ferent
destiny for Canada. Each of these statesmen withstood the temptation
to bend before the storm of local prejudice. By yielding to the
passion of the hour each would have been a hero in his own province and
have enjoyed a long term of office. If evidence were needed that
Confederation inspired its authors to nobler aims than party victories,
the course taken by these leaders furnishes conclusive proof.

William McDougall's part in the movement has suffered eclipse owing to
his political mishaps. No one brought more brilliant qualities to bear
upon the work than he. On the platform and in parliament he had, as a
{185} speaker, no superior. In his newspaper, the _North American_, he
had espoused a federal union as the first article of his political
creed; and when Brown purchased the paper, McDougall, as the chief
writer for the _Globe_, strengthened Brown's hands and became his
natural ally in the coalition. They quarrelled openly when McDougall
elected to cast in his lot with Macdonald in the first Dominion
ministry. The Red River episode ruptured his relations with Macdonald,
who never again sought his support. Avoided by both leaders and never
tolerant of party discipline, McDougall sought to fill the role of
independent critic and thus earned for himself, unfairly, the sobriquet
'Wandering Willie.' But the Dominion owed much to his constructive
talent. There is evidence that his influence was potent in the
constitutional conferences, and that during his term as minister he had
a strong hand in shaping public policy.

Oliver Mowat left politics for the judicial bench immediately after the
Quebec Conference. He has related that, as the delegates sat round the
table, Macdonald, on being notified of the vacancy in the
vice-chancellorship of Upper Canada, silently passed him a note in
appreciative terms offering him the place. {186} For seven years he
remained on the bench. But he returned in 1872 to active political
life, and his services to the nation as prime minister of Ontario
display his balanced judgment and clearness of intellect.

Some Canadian statesmen who were invaluable to the new nationality
suffer in being judged too exclusively from a party standpoint. Canada
was fortunate in drawing from the ranks of both Conservatives and
Liberals many men capable of developing the Dominion and adapting an
untried constitution to unforeseen conditions. None had quite the same
opportunities as Sir