There was doubt as to the result in the House till some of the independent members who might ordinarily have supported the Government began to indicate otherwise. Curiously enough, Mr. Donald A. Smith (afterwards Lord Strathcona), the man who, later on, drove the last spike in the Canadian Pacific Railway, under the Premiership of this same Sir John Macdonald, in 1885, was the member who really dealt the Government its knockout blow in 1873 in the House of Commons. No one knew what the course of Mr. Smith, who was never a party man, would be, and when he rose to speak every one listened with strained attention. His opening words seemed to favour the Government, but he was simply absolving Sir John Macdonald from personal blame. Here is the report of what Mr. Smith said: “With respect to the transaction between the Government and Sir Hugh Allan, I do not consider that the First Minister took the money with any corrupt motive. I feel that the leader of the Government is incapable of taking money from Sir Hugh Allen for corrupt purposes. I would be most willing to vote confidence in the Government (loud cheers from the Government side), if I could do so conscientiously (loud cheers from the Opposition). It is with very great regret that I cannot do so. For the honour of the country, no Government should exist that has a shadow of suspicion resting on them, and for that reason I could not support them.” (Renewed Opposition cheers.) In the afternoon of that day, November 5th, 1873, Sir John A. Macdonald informed the House that he had placed his resignation in the hands of the Governor-General and that the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie was called upon to form a new administration.