Sir George Eulas Foster | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Trade and Commerce | |
| In office October 10, 1911 – September 21, 1921 | |
| Prime Minister | Robert Borden |
| Preceded by | Richard John Cartwright |
| Succeeded by | Henry Herbert Stevens |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office May 29, 1888 – July 8, 1896 | |
| Prime Minister | John A. Macdonald |
| Preceded by | Charles Tupper |
| Succeeded by | William Stevens Fielding |
| Minister of Marine and Fisheries | |
| In office December 10, 1885 – May 28, 1888 | |
| Prime Minister | John A. Macdonald |
| Preceded by | Archibald McLelan |
| Succeeded by | Charles Hibbert Tupper |
| Senator forOntario | |
| In office September 22, 1921 – December 30, 1931 | |
| Nominated by | Arthur Meighen |
| Appointed by | The Lord Byng of Vimy |
| Member of Parliament forToronto North | |
| In office January 11, 1905 – September 22, 1921 | |
| Preceded by | District created in 1903 |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Langton Church |
| Member of Parliament forYork | |
| In office August 19, 1896 – February 6, 1901 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Temple |
| Succeeded by | Alexander Gibson |
| Member of Parliament forKing's | |
| In office February 8, 1883 – August 19, 1896 | |
| Preceded by | James Domville |
| Succeeded by | James Domville |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1847-09-03)September 3, 1847 |
| Died | December 30, 1931(1931-12-30) (aged 84) |
| Resting place | Beechwood Cemetery |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouses | |
| Children | childless - no children from either marriage. |
| Education | University of New Brunswick (B.A.) |
Sir George Eulas Foster (September 3, 1847 – December 30, 1931) was a Canadian politician and academic.
Foster was aMember of Parliament (MP) and aSenator in the Canadian Parliament for a total of 45 years, 5 months and 24 days. He enjoys the unique distinction of having served in the cabinets of sevenCanadian Prime Ministers: Macdonald, Abbott, Thompson, Bowell, Tupper, Borden and Meighen.
He coined the phrase "splendid isolation" to praise British foreign policy in the late 19th century.[1]
Two factors thwarted whatever ambitions he may have had to become Prime Minister himself: his legally questionable marriage in Chicago to his newly divorced former landlady,[2] and his later involvement in a trust company scandal.[3]
Foster was born September 3, 1847, inCarleton County,Colony of New Brunswick.[4] He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from theUniversity of New Brunswick in 1868.[5] During his studies, he founded theUniversity Monthly, the university's student newspaper.[4]
Foster taught in various high schools and seminaries until 1870 when he was appointed Professor ofClassics and Ancient Literature in the University of New Brunswick. He shortly afterwards studied inEdinburgh,Scotland, andHeidelberg,German Empire, resuming his professorship in 1873. He resigned in 1879 and became a notedtemperance lecturer.[4]
Foster entered politics with his election to theHouse of Commons of Canada in the1882 federal election as aConservative MP representingNew Brunswick. He joined theCabinet of SirJohn A. Macdonald asMinister of Marine and Fisheries in 1885, and was promoted toMinister of Finance in 1888. Foster retained this position after Macdonald's death and through the successive governments of Prime MinistersAbbott,Thompson,Bowell andTupper. He led a group of seven cabinet ministers who resigned temporarily in January 1896 to force the retirement of Bowell, who denounced them as a 'nest of traitors'. Foster's debates with SirRichard Cartwright, the former Liberal Minister of Finance under Prime MinisterMackenzie, are the stuff of Canadian Parliamentary legend.
With the defeat of the Tories in the1896 election, Foster retained his seat and joined theOpposition. He was a prominent supporter of Canada's involvement in theAnglo-Boer War from 1899 to 1901. He lost his seat in the1900 election but returned to parliamentin 1904, this time representing theriding ofToronto North inOntario. He remained an Opposition MP until his party returned to government in the1911 federal election under SirRobert Borden and he continued in the government underArthur Meighen.
During his final years in cabinet, Foster served as Minister of Trade and Commerce, and received a knighthood (KCMG) in 1914 for his work in the Royal Commission on Imperial Trade; he was named to theImperial Privy Council in 1916 and elevated to GCMG in 1918.[6] He served as a Canadian delegate to the 1919Versailles Peace Conference. He was acting Prime Minister in 1920, when Borden was absent due to ill health. From 1920 to 1921, he was chairman of the Canadian delegation to the first assembly of theLeague of Nations. In 1921, he was appointed to theCanadian Senate in which he served until his death.
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Foster is known for coining the term "splendid isolation" in January 1896 when praising Britain's foreign policy of isolation from European affairs.
The term was popularized byLord Goschen,First Lord of the Admiralty, during a speech at Lewes on 26 February 1896: "We have stood here alone in what is called isolation – our splendid isolation, as one of our colonial friends was good enough to call it."[7] The phrase had appeared in a headline inThe Times, on 22 January 1896, paraphrasing a comment by Foster to theParliament of Canada on 16 January 1896: "In these somewhat troublesome days when the great Mother Empire stands splendidly isolated in Europe."[7]
The ultimate origin of "splendid isolation" is suggested in Robert Hamilton'sCanadian Quotations and Phrases,[8] which places the Foster quotation beneath a passage from the following paragraph from Cooney'sCompendious History of Northern New Brunswick and Gaspé (reprinted in 1896) describing England's situation in 1809–1810 during theNapoleonic Wars:
In the midst of this terrific commotion, England stood erect: wrapt up in her own impregnability, the storm could not affect her: and therefore, while others trembled in its blast, she smiled at its fury. Never did the 'Empress Island' appear so magnificently grand; – she stood by herself, and there was a peculiar splendour in the loneliness of her glory.[9]
This, in turn, echoes the stoicism ofMarcus Aurelius: "Be like the promontory against which the waves continually break, but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it."[10]
His first wife was the ex-spouse ofDaniel Black Chisholm, a former Liberal-Conservative Ontario MP, and his second wife was a daughter ofSir William Allan, a former British MP for Gateshead.
He died without children. Foster and his first wife are buried in Ottawa'sBeechwood Cemetery, near the grave of SirCecil Spring Rice.[11]
Following his death, Foster's widow granted Canadian historianWilliam Stewart Wallace permission to produce an authorized biography of her late husband. Wallace was provided manuscripts, papers, and diary entries handwritten by Foster, including an unfinishedautobiography. Wallace's biography of Foster, titledThe Memoirs of the Rt. Hon. Sir George Foster, was published in 1933.[12]
There is a George Fosterfonds atLibrary and Archives Canada.[13]
| 1882 Canadian federal election:King's | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | ||||||
| Conservative | George Eulas Foster | 1,536 | ||||||
| Conservative | James Domville | 1,465 | ||||||
By-election: On election being declared void
| By-election on 7 November 1882 | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | George Eulas Foster | 2,005 | |||
| Conservative | James Domville | 1,723 | |||
By-election: On Mr. Foster's acceptance of the office of Minister of Marine and Fisheries
| By-election on 31 December 1885 | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | George Eulas Foster | ||||
| Independent Conservative | James Domville | ||||
| 1887 Canadian federal election:King's | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | ||||||
| Conservative | George Eulas Foster | 2,237 | ||||||
| Independent | James Domville | 1,762 | ||||||
| 1891 Canadian federal election:King's | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | ||||||
| Conservative | George Eulas Foster | 1,931 | ||||||
| Independent | James Domville | 1,858 | ||||||
Media related toGeorge Eulas Foster at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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