 Macdonald was able to get a prorogation of Parliament in August by appointing a Royal Commission to look into the matter, but when Parliament reconvened in late October, the Liberals, feeling Macdonald could be defeated over the issue, applied immense pressure to wavering members.On 3 November, Macdonald rose in the Commons to defend the government, and according to one of his biographers, P.B.Waite, gave "the speech of his life, and, in a sense, for his life".