The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1891-07-08
SIR JOHN MACDONALD.

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before his death admitted by all
parties to be the foremost English
statesman outside of England. In
many points resembling Sir Henry
Parkes, the Premier of New South
Wales, there was this difference be-
tween the two men at the start,
that young Macdonald being taken
to Canada by his parents at five
years of age was well educated at
Kingston, Ontario, while the Aus
tralian statesman was the son of
Warwickshire farm laborer and
emigrated to Sydney at the age of
"a, with probably the amount and
quality of education that the sons
of English field laborers were like
ly to get seventy years ago.
Sir John Macdonald was born in
1915 the same year as Parkes) and
as we have seen landed in Canada
in 1920. He was called to the bar
of Upper Canada at the age of Fl
and ten years later became a
Queens Counsel, having already
sat nearly two years in the Parlia-
ment of Canada as member for
Kingston.
Elected in 1874 he has sat in
Parliament continuously for a
period of over forty-six years.
With the single exception of Mr..
Gladstone, who entered Parliament
three years earlier than Mac
Donald, no man of English race has
been so long in public life and SO
thoroughly identified with public
interests as the Canadian Premier.
Sir John made his mark at once
and entered the Cabinet in 1847,
only three years after his first cleo
ton.
From the beginning to the end
of his career he was a staunch Con-
servative. He led the movement
for the confederation of the various
provinces and was Chairman Of
the London Colonial Confer
ence in 1867, when the Inn
perial Parliament, led by the
late Lord Carnarvon, passed
the "Act of Union" For these
services he was created K. G. b.,
and was chosen as the first Prime
Minister of the dominion, post
which he held till 1873, when he
resigned and led the Conservative
opposition for five years, having
removed for a time to Victoria,
B. c., whence he was Immediately
returned to Parliament.
In 1878 he was again called
upon to form a Ministry which
continued in Office till the present
date, though considering that the
Conservative majority at the last
general election was not so large
as he hoped it is more than likely
that the loss of his guidance, his
great influence and experience may
occasion unother change.
Sir John was concerned in all
the chief public measures of Canada
for over forty years, including
Confederation, the Canadian Pa
cific Railway and the settlement of
the State Church question by the
secularlzation.
He was nominated Privy Coun-
cillor in 1879 of the clergy re-
serves" In 1884 he again visited
London to assist at the formation
OF the Imperial Federation League,
and was then raised to G. G. B.
A writer in the -- says
of Sir John: GHe secured direct
steam communication with Europe,
the enlargement of canals, the ex-
tension of the dominion, the build
ing of the great railroads were all
fostered, and in some cases directly
inspired by him. He was a con-
structive statesman, of a conserva-
tive temperament.
In figure and feature he was not
unlike Disraeli whom be some
what resembIed intellectually. He
was one of the foremost represen-
tives of the imperial idea. The
splendor of worldwide empire
with the United Kingdom as it's
centre was his guiding idea. The
Scots of Canada certainly the most
numerous and probably the most