Such were the circumstances under which the prorogation of the 13th of August, 1873, took place. Looking back on it, in the light of the seven years which have since elapsed, it will be hard to arrive at any other conclusion than that Lord Dufferin did not deserve the animadversions which were heaped upon him. As he himself observed in his despatch to the Colonial Secretary two days after the prorogation: "It is a favourite theory at this moment with many persons that when once grave charges of this nature have been preferred against the Ministry they become _ipso facto_ unfit to counsel the Crown. The practical application of this principle would prove very inconvenient, and would leave not only the Governor-General, but every Lieutenant-Governor in the Dominion very thinly provided with responsible advisers; for, as far as I have been able to seize the spirit of political controversy in Canada, there is scarcely an eminent man in the country on either side whose character or integrity has not been, at one time or another, the subject of reckless attack by his opponents in the press." In a word, he acted on the well-established principle that every man is to be adjudged innocent until he has been proved guilty; and in so acting he showed that he understood the responsibilities of his position. That his Ministers were culpable, as well as unwise, in advising the prorogation, is certain; and when the next elections came on they paid the penalty of their disingenuousness. The events of Lord Dufferin's residence in Canada subsequent to the fall of the Macdonald Ministry, which has already been reviewed, must be given in few words. The political events by which his administration was characterized have been given at sufficient length in sketches to which they more properly belong. The Mackenzie Administration had not been long in power before each individual member of it was on friendly terms with the Governor-General, and there seems to have been a tacit understanding that all past differences of opinion should be forgotten. In the summer of 1874 His Excellency and suite made a tour through the Muskoka District, and thence westward by steamer over lakes Huron, Superior and Michigan. The tourists called at most of the interesting points on the route, including Chicago, where they disembarked, and returned overland by way of Detroit. All the most important towns in Ontario were then visited, and the party returned home to Ottawa in September, after an absence of about two months. It was during his sojourn in Toronto, while on his return from this expedition, that Lord Dufferin made his famous speech at the Toronto Club, which aroused the enthusiasm of the press on both sides of the Atlantic. A part of the summer and autumn of each succeeding year was spent by His Excellency in making other tours through the various Provinces of the Dominion. The last important one was made in 1877, and consisted of a pilgrimage