Canada and the mother country. On the
contrary, the members of the government, with the exception of
Gladstone, are set upon the Intercolonial Railway and a grand transit
route across the continent." He remarked upon the bitterness of the
British feeling against the United States, and said that he was
perplexed by the course of the London _Times_ in pandering to the
passions of the people.

The most important event of his visit to Scotland was yet to come. On
November 27th he married Miss Anne Nelson, daughter of the well-known
publisher, Thomas Nelson--a marriage which was the beginning of a most
happy domestic life of eighteen years. This lady survived him until
May, 1906. On his return to Canada with his bride, Mr. Brown was met
at Toronto station by several thousand friends. In reply to a
complimentary address, he said, "I have come back with strength
invigorated, with new, and I trust, enlarged views, and with the most
earnest desire to aid in advancing the prosperity and happiness of
Canada."

It has been seen that the Macdonald-Sicotte government had shelved the
question of representation by population and had committed itself to
the device of the "double majority." During Mr. Brown's absence
another movement, which he had strongly resisted, had been gaining
ground. In 1860, 1861, and 1862, Mr. R. W. Scott, of Ottawa, had
introduced legislation intended to strengthen the Roman Catholic
separate school system of Upper Canada. In 1863, he succeeded, by
accepting certain modifications, in obtaining the support of Dr.
Ryerson, superintendent of education. Another important advantage was
that his bill was adopted as a government measure by the Sandfield
Macdonald ministry. The bill became law in spite of the fact that it
was opposed by a majority of the representatives from Upper Canada.
This was in direct contravention of the "double majority" resolutions
adopted by the legislature at the instance of the government. The
premier had declared that there should be a truce to the agitation for
representation by population or for other constitutional changes. That
agitation had been based upon the complaint that legislation was being
forced upon Upper Canada by Lower Canadian votes. The "double
majority" resolutions had been proposed as a substitute for
constitutional change. In the case of the Separate School Bill they
were disregarded, and the premier was severely criticized for allowing
his favourite principle to b