MONTREAL AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL POLITICS--CONFEDERATION TESTED--CARTIER AND THE PARTI ROUGE AT MONTREAL--ASSASSINATION OF THOMAS D’ARCY M’GEE--THE HUDSON’S BAY TRANSFER--THE METIS AND THE RIEL REBELLION--LORD STRATHCONA--THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY BILL--RESIGNATION OF SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD--SECOND FENIAN RAID--THE “NATIONAL POLICY”--VOTING REFORM--TEMPERANCE BILL--ORANGE RIOTS--SECOND NORTH WEST REBELLION--THE “SIXTY-FIFTH REGIMENT”--THE MANITOBA SCHOOL QUESTION--PROMINENT CITIZENS--BRITISH PREFERENTIAL TARIFF--BOER WAR--“STRATHCONA HORSE”--THE NATIONALIST LEAGUE--RECIPROCITY AND FEAR OF ANNEXATION--THE ELECTIONS OF 1911--NAVAL BILL--PROVINCIAL POLITICS--MONTREAL MEMBERS--PROVINCIAL OVERSIGHT OVER MONTREAL--HOME RULE--THE INTERNATIONAL WAR OF 1914--THE FIRST CONTINGENT--MONTREAL’S ACTION. Constitutionally Montreal has always been an influence in the moulding of the Dominion. This has been brought about by its geographical situation and its public men. From the first the city has been favored in its sons--men who have controlled the destinies of the growing country, and who in turn have been influenced by their closer environments. This is seen in the constitutional acts of both the Province and the Dominion, for practically most public events, particularly since Confederation, have been shaped to meet the requirements of the commercial metropolis. Confederation had its opponents, particularly amongst the younger members of the “parti rouge” or democratic party, who in Lower Canada, but now the Province of Quebec, had been waiting for an opportunity to break the power of Sir George Etienne Cartier, the great French Canadian leader in the confederation movement, so that in the elections called for to ratify the British North America Act, they determined, in spite of the advice to the contrary, of their brilliant leader (Dorion), to give Cartier the fight of his life. The new Federal government realized that the permanency of the constitution depended largely on the attitude of Quebec and much anxiety was felt as to the results of the elections which were to be held in the autumn of 1867--the British North America Act having come into force on July 1st.