Omaha daily bee., 1891-03-07
THr CANADIAN ELECTION.

ada has had in many years has resulted |
In the success Of the government party. /
But the victory is OF that character |
which is moro than half defeat With |
all the political machinery in their |
control. with abundance Of money at |
their command, having the support Of T.
the protected industries, and assisted by |
the influence of the English tories, tho |
conservatives were unable to retain
their majority in parliament, and their |
loss OF strength fOrcshadows their prob
able REIMBURSEMENT of the control OF the
government within thcncXt year on two.
The membership Of the dominion par
lament is 2lj and in the last parIia-
mcnt the conservative strength was 1872
and that of the liberals 50. II majority
for the former OF -. More than half of
this majority has been swept away, al
though conservative calculations in ad-
vance of the election counted confidently
upon increasing it. Three members OF
the government were retired, and while
Sir John Macdonald was rc-clected by
an increased majority his case was eN-
ccptional, and the explanation is doubt
less to bc found in the fact OF his having
the Jealous support of the railroads and
other corporations of which he is most
earnest friend. There wero some intcr-
esting surprises. In the province of
Quebec, which was regarded as n
stronghold of the conservatives, the lib
! erals elected u majority OF the candi-
dates, while the maritime provinces,
which were confidently counted upon by
| the liberals, proved to be the bulwark of
| the conservative cause. So far as the
question of anne eNation entered into the
| contest the verdict was adverse to it. 1t
may be interesting to observe that rs n
| property qualification is necessary TO So
| cure the right of suffrage in Canada, and
| those having such qualification are reg
| istered only once in ten years, the last
| registration having been made in Au-
| gust, 1881, thousands Of persons who will
be entitled to vote after next August
were excluded from Thursdays election.
This shows the political shrewdness of
Sir John Macdonald in ordering the
election at this time, Had he post
poncd it six months his party would
very likely have met with as signal
defeat as it did in 1874, when n ministe-
rial majority of six was converted into II
liberal majority OF GO.
The conservative success will cause no
surprise in the United States, nor will
the American people be very greatly in
terested in IA discussion Of the causes
and conditions that produced it. The
only question they will concern them
selves with, and this with no very great
degree Of anxiety. is the possible effect
that the verdict Of the Canadian people
will have upon contemplated negotia-
tions regarding closer trade relations
between the dominion and the United
States The government OF Canada has
expressed willingness to enter into an
arrangement for restricted reciprocity
with the treaty OF 1854 as the basis, and
has distinctly declared hostility to COM
mcrcial union or any commercial ar
rangement with the United States which
would involve discrimination against
England. In this postionitiS sustained
by the popular vote, and undoubtedly it
will not to the slightest extent contra
| NtIb lllut NCIultl. IL 10 lloI w bc SN-
pected that any more favorable or essen
italy different proposition regarding re-
ciprocity will be made than that which
constituted the platform of the conserv-
ative party in the late campaign, II has
already been pretty plainly Unlimited
from Washington that this will not be
seriously considered by our government
1t would be an utter waste Of time to in
stitute negotiations with the so-called
reciprocity treaty of 1854 as basis, rot
only because that One-Sided arrangement
is an intolerable memory to the Ameri'
can people, but the conditions have SO
! changed that it would be absurd to make
, it basis of negotiations at this time.
The suggestion that it should be might
fairly be regarded as implying a desire
to prevent negotiation.
: At any rate if the Canadian goYern'
} ment shall have nothing better to pro
| pose than the reciprocity platform upon
which it fought its campaign and carried
the election, there Is very small proba
bility that the trade relations between
, the United States and Canada will be
materially changed, while the Macdon
aid government continues in power.
n |