the Reform party.  Dr. Rolph’s qualities ensured him success in political intrigue, and he soon became a member of the Hincks-Morin government, which was formed on the reconstruction of the Lafontaine-Baldwin ministry in 1851, when its two moderate leaders were practically pushed aside by men more in harmony with the aggressive elements of the Reform party.  But Mr. Mackenzie could never win such triumphs as were won by his wily and more manageable associate of old times.  He published a newspaper—­The Weekly Message—­replete with the eccentricities of the editor, but it was never a financial success, while his career in the assembly from 1851 until 1858 only proved him almost a nullity in public affairs.  Until his death in 1861 his life was a constant fight with poverty, although his closing years were somewhat soothed by the gift of a homestead.  He might have received some public position which would have given him comfort and rest, but he would not surrender what he called his political freedom to the men in office, who, he believed, wished to purchase his silence—­the veriest delusion, as his influence had practically disappeared with his flight to the United States.

Joseph Howe, unlike the majority of his compeers who struggled for popular rights, was a prominent figure in public life until the very close of his career in 1873.  All his days, even when his spirit was sorely tried by the obstinacy and indifference of some English ministers, he loved England, for he knew—­like the Loyalists, from one of whom he sprung—­it was in her institutions, after all, his country could best find prosperity and happiness.  It is an interesting fact that, among the many able essays and addresses which the question of imperial federation has drawn forth, none can equal his great speech on the consolidation of the empire in eloquence, breadth, and fervour.  Of all the able men Nova Scotia has produced no one has surpassed that great tribune of the people in his power to persuade and delight the masses by his oratory.  Yet, strange to say, his native province has never raised a monument to his memory.

One of the most admirable figures in the political history of the Dominion was undoubtedly Robert Baldwin.  Compared with other popular leaders of his generation, he was calm in council, unselfish in motive, and moderate in opinion.  If there is any significance in the political phrase “Liberal-Conservative,” it could be applied with justice to him.  The “great ministry,” of which he and Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine—­afterwards a baronet and chief justice—­were the leaders, left behind it many monuments of broad statesmanship, and made a deep impression on the institutions of the country.  In 1851 he resigned from the Reform ministry, of which he had been the Upper Canadian leader, in consequence of a vote of the Reformers of that province adverse to the continuance of the court of chancery, the constitution of which had been improved