230 THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT [PART II 
vene in Dominion politics by helping his party in Quebec in 
view of the elections of 1878. he said -—1 
Notwithstanding the purchase of the Speaker a vote of 
want of confidence was passed in the Legislative Assembly, 
and a similar resolution was adopted in the Upper House. 
Mr. Joly, however, did not resign as he ought to have done, 
and as the Lieutenant-Governor ought to have called upon 
him to do. He held to office and proceeded with the business 
of the country. He succeeded in carrying the supplies, and 
the fact of his having done so is quoted as a proof of 
the substantial confidence of the House in him. But the 
refusal of supplies is an antiquated procedure, and has long 
since been succeeded in England by votes of want of confi- 
dence, and for the same reasons which induced the Opposition 
at Quebec to vote the supplies. The refusal to do so would 
have clogged the whole machinery of Government, would 
have stopped the construction of the Government railways 
and ruined the contractors, and at a time of great depression 
would have deprived very many working men of the means 
of subsistence. The Opposition therefore patriotically 
deemed it wise, while persisting in their expression of want 
of confidence, not to obstruct the whole business of the 
country. During the whole of the legislative existence of 
Mr. Joly he has thus been carrying on the Government by 
the improper partisanship of the Lieutenant-Governor, and 
the casting vote of a Speaker purchased with his connivance. 
In the session of the Dominion Parliament of 1878 the conduct 
of Mr. Letellier was brought before the House of Commons 
by Sir John Macdonald, the leader of the Opposition, who 
moved the following resolution :— 
"That the recent dismissal by the Lieutenant-Governor 
of the Province of Quebec of his Ministry was, under 
the circumstances, unwise and subversive of the position 
accorded to the advisers of the Crown since the concession 
of the principle of responsible Government to the British 
North American Colonies.’ 
On reference to the debates, it will be seen that Mr. Mac- 
kenzie’s Government did not defend Mr. Letellier’s action, 
although they supported their old colleague by a vote of 
112 to 70. During the same session the Senate passed by 
a vote of 37 to 20 the following resolution :— 
‘That the messages of his Excellency the Governor- 
General of the 26th March and 8th April be now read, and 
* Parl, Pap., C. 2445, pp. 107-9,