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110 been ill and was out of the city--when the commisison sat in Toronto. Mr. : '"*The leader of the Opposition," con-- tinued <the Attorney--General, -- "asks this House to condemn a gent!sman whose character stands high and unim-- peached before the public and in the community, on the strength of testi-- mony like that. Mr. R+ A. Grant was not especially appointed. ~His firm vas expected to go and assist Mr. Watson. who was the counsel entrusted with the giving of evidence before the com-- mission. _As a matter of fact,. Mr. Macdonald was expected to act, but he was not present--Mr. Macdonald had The Opposition leader--concluded by moving the following amendment :-- "The appointment of R. A. Grant, who lha.d held professional relations with some of the men charged with the com-- l'mlsslon of ofences.in the Woest Elgin Lelection, to be one of the legal officers to assist in the execution of the com-- 'mission to examine into the conduct of the returning officer, deputy returning officers and poll clerks in the West El-- gin election 'deserves the strong con-- demnation of this House." ' 4 + -- Attorney--General's Reply. a --The Attorney--General--in.reply point-- led out that the House had been in ses-- sion for nearly five weeks. and the greater part of this time had been taoken up with the discussion of the \West Elgin matter. It was dragged in 'on. every conceivable occasion, and now. when the House was trying to sgettle down to business, it was .once more brought ~to the fore. . He.. doubted whether any leader of the Opposition had shown such lack of hppreciation of the proper proportion of things, or had displayed so puerile a disposition as Mr. Whitney had in connection with this matter. He did not blame the Op-- position for calling attention to the ir-- regularities, to the frauds, to the out-- ageous conduct of some of those who 'ad participated in the West Elgin elec-- tion, but the pertinacious way in which those on the other side had dovetailed this matter into every item of business throughout the session was not only unjustifiable, but deserving of censure. The country expected members to come there and transact business, but not to occupy four or five weeks with the _ discussion _ of _ one _ subject. The threat had been made that this| was only an instalment and more was' to follow. This implied that West Elgin was the whole stock--in--trade of the Opposition, and the one plank in their platform. He pitied the Opposition upon the poverty of their political pol-- lcy. (Ministerial applause.) The Gov-- ernment had said over and over again that it did not defend the election ir-- regularities or frauds perpetrated in West Elgin, but these ~matters were now sub--judice, and should be loft to the judicial commission which was con-- ducting an investigation.© But the Op-- position preferred to violate all rules of propriety and good taste rather than deny themselves the pleagure of revel-- ling in these matters, and reading the affidavits of self--confessed' criminals. (Ministerial chcers.) Mr. Whitney--Yes. I make my appeal even above the jeers of the Premier of Ontario. & « Mr. Ross--Hear, hear. °_ {| Macdonald is a Queen's. Counsel. T do 'r;\,ot know whether he is a Liberal or a tirant was not even present at the St. Thomas trial when the confession of Mr. Macnish was produced. In refer-- ence to the facts disclosed, no one pre-- tended to say one word of justification or defence. The Liberal party con-- demned it just as strongly as the hon. gentlemen of the Opposition, but he would tell the leader of the Opposition that the people of this country did not approve of his action in inserting '"West Elgin" in every debate and every matter brought before the House. While condemning fraud in elec-- tions, the people had some sense _ of propriety and . propor-- tion in these matters, and already people, irrespective of party, were The Attorney--General--The object of the hon. gentleman is to condemn the Government, but the reading of the amendinent is a condemnation of Mr. Grant if it is anything. Continuing, the Attorney--General said that he did not know of all the matters to 'which the leader of the QOpposition had referred, but he did know that Mr. Gir: t\