PREFATORY NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
I. YOUTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
II. MIDDLE LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
III. OLD AGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

{xi}

ILLUSTRATIONS

SIR JOHN MACDONALD CROSSING THE
ROCKIES OVER THE NEWLY CONSTRUCTED
CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY, 1886 . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_
From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys.

THE MACDONALD HOMESTEAD AT ADOLPHUSTOWN . . . . . . Facing page 4
From a print in the John Ross Robertson
Collection, Toronto Public Library.

JOHN A. MACDONALD IN 1842 . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 12
From a photograph.

SIR ALLAN NAPIER MACNAB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 36
From a portrait in the John Ross Robertson
Collection, Toronto Public Library.

SIR EDMUND WALKER HEAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 42
From the John Ross Robertson Collection,
Toronto Public Library.

SIR ETIENNE PASCAL TACHE . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 70
From a portrait in the John Ross Robertson
Collection, Toronto Public Library.

SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD IN 1872 . . . . . . . . . . . " 96
From a photograph.

SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD IN 1883 . . . . . . . . . . . " 138
From a photograph.

{1}

CHAPTER I

YOUTH

John Alexander Macdonald, second son of Hugh Macdonald and Helen Shaw,
was born in Glasgow on January 11, 1815. His father, originally from
Sutherlandshire, removed in early life to Glasgow, where he formed a
partnership with one M'Phail, and embarked in business as a cotton
manufacturer. Subsequently he engaged in the manufacture of bandanas,
and the style of the firm became 'H. Macdonald and Co.' The venture
did not prove successful, and Macdonald resolved to try his fortunes in
the New World. Accordingly, in the year 1820, he embarked for Canada
in the good ship _Earl of Buckinghamshire_, and after a voyage long and
irksome even for those days, landed at Quebec and journeyed overland to
Kingston, then and for some years after the most considerable town in
Upper Canada, boasting a population (exclusive of the military) of
about 2500 souls.

{2}

At that time the whole population of what is now the