William Macdougall and others, aided by the Toronto _Globe_, a small portion of the Canadian press, and the circulation, limited as it was, of the Red River newspaper, the _Nor'-Wester_, in Ontario.
An unseen, but adverse, parliamentary influence had all along hampered the Cabinet; an influence adverse not only to the acquisition of the Territories, but even to closer connection by railway with the Maritime Provinces.

[_Vide_ a series of articles contributed to the Toronto Week, in July, 1896, by Mr.Malcolm McLeod, Q.C., of Ottawa, Ont.] This sinister influence was only overcome by the great Conferences which resulted in the passage of the British North America Act in 1867, which contained a clause (Article 11, Sec.

146), inserted at the instance of Mr.Macdougall, providing for the inclusion of Rupert's Land and the North-West Territories upon terms to be defined in an address to the Queen, and subject to her approval.

In pursuance of this clause, Mr.
Macdougall in 1867 introduced into the first Parliament of the Dominion a series of eight resolutions, which, after much opposition, were at length passed, and were followed by the embodying address, drafted by a Special Committee of the House, and which was duly transmitted to the Imperial Government.

This was followed by the mission of Messrs.