Letter from Sir John A. Macdonald to Senator McCallum, 19 July 1889

Abstract

A letter from Sir John A. Macdonald to Senator McCallum 19 July 1889 reads: "I have yours of the 15th inst. and beg to repeat that I do not see any way to recommend that Ellis and Demare should be suspended before trial. The fact that our investigation has been ordered on the statements laid before the Government does not prove that suspension is necessary or equitable.

In no case would an investigation be ordered unless there was some prima facie evidence to warrant it, and the granting of your request would be equivalent to saying that in any case in the public service where there was sufficient evidence to warrant enquiry, the officer whose conduct was impugned would be suspended. I must reiterate that this is not a spirit of British justice.

As to your opinion that the men serving under Ellis and Demare would not give correct evidence on that account, it is, I think, unjust to these men. They will be put upon oath and will, I have no doubt, tell the truth. Believe me, my dear McCallum, I am acting in this matter from a strict sense of what is proper, and from no other feeling whatever."