuance of the National Policy, and to the preservation of British connection, which they maintained would be jeopardised by a Liberal victory.

A British subject I was born; a British subject I will die," was the Conservative campaign slogan. I addressed a great meeting at Halifax on February 14th, and left for Toronto the same evening at the earnest request of Sir John Macdonald. There I spoke to a huge meeting on the 17th, and at another in London, Ontario, on the 20th. After a great meeting at Windsor on the 23rd, I left for Nova Scotia, breaking the journey to speak at Quebec. Then followed a strenuous time in Cumberland, where I represented the Hon. Arthur Dickey, who was ill. And all this in a winter of exceptional severity. The campaign ended in a victory for the Conservatives.

The Hon. Edward Blake, alarmed at the dangers of the Radical policy advocated by his friends, refused to run, but was unwillingly persuaded not to publish his reasons until after the election. This he did in the London Times, in which he avowed his refusal on the ground that the policy of unrestricted reciprocity would end in the political absorption of Canada by the United States.

Before I returned to England after the election, I was informed by Sir Adolphe Caron, Minister of Militia, that Mr. J. Israel Tarte, M.P., a Government supporter and well-known journalist, had secured evidence of corruption against Sir Hector Langevin, and that Tarte was determined to prefer charges in Parliament. I at once sent for Mr. Tarte, who informed me of his intention to drive Langevin from public life. He convinced me that he could do so.

"You have carried the election, but there are rocks ahead," I told Sir John Macdonald. Without a moment's delay I gave him my information

about Tarte's resolve.

To Tarte I said: "Would you object to Langevin's appointment as Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec ?

"I am agreeable to that arrangement," he replied.

I then saw Sir John again, who had broken down physically under the strain of the recent campaign. He looked ill and worried. When I suggested Langevin's transfer to Government House at Quebec, Sir John replied: "How can I do that when Langevin denies the charges? I then went into conference with Sir Hector, who protested his innocence.

The charges were not preferred in Parliament until after I had reached England. The end of the affair was that Sir Hector was forced out of the Cabinet. Tarte established his charges of corruption and "graft" in connection with the LarkinConnelly contracts for the Quebec Harbour improvements. Tarte went over to the Opposition and did

effective work in bringing Sir Wilfrid Laurier into power. He was awarded a portfolio and reached high rank in party councils. In justice to Sir Hector's memory it should be said that no act of corruption was brought home to him, but there was maladministration in his department by his subordinates. He was more sinned against than sinning.

Sir John Macdonald did not long survive the great party victory. Less than four months later, before the Langevin investigation had begun, he was stricken with paralysis, and died at Ottawa early in June, 1891. That his death was hastened by dissensions among his French-Canadian followers is regarded as highly probable.

It was while I was acting as a delegate at an International Postal Congress in Vienna that I received a cable advising me of the sad news of his fatal illness. We had dined with the Emperor at the Hofburg Palace and were afterwards to have attended with the Royal Party at the theatre, but on receipt of a cable from my son announcing Sir John's hopeless condition I was able to refuse the invitation.

The political situation in Ottawa after the Premier's demise was tense. The Liberals looked to see the Government driven from power before the end of the session, as a result of the impending inquiry into the Tarte charges. On the part of the Conservatives prompt action in choosing Sir John's successor was regarded as imperative. The exigencies of the hour required it. Sir John Abbott, leader of the Government in the Senate, was invited by the Governor-General, Lord Stanley of