minister of Justice. But, beyond writing a
few masterly dispatches on the pardoning power and obtaining certain
modifications in the governor-general's instructions in that regard, he
does not appear to have accomplished much during his tenure of office.
The bill establishing the Supreme Court, passed about this time, was
the work primarily of Sir John Macdonald, and was piloted through the
House of Commons by Telesphore Fournier, Blake's immediate predecessor
in the department of Justice. Early in 1878 Blake again left the
Cabinet, and he was not even in the country during the elections of
that year which overwhelmed his late colleagues. He became leader of
the Opposition after the retirement of Mackenzie in 1880, but resigned
the post after his failure to carry the elections of 1887. He
afterwards {108} went to Great Britain, and became a Nationalist member
from Ireland of the House of Commons. For fifteen years his great
talents lay obscured at Westminster in the shadows of Parnell and
Redmond. Broken in health, he finally returned to his native country;
but it was only to die.

But if Blake's mind was not of the constructive order, his critical and
analytical faculties were highly developed. Always effective, often
trenchant, sometimes cruel, his powers of sarcasm and invective were
unrivalled. Once, when a former minister of Inland Revenue, not
remarkable for his knowledge of the affairs of his department, had
proposed a resolution to the effect that a barrel should no longer be
considered a measure of capacity, Blake offered an amendment to the
effect that 'in future the office of Cabinet minister be no longer
considered a measure of capacity!' Again, in one of his orations
against the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, he prefaced a
minute and exhaustive narration of events connected with the enterprise
in these words: 'Mr Speaker, on the first of April--_a fitting day_--in
the year 1871, ...' That was his estimate of the project as late as
the early eighties.

{109}

During Blake's period of office an old and faithful official of his
department, who rather prided himself upon his discrimination in the
use of words, wrote on a file of papers, 'Referred to the Minister for
his instructions.' When this came before Blake, he wrote underneath
the memorandum: 'My officers do not _refer_ matters to me; they
_submit_ them.--E.B.' It is due to Blake to say that, when leaving the
department, he call