Sir Charles Tupper
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THE MAKERS OF CANADA SIR CHARLES TUPPER BY HON. J. W. LONGLEY PARKMAN EDITION TORONTO MAKERS OF CANADA (MORANG), LIMITED 1916 Copyright, Canada, 1916, by Makers of Canada (Morang), Limited. PUBLISHERS' NOTE When Sir Charles Tiipper retired from public life fifteen years ago, his work as a maker of Canada was practically over, and it was then decided to add his life to the Makers of Canada Series, which al- ready contained lives of his contemporaries Macdonald, Howe, Brown, Cartier, and Tilley. It was arranged at that time that the biography should be written by the Honourable J. W. Longley, the author of Joseph Howe in this Series, whose knowledge of public affairs in Nova Scotia during the whole of Tupper's career is perhaps unequalled, and who for many years was an intimate personal friend of Sir Charles. The fact that this biography was being written by Judge Longley was known to Sir Charles, who, while the work was in progress, freely talked with the author on several occasions regarding different details of his public life. Practically the whole of this book, except the last chapter, was completed several years ago. Since the death of Sir Charles, most of the last chapter has been written, and the whole work has been carefully revised and a certain number of corrections and additions have been made. CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I EARLY LIFE (1821-1855) . ... 1 CHAPTER II IN THE LEGISLATURE (1855-1864) ... 13 CHAPTER III ' CONFEDERATION . 51 (1864-1870) . CHAPTER IV IN OFFICE (1870-1872) . ... 105 CHAPTER V THE PACIFIC SCANDAL AND THE MACKENZIE AD- MINISTRATION (1872-1878) . 125 CHAPTER VI MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND HIGH COMMISSIONER (1878-1887) . 157 CHAPTER VII RETURN TO POLITICAL LIFE (1887-1891) . 191 CHAPTER VIII ~ AGAIN IN LONDON (1891-1896) . '. , . 209 CHAPTER IX LEADER OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY (1896-1901) . 231 CHAPTER X PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS, CLOSING YEARS, AND DEATH (1901-1915) 253 CHAPTER I EARLY LIFE (1821-1855) the 2nd of July, 1821, there was born in ON Amherst, Nova Scotia, a man-child who, in the fulness of time, was to play a principal rdle in the making of the Dominion of Canada and in shaping its policy. This child was Charles Tupper, who, as Sir Charles Tupper, Bart., on October )th, 1915, in his ninety-fifth year, was to die at "The Mount", Bexley Heath, Kent, almost rithin sight of London, the great throbbing heart of the British Empire, where for many years he had been an active force in promoting the best interests of Canada. The Tupper family is of German extraction. During the Reformation wave that swept over Europe in the early years of the sixteenth century family of Tuppers residing in Cassel in the jlectorate of Hesse joined the new movement, ind, about 1525, two of the brothers, to escape the harsh laws instituted against the Reformers by Charles V, fled from their native land. One )f these men settled in Holland, where his descen- dants still live; the other went to England and took up his abode in Kent, in which county, as we have seen, one of the most illustrious of his lame died nearly four hundred years later. It is 1 SIR CHARLES TUPPER worthy of passing note that about 1592 one of the Kent Tuppers settled in the island of Guernsey. From this family sprang many distinguished British soldiers and sailors. One of the Guernsey family, John E. Tupper, married Elizabeth Brock, sister of Sir Isaac Brock, the hero of Upper Canada, the general whose skill and energy saved Canada in the most critical period of her history. The Tupper name first appeared in American history in 1635, when Thomas Tupper arrived in the colony of Massachusetts. Why he left England is not definitely known, but at this time Charles I was, with the help of the Earl of Strafford and Archbishop Laud, playing the part of an absolute monarch, and it may be that the reason that impelled the Tuppers to leave Hesse caused Thomas to emigrate to America liberty of con- science. Thomas Tupper at once took a prominent part in the life of Massachusetts. In 1637 his name appears as one of the incorporators of the town of Sandwich and he was appointed one of the selectmen of the place. He was of a deeply religious nature, and when the church in Sandwich was without a pastor he conducted the services. But his chief care was for the Indians, living in spiritual darkness and savagery. He succeeded in establishing an Indian congregation at Herring Pond and built the aborigines a place of worship. Until the eve of the American Revolution the Tuppers laboured for the welfare of their adopted 2 HIS ANCESTRY country. The missionary spirit seems to have taken root in the family. A number of them were evangelists in the New England colonies, and, as we shall see, the family continued similar work when they settled in Nova Scotia. About the middle of the eighteenth century many of the colonists along the Atlantic seaboard desirous of bettering their lot looked about them for new homes. The lure of the West attracted many, but in 1763 the Pontiac war was in full swing and settlers venturing beyond the Alle- ghanies took their lives in their hands. At this time a new field for settlement was open, an attractive field. In it there was no Indian menace and it abounded in rich marsh lands dyked from the sea and fertile uplands from which the forests had been cleared. This land was old Acadia, now Nova Scotia. The French Neutrals who had lived here since the days of the founding of Port Royal (Annapolis) had been driven into exile less than ten years before. Much of their land was still unoccupied and the Government of Nova Scotia extended liberal offers to settlers from New England and elsewhere. Many families from Massachusetts and Connecticut took advantage of these offers. Among those who came to Nova Scotia in 1763 and settled in Cornwallis were Eliakim Tupper and William and Jane West. This Eliakim Tupper was the great grandfather of the subject of this memoir, while Elizabeth, 3 daughter of the Wests, a woman of remarkable talent and exceptional strength of character, who married Eliakim's son Charles, was the grandmother. Thus through both grandparents Sir Charles Tupper was of pronounced Puritan stock. The Nova Scotia Tuppers, while plain farmers, were men of remarkable firmness of character. Charles, the father of Sir Charles, early displayed a zeal for learning. No school was available in his vicinity except for the mere elementary branches of learning, and so young Charles was forced to educate himself. Very few young men have energy, patience, and perseverance to attain to scholar- ship without assistance amid the exacting duties of farm life in a somewhat out-of-the-way locality. One striking exception was Charles Tupper. He was not content to acquire simply the rudiments of reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography; he boldly attacked the Latin language, and at nine- teen was able to read it much better than most college graduates ever do. He next devoted himself to Greek, and persevered until he could read the New Testament in the original. He also read the whole of the Old Testament in the original Hebrew, a thing few theological students ever accomplish. After these prodigies of self-teaching he found it but a mere bagatelle to acquire familiarity with French, German, and Italian. When, in later years, Acadia College was founded 4 HIS FATHER by the Baptists of Nova Scotia with his active as- sistance, and men of learning, such as Drs. Pryor, Crawley, Cramp, and others were obtained to fill its professorial chairs, it was recognized that in scholarship none surpassed him, though he had never had a tutor or studied an hour within the walls of a university. When Charles Tupper the elder was twenty he was converted that is, he felt a conviction of sin, experienced a change of heart, and became a professing Christian. His religious experience had been intense and he had long struggled with doubts and difficulties, but once he had made an absolute surrender of his life to Christ he was seized with a desire to proclaim the Gospel. In March, 1816, when twenty-one, he preached his first sermon, and a few months later began his labours as an Evangelist, not so much in Corn- wallis, where he was born and reared, as in eastern Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Amherst was one of the places at which he was stationed; here, for a time, he resided with his first wife, formerly Mrs. Miriam Lockhart Lowe, of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, and here his eldest son Charles was born. Many of the qualities of the father were in- herited by his still more eminent son doggedness, a methodical manner of thinking and acting, and seriousness and gravity in respect of all duties imposed upon him. His father's income was not 5 SIR CHARLES TUPPER large and he had difficulty in contributing to the education of his children beyond the public school course. But he was ambitious for his children and wrote in his journal: "Having decided on mature deliberation to give my son Charles an education in order that he might be prepared to enter the medical profession, on August 1st, 1837, I sent him to our educational institution at Wolfville." Young Charles, equally desirous of obtaining a higher education, had qualified himself for a school teacher, and with what assistance his father could give him and a small sum obtained by teaching, began his studies at Horton Academy, Wolfville.