An Episode in the History of the University of Toronto

On Friday, June 7, 1889, in a crowded Convocation, the University of Toronto conferred upon Sir John A. Macdonald the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. It was a distinction which a good many people might have regarded as due—if not, indeed, long overdue. In January of that year, Sir John had celebrated his seventy-fourth birthday. For forty-five years he had been active in Canadian politics; he had been Prime Minister of the Dominion for seventeen out of the twenty-two years of its existence. In 1867 a grateful sovereign had made him a Knight Commander of the Bath; and his academic distinctions had an even longer history than his political honours. It was now twenty-four years since the University of Oxford had conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Laws.