no doubt of the necessity for obtaining a clear verdict from the people by means of “the more perfect system of representation” provided by law.  In the debate on the Representation Bill in 1853, John A. Macdonald did not hesitate to state emphatically that the House should be governed by English precedents in the position in which it would soon be placed by the passage of this measure.  “Look,” he said, “at the Reform Bill in England.  That was passed by a parliament that had been elected only one year before, and the moment it was passed, Lord John Russell affirmed that the House could not continue after it had declared that the country was not properly represented.  How can we legislate on the clergy reserves until another House is elected, if this bill passes?  A great question like this cannot be left to be decided by a mere accidental majority.  We can legislate upon no great question after we have ourselves declared that we do not represent the country.  Do these gentlemen opposite mean to say that they will legislate on a question affecting the rights of people yet unborn, with the fag-end of a parliament dishonoured by its own confessions of incapacity?” Hincks in his “Reminiscences,” printed more than three decades later than this ministerial crisis, still adhered to the opinion that the government was fully justified by established precedent in appealing to the country before disposing summarily of the important questions then agitating the people.  Both Lord Elgin and Sir John A. Macdonald—­to give the latter the title he afterwards received from the Crown—­assuredly set forth the correct constitutional practice under the peculiar circumstances in which both government and legislature were placed by the legislation increasing the representation of the people.

The elections took place in July and August of 1854, for in those times there was no system of simultaneous polling on one day, but elections were held on such days and as long as the necessities of party demanded.[15] The result was, on the whole, adverse to the government.  While it still retained a majority in French Canada, its opponents returned in greater strength, and Morin himself was defeated in Terrebonne, though happily for the interests of his party he was elected by acclamation at the same time in Chicoutimi.  In Upper Canada the ministry did not obtain half the vote of the sixty-five representatives now elected to the legislature by that province.  This vote was distributed as follows:  Ministerial, 30; Conservatives, 22; Clear Grits, 7; and Independents, 6.  Malcolm Cameron was beaten in Lambton, but Hincks was elected by two constituencies.  One auspicious result of this election was the disappearance of Papineau from public life.  He retired to his pretty chateau on the banks of the Ottawa, and the world soon forgot the man who had once been so prominent a figure in Canadian politics.  His graces of manner and conversation continued for years to charm