Yet there were many weaknesses in its situation, which time was to make clear. The Government's forces were not closely united: the only bond holding together several of the groups which made up the majority was that of common opposition to the late administration. Many stragglers on the flanks were waylaid and brought back into their old camp by that arch-strategist, Sir John Macdonald. The question of leadership was not fully determined. In Ontario Edward Blake divided allegiance with {36} Alexander Mackenzie, and Blake's inability to make up his mind definitely to serve under Mackenzie greatly weakened the party. In Quebec the situation was even more serious. Dorion was the man whose constructive ability, admirable temper, and long years of fighting against heavy odds marked him out as chief, but family and health considerations determined him to retire to the quieter if not less heavy labours of the bench. Fournier soon followed. Laflamme, in whose office Laurier had studied, was hardly a man of sufficient weight. Holton, leader of the small group of English Liberals in Quebec, was also in very poor health. To fill the gap Mackenzie summoned Joseph Cauchon, a former Conservative who had left his party on the Pacific Scandal; a man of great ability, active in the campaign for Confederation, but weakened by an unfortunate record of corruption in earlier days, a record which his Liberal opponents of those days had painted in startling and unforgettable colours. ====================================================================== [Illustration: PRIME MINISTERS OF CANADA, 1867-1915 1. ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, 1873-78 2. SIR JOHN ABBOTT, 1891-92 3. SIR JOHN THOMPSON, 1892-94 4. SIR WILFRID LAURIER, 1896-1911 5. SIR JOHN MACDONALD, 1867-73, 1878-91 6. SIR MACKENZIE BOWELL, 1894-96 7. SIR CHARLES TUPPER, 1896 8. SIR ROBERT BORDEN, 1911-] ======================================================================