Liberal  politicians  continued  to  attack  Sir  R. Borden  while
others  were  urging  some  kind  of  coalition. W. M. German,  m.p.,
at  Hamilton  (Apr. 10)  declared  that  the  Premier  had  "lamentably
failed  to  carry  on  a  war-time  Government,  and  that  he  should
long  since  have  called  a  meeting  of  party  leaders  and  formed  a
National  administration";  while  The  Globe  as  late  as  May  5  declared
"  that  the  failure  of  the  Borden  Administration  was  due  to  the  absence
of  statesmanship  and  the  lack  of  moral  stamina  and  that  in  every-
thing that  affects  the  successful  prosecution  of  the  War  and  the
welfare  of  the  people  the  Borden  Government  has  signally  failed
to  express  the  national  mind."  Obviously  there  was  a  good  way  to
go  before  Party  union  under  Sir  Robert  Borden  could  be  achieved!
Meantime,  however,  the  call  in  many  Liberal  quarters  for  union
of  some  kind  increased  and  then  spread  in  other  directions. The
Ottawa  Free  Press,  under  the  editorship  of  E. Norman  Smith,  was
probably  the  first  conspicuous  Liberal  advocate  of  the  policy. On
July  10,  1915,  after  arguing  the  principle  and  the  necessity  at  length,
it  had  declared  that  "the  formation  of  a  Dominion  Coalition  Govern-
ment, under  Sir  Robert  Borden,  if  it  is  so  desired,  would  be  the
truly  patriotic  thing  for  Canada's  leading  statesmen  to  bring  about
— patriotic  for  the  Empire  and  patriotic  for  Canada."*  Then  came
the  1916  advocacy  of  the  Toronto  Star  and  its  statement  on  Jan. 4,

*  Mr. Norman  Smith  told  the  Author,  May  1917,  that  at  this  time  Sir  W. Laurler
expressed  to  him  "doubt  as  to  both  the  wisdom  and  feasibility  of  Coalition."


558  THE  CANADIAN  ANNUAL  REVIEW

1917:  "There  should  be  no  party  in  office  at  this  time. The  Prime
Minister  should  not  have  a  political  party  on  his  back. The
country  should  have  a  non-partisan  War  Administration. If  Sir
Robert  Borden  brought  that  about  it  would  be  the  end  of  his  troubles
and  the  beginning  of  his  usefulness."  The  influential  Free  Press  of
Winnipeg — Liberal  and  controlled  by  Sir  Clifford  Sifton — declared
on  Jan. 6  that:  "A  united  National  Government  is  important;  united
action  by  the  whole  country  is  more  important. 