iven proof of political sagacity and administrative power. He, if any
one, it seemed, could retrieve the shattered fortunes of the Liberal
party.

Mr Laurier's position as first lieutenant for Quebec was now
unquestioned. It was not a wholly enviable post. The Liberal
representation from Quebec had fallen to twenty. There were few able
men in the ranks. The Dorions were gone. Soon to go too were Holton
and Huntington, the English leaders who formed the connecting link
between the Liberals of Ontario and the French-speaking Liberals of
Quebec. In the Eastern Townships John Henry Pope, that shrewdest and
most pugnacious of Conservative politicians, was perfecting the
organization which later made him the uncrowned king of several
counties. True, Sir George Cartier, who for nearly forty years had
dominated Quebec politics, was gone, but Langevin, his successor in the
Conservative party, though not a strong man himself, had the clergy
behind him; and Chapleau, who entered federal politics in 1882, brought
a fiery eloquence to his party's aid. It was {56} clear that the young
Liberal leader would have no easy task in winning his province.

Yet he was not content with provincial aims. Each year saw him more
widely recognized as a man not of Quebec merely but of all Canada. The
issues which arose in these trying years were such as to test to the
utmost men's power to rise above local and sectional prejudices and see
Canada's interest steadily and see it whole. Mr Laurier did not speak
often in these early years, but when he did speak it was with
increasing power and recognition. And in the councils of his party the
soundness of his judgment became more fully appreciated as each of the
great issues of the eighties developed.

The chief of these issues were: the Tariff, the Pacific Railway,
Provincial Rights, and the troubles which arose out of the second Riel
Rebellion. These may now be summarily reviewed.

Victorious on the issue of protection, the Government more than lived
up to its promises in the first tariffs framed. 'Tell us how much
protection you want,' Sir John Macdonald had promised the
manufacturers, 'and we shall give you what you need.' And whether it
{57} was cotton or sugar or furniture, needs and wants were judged to
lie not far apart. Purely revenue duties on goods that continued to
come in freely, purely protective duties on goods which were
practically shut out, and duties which served