Wichita eagle., 1888-11-28

before heard OF, or imagined, IN connection
with any legislative assembly While the
house is mastering for a division, or the
commencement OF sitting, the speaker, by
an audacious fiction, is supposed to be absent,
though he is there in bodily presence before
the eyes of all and at this stage Of
public business shouts arise from all
parts of the house for ''the song, the
song" A member responds quickly to the
appeal of his colleagues, and is joined by
the whole of them in laundering chorus to
the evident delight, if not to the edifcation,
OF the strangers in the gallery. One Of the
sights Of the imperial parliament Is to see a
division taken, but at Ottawa you are in
vited to hear one as well, and such was my
experience when the veteran premier of the
Dominion, next to whom sat, at Sir Charles
Tuppers dinner, urged me to hasten my steps
from the dining room lest should miss this
unique exhibition Of legislative harmony.
Sir Charles Upper has had brilliant 20
htical career, and his success as a legislator
is attested by the many important acts which
he introduced and carried through the legis-
lature of Nova Scotia at an early period OF
his public life, and still more by those with
parliament at Ottawa He inaugurated the
movement for the union of the maritime
provinces in 1864, and was instrumental in
securing the union of Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick with Canada in 1866 In the fed
eral parliament he carried the act prohibit
ing the sale OF manufacture of intoxicating
liquors int he Northwest Territory of Canada;
the consolidated railway act of 1879; the act
granting charter to the Canadian Pacific
Railway company in 1881, and In the last
session Of parliament he carried the act by
which the monopoly previously granted TO
the Canadian Pacific railway was abolished
The appointment of Canadian as British
minister at Washington would emphasize the
Importance to be attached to the controversy
still pending between the United States and
the Dominion, and mig ut have the best re-
suits in promoting better understanding
between the two peoples. Such an appoint
ment would be handsome acknowledgement
by Great Britain Of the loyalty of her
leading colony and could not fail to be
gratifying to Canadians Of all parties
But will Great Britain depart 80 far
from the beaten path Of precedent in order
to consult Canadian pride or to promote
Canadian interestsi 1t is very doubtful.
LOru SALISBURY Will not De wanting IN aQ-
visers who will tell him that such step
would be altogether irregular and even i'm
proper, and some needy aristocrat ignorant
Of the ways of the Americans and Canadians
may be preferred to a man thoroughly versed
in public affairs and possessed of that practi.
cal good sense and sound experience which
are the first requisites for success in dealing
with the people of this continent. Howsoever
statesmen may differ or partisans quarrel I be-
lieve the American and Canadian peoples are
drawing closer to each other every day, and
that there will DO union of hearts if not of
territories. TL-ir interests are intermipgled
and destined to be, at no distant day, in
separable, and the bond of a common Ian
guage and a common literature viii survive
when political divisions have been obliterated
and political unions have lost their signi-
fcance The fitness of Sir Charles Upper to
take a leading part in promoting the friendly
relations of the two countries Is shown by
the admirable manner in which he avoided a
trap similar in every respect to that into
which Lord Sackville fell. Ee, too, was in
vited TO express an opinion on the presidential
election, but he quickly informed his cor
respondent that in his position it would be
entirely too delicate matter for him to in
terfere in the politics of this great nation.
O'CONNOR POWER