The Montreal Star, 14 Nov., 1899, p. 6. But the man who bore the brunt of pro-war advocates' wrath was Laurier's Minister of Public Works, Israel Tarte, the so-called "Master of the Administration," a man who had supported all shades of the Conservative Party before turning to the Liberals. An irreverent, irrepressible man who delighted in saying outrageous things to offend sensitive English-speaking Canadians, he became the butt of their frustrations and resentment. Students, townsmen and even a Toronto based company of soldiers, the less literate of whom believed him to be one of Kruger's generals, burned the unpopular minister in effigy. Others knew precisely what they were doing as they chanted their fiery refrain:
We'll burn Tarte and Laurier on a black birch tree; They're traitors to Canada, not worthy of M.P., The Canadian contingent was sent C.O.D., A disgrace to our land.
Cartoons like this one usually depicted Tarte speaking an illiterate form of English with a European French accent.
