addressed a few grave and measured words to the Opposition. Starting
with the remark that he could only suppose their extraordinary and
unparalleled conduct to be the outcome of a misapprehension as to 'my
{137} supposed infirmities and my advancing years,' he told them that
they were vastly mistaken if they supposed they could tire him out by
such methods. He declared that as long as he, and those who acted with
him, enjoyed the confidence of the people, they did not intend to
resign their functions into the hands of the minority. He begged them,
in conclusion, to reflect upon the unwisdom of their course, 'lest what
has begun as a farce may end in a tragedy.'

These serious words did not appear to produce any immediate effect, and
the debates dragged on through the hot summer months. In the end,
however, patience and firmness prevailed, and the Franchise Act reached
the statute-book, where it remained until it was repealed twelve years
later by the Government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. The apprehensions of
the Opposition with regard to the revising officers were not realized.
In Ontario these positions were offered to the county court judges, or
to the junior judges, and were accepted by nearly all of them. In the
province of Quebec, where there are no county court judges, such
appointments were not possible; but the law provided that where the
returning officer was not a judge, he must be a barrister or notary of
not less than five years' standing, and an appeal in all cases lay from
{138} him to a judge. Sir John Macdonald carefully supervised these
appointments, which in the great majority of cases were quite
unexceptionable. The administration of the Act was no doubt expensive.
This was the strongest criticism heard against it; but in the opinion
of the Government of that day it was essential to the idea of a united
Dominion that the parliament of Canada should determine and control the
conditions of acquiring the right to vote for members of its own House
of Commons.

[Illustration: Sir John A. Macdonald in 1883]

I should not omit to state that Sir John professed himself a believer
in the extension of the franchise to single women. Apparently he
considered that his advocacy of a property qualification required this.
I have heard him say, too, that women, as a whole, were conservative,
and he considered that their admission to the vote would tend to
strengthen the defences against the irruption of an unbr