[Frontispiece: Sir John Macdonald crossing the Rockies over the newly constructed Canadian Pacific Railway, 1886. From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys]
A Chronicle of the First Prime Minister of the Dominion
Copyright in all Countries subscribing to the Berne Convention
Within a short time will be celebrated the centenary of the birth of the great statesman who, half a century ago, laid the foundations and, for almost twenty years, guided the destinies of the Dominion of Canada.
Nearly a like period has elapsed since the author's _Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald_ was published. That work, appearing as it did little more than three years after his death, was necessarily subject to many limitations and restrictions. As a connected story it did not profess to come down later than the year 1873, nor has the time yet arrived for its continuation and completion on the same lines. That task is probably reserved for other and freer hands than mine. At the same time, it seems desirable that, as Sir John Macdonald's centenary approaches, there should be available, in convenient form, a short résumé of the salient features of his { viii} career, which, without going deeply and at length into all the public questions of his time, should present a familiar account of the man and his work as a whole, as well as, in a lesser degree, of those with whom he was intimately associated. It is with such object that this little book has been written.
PREFATORY NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii I. YOUTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 II. MIDDLE LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 III. OLD AGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
SIR JOHN MACDONALD CROSSING THE ROCKIES OVER THE NEWLY CONSTRUCTED CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY, 1886 . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys.
THE MACDONALD HOMESTEAD AT ADOLPHUSTOWN . . . . . . Facing page 4 From a print in the John Ross Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library.
JOHN A. MACDONALD IN 1842 . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 12 From a photograph.
SIR ALLAN NAPIER MACNAB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " 36 From a portrait in the John Ross Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library.