A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography: Brief biographies of persons distinguished in the professional, military and political life, and the commerce and industry of Canada, in the twentieth century
History
A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography: Brief biographies of persons distinguished in the professional, military and political life, and the commerce and industry of Canada, in the twentieth century
Canada -- Biography
for Canada to adopt the policy of conscription, which had already been
reluctantly adopted in Great Britain by Mr. Asquith, and had become the
policy of the United States, which had recently entered the war. It was
clear to Sir Robert that this policy could only be effectively imposed
by consent of both parties in the House of Commons, and on his return to
Canada in May, 1917, he announced conscription as his policy and an
abandonment of party government. He was at first stoutly opposed both in
the ranks of his own party and by his political opponents. Nevertheless,
after long and patient negotiations he was successful in winning
practically the entire body of English-speaking Liberals to his way of
thinking, and conscription carried in the House of Commons in the latter
part of July, 1917, by the greatest majority ever given so momentous a
measure. He then proceeded to form a Union Government almost equally
representative of Conservatives and Liberals. Early in December of 1917
this government, with Sir Robert as Prime Minister, appealed to the
people, and was supported by almost the entire mass of English-speaking
constituencies, giving him the largest majority that any political
leader has ever enjoyed in this country. As a result of the adoption of
conscription, Canada was enabled by the time peace was declared to
fulfil her pledge of sending 500,000 men to aid in the war against
autocracy—a contribution which has made this country famous throughout
the world. Already, on January 1, 1912, Sir Robert had been sworn in as
a member of the Imperial Privy Council, the highest office that up to
that time had been held in the Motherland by a Canadian. On his arrival
in London in June, 1918, he was invited by the Prime Minister, Hon.
David Lloyd-George to become a member of the Imperial War Cabinet, a
post which he held during the duration of the war. This was followed in
November of 1918 by an invitation to become one of Great Britain’s
Imperial representatives at the negotiations preliminary to and
coincident with the Peace Conference to resolve the disasters of the war
and at once proceeded overseas. Sir Robert’s Imperial services have been
such, and his legal attainments are so well known that at the time of
writing his elevation to the peerage as a colonial representative on the
legal committee of the Privy Council, which is the Court of Appeal for
the whole Empire, is being strongly advocated in the Motherland. In his
private relations Sir Robert is greatly beloved, and though his duties
have brought him in contact with all the leading figures of Great
Britain, France and the United States, he is a thorough democrat in
bearing. His favorite recreation is golf and he has played with many
world-famous statesmen, though he does not claim to be a champion. He is
an Anglican in religion and a member of many clubs on both sides of the
Atlantic. In September of 1889 he married Laura, daughter of the late T.
H.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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