The writer made acquaintance with Laurier in the Dominion session of 1884.  He was then in his forty-third year; but in the judgment of many his career was over.  His interest in politics was, apparently, of the slightest.  He was deskmate to Blake, who carried on a tremendous campaign that session against the government’s C. P. R. proposals.  Laurier’s political activities consisted chiefly of being an acting secretary of sorts to the Liberal leader.  He kept his references in order; handed him Hansards and blue-books in turn; summoned the pages to clear away the impedimenta and to keep the glass of water replenished—­little services which it was clear he was glad to do for one who engaged his ardent affection and admiration.  There were memories in the house of Laurier’s eloquence; but memories only.  During this session he was almost silent.  The tall, courtly figure was a familiar sight in the chamber and in the library—­particularly in the library, where he could be found every day ensconced in some congenial alcove; but the golden voice was silent.  It was known that his friends were concerned about his health.

LAURIER AND THE RIEL AGITATION

The “accident” which restored Laurier to public life and opened up for him an extraordinary career was the Riel rebellion of 1885.  In the session of 1885, the rebellion being then in progress, he was heard from to some purpose on the subject of the ill treatment of the Saskatchewan half-breeds by the Dominion government.  The execution of Riel in the following November changed the whole course of Canadian politics.  It pulled the foundations from under the Conservative party by destroying the position of supremacy which it had held for a generation in the most Conservative of provinces and condemned it to a slow decline to the ruin of to-day; and it profoundly affected the Liberal party, giving it a new orientation and producing the leader who was to make it the dominating force in Canadian politics.  These things were not realized at the time, but they are clear enough in retrospect.  Party policy, party discipline, party philosophy are all determined by the way the constituent elements of the party combine; and the shifting from the Conservative to the Liberal party of the political weight of Quebec, not as the result of any profound change of conviction but under the influence of a powerful racial emotion, was bound to register itself in time in the party outlook and morale.  The current of the older tradition ran strong for some time, but within the space of about twenty years the party was pretty thoroughly transformed.  The Liberal party of to-day with its complete dependence upon the solid support it gets in Quebec is the ultimate result of the forces which came into play as the result of the hanging of Riel.