closer communication with that great western country that had been added to Canada. The boldness of the enterprise, the magnitude of the task undertaken by so young a country, added to its fascination. The objections urged by Blake and the opposition party were weighty, but the criticism was in advance of the times. Actual experience was required to enable the country to perceive the evils of the monopoly, of the exemption from taxation, of the locking up of large tracts of land from settlement, of the absence of effective regulation of rates. But with all these faults there was the unquestioned merit of energy showing itself in rapid construction, and in the pushing of the work on to completion long before the time agreed upon.

THE REDISTRIBUTION OF 1882

In 1881 a census was taken. It showed a population of 4,342,810 divided as follows: Ontario 1,923,228, Quebec 1,359,027, Maritime Provinces 870,696, Manitoba 65,954, British Columbia 49,459, Territories 56,466. Under the British North America Act the representation of the provinces must be readjusted after each census, according to population.

The redistribution of constituencies following the census was described by the liberals, and severely attacked, as the gerrymander.' Its assigned object was to equalize the constituencies. It was attacked, first, as breaking through the municipal boundary lines, and, second, as designed to 'hive the Grits,' that is, to concentrate their vote so that they would be able to elect the smallest possible number of representatives. The simplest illustration is that of a county divided into three ridings, and giving on the whole a liberal majority. By skilful manipulation the greater part of this majority could be massed in one constituency, so that the other two would be conservative. The liberal contention was that not only was this done, but that where the effect could not be attained within the county, the county lines were broken and patches of county were added or taken away in order to complete the hiving process. They further believed

that the bill was aimed specially at Mackenzie, Cartwright and other leading liberals in Ontario.

Indignant protests were made, and some thirty amendments were moved. The tendency of the measure was very greatly to aggravate the bitterness of the political conflict. At the same time, its advantage to the conservatives was not unquestioned. The government obtained a large majority in Ontario in the elections of 1882, but this was in spite of the gerrymander rather than because of it. Ontario was conservative because of the National Policy, because of the Canadian Pacific Railway, because of the prosperity of the country and the feeling of life and hope inspired by rapid progress. Most of the liberal members at whom it was believed the gerrymander struck were elected, and there was a prevailing belief that this was due to chivalry aroused by injustice. Liberals, however, asserted that this feeling wore off, and that they felt the effects of the measure more keenly in 1887.

Though the dissolution of 1882 was premature, it had been expected. Both parties entered into the political battle with enthusiasm. Each was satisfied with its leadership and its policy. It was a period of conventions, of programmes and 'platforms,' of campaign songs. The conservatives relied upon the National Policy, upon the Canadian Pacific Railway, upon the prosperity of the country. Blake in his election address somewhat minimized the importance of the tariff issue. He said that it was necessary to raise a large revenue by import duties, and that as a result of this the manufacturers would enjoy an incidental protection that would be ample. 'Our adversaries wish to present to you as an issue the present tariff and absolute free trade. That is not the true issue. Free trade is, as I have repeatedly explained, for us impossible, and the issue is whether the present tariff is perfect or imperfect and unjust.' He repeated his criticism of the Pacific Railway project, condemned the gerrymander, and laid stress on provincial rights as involved in the contest between Ontario and the Dominion. The nature of these will be explained later on; it will suffice to say here that they affected the area of the province to the extent of more than

one hundred thousand square miles, and that they affected also its legislative power, and the extent to which its laws were subject to disallowance. On these questions the liberals at Ottawa under Blake and the liberals in the Ontario legislature under Oliver Mowat were in close alliance. Many of them believed that Sir John Macdonald was attacking Ontario by design, with the intention of pleasing his Quebec followers. The belief is recorded in the campaign songs; one declared that

The tricky Tory Bleus

Who Sir John as catspaw use

Cannot rule the roost in old Ontario.

Another, sung to the tune of Maryland,' contained this verse: The traitor's hand is on thy throat,

Ontario, Ontario;

Strike down that traitor with thy vote,

Ontario, Ontario.

Sir John Macdonald paid great attention to these charges, and in speeches made a few weeks before the election he denied the right of Ontario to the land, minerals and timber in the disputed territory, and declared his intention of attacking the validity of the Ontario liquor licence laws.

The election resulted in another victory for the conservatives, with a majority about the same as in the previous election. The provincial elections were held in the following February and resulted in a fair majority for the Mowat government.

THE ONTARIO BOUNDARY 1

A long-standing dispute as to the western and northern boundaries of Ontario was in 1878 referred to three arbitrators, Sir Francis Hincks for Canada, Chief Justice Harrison for Ontario, and Sir Edward Thornton as umpire. The award of the arbitrators, rendered in that year, fixed the western boundary west of the Lake of the Woods, or at longitude. 95° 14′ 38′′ west, and the northern boundary on the west at the Winnipeg River, 581⁄2 miles north of the international 1 See 'Boundary Disputes and Treaties' in this section.