Sir Richard Cartwright and the Liberal Party, 1863-1896

389 Pages·020.319 MB·English

by  Graham, Roger

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"Sir Richard Cartwright and the Liberal Party"
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Ph.D. 1950
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Sir Richard Cartwright and the Liberal Party^ J?6 3- JS'9^
A thesis submitted in conformity with
the requirements for ttie degree
of Doctor of Philosophy in
the university of Toronto
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The University of Toronto
August, 1950
(c) William Roger Graham 1965
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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
PROGRAMME OF THE FINAL ORAL EXAMINATION
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
WILLIAM ROGER GRAHAM
2:00 P.M.. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER lltli, 19S0
AT 44 HOSKIN AVENUE
SIR RICHARD CARTWRIGHT AND THE LIBERAL PARTY
t'OMMnTr.r. IN CHARGE
I>can H. A. Innis, Chairman
Professor C. Martin*
Professor F. H. Cndf.rhill
Professor (i. \V. Brown
Professor D. C. Creighton
Professor K. W. MtInnis
Professor J. M. S’. Caki.m
Professor A. Brndy
Professor R. MacC». Dawson
Professor Fred Ijindon -l'nivr*stty of Wrstrrn Ontario
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B IO G R A P H I CAT.
1919 — Born, Montreal, P.Q.
3941 — B.A., The University of Manitoba
1945 — M .A., University of Toronto
1944-7 — Lecturer in History (Part time). University of Toronto
1947-9 — Instructor in History, University of Saskatchewan
1949-50— Assistant Professor of History. University of Saskatchewan (Regina
College )
1942-47 }
1950-51 r School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto
TH U S IS
Sir Richard Carticrit/ht and the I.ihcral Parly
( Abstract)
Richard John Cartwright, whose long career in Canadian politics extended
from 1863 to his death in 1912 and who was a dominant figure in the Liberal
party between 1873 and 1896. was reared in an atmosphere of aristocratic
conservatism. For two generations before him members of his family, which
was as nearly the equivalent of the linglish landed gentry as one can find
in Canadian history, had been active and influential in the economic, social
and political life of Upper Canada. His loyalist grandfather, the Honorable
Richard Cartwright, was merchant and landowner. Legislative Councillor and
Judge. His uncle, John Solomon Cartwright, entered the Legislative Assembly
in the fateful election of 1836 as a supporter of Francis Bond Head. In the
Assembly he carried on a stubborn defence of the Family Compact and a
hitter attack on Baldwin, I.afontaine and responsible government.
It is not surprising, in view of the traditions of his family, that R. J.
Cartwright entered the Legislative Assembly of Canada in 1863 as a follower
of John A. Macdonald for, if the new Liberal Conservatism was different from
the old Toryism, it was nevertheless its lineal descendant. However. Cart­
wright's connection with Macdonald Conservatism was short-lived, terminating
abruptly in 1869 when Macdonald appointed Sir Francis Hincks Minister of
Finance. For the next four years Cartwright, while maintaining a position of
official independence, veered steadily towards an alignment with the Reform
party and his change of allegiance was completed during the excitement and
confusion of the Pacific Scandal.
Cartwright appeared to have gained revenge for the Hincks appointment
by the humiliation of Macdonald in 1873 and his own selection as Finance
Minister in the cabinet of Alexander Mackenzie. But the benefit to him and
to his new friends caused by the sensational reversal of political fortunes was
of brief duration. The depression of the 1870’s bedevilled the plans and
hampered the actions of the Government : and Cartwright, as Minister of
Finance, was peculiarly vulnerable to the inevitable charges of the Opposition
that the Liberals were not only to blame for the depression but were incapable
\
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: df doing anything to counteract it. Thus placed on the defensive, the Liberal
party in general and Richard Cartwright in particular fell back on two basic
propositions of which Cartwright was to be an outspoken champion for the
remainder of his life: first, the necessity of economical government; second,
the superiority on economic, political and moral grounds of a low revenue
tariff over tariff protection.
The demand for economy was one of the main pillars of the Clear Grit
tradition and one which seemed to be vindicated by the economic circumstances
ot the 1870’s. Its incessant re-iteration, however, identified the party with
a policy of miserliness regarding the great tasks of internal national development
which was an important factor in the Liberal defeat in 1878. The discovery by
the Conservatives of the manifold virtues of protection caused their opponents
to commit themselves ever more unequivocally to the defence of low tariffs
and from the great tariff controversy which raged during the last three years
of the Mackenzie administration Cartwright emerged as the bitterest enemy
among Canadian public men of protection and the corruption it bred.
After Fdward Blake succeeded Mackenzie as Liberal leader in 1880 the
party was officially steered along paths which Cartwright did not wish it to
follow. In particular Blake tried to erase the stigma of anti-protectionism,
which had cost the party valuable support among the business community, and
to disassociate Liberalism from that anti-French and anti-Roman Catholic
spirit which had been fostered by George Brown and the Globe. Cartwright’s
dislike of the first part of this strategy was understandable in view of his
prominence as a critic of the National I’olicy. W hile he had no animus against
Roman Catholics and French Canadians, he feared the repercussions in Ontario
of some of Blake's tactics, particularly his attack 011 the Orange Order and
his condemnation of the hanging of Kiel. The two men drifted apart during
Blake’s leadership, though their complete estrangement awaited the publication
of Blake's West Durham Letter in 1891.
Blake’s retirement as leader after the election of 1887 marked the beginning
of Cartwright’s brief period of paramount influence in the party. Though he
was rejected as leader in favor of W ilfrid Laurier. he did become for a time
the leading Ontario Liberal in federal politics and was instrumental in placing
the party 011 the side of the extreme continentalist policy of unrestricted reci­
procity. The new policy was vigorously supported by Laurier and the majority
of his followers but it was never acceptable to a substantial minority of
Liberals of whom Blake was the most influential and who dreaded the probable
economic and possible political results of free trade with the United States. As
the leader of the continentalist wing of the party. Cartwright was continually
handicapped by this internal dissidencc as well as by the unco-operative attitude
of the Government of the United States which refused throughout to sub­
scribe to the doctrine of continental economic unity.
The decisive rejection of unrestricted reciprocity by the voters of Canada in
1X91 caused the Liberal party once more to shift its ground. The disorganization
of the party and the uncertainty regarding its future course which ensued upon
this defeat and upon the publication of Blake’s disquieting West Durham
Letter were ended by the national convention of 1893. The convention adopted
a new platform which repudiated unrestricted reciprocity and returned the
party to its traditional advocacy of economy, lower tariffs and limited reci­
procity with the United States. That brand of contincntalism for which Cart­
wright had been the leading spokesman was now in eclipse and Cartwright
iound himself shorn of much of the influence he had enjoyed in recent years.
As the disintegration of the Conservative party following the death of
Macdonald became more obvious and a Liberal victory more likely, a concerted
campaign to destroy Cartwright's power developed within his own party. An
attempt to deprive him of his seat in the House of Commons failed as did an
ettort to secure his exclusion from the cabinet formed by Laurier after the
election of 1896. His opponents were, however, successful in preventing his
I
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receiving the Finance portfolio which he had hoped and expected to have and
his demotion to the Department of Trade and Commerce symbolized the finai
replacement, of the old continentalist Liberalism, whose defender he was, by a
new Liberalism which was essentially Macdonald Conservatism sanctified In
a measure of success which its inventor had never enjoyed.
In the Laurier cabinet Cartwright was. as one observer termed him, “'an
historical but inconspicuous” figure, forced to support publicly and powerles?
to alter policies which, had they been followed by the Conservatives, he would
have denounced as wilfully extravagant and shamefully corrupt.
The purpose of this thesis i., to elaborate the events tud developments set
out briefly above and to describe in particular Sir Richard Cartwright’s position
in the Liberal party. He was not a successful politician, his career being
marked by repeated failures and disappointments. He gained his greatest
distinction fighting doggedly for a number of lost causes from the Opposition
side. He was. nevertheless, a man of considerable importance in Canadian
politics, a man of some intellectual stature, a man of deep and fiercely held '%
convictions. As a parliamentary debater he had few peers in his lifetime and $
his wit. his belligerent partisanship and his rather arrogant self-confidence
contributed not a little to the color and vitality of Canadian political life
in the latter decades of the nineteenth century.
P U B LIC A TIO N
“Liberal Nationalism in the 1870’s”, Annual Report of the Canadian I/istorical
Association. 1946.
G R A D U A TE S TU D IE S
.1 lajor Subject:
Canadian History— Professor Chester Martin
Professor F. H. Underbill
Minor Subjects:
History :
Tudor and Stuart England— Professor D. J. McDougall
Age of the Knlightenment— Professor R. M. Saunders
The United States to 1917— Professor G. \V. Brown
Professor R. A. Preston
Political Science :
Government of Canada— Professor R. M. Dawson
: I
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