the refusal
of the British government to allow the colonies to grant bounties for
the development of their resources. These resolutions, after being
debated for about a week, were rejected by a vote of twenty-one to
nineteen, the smallness of the majority against them at the time being
looked upon as virtually a Liberal victory. If the nineteen had been
made up of men who could be relied on to stand by their colours in all
emergencies, it would have been a Liberal triumph, but, unfortunately,
among the nineteen there were some who afterwards deserted their party
for the sake of offices and power.

{A POLITICAL SURPRISE}

Early in August it was announced that John H. Gray and R. D. Wilmot, two
of the Liberal members for the county of St. John, had abandoned their
party and their principles and become members of the government. The
Liberals of St. John, who had elected these gentlemen by a substantial
majority, were naturally chagrined at such a proof of their
faithlessness, and their colleagues were likewise greatly annoyed.
Messrs. Gray and Wilmot made the usual excuses of all deserters for
their conduct, the principal one being that they thought they could
serve the interests of the constituency and of the province better by
being in the government than out of it. The friends of the four members
who still remained faithful, Messrs. Tilley, Simonds, Ritchie and
Needham, held a meeting at which these gentlemen were present, and it
was agreed that they should join in an address to their constituents
condemning the course of Messrs. Wilmot and Gray, and calling on the
constituency to pronounce judgment upon it. As Wilmot, who had been
appointed to the office of surveyor-general, had to return to his
constituency for reelection, the voice of the constituency could only be
ascertained by placing a candidate in the field in opposition to him.
This was done, and Mr. Allan McLean was elected to oppose Mr. Wilmot.
The result seemed to show that the people of St. John had condoned the
offence, for Wilmot was reelected by a majority of two hundred and
seventy-three. As this appeared to be a proof that they had lost the
confidence of their constituents, Messrs. Simonds, Ritchie and Tilley at
once resigned their seats and did not offer for reelection. This act
was, at the time, thought by many to indicate an excess of
sensitiveness, and Needham refused to follow their example, thereby
forfeiting the regard of most of those who had