Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

28 HISTORY OF THE BANKin the Commercial Bank in the proportion of one to three.The failure was, however, a very severe blow to the Hon. A. T.Gait, and undoubtedly formed one of the principal reasons forhis resignation from the Cabinet on November 3, 1867.Neither Gait nor King of the Bank of Montreal was popularin western Canada at this period, because of their attitudein the past towards banking legislation, and the rumour spreadthat they had conspired together to ruin the CommercialBank. Although the rumour could not stand investigationfor a moment, Gait felt it bitterly, and considered that hiscolleagues, and especially Sir John A. Macdonald, had allowedthe matter to come before Parliament in a light which reflectedunfavourably on him. He had been one of Sir John A.Macdonald's nearest confidants and advisers, and had beenchosen by him in 1862 to go on a secret mission to ascertainthe real policy of President Lincoln when certain members ofthe United States Cabinet were advocating the conquest ofCanada as an offset to Federal reverses. He was able to bringback assurances that no such war of conquest would betolerated as long as Lincoln was at the White House. Theadmiration in which his oratorical and reputed financial geniuswas held was voiced by Henry J. Morgan, 1 the faithful biographerof three generations of Canadians, who in 1862described him as both the Gladstone and the Disraeli ofCanada. It must have been with the greatest reluctance thatat this time.Sir John A. Macdonald accepted his resignationGait's successor in 1867 as Minister of Finance was JohnRose, a man of the most brilliant attainments, who wasdestined to enjoy a distinguished career in Great Britain inlater years. Rose was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1820,and came to Canada as a boy, settling in the Eastern Townships.He studied law in Montreal and was called to the barat the age of twenty-two. Within a few years he had builtup the largest law practice in that city, and was especiallyfortunate in being appointed solicitor of the Hudson's Bay^Sketches of Celebrated Canadians and Persons connected with Canada, 1862. p. 618.