THE "DOUBLE SHUFFLE"
By his advocacy of representation by population, by his opposition to
separate schools, and his championship of Upper Canadian rights, Mr.
Brown gained a remarkable hold upon the people. In the general
elections of 1857 he was elected for the city of Toronto, in company
with Mr. Robinson, a Conservative. The election of a Liberal in
Toronto is a rare event, and there is no doubt that Mr. Brown's
violent conflict with the Roman Catholic Church contributed to his
victory, if it was not the main cause thereof. His party also made
large gains through Upper Canada, and had a large majority in that
part of the province, so that the majority for the Macdonald
government was drawn entirely from Lower Canada. Gross election frauds
occurred in Russell county, where names were copied into the
poll-books from old directories of towns in the state of New York, and
of Quebec city, where such names as Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte,
Judas Iscariot and George Washington appeared on the lists. The
Reformers attacked these elections in parliament without success, but
in 1859 the sitting member for Russell and several others were tried
for conspiracy, convicted and sentenced to imprisonment. That the
government felt itself to be much weakened throughout the country is
evident from Mr. John A. Macdonald's unsuccessful effort to add
another to his list of political combinations by detaching Mr. John
Sandfield Macdonald from the Reform party, offering seats in the
cabinet to him and another Reformer. The personal attack on Mr. Brown
in the session of 1858 has already been mentioned. The chief political
event of the session was the "Double Shuffle."
On July 28th, 1858, Mr. Brown succeeded in placing the ministry in a
minority on the question of the seat of government. Unable to decide
between the conflicting claims of Toronto, Quebec, Montreal and
Kingston, the government referred the question to the queen, who
decided in favour of Ottawa. Brown had opposed the reference to the
queen, holding that the question should be settled in Canada. He also
believed that the seat of government should not be fixed until
representation by population was granted, and all matters in dispute
between Upper and Lower Canada arranged. He now moved against Ottawa
and carried his motion. During the same sitting the government was
sustained on a motion to adjourn, which by understanding was regarded
as a test of confidence. A few hours later the ministers met and
decided that, although they had been sustained by a majority of the
House, "it behoved them as the queen's servants to resent the slight
which had been offered Her Majesty by the action of the assembly in
calling in question Her Majesty's choice of the capital." The
governor-general, Sir Edmund Bond Head, sent for Mr. Brown as the
leader of the Opposition to form a government. It was contended by
Liberals that he ought not to have taken this step unless he intended
to give Mr. Brown and his colleagues his full confidence and support.
If he believed that the defeat of the government was a mere accident,
and that on general grounds it commanded a working majority in the
legislature, he ought not to have accepted the resignation, unless he
intended to sanction a fresh appeal to the country.
The invitation to form an administration was received by Mr. Brown on
Thursday, July 28th. He at once waited on the governor-general and
obtained permission to consult his friends. He called a meeting of the
Upper Canadian members of his party in both Houses, and obtained from
them promises of cordial support. With Dorion he had an important
interview. Dorion agreed that the principle of representation by
population was sound, but said that the French-Canadian people feared
the consequences of Upper Canadian preponderance, feared that the
peculiar institutions of French Canada would be swept away. To assure
them, representation by population must be accompanied by
constitutional checks and safeguards. Brown and Dorion parted in the
belief that this could be arranged. They believed also that they
could agree upon an educational policy in which religious instruction
could be given without the evils of separation.
Though Mr. Brown's power did not lie in the manipulation of
combinations of men, he succeeded on this occasion in enlisting the
services of colleagues of high character and capacity, including
besides Dorion, Oliver Mowat, John Sandfield Macdonald, Luther Holton
and L. T. Drummond. On Saturday morning Mr. Brown waited upon the
governor-general, and informed him that having consulted his friends
and obtained the aid of Mr. Dorion, he was prepared to undertake the
task of forming an administration. During the day the formation of the
ministry was completed. "At nine o'clock on Sunday night," to give the
story in Mr. Brown's words, "learning that Mr. Dorion was ill, I went
to see him at his apartments at the Rossin House, and while with him
the governor-general's secretary entered and handed me a despatch. No
sooner did I see the outside of the document than I understood it all.
I felt at once that the whole corruptionist camp had been in commotion
at the prospect of the whole of the public departments being subjected
to the investigations of a second public accounts' committee, and
comprehended at once that the transmission of such a despatch could
have but the one intention of raising an obstacle in the way of the
new cabinet taking office, and I was not mistaken."[11]
The despatch declared that the governor-general gave no pledge,
express or implied, with reference to dissolution. When advice was
tendered on the subject he would act as he deemed best. It then laid
down, with much detail, the terms on which he would consent to
prorogation. Bills for the registration of voters and for the
prohibition of fraudulent assignments and gifts by leaders should be
enacted, and certain supplies obtained.
Mr. Brown criticized both these declarations. It was not necessary for
the governor-general to say that he gave no pledge in regard to
dissolution. To demand such a pledge would have been utterly
unconstitutional. The governor was quite right in saying that he would
deal with the proposal when it was made by his advisers. But while he
needlessly and gratuitously declared that he would not pledge himself
beforehand as to dissolution, he took exactly the opposite course as
to prorogation, specifying almost minutely the terms on which he would
consent to that step. Brown contended that the governor had no right
to lay down conditions, or to settle beforehand the measures that must
be enacted during the session. This was an attempt to dictate, not
only to the ministry, but to the legislature. Mr. Brown and his
colleagues believed that the governor was acting in collusion with the
ministers who had resigned, that the intriguers were taken by
surprise when Brown showed himself able to form a ministry, and that
the Sunday communication was a second thought, a hurriedly devised
plan to bar the way of the new ministers to office.
On Monday morning before conferring with his colleagues, Brown wrote
to the governor-general, stating that his ministry had been formed,
and submitting that "until they have assumed the functions of
constitutional advisers of the Crown, he and his proposed colleagues
will not be in a position to discuss the important measures and
questions of public policy referred to in his memorandum." Brown then
met his colleagues, who unanimously approved of his answer to the
governor's memorandum, and agreed also that it was intended as a bar
to their acceptance of office. They decided not to ask for a pledge as
to dissolution, nor to make or accept conditions of any kind. "We were
willing to risk our being turned out of office within twenty-four
hours, but we were not willing to place ourselves constitutionally in
a false position. We distinctly contemplated all that Sir Edmund Head
could do and that he has done, and we concluded that it was our duty
to accept office, and throw on the governor-general the responsibility
of denying us the support we were entitled to, and which he had
extended so abundantly to our predecessor."
When parliament assembled on Monday, a vote of want of confidence was
carried against the new government in both Houses. The newly
appointed ministers had, of course, resigned their seats in parliament
in order that they might offer themselves for re-election. It is true
the majority was too great to be accounted for by the absence of the
ministers. But the result was affected by the lack, not only of the
votes of the ministers, but of their voices. In the absence of
ministerial explanation, confusion and misunderstanding prevailed. The
fact that Brown had been able to find common ground with Catholic and
French-Canadian members had occasioned surprise and anxiety. On the
one side it was feared that Brown had surrendered to the
French-Canadians, and on the other that the French-Canadians had
surrendered to Brown.
The conference between Brown and Dorion shows that the government was
formed for the same purpose as the Brown-Macdonald coalition of
1864--the settlement of difficulties that prevented the right working
of the union. The official declaration of its policy contains these
words: "His Excellency's present advisers have entered the government
with the fixed determination to propose constitutional measures for
the establishment of that harmony between Upper and Lower Canada which
is essential to the prosperity of the province."
Dissolution was asked on the ground that the new government intended
to propose important constitutional changes, and that the parliament
did not represent the country, many of its members owing their seals
to gross fraud and corruption. Thirty-two seats were claimed from
sitting members on these grounds. The cases of the Quebec and Russell
election have already been mentioned. The member elected for
Lotbiniere was expelled for violent interference with the freedom of
election. Brown and his colleagues contended that these practices had
prevailed to such an extent that the legislature could not be said to
represent the country. Head's reply was that the frauds were likely to
be repeated if a new election were held; that they really afforded a
reason for postponing the election, at least until more stringent laws
were enacted. The dissolution was refused; the Brown-Dorion government
resigned, and the old ministers were restored to office.
On the resignation of the Brown-Dorion ministry the governor called
upon A. T. Galt, who had given an independent support to the
Macdonald-Cartier government. During the session of 1858 he had placed
before the House resolutions favouring the federal union of Canada,
the Maritime Provinces and the North-West Territory, and it is
possible that his advocacy of this policy had something to do with the
offer of the premiership. As yet, however, he was not prominent
enough, nor could he command a support large enough, to warrant his
acceptance of the office, and he declined. Then followed the "Double
Shuffle."
The Macdonald-Cartier government resumed office under the name of the
Cartier-Macdonald government, with Galt taking the place of Cayley,
and some minor changes. Constitutional usage required that all the
ministers should have returned to their constituents for re-election.
A means of evading this requirement was found. The statute governing
the case provided that when any minister should resign his office and
within one month afterwards accept another office in the ministry, he
should not thereby vacate his seat. With the object of obviating the
necessity for a new election, Cartier, Macdonald, and their
colleagues, in order to bring themselves within the letter of the law,
although not within its spirit, exchanged offices, each taking a
different one from that which he had resigned eight days before.
Shortly before midnight of the sixth of August, they solemnly swore to
discharge the duties of offices which several of them had no intention
of holding; and a few minutes afterwards the second shuffle took
place, and Cartier and Macdonald having been inspector-general and
postmaster-general for this brief space, became again attorney-general
east and attorney-general west.
The belief of the Reformers that the governor-general was guilty of
partiality and of intrigue with the Conservative ministers is set
forth as part of the history of the time. There is evidence of
partiality, but no evidence of intrigue. The biographer of Sir John
Macdonald denies the charge of intrigue, but says that Macdonald
and the governor were intimate personal friends.[12] Dent, who
also scouts the charge of intrigue, says that the governor was
prejudiced against Brown, regarding him as a mere obstructionist.[13]
The governor-general seems to have been influenced by these personal
feelings, making everything as difficult as possible for Brown, and as
easy as possible for Macdonald, even to the point of acquiescing in
the evasion of the law known as the "Double Shuffle."
In the debate on confederation. Senator Ferrier said that a political
warfare had been waged in Canada for many years, of a nature
calculated to destroy all moral and political principles, both in the
legislature and out of it. The "Double Shuffle" is so typical of this
dreary and ignoble warfare and it played so large a part in the
political history of the time, that it has been necessary to describe
it at some length. But for these considerations, the episode would
have deserved scant notice. The headship of one of the ephemeral
ministries that preceded confederation could add little to the
reputation of Mr. Brown. His powers were not shown at their best in
office, and the surroundings of office were not congenial to him. His
strength lay in addressing the people directly, through his paper or
on the platform, and in the hour of defeat or disappointment he turned
to the people for consolation. "During these contests," he said some
years afterwards, "it was this which sustained the gallant band of
Reformers who so long struggled for popular rights: that, abused as we
might be, we had this consolation, that we could not go anywhere among
our fellow-countrymen from one end of the country to the other--in
Tory constituencies as well as in Reform constituencies--without the
certainty of receiving from the honest, intelligent yeomanry of the
country--from the true, right-hearted, right-thinking people of Upper
Canada, who came out to meet us--the hearty grasp of the hand and the
hearty greeting that amply rewarded the labour we had expended in
their behalf. That is the highest reward I have hoped for in public
life, and I am sure that no man who earns that reward will ever in
Upper Canada have better occasion to speak of the gratitude of the
people."
FOOTNOTES:
[11] Speech to Toronto electors, August, 1858.
[12] Pope's _Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald_, Vol. I., pp. 133, 134.
[13] Dent's _Last Forty Years_, Vol. II., pp. 379, 380.