The morning call., 1894-10-31

give them nothing else, went to Montreal
at the age of IA and entered the Jesuit
College, from which he graduated in due
time with ordinary h0nors. Having left
the college Honore devoted himself to
the study of law. and he was admitted to
the bar in 1866. With him, however, as
with many others who have commenced
with the law, politics seemed the profess
sion for which he was destined and toward
which he was irresistibly drawn. Already,
several years before, when but %, he had
done some political writing for the
Courier de st. Hyacinthe. little country
paper, with which be was connected for
several years. The flimsy financial basis
on which this sheet was run Is shown by
the fact that more than once the whole es-
tablIshmeDt was seized for some insguifi-
cant debt of SIS or $50, which the editor
was unable to pay.
L. is curious fact that Honore Mercier,
who has been famous for years as the
champion of the Liberal cause and the
Catholic church, was stanch Tory at this
time, this change being as complete as
was the change in his religious opinions,
for as a young man he was so far from
being an orthodox Roman Catholic that he
had the reputation of being almost free
thinker.
Mercier's first great speech was made in
the summer of 1871, on the night of Sir
George Carriers defeat. In that election
he was returned for the Dominion Parlia-
ment from the village of st. Hyacinthe
His speech rang with the genuine stuff of
great orators, and he jumped into prom
inenee, as it were, at one bound. The
whole province echoed the praises of the
coming statesman as he was presently
called. His success, however. in the House
of Commons at Ottawa was less marked
than might have deem expected, owing to
the fact that his knowledge Of the English
language at that time was much less per-
feet than it has since become, and
although be had won fame for himself as
an orator in the French language he was
unable to shine to an equal degree in a
body where English was the medium of
communication. Fortunately for him,
however. in view of subsequent events, he
was defeated in the following elections by
the present Judge Teller, and for several
years he retired entirely from public life
and devoted him mself to his profession.
which became less and less the law and
more and more the political management
of that strange race Of French Canadians
from which be himself had sprung and
whose weaknesses anG good points he un-
derstood so we'll.
1t was not until 1879 that Hon ore Mer-
cier was called to occupy position of any
considerable public Importance. M. Jolly
was Premier Of Quebec at this time, the
Liberal party having come into power for
the first Time since the confederation.
Mercier was made Solicitor-Genera under
Premier Jolly and at once justified the ex-
pectations of his friends by winning for
himself the we'll merited reputation of be-
ing the ablest debater in the province On
the overthrow of the Jolly Government two
years later. Nj. Mercier had some thoughts
of retiring entirely from public lite, but
that was not to te. and he was sent back
to the Provincial Parliament by almost the
entire population Of st. Hyacinthe, where
he was idoliZed. A little later. when Nj.
Jolly resigned voluntarily from the leader
ship of the Liberal party. the mantle fell
by common consent upon Mercier's shoul-
ders, and from that moment until the time
of his great victory in 1856 his strength
continued 10 grow without opposition.
That brings his history to the Period of
the Riel agitation. when Mercier was
borne to the Premiership upon the wave
of popular Indignation which was stirred
up by the execution of Louis Riel at Re-
gina. The Freneh-Canadians were made
10 believe and did believe that Riei was
martyr, whose death it was their duty TO
ayenge; that the whole affair was a plot
against their race which had been con-
trived and carried out by the hated
Oraneemen and that the one and the only
way in which they could assert themselves
and wipe out the wrong was by over
throwing the existing Government and
sending back to Quebec in place of the de-
Iosed Premier new champion who
would be slrong enough and brave enough
to defend their interests. The champion
whom they chose was Honore Mercier.
who went from county to county among