of-war known as the debate on the Address the government was
defeated. Instead of resigning, the leaders recommended the
governor-general to dissolve the House, so that there might be a new
election, and that the mind of the people might be ascertained on the
two great issues, the Clergy Reserves and Seigneurial Tenure. The
opposition contended that the ministry should either resign, or else
bring in some piece of legislation as a trial of strength. Lord
Elgin's position was precisely the same as in the time of the Rebellion
Losses Bill. He acted on the advice of his ministers. {156} When he
came in state to prorogue the House, a most extraordinary scene
occurred. He was kept waiting for an hour while the parties wrangled,
and when Her Majesty's faithful Commons did present themselves, the
Speaker, John Sandfield Macdonald, read, first in English and then in
French, a reply to the Address which was a calculated insult to Her
Majesty's representative. The point of the reply was that, as no
legislation had been passed, there had been no session; and that this
failure to follow custom was 'owing to the command which your
Excellency has laid upon us to meet you this day for the purpose of
prorogation.' Sandfield Macdonald was an ambitious and vindictive man.
He was wrong, too, in his interpretation of the constitution. Hincks
had denied him a cabinet position which he coveted, and this was his
mode of retaliating upon him. None the less, the House was prorogued,
and the elections were held.

According to the old, bad custom, they were spread over several weeks,
instead of being held on a single day. The result was unfavourable to
the government. Representation had been increased, and out of the
total number of members returned the {157} ministry had only thirty at
its back. The Conservatives numbered twenty-two, the Clear Grits
seven, Independents six, and Rouges nineteen. Papineau was defeated
and retired to his seigneury. Hincks was returned for two
constituencies. In the election of the Speaker he very adroitly
thwarted the ambition of Sandfield Macdonald to fill that post; but,
soon afterwards, the ministry was defeated on a trifling question and
resigned. Hincks was afterwards knighted and made governor of Barbados
and Guiana. He returned to Canada in 1869 to be a member of Sir John
Macdonald's Cabinet. He made a fortune for himself and he had no small
part in making Canada. He died of smallpox in M