The Manitoba School Question [Association Copy with Autograph Letter Signed from Ewart] ; Being a Compilation of the Legislation, the Legal Proceedings, the Proceedings before the Governor-General-in-Council: An Historical Account of the Red River Outbreak in 1869 and 1870, Its Causes, and Its Success as Shewn in the Treaty the Manitoba Act, and a Short Summary of Protestant Promises

Octavo (6" x 9"). pp. vii, 401. Bound in publisher’s original green cloth over boards, spine lettered in gilt. Light shelfwear, minor bumping to spine ends and tips, faint residue to base of spine (presumably the remnants of a former accession sticker). Single, unobtrusive circular institutional stamp to the upper-right margin of the front free endpaper. Textblock uniformly but gently toned, otherwise, remains remarkably crisp and clean with firm, sound binding; very good.Accompanied by an Autograph Letter Signed from Ewart which has been affixed to the front endpapers. Addressed to an unnamed recipient at the height of the contentious Manitoba Schools crisis it reads: "Winnipeg, 6 Feb. 1895. // My dear Lord, I have taken the liberty of forwarding to you a copy of my book upon the Manitoba School Question. I trust that it may be found to be of some service & that the various arguments which I have used may commend themselves to your judgment. I am Your obt servt [obedient servant], [signed] John S. Ewart." A significant association copy with considerable historical weight as Ewart was no mere bystander but an active and consequential figure in the crisis, acting as the lead counsel for the French and Roman Catholic minority (it is notable that Ewart, an avowed proponent of Canadian indenpendence, was himself a Protestant) arguing their cause through the Canadian courts and ultimately before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. The date of the letter - February 6, 1895 - is itself notable as it was penned precisely eight days after the Privy Council delivered its landmark ruling in Brophy v. Attorney-General of Manitoba (January 29, 1895), which empowered the Federal Government to intervene in Manitoba's educational affairs via remedial legislation. Ewart’s reference to his "arguments" commending themselves to the recipient’s "judgment" perhaps suggests an effort to influence the recipient, either a judicial or religious mind, at the moment the federal cabinet was debating the issuance of a remedial order. Given the address ("My dear Lord"), the recipient was undoubtedly a figure of immense political, legal, or ecclesiastical standing. Ewart’s work remains one of the definitive contemporary compilations of the legislation, legal proceedings, and historical accounts relating the Red River Resistance of 1869-70 and the subsequent abolition of the dual school system in 1890, and the primary source of record for the legal arguments that would define the limits of provincial autonomy and the protection of religious and linguistic minorities under the British North America Act. A foundational work for any collection of Canadiana, political history, or constitutional law, made especially unique by its direct association with one of, if not the chief participants. References: Peel (3rd) 2144. Provenance: Bibliotheque des Professeurs, College Bourget (a historic Catholic institution in Rigaud, Quebec). …