2-982-171 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Hon. John Alexander MacDonald, Premier of Canada, 1858. 'In 1838 he successfully defended a large number of prisoners implicated in the rebellion of 1837-8; and again, in 1839, his professional services were engaged for the defence of the so-called General Von Schultz, a prominent leader of a numerous band of American sympathisers, who, with ten of his misguided followers, paid the forfeit of their lives for their insane attempt to revolutionise Canada...His powers as a debater are of a high order, and nowhere has he been more successful or more in his element than in the Parliamentary arena, where his varied knowledge combined with profound acquaintance with constitutional law, and singular perspicuity and ingenuity, have left him without a rival'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.