New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-06-22
THE CANADIAN ELECTIONS.


Sir John A. Macdonald's reputation as pO-
iitical manager has been justified by the results
of the Canadian elections. He has been
elected by two constituencies his colleagues III
the Ministry have been successful in the
various provinces, and his majority III the
new Parliament will be very large, even If 1t
does not exceed his majority in the last Parlla-
ment The Con servatves have held their
ground in Nova Scotia strengthened their
positiou in Quebec and New Brunswick, and
not met with serious losses i'll populous On-
tario, where the Opposition have been making
frantic appeals to scctiOr al prejudice. Inc
three Toronto districts, comprising the most
influential constituencies in the DOMINION,
have been carried by the Government, and
three of the Opposition leaders, Sir Richard
Cartwright i'll Ontario anu Sir Albert Smith
and Mr. Anglin in New Brunswick, have lost
their seats. Mr.. Blake and Mr.. Mackenzie
have been reelected, but with the forces at
their command they will be unable to make
successful stand against the ovcrcrowded Min
isterial benches. Sir John A. Macdonald has
achieved triumph which gives him the first
rank among Canadian statesmen of the past as
well as the present. In 1878 he gave the con-
stituencies broad and comprehensive issne-
the national policy of PrOtectlon-and when he
entered upon Office he fulfilled his pledges. lie
gave a powerful impulse to manufacturing IN
terests and industrial energies, converted
treasury deficit into surplus, and promoted
practical schemes of railway construction of the
first magnitude. When the general lines OF his
policy had been defined so clearly that the
constituencies could follow them intelligently,
he dissolved Parliament long before its term
had expired, and appealed to the people for
unequivocal support on the basis OF the hlgh
tariff. The constituencies have sustained his
Administration. and in this way have gwen
their positive sanction to the National policy.
That we do not err in in ierpreting the result
of these elections as distinctively protec-
ZIONIST triumph will he readily admitted, if our
readers will bear in mind the significant fact
that this was almost the only issue on which the
Government candidates appealed to the con-
stituenCies for support. II 1t had not Deen
regarded as question of the first importance,
the Conservatives would have met with heavy
losses in Ontario, where the rejection OF the
Boundary Award, the redistribution of electoral
districts and the prominence given to the
Quebec Bleus in the Ottawa councils had
created intense irritation. The Reformers con-
trived to make these side issues as conspicuous
as possible and would undoubtedly have
scored heavy gains if provincial resentment
had not been Overshadowed by the National
policy. The Opposition leaders, who sue
ceeded i'll keeping their names at the head of
the poll, were those who had taken middle
course Oh the tariff question. MIR. Blake and
| Mr. Mackenzie had declared that free trade
| was impossible i'll the Dominion, and that
| while they were anxious to revise the tariff
| schedules they were not i'll favor of a reversal
of the National policy. Sir Richard Cart
wright, on the other hand, had taken the most
advanced ground against Protection, and he
was defeated. In the Toronto districts, where
the leading organ of the RefOrmcrs has per-
sisted in making Free Trade party question,
the success of the Protectionsts is uneQuivocal.
The country has perceived the necessity Of
reassuring capitalists and manufacturers in
regard to the permancnce of the present
economic policy. The Premier told the truth
when he said that capital was timid and con-
| servative, and that manufacturing enterprises
would be multiplied if investors could be in
duced to believe that general election would
not menace them with ruin. The country,
satisfied with the beginning which has been
made. takes him at his word and encourages
him to carry the National policy to its full
length.
To Americans, who have made their own
country a prosperous and powerful industrial
State, the success of the Canadian Ministry,
which mas renowned the economic ideas of the
English school, is not an unpleasant surprise.
| IL =. Al. Il
and manufactures has been closed and rival
industries have been created by the Canadian
| policy, they cannot complain if their neighbOrs
beyond the border are borrowing American
ideas and getting an excellent return for them
| in increased revenue and material progress
SO far as the ultimate effects of Canadian pros
perity under high tariff can be discerned, the
opinions of the closest observers will be di-
YIded Two industrial communities prospecting
under the same economic system would be likely
in the long run to be drawn together by COM
mon impulses and mutual interests until they
found themselves on the same level. On the
other hand, material success may render politi-
cal motives more potent than economic consid-
erations Prosperity may strengthen the bonds
OF the Confederation and develop a strong feel
ing of nationality. 1t was in 1877 that Pro-
fessO- Goodwin Smith, writing on the political
destiny of Canada, declared that the ultimate
union of the provinces with the United States
was morally certain, and that there vas moth.
ing left for her statesmen to do LIT to provide
that it should be, not al annexation, but al
equal and honorable alliance like that of Scot
land with England That was before Sir Johr
A. Macdonald became an aggressive Protec