removed to Hamilton, where he began the practice of his profession. In 1829 a circumstance occurred that proved the direct means of his entrance into public life. The " Hamilton outrage," as the ex- hibition of Sir John Colborne in effigy through the streets of that city was called, became the sub- ject of parliamentary inquiry. MacNab was sum- moned as a witness, and, on certain questions being put to him, he declined to testify, averring that if he did so he might compromise himself. He was declared guilty of contempt, and the sergeant-at- arms promptly took him into custody and brought him to the bar of the house. On motion of William Lyon Mackenzie, the leader of the Upper Canadian rebellion of eight years afterward, the recalcitrant witness was committed to the common jail. He was confined for a brief period only, but the Con- servatives chose to regard him as a martyr, and when the general elections of 1830 occurred Mac- Nab was selected as their candidate. He was sent to the house of assembly as the representative of Wentworth county, and one of his first acts in the legislature was to second a motion for the expul- sion of Mr. Mackenzie from parliament for breach of privilege, the offence being the publication in Mackenzie's newspaper of some sharp criticism of the government's policy. The conduct of MacNab and his friends was indefensible, but party feeling ran high in those days, and members stopped at nothing. MacNab followed his movement of hos- tility against Mackenzie with a series of attacks, which hardly ceased during the lifetime of the agi- tator. In 1887 he was elected speaker of the house of assembly, and he continued to hold that office until the union of 1841. He represented Went- worth county for three terms, and then sat for Hamilton. The Upper Canadian rebellion of 1837-'8 gave him another opportunity to employ his sol- dier-like qualities. As soon as the uprising took place he put himself at the head of a band of fol- lowers, whom he styled his *' Men of Gore," and proceeded to Toronto to the assistance of the lieu- tenant-governor. The rout of the rebels at Mont- gomery's tavern, the dispersion of the malcontents of the" western district, the Niagara frontier epi- sode, and the cutting out of the steamer " Caro- line" followed in quick succession. For services that he rendered in the campaign, MacNab was knighted, and received the thanks of the provincial legislature. Later he was created Queen's counsel. Soon after the union of Upper and Lower Cana- da, Sir Allan became leader of the Conservatives, then in opposition. , On the defeat of the Baldwin- Lafontaine administration, MacNab was elected to the speaker's chair, and he occupied it from 1844 till 1848, when he once more became chief of the Conservative opposition, and Baldwin and Lafon- taine succeeded to power for a second time. He opposed with great vehemence Lafontaine's rebel- lion losses bill, and even went to England to invoke imperial interference. His mission failed, though Mr. Gladstone strongly supported his cause. On the defeat of the Hincks-Morin government in 1854, Sir Allan was asked by the Earl of Elgin to form a cabinet. He called Mr. Morin to his aid, and in the month of September in the same year he succeeded in forming a coalition ministry, taking the offices of president of the council and minister of agriculture. In this cabinet by far the more active spirit was John A. Macdonald, Sir Allan's lieutenant. This government succeeded in negoti- ating a reciprocity treaty with the United States, abolishing the seigniorial tenure laws, and secular- izing the clergy reserves. The premier suffered severely from gout, and his energy and force began to show signs of weakening. On Macdonald's shoul- ders fell the real work of the government. It was MacNab's wish that John Hillyard Cameron should succeed him in the leadership of his party, but the party itself had decided on Macdonald, and when Sir Allan was forced to yield to disease, in 1856, the latter became the virtual chief. On retiring from office. Sir Allan was created a baronet, and in 1857 he sailed for England in search of rest and health. He went to reside at a place near Brighton, and his health was so much benefited that he announced himself as a candidate for the English house of commons, as a supporter of the Earl of Derby's ad- ministration. He was defeated, and then deter- mined to return home.
On arriving at Hamilton in 1860 he was pros- trated by his old trouble, and forced to keep his bed for several weeks. A vacancy occurring in the western division in the legislative council. Sir Al- lan was asked to become a candidate. He rallied, promptly accepted the nomination, and was carried to the hustings, where he addressed the electors,, and, notwithstanding his feeble condition, he se- cured his election by a majority of twenty-six votes. A partial reconciliation took place between him and Macdonald, but the old feeling was still strong. While in England, Sir Allan had been consulted by the home government on the subject of colonial defences. For the advice he gave he was made an honorary colonel of the British army. He was also accorded the rank of an honorary aide-de-camp to the Queen, an honor that is never lightly given, and in that capacity he attended the Prince of Wales during the latter's visit to Canada in 1860. When the parliamentary session of 1862 opened. Sir Allan was chosen as the first elective speaker of the legis- lative council. Failing health and general pros- tration, however, had done their work, and he was unable to perform the duties of his office. In the declining days of the session he was too ill to be in his place. When prorogation came in June, he was barely able to get to his home in Hamilton, and six weeks later he died. Throughout his life- time he had been a zealous member of the Church of England, but just after his death his sister- in-law, who had attended him during his closing years, declared that he had died in the Roman Catholic faith, and, as she was the executrix of the estate, by her order he was buried in Roman Catholic ground and according to Roman Catholic- rites. This incident created great excitement, and became the subject of controversy in the news- papers. Many men in political and legal life re- fused to attend the body of their friend to the grave. Sir Allan married in 1831, as his second wife, Mary Stuart, elder daughter of the sheriff of Johnstown district. She died in 1845, leaving two- daughters, Sophia Mary, who, in 1855. became the wife of William Coutts"Keppel, Viscount Bury, fa- ther of the present (1898) Earl of Albemarle, and Mary Stuart, who married, in 1861, the late Sir Dominick Daly, she being his second wife.
McNAIR, Alexander, first governor of Missouri, b. in Derry township, Lancaster (now Dauphin) CO., Pa., in 1774; d. in St. Louis, Mo., 18 March, 1826. He was educated in Derry, and then spent one term at Philadelphia college (now University of Pennsylvania), when he was called home
by the death of his father. His mother agreed that whoever of her sons should be the victor in a fair encounter should become the owner of the homestead. Alexander, who was the eldest, received a severe whipping at the hands of a younger brother, to whom he afterward acknowledged that
he owed the honor of being governor of Missouri,
