Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/128

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104
MACDONALD
McDONALD

affairs, and under his direction the insurgents were crushed and punished, the operations being con- ducted with spirit and determination. Sir John had natural abilities of the highest order, was an authority on constitutional law, and ranked high as a public speaker and parliamentary debater. He always devoted himself to the public interest, as he understood it, and his bitterest opponents could not charge him with being governed by avarice or personal ambition in his conduct of jjublic affairs. — His second wife, Susan Agxes, whom he married in 1867, is a daughter of Thomas A. Bernard, mem- ber of the Queen's privy council, Jamaica, and was raised to the peerage after Sir John's death.


MACDONALD, John Sandfleld, Canadian statesman, b. in St. Raphaels. Glengarrv, 12 Dec, 1912 : d. in Corn- wall, 1 June, 1872. His grandfather came from Scot- land in 1786 with one of those High- land migrations by which the coun- ty of Glengarry was almost exclu- sively colonized. His mother died when he was a boy, and, being dissatisfied with thecareer that was intended for him, he ran away from

home and served

as a merchant's clerk for about two years, when he determined to abandon commerce for law. His education having been much neglected, in Novem- ber, 1832, he entered Cornwall grammar-school, and, though the usual course was three years, at the end of two years he was declared " dux " of the school. In 1835 Mr. Macdonald passed his preliminary ex- amination before the Law society, and in June, 1840, was admitted to the bar, and began practice in Cornwall. He achieved an immediate success, and established a lucrative practice, which he re- tained and increased even after his attention had been diverted from his professional duties by his political associations. 1841 he was elected nomi- nally as a Conservative to the parliament of the re- cently united provinces of Upper and Lower Cana- da for Glengarry. In the first session of this parlia- ment the resolutions that established responsible government were passed, but Sir Charles Metcalf having attempted, in November, 1843, to subvert their principles, Mr. Macdonald separated from his former political associates, and thenceforward acted as an independent reformer. Though Glen- garry was a Conservative constituency, Mr. Mac- donald's Gaelic and English harangues secured his re-election, and produced a complete change in its polities. In 1848, 1852, and 1854 he was re-elected without opposition. He succeeded William Hume Blake as solicitor-general in the Baldwin-Lafon- taine government in December, 1849, and held this portfolio till his resignation in 1851. He was speaker of parliament in 1852-'4, and in 1858 was attorney-general in the Brown-Dorion, or " two- days' " ministry. In 1857 he was elected for Corn- wall, and in 1862 was called upon by Lord Monk to form a government after the defeat of the Car- tier-Macdonald administration. This he did, and remained its premier until he resigned in 1864. In 1867 he became premier of the province of Ontario, and the leader of a coalition government, but after the elections of 1871. finding himself in a minority, he resigned the leadership, though he remained a member of parliament till his death. Mr. Mac- donald, though regarded as a reformer during the greater part of his public life, never claimed politi- cal consistency, nor permitted his allegiance to party to influence his judgment or determine his actions. He opposed the confederation of the provinces, rep- resentation by population, and, although a Roman Catholic, was not an advocate of separate schools. He possessed great administrative powers, and was personally popular, but too independent to be a good party-leader, and was regarded even by his political opponents as being above the suspicion of public or private wrong-doing. He married a daughter of George A. Waggaman, IT. S. senator. — His brother, Donald Alexander, statesman, b. in St. Raphaels, Glengarry. Ontario, 17 Feb., 1817, was educated at St. Raphaels college. He was a contractor on the Grand Trunk railway for some time, for several years warden of the counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry, and in 1857 was elected to the Can- ada assembly for Glengarry. He represented this constituency till the union of 1867,, when he was re- elected for it to the Dominion parliament. In 1871 he was offered the treasurership of Ontario, which he refused. He was elected for Glengarry again in 1872, and on his appointment as postmaster-general in the Mackenzie administration, 7 Nov., 1873, was re-elected by acclamation, as well as afterward in 1874. He remained postmaster-general until he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Ontario, 18 May, 1875, retired from the latter office in 1880, and has since been out of public life. Mr. ]Iac- donald is lieutenant-colonel commanding the Glen- garry reserve militia, and president of the Mon- treal and Ottawa junction railway.


McDonald, Joseph Ewing, senator, b. in Butler CO., Ohio. 29 Aug.. 1819: d. in Indianapolis, Ind., 21 June. 1891. His father died while the son was an infant, and the latter was educated by his mother until his thirteenth year. He entered Wabash college, Crawfordsville, Ind.. at eighteen years of age, supporting himself by working at his trade at odd hours and between terms, was at Asbui-y university in 1840-2, and after leaving college studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1844, and, removing to Crawfordsville in 1845, established a practice. He was elected attorney- general in 1856, and three years later removed to Indianapolis, where he afterward followed his profession. He was elected to congress as a Democrat in 1848, and served in 1849-51, but was defeated in the next canvass, and also in 1864 as Demo- cratic candidate for governor against Oliver P. Morton. He was chairman of the state Demo- cratic committee in 1872, reorganized the party, and se- cured the election of a Democratic le- gislature by which he was sent to the

U. S. senate in 1875,

serving till 1881. While in that body he took a conspicuous part in debates on

finance, and was in favor of hard money and a protective tariff.