lands, Drysdale, C. J. Graham, Sir J. A. Boyd, Galt,-Justice Galt has two executions to his credit, and I think if he could have had his way, he would have had a third with the Minister of Public Works as a victim-Macaulay, Simmons, C. J. Harvey, Walsh, Prendergast, Falconbridge, Mulock, Macdonald, Haszard, Harris, Monet and Kelly. Unfortunately we had one case in the province of Quebec, only one; and that was such a brutal ease that the public were all in favour of hanging the man. Otherwise he would have got off, because the people of the province of Quebec are determined not to sand a man to eternity unless his guilt is established beyond a shadow of doubt, and I think they are right. I wish the Prime Minister, or the Minister' of Marine and Fisheries (Mr. Hazen), who is leading the House, would just place his ear to the ground, and follow the dictates of his own conscience. If he did so, he would adopt my Bill as a Government measure. My hon. friend (Mr. Hazen) shakes his head, and like Pharoah of old, hardens his heart; and the Government, just to keep their hands in, strangles a few prodigals every year.
There are four great reforms marching hand in hand across this continent to-day, which no number of hidebound politicians, be they Grit or Tory, or Grit and Tory combined, will be able much longer to prevent becoming law by the consent of the citizens of Canada. They are, first, the right of the mothers in Canada to contribute towards making the laws of this country; second, the abolition of the bars; third, penitentiary and prison reform; fourth, the abolition of capital punishment. The first of these I feel safe in leaving in the hands' of our most recent convert amongst our leading Canadian statesmen, the right hon. the leader of His Majesty's loyal Opposition (Sir Wilfrid Laurier), who, having championed a good cause, fights for it, and fights to a finish. I regret very much that the hon. gentleman has not pronounced himself so strongly in favour of the other three reforms, but if I would be allowed to repeat an expression made use of by one who has gone to his rest, I would say that we should hope for the best, as the ship is heading in the right direction. The second-abolishing the bars [DOT]-I will leave in the hands of the hon. the leader of the Opposition in the Ontario Legislature, whose battle cry is: ' Abolish the Bars.' The third I feel to be quite safe in the hands of the hon. representative of the county of Frontenac (Mr. Edwards), who has been making such a good fight for
penitentiary and prison reform in Canada. The fourth-that of abolishing the death penalty in Canada-I intend to deal with to the best of my ability. It is not my intention, Mr. Speaker, to detain the House at any length, as I exhausted most of the arguments in my possession on this question on previous occasions in this House, when the question was being dealt with. I fail to understand how any man, claiming to be a Christian, and believing in an eternity of the soul, can be party to sending that soul into eternity.