Riel agitation to obtain
control of the provincial government at the general election of 1886,
but only to fall five years later, under circumstances which must always
throw a shadow over the fame of a brilliant, but unsafe, political
leader (see p. 247). The attempt to make political capital out of the
matter in the Dominion parliament had no other result than to weaken the
influence in Ontario of Mr. Edward Blake, the leader of the opposition
since the resignation of Mr. Mackenzie in 1880. He was left without the
support of the majority of the Liberal representatives of the province
in the house of commons when he condemned the execution of Riel,
principally on the ground that he was insane--a conclusion not at all
justified by the report of the medical experts who had been chosen by
the government to examine the condemned man previous to the execution.
The energy with which this rebellion was repressed showed both the
half-breeds and the Indians of the west the power of the Ottawa
government. From that day to this order has prevailed in the western
country, and grievances have been redressed as far as possible. The
readiness with which the militia force of Canada rallied to the support
of the government was conclusive evidence of the deep national sentiment
that existed throughout the Dominion. In Ottawa, Port Hope, and Toronto
monuments have been raised in memory of the brave men who gave up their
lives for the Dominion, but probably the most touching memorial of this
unfortunate episode in Canadian history is the rude cairn of stone which
still stands among the wild flowers of the prairie in memory of the
gallant fellows who were mown down by the unerring rifle shots of the
half-breeds hidden in the ravines of Fish Creek.

In 1885 parliament passed a general franchise law for the Dominion in
place of the system--which had prevailed since 1867--of taking the
electoral lists of the several provinces as the lists for elections to
the house of commons. The opposition contested this measure with great
persistency, but Sir John Macdonald pressed it to a successful
conclusion, mainly on the ground that it was necessary in a country like
Canada, composed of such diverse elements, to have for the Dominion
uniformity of suffrage, based on a small property qualification, instead
of having diverse systems of franchise--in some provinces, universal
franchise, to which he and other Conservatives generally were strongly
opposed.