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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29972-8.txt b/29972-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c75aa54 --- /dev/null +++ b/29972-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5100 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Fathers of Confederation, by A. H. U. Colquhoun + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Fathers of Confederation + A Chronicle of the Birth of the Dominion + +Author: A. H. U. Colquhoun + +Release Date: September 13, 2009 [EBook #29972] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: The Fathers of Confederation. After a painting by +Robert Harris.] + + + + + +THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION + +A Chronicle of the Birth of the Dominion + + +by + +A. H. U. COLQUHOUN + + + + + +TORONTO + +GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY + +1916 + + + + + _Copyright in all Countries subscribing to + the Berne Convention_ + + + + + TO + + COLONEL GEORGE T. DENISON + + WHOSE LIFE-WORK IS PROOF THAT + LOYALTY TO THE EMPIRE IS + FIDELITY TO CANADA + + + + +{ix} + +CONTENTS + + Page + + I. THE DAWN OF THE MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 + II. OBSTACLES TO UNION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 + III. THE EVE OF CONFEDERATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 + IV. THE HOUR AND THE MEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 + V. THE CHARLOTTETOWN CONFERENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 + VI. THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 + VII. THE RESULTS OF THE CONFERENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 + VIII. THE DEBATES OF 1865 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 + IX. ROCKS IN THE CHANNEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 + X. 'THE BATTLE OF UNION' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 + XI. THE FRAMING OF THE BILL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 + XII. THE FIRST DOMINION MINISTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 + XIII. FROM SEA TO SEA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 + XIV. THE WORK OF THE FATHERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 + INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 + + + + +{xi} + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + After the painting by Robert Harris. + +WILLIAM SMITH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _facing page_ 4 + From a portrait in the Parliament Buildings, Ottawa. + +SIR ALEXANDER T. GALT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 16 + From a photograph by Topley. + +GEORGE BROWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 32 + From a photograph in the possession of Mrs Freeland + Barbour, Edinburgh. + +SIR GEORGE CARTIER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 42 + From a painting in the Château de Ramezay. + +SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 80 + From the painting by A. Dickson Patterson. + +SIR CHARLES TUPPER, BART. . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 116 + From a photograph by Elliott and Fry, London. + +ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHÉ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 166 + From a photograph lent by Rev. L. Messier, St Boniface. + +AN ELECTION CAMPAIGN--GEORGE BROWN ADDRESSING AN AUDIENCE + OF FARMERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 180 + From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys. + + + + +{1} + +CHAPTER I + +THE DAWN OF THE MOVEMENT + +The sources of the Canadian Dominion must be sought in the period +immediately following the American Revolution. In 1783 the Treaty of +Paris granted independence to the Thirteen Colonies. Their vast +territories, rich resources, and hardy population were lost to the +British crown. From the ruins of the Empire, so it seemed for the +moment, the young Republic rose. The issue of the struggle gave no +indication that British power in America could ever be revived; and +King George mournfully hoped that posterity would not lay at his door +'the downfall of this once respectable empire.' + +But, disastrous as the war had proved, there still remained the +fragments of the once mighty domain. If the treaty of peace had shorn +the Empire of the Thirteen Colonies and the great region south of the +Lakes, it had left unimpaired the provinces to the east and {2} +north--Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Canada--while still farther north +and west an unexplored continent in itself, stretching to the Pacific +Ocean, was either held in the tight grip of the Hudson's Bay Company or +was shortly to be won by its intrepid rival, the North-West Company of +Montreal. There were not lacking men of prescience and courage who +looked beyond the misfortunes of the hour, and who saw in the dominions +still vested in the crown an opportunity to repair the shattered empire +and restore it to a modified splendour. A general union of the +colonies had been mooted before the Revolution. The idea naturally +cropped up again as a means of consolidating what was left. Those who +on the king's side had borne a leading part in the conflict took to +heart the lesson it conveyed. Foremost among these were Lord +Dorchester, whom Canada had long known as Guy Carleton, and William +Smith, the Loyalist refugee from New York, who was appointed chief +justice of Lower Canada. Each had special claims to be consulted on +the future government of the country. During the war Dorchester's +military services in preserving Canada from the invaders had been of +supreme value; and his occupation {3} of New York after the peace, +while he guided and protected the Loyalist emigration, had furnished a +signal proof of his vigour and sagacity. William Smith belonged to a +family of distinction in the old colony of New York. He possessed +learning and probity. His devotion to the crown had cost him his +fortune. It appears that it was with him, rather than with Dorchester, +that the plan originated of uniting the British provinces under a +central government. The two were close friends and had gone to England +together. They came out to Quebec in company, the one as +governor-general, the other as chief justice. The period of confusion, +when constructive measures were on foot, suggested to them the need of +some general authority which would ensure unity of administration. + +And so, in October 1789, when Grenville, the secretary of state, sent +to Dorchester the draft of the measure passed in 1791 to divide Quebec +into Upper and Lower Canada, and invited such observations as +'experience and local knowledge may suggest,' Dorchester wrote: + + +I have to submit to the wisdom of His Majesty's councils, whether it +may not be {4} advisable to establish a general government for His +Majesty's dominions upon this continent, as well as a governor-general, +whereby the united exertions of His Majesty's North American Provinces +may more effectually be directed to the general interest and to the +preservation of the unity of the Empire. I inclose a copy of a letter +from the Chief Justice, with some additional clauses upon this subject +prepared by him at my request. + +[Illustration: William Smith. From a portrait in the Parliament +Buildings, Ottawa] + +The letter referred to made a plea for a comprehensive plan bringing +all the provinces together, rather than a scheme to perpetuate local +divisions. It reflected the hopes of the Loyalists then and of their +descendants at a later day. In William Smith's view it was an +imperfect system of government, not the policy of the mother country, +that had brought on the Revolution. There are few historical documents +relating to Canada which possess as much human interest as the +reminiscent letter of the old chief justice, with its melancholy +recital of former mistakes, its reminder that Britons going beyond the +seas would inevitably carry with them their instinct for liberal +government, and its striking prophecy {5} that 'the new nation' about +to be created would prove a source of strength to Great Britain. Many +a year was to elapse before the prophecy should come true. This was +due less to the indifference of statesmen than to the inherent +difficulties of devising a workable plan. William Smith's idea of +confederation was a central legislative body, in addition to the +provincial legislatures, this legislative body to consist of a council +nominated by the crown and of a general assembly. The members of the +assembly were to be chosen by the elective branches of the provincial +legislatures. No law should be effective until it passed in the +assembly 'by such and so many voices as will make it the Act of the +majority of the Provinces.' The central body must meet at least once +every two years, and could sit for seven years unless sooner dissolved. +There were provisions for maintaining the authority of the crown and +the Imperial parliament over all legislation. The bill, however, made +no attempt to limit the powers of the local legislatures and to reserve +certain subjects to the general assembly. It would have brought forth, +as drafted, but a crude instrument of government. The outline of the +measure revealed the honest {6} enthusiasm of the Loyalists for unity, +but as a constitution for half a continent, remote and unsettled, it +was too slight in texture and would have certainly broken down. +Grenville replied at length to Dorchester's other suggestions, but of +the proposed general parliament he wrote this only: 'The formation of a +general legislative government for all the King's provinces in America +is a point which has been under consideration, but I think it liable to +considerable objection.' + +Thus briefly was the first definite proposal set aside. The idea, +however, had taken root and never ceased to show signs of life. As +time wore on, the provincial constitutions proved unsatisfactory. At +each outbreak of political agitation and discontent, in one quarter or +another, some one was sure to come forward with a fresh plea for +intercolonial union. Nor did the entreaty always emanate from men of +pronounced Loyalist convictions; it sometimes came from root-and-branch +Reformers like Robert Gourlay and William Lyon Mackenzie. + +The War of 1812 furnished another startling proof of the isolated and +defenceless position of the provinces. The relations between Upper +Canada and Lower Canada, never cordial, {7} became worse. In 1814, at +the close of the war, Chief Justice Sewell of Quebec, in a +correspondence with the Duke of Kent (Queen Victoria's father), +disclosed a plan for a small central parliament of thirty members with +subordinate legislatures.[1] Sewell was a son-in-law of Chief Justice +Smith and shared his views. The duke suggested that these legislatures +need be only two in number, because the Canadas should be reunited and +the three Atlantic colonies placed under one government. No one heeded +the suggestion. A few years intervened, and an effort was made to +patch up a satisfactory arrangement between Lower Canada and Upper +Canada. The two provinces quarrelled over the division of the customs +revenue. When the dispute had reached a critical stage a bill was +introduced in the Imperial parliament to unite them. This was in 1822. +But the proposal to force two disputing neighbours to dwell together in +the same house as a remedy for disagreements failed to evoke enthusiasm +from either. The friends of federation then drew together, and Sewell +joined hands with Bishop Strachan {8} and John Beverley Robinson of +Upper Canada in reviving the plea for a wider union and in placing the +arguments in its favour before the Imperial government. Brenton +Halliburton, judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia (afterwards +chief justice), wrote a pamphlet to help on the cause. The Canada +union bill fell through, the revenue dispute being settled on another +basis, but the discussion of federation proceeded. + +To this period belongs the support given to the project by William Lyon +Mackenzie. Writing in 1824 to Mr Canning, he believed that + + +a union of all the colonies, with a government suitably poised and +modelled, so as to have under its eye the resources of our whole +territory and having the means in its power to administer impartial +justice in all its bounds, to no one part at the expense of another, +would require few boons from Britain, and would advance her interests +much more in a few years than the bare right of possession of a barren, +uncultivated wilderness of lake and forest, with some three or four +inhabitants to the square mile, can do in centuries. + + +{9} Here we have the whole picture drawn in a few strokes. Mackenzie +had vision and brilliancy. If he had given himself wholly to this +task, posterity would have passed a verdict upon his career different +from that now accepted. As late as in 1833 he declared: 'I have long +desired to see a conference assembled at Quebec, consisting of +delegates freely elected by the people of the six northern colonies, to +express to England the opinion of the whole body on matters of great +general interest.' But instead of pursuing this idea he threw himself +into the mad project of armed rebellion, and the fruits of that folly +were unfavourable for a long time to the dreams of federation. Lord +Durham came. He found 'the leading minds of the various colonies +strongly and generally inclined to a scheme that would elevate their +countries into something like a national existence.' Such a scheme, he +rightly argued, would not weaken the connection with the Empire, and +the closing passages of his Report are memorable for the insight and +statesmanship with which the solid advantages of union are discussed. +If Lord Durham erred, it was in advocating the immediate union of the +two Canadas as the first necessary step, and in announcing as one of +his objects {10} the assimilation to the prevailing British type in +Canada of the French-Canadian race, a thing which, as events proved, +was neither possible nor necessary. + +Many of the advocates of union, never blessed with much confidence in +their cause, were made timid by this point of Durham's reasoning. His +arguments, which were intended to urge the advantages of a complete +reform in the system and machinery of government, produced for a time a +contrary effect. Governments might propose and parliaments might +discuss resolutions of an academic kind, while eloquent men with voice +and pen sought to rouse the imaginations of the people. But for twenty +years after the union of the Canadas in 1841 federation remained little +more than a noble aspiration. The statesmen who wielded power looked +over the field and sighed that the time had not yet come. + + + +[1] It has been said that Attorney-General Uniacke of Nova Scotia +submitted, in 1809, a measure for a general union, but of this there +does not appear to be any authentic record. + + + + +{11} + +CHAPTER II + +OBSTACLES TO UNION + +The prospect was indeed one to dismay the most ardent patriot. After +the passage of the Constitutional Act of 1791 the trend of events had +set steadily in the direction of separation. Nature had placed +physical obstacles in the road to union, and man did his best to render +the task of overcoming them as hopeless as possible. The land +communication between the Maritime Provinces and Canada, such as it +was, precluded effective intercourse. In winter there could be no +access by the St Lawrence, so that Canada's winter port was in the +United States. As late as 1850 it took ten days, often longer, for a +letter to go from Halifax to Toronto. Previous to 1867 there were but +two telegraph lines connecting Halifax with Canada. Messages by wire +were a luxury, the rate between Quebec and Toronto being seventy-five +cents for ten words and eight cents for each additional word. Neither +commerce nor friendship could {12} be much developed by telegraph in +those days, and, as the rates were based on the distance, a telegram +sent from Upper Canada to Nova Scotia was a costly affair. To reach +the Red River Settlement, the nucleus of Manitoba, the Canadian +travelled through the United States. With the colonies of Vancouver +Island and British Columbia the East had practically no dealings. Down +to 1863, as Sir Richard Cartwright once said,[1] there existed for the +average Canadian no North-West. A great lone land there was, and a few +men in parliament looked forward to its ultimate acquisition, but +popular opinion regarded it vaguely as something dim and distant. In +course of time railways came, but they were not interprovincial and +they did nothing to bind the East to the West. The railway service of +early days is not to be confounded with the rapid trains of to-day, +when a traveller leaves Montreal after ten in the morning and finds +himself in Toronto before six o'clock in the afternoon. Said +Cartwright, in the address already cited: + + +Even in our own territory, and it was a matter not to be disregarded, +the state {13} of communication was exceedingly slow and imperfect. +Practically the city of Quebec was almost as far from Toronto in those +days, during a great part of the year, as Ottawa is from Vancouver +to-day. I can remember, myself, on one occasion being on a train which +took four days to make its way from Prescott to Ottawa. + + +Each province had its own constitution, its tariff, postage laws, and +currency. It promoted its own interests, regardless of the existence +of its British neighbours. Differences arose, says one writer, between +their codes of law, their public institutions, and their commercial +regulations.[2] Provincial misunderstandings, that should have been +avoided, seriously retarded the building of the Inter-colonial Railway. +'The very currencies differ,' said Lord Carnarvon in the House of +Lords. 'In Canada the pound or the dollar are legal tender. In Nova +Scotia, the Peruvian, Mexican, Columbian dollars are all legal; in New +Brunswick, British and American coins are recognized by law, though I +believe that the shilling is taken at twenty-four cents, which is less +than its value; in Newfoundland, {14} Peruvian, Mexican, Columbian, old +Spanish dollars, are all equally legal; whilst in Prince Edward's +Island the complexity of currencies and of their relative value is even +greater.' When the Reciprocity Treaty was negotiated at Washington in +1854, Nova Scotia felt, with some reason, that she had not been +adequately consulted in the granting to foreign fishermen of her +inshore fisheries. In a word, the chief political forces were +centrifugal, not centripetal. All the jealousy, the factious spirit, +and the prejudice, which petty local sovereignties are bound to +engender, flourished apace; and the general effect was to develop what +European statesmen of a certain period termed Particularism. The +marvel is not that federation lagged, but that men with vision and +courage, forced to view these depressing conditions at close range, +were able to keep the idea alive. + +There was some advance in public opinion between 1850 and 1860, but, on +the whole, adverse influences prevailed and little was achieved. The +effects of separate political development and of divided interest were +deeply rooted. Leaders of opinion in the various provinces, and even +men of the same province, refused to join hands for any great national +purpose. Party conflict absorbed {15} their best energies. To this +period, however, belongs the spadework which laid the foundations of +the future structure. The British American League held its various +meetings and adopted its resolutions. But the League was mainly a +party counterblast to the Annexation Manifesto of 1849 and soon +disappeared. To this period, too, belong the writings of able +advocates of union like P. S. Hamilton of Halifax and J. C. Taché of +Quebec, whose treatises possess even to-day more than historical value. +Another notable contribution to the subject was the lecture by +Alexander Morris entitled _Nova Britannia_, first delivered at Montreal +in 1858 and afterwards published. Yet such propaganda aroused no +perceptible enthusiasm. In Great Britain the whole question of +colonial relations was in process of evolution, while her statesmen +were doubtful, as ours were, of what the ultimate end would be. That a +full conception of colonial self-government had not yet dawned is shown +by these words, written in 1852 by Earl Grey to Lord John Russell: '_It +is obvious that if the colonies are not to become independent states, +some kind of authority must be exercised by the Government at home._' + +This decade, however, witnessed some {16} definite political action. +In 1854 Johnston, the Conservative Opposition leader in the Nova Scotia +legislature, presented a motion in these terms: 'Resolved, That the +union or confederation of the British Provinces on just principles, +while calculated to perpetuate their connection with the parent state, +will promote their advancement, increase their strength and influence, +and elevate their position.' This resolution, academic in form, but +supported in a well-balanced and powerful speech by the mover, drew +from Joseph Howe, then leader of the government, his preference for +representation in the British House of Commons. The attitude of Howe, +then and afterwards, should be examined with impartiality, because he +and other British Americans, as well as some English statesmen, were +the victims of the honest doubts which command respect but block the +way to action. Johnston, as prime minister in 1857, pressed his policy +upon the Imperial government, but met with no response. When Howe +returned to power, he carried a motion which declared for a conference +to promote either the union of the Maritime Provinces or a general +federation, but expressing no preference for either. Howe never was +pledged to federation as his fixed {17} policy, as so many persons have +asserted. He made various declarations which betokened uncertainty. +So little had the efforts put forth down to 1861 impressed the official +mind that Lord Mulgrave, the governor of Nova Scotia, in forwarding +Howe's motion to the Colonial Office, wrote: 'As an abstract question +the union of the North American colonies has long received the support +of many persons of weight and ability, but so far as I am aware, no +political mode of carrying out this union has ever been proposed.' + +[Illustration: Sir Alexander T. Galt. From a photograph by Topley.] + +The most encouraging step taken at this time, and the most far-reaching +in its consequences, was the action of Alexander Galt in Canada. Galt +possessed a strong and independent mind. The youngest son of John +Galt, the Scottish novelist, he had come across the ocean in the +service of the British American Land Company, and had settled at +Sherbrooke in the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada. Though personally +influential and respected, he wielded no general political authority, +for he lacked the aptitude for compromise demanded in the game of +party. He was the outspoken champion of Protestant interests in the +Catholic part of Canada, and had boldly declared for the annexation of +Canada to the {18} United States in the agitation of 1849. His views +on clericalism he never greatly modified, but annexation to the United +States he abandoned, with characteristic candour, for federation. In +1858 he advocated a federal union of all the provinces in a telling +speech in parliament, which revealed a thorough knowledge of the +material resources of the country, afterwards issued in book form in +his _Canada: 1849 to 1859_. During the ministerial crisis of August +1858 Sir Edmund Head asked Galt to form a government. He declined, and +indicated George Cartier as a fit and proper person to do so. The +former Conservative Cabinet, with some changes, then resumed office, +and Galt himself, exacting a pledge that Confederation should form part +of the government's policy, assumed the portfolio of Finance. The +pledge was kept in the speech of the governor-general closing the +session, and in October of that year Cartier, with two of his +colleagues, Galt and Ross, visited London to secure approval for a +meeting of provincial delegates on union. Galt's course had forced the +question out of the sphere of speculation. A careful student of the +period[3] argues with point {19} that to Galt we owe the introduction +of the policy into practical politics. In the light of after events +this view cannot be lightly set aside. But the effort bore no fruit +for the moment. The colonial secretary, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, +declined to authorize the conference without first consulting the other +provinces, and the government did not feel itself bound because of this +to resign or consult the constituencies. In other words, the question +did not involve the fate of the Cabinet. But Galt had gained a great +advantage. He had enlisted the support of Cartier, whose influence in +Lower Canada was henceforth exerted with fidelity to win over the +French to a policy which they had long resisted. The cause attained +additional strength in 1860 by the action of two other statesmen, +George Brown and John A. Macdonald, who between them commanded the +confidence of Upper Canada, the one as Liberal, the other as +Conservative leader. Brown brought before parliament resolutions +embodying the decisions of the Reform Convention of 1859 in favour of a +federation confined to the Canadas, and Macdonald declared +unequivocally for federative union as a principle, arguing that a +strong central government should be the chief aim. {20} Brown's +resolutions were rejected, and the movement so auspiciously begun once +more exhibited an ominous tendency to subside. The varying fortunes +which attended the cause during these years resembled its previous +vicissitudes. It appeared as if all were for a party and none were for +the state. If those who witnessed the events of 1860 had been asked +for their opinion, they would probably have declared that the problem +was as far from solution as ever. Yet they would have been mistaken, +as the near future was to show. A great war was close at hand, and, as +war so often does, it stimulated movements and policies which otherwise +might have lain dormant. The situation which arose out of the Civil +War in the United States neither created nor carried Confederation, but +it resulted, through a sense of common danger, in bringing the British +provinces together and in giving full play to all the forces that were +making for their union. + + + +[1] Address to Canadian Club, Ottawa, 1906. + +[2] _Union of the Colonies_, by P. S. Hamilton, Halifax, 1864. + +[3] See the chapter, 'Parties and Politics, 1840-1867,' by J. L. +Morison, in _Canada and its Provinces_, vol. v. + + + + +{21} + +CHAPTER III + +THE EVE OF CONFEDERATION + +A day of loftier ideas and greater issues in all the provinces was +about to dawn. The ablest politicians had been prone to wrangle like +washerwomen over a tub, colouring the parliamentary debates by personal +rivalry and narrow aims, while measures of first-rate importance went +unheeded. The change did not occur in the twinkling of an eye, for the +cherished habits of two generations were not to be discarded so +quickly. Goldwin Smith asserted[1] that, whoever laid claim to the +parentage of Confederation, the real parent was Deadlock. But this was +the critic, not the historian, who spoke. The causes lay far deeper +than in the breakdown of party government in Canada. Events of +profound significance were about to change an atmosphere overladen with +partisanship and to strike the imaginations of men. + +{22} + +The first factor in the national awakening was the call of the great +western domain. British Americans began to realize that they were the +heirs of a rich and noble possession. The idea was not entirely new. +The fur traders had indeed long tried to keep secret the truth as to +the fertility of the plains; but men who had been born or had lived in +the West were now settled in the East. They had stories to tell, and +their testimony was emphatic. In 1856 the Imperial authorities had +intimated to Canada that, as the licence of the Hudson's Bay Company to +an exclusive trade in certain regions would expire in 1859, it was +intended to appoint a select committee of the British House of Commons +to investigate the existing situation in those territories and to +report upon their future status; and Canada had sent Chief Justice +Draper to London as her commissioner to watch the proceedings, to give +evidence, and to submit to his government any proposals that might be +made. Simultaneously a select committee of the Canadian Assembly sat +to hear evidence and to report a basis for legislation. Canada boldly +claimed that her western boundary was the Pacific ocean, and this +prospect had long encouraged men like George Brown to look {23} forward +to extension westward, and to advocate it, as one solution of Upper +Canada's political grievances. It was a vision calculated to rouse +the adventurous spirit of the British race in colonizing and in +developing vast and unknown lands. Another wonderful page was about to +open in the history of British expansion. And, hand in hand with +romance, went the desire for dominion and commerce. + +But if the call of the West drew men partly by its material +attractions, another event, of a wholly different sort, appealed +vividly to their sentiment. In 1860 the young Prince of Wales visited +the provinces as the representative of his mother, the beloved Queen +Victoria. His tour resembled a triumphal progress. It evoked feelings +and revived memories which the young prince himself, pleasing though +his personality was, could not have done. It was the first clear +revelation of the intensity of that attachment to the traditions and +institutions of the Empire which in our own day has so vitally affected +the relations of the self-governing states to the mother country. In a +letter from Ottawa[2] to Lord Palmerston, {24} the Duke of Newcastle, +the prince's tutor, wrote: + + +I never saw in any part of England such extensive or beautiful outward +demonstrations of respect and affection, either to the Queen or to any +private object of local interest, as I have seen in every one of these +colonies, and, what is more important, there have been circumstances +attending all these displays which have marked their sincerity and +proved that neither curiosity nor self-interest were the only or the +ruling influences. + + +Of all the events, however, that startled the British provinces out of +the self-absorbed contemplation of their own little affairs, the Civil +War in the United States exerted the most immediate influence. It not +only brought close the menace of a war between Great Britain and the +Republic, with Canada as the battle-ground, but it forced a complete +readjustment of our commercial relations. Not less important, the +attitude of the Imperial government toward Confederation underwent a +change. It was D'Arcy McGee who perceived, at the very outset, the +probable {25} bearing of the Civil War upon the future of Canada. 'I +said in the House during the session of 1861,' he subsequently +declared, 'that the first gun fired at Fort Sumter had a message for +us.' The situation became plainer when the _Trent_ Affair embroiled +Great Britain directly with the North, and the safety of Canada +appeared to be threatened. While Lincoln was anxiously pondering the +British demand that the Confederate agents, Mason and Slidell, removed +by an American warship from the British steamer the _Trent_, should be +given up, and Lord Lyons was labouring to preserve peace, the fate of +Canada hung in the balance. The agents were released, but there +followed ten years of unfriendly relations between Great Britain and +the United States. There were murmurs that when the South was subdued +the trained armies of the North would be turned against the British +provinces. The termination of the Reciprocity Treaty, which provided +for a large measure of free trade between the two countries, was seen +to be reasonably sure. The treaty had existed through a period which +favoured a large increase in the exports of the provinces. The Crimean +War at first and the Civil War later had created an unparalleled demand +for the food products {26} which Canada could supply; and although the +records showed the enhanced trade to be mutually profitable, with a +balance rather in favour of the United States, the anti-British feeling +in the Republic was directed against the treaty. Thus military defence +and the necessity of finding new markets became two pressing problems +for Canada. + +From the Imperial authorities there came now at last distinct +encouragement. Hitherto they had hung back. The era of economic dogma +in regard to free trade, to some minds more authoritative than Holy +Writ, was at its height. Even Cobden was censured because, in the +French treaty of 1861, he had departed from the free trade theory. The +doctrine of _laissez-faire_, carried to extremes, meant that the +colonies should be allowed to cut adrift. But the practical English +mind saw the sense and statesmanship of a British American union, and +the tone of the colonial secretary changed. In July 1862 the Duke of +Newcastle, who then held that office and who did not share the +indifference of so many of his predecessors[3] to the colonial +connection, wrote sympathetically to Lord Mulgrave, the governor of +Nova Scotia: + +{27} + +If a union, either partial or complete, should hereafter be proposed +with the concurrence of all the Provinces to be united, I am sure that +the matter would be weighed in this country both by the public, by +Parliament, and by Her Majesty's Government, with no other feeling than +an anxiety to discern and promote any course which might be the most +conducive to the prosperity, the strength and the harmony of all the +British communities in North America. + + +Nova Scotia, always to the front on the question, had declared for +either a general union or a union of the Maritime Provinces, and this +had drawn the dispatch of the Duke of Newcastle. A copy of this +dispatch was sent to Lord Monck, the governor-general of Canada, for +his information and guidance, so that the attitude of the Imperial +authorities was generally known. It remained for the various +provincial Cabinets to confer and to arrange a course of action. The +omens pointed to union in the near future. But, as it happened, a new +Canadian ministry, that of Sandfield Macdonald, had shortly before +assumed office, and its members were in no wise pledged to the {28} +union project. In fact, as was proved later, several of them, notably +the prime minister himself, with Dorion, Holton, and Huntington, +regarded federation with suspicion and were its consistent opponents +until the final accomplishment. + +The negotiations for the joint construction of an intercolonial railway +had been proceeding for some time. These the ministry continued, but +without enthusiasm. The building of this line had been ardently +promoted for years. It was the necessary link to bind the provinces +together. To secure Imperial financial aid in one form or another +delegates had more than once gone to London. The Duke of Newcastle had +announced in April 1862 that the nature and extent of the guarantee +which Her Majesty's government would recommend to parliament depended +upon the arrangements which the provinces themselves had to propose.[4] +There was a conference in Quebec. From Nova Scotia came Howe and +Annand, who two years later fought Confederation; from New Brunswick +came Tilley and Peter Mitchell, who carried the cause to victory in +their province. Delegates from the Quebec meeting {29} went to London, +but the railway plan broke down, and the failure was due to Canada. +The episode left a bad impression in the minds of the maritime +statesmen, and during the whole of 1863 it seemed as if union were +indefinitely postponed. Yet this was the very eve of Confederation, +and forces already in motion made it inevitable. + + + +[1] _Canada and the Canadian Question_, by Goldwin Smith, p. 143. + +[2] _Life of Henry Pelham, fifth Duke of Newcastle_, by John Martineau, +p. 292. + +[3] Between 1852 and 1870 there were thirteen colonial secretaries. + +[4] Dispatch of the colonial secretary to the lieutenant-governor of +New Brunswick. + + + + +{30} + +CHAPTER IV + +THE HOUR AND THE MEN + +The acceptance of federation in the province of Canada came about with +dramatic simplicity. Political deadlock was the occasion, rather than +the cause, of this acceptance. Racial and religious differences had +bred strife and disunion, but no principle of any substance divided the +parties. The absence of large issues had encouraged a senseless +rivalry between individuals. Surveying the scene not long after, +Goldwin Smith, fresh from English conditions, cynically quoted the +proverb: 'the smaller the pit, the fiercer the rats.' The upper and +lower branches of parliament were elective, and in both bodies the +ablest men in the country held seats. In those days commerce, +manufacturing, or banking did not, as they do now, withhold men of +marked talent from public affairs. But personal antipathies, magnified +into feuds, embittered the relations of men who naturally held many +views in {31} common, and distracted the politics of a province which +needed nothing so much as peace and unity of action. + +The central figures in this storm of controversy were George Brown and +John A. Macdonald, easily the first personages in their respective +parties. The two were antipathetic. Their dispositions were as wide +asunder as the poles. Brown was serious, bold, and masterful. +Macdonald concealed unrivalled powers in statecraft and in the +leadership of men behind a droll humour and convivial habits. From the +first they had been political antagonists. But the differences were +more than political. Neither liked nor trusted the other. Brown bore +a grudge for past attacks reflecting upon his integrity, while +Macdonald, despite his experience in the warfare of party, must often +have winced at the epithets of the _Globe_, Brown's newspaper. During +ten years they were not on speaking terms. But when they joined to +effect a great object, dear to both, a truce was declared. 'We acted +together,' wrote Macdonald long after of Brown, 'dined in public places +together, played euchre in crossing the Atlantic and went into society +in England together. And yet on the day after he resigned we resumed +our old positions {32} and ceased to speak.'[1] To imagine that of all +men those two should combine to carry federation seemed the wildest and +most improbable dream. Yet that is what actually happened. + +[Illustration: George Brown. From a photograph in the possession of +Mrs Freeland Barbour, Edinburgh.] + +In June 1864, during the session of parliament in Quebec, government by +party collapsed. In the previous three years there had been two +general elections, and four Cabinets had gone to pieces. And while the +politicians wrangled, the popular mind, swayed by influences stronger +than party interest, convinced itself that the remedy lay in the +federal system. Brown felt that Upper Canada looked to him for relief; +and as early as in 1862 he had conveyed private intimation to his +Conservative opponents that if they would ensure Upper Canada's just +preponderance in parliamentary representation, which at that date the +Liberal ministry of Sandfield Macdonald refused to do, they would +receive his countenance and approval. In 1864 he moved for a select +committee of nineteen members to consider the prospects of federal +union. It sat with closed doors. A few hours before the defeat of the +Taché-Macdonald ministry in {33} June, he, the chairman of the +committee, reported to the House that + + +a strong feeling was found to exist among the members of the committee +in favour of changes in the direction of a federative system, applied +either to Canada alone, or to the whole British North American +provinces, and such progress has been made as to warrant the committee +in recommending that the subject be referred to a committee at the next +session of Parliament. + + +Three years later, on the first Dominion Day, the _Globe_,[2] in +discussing this committee and its work, declared that 'a very free +interchange of opinion took place. In the course of the discussions it +appeared probable that a union of parties might be effected for the +purpose of grappling with the constitutional difficulties.' Macdonald +voted against the committee's report. Brown was thoroughly in earnest, +and the desperate nature of the political situation gave him an +opportunity to prove his sincerity and his unselfishness. + +{34} + +On the evening of Tuesday, June 14, 1864, immediately after the defeat +of the ministry on an unimportant question, Brown spoke to two +Conservative members and promised to co-operate with any government +that would settle the constitutional difficulty. These members, +Alexander Morris and John Henry Pope, were on friendly terms with him +and became serviceable intermediaries. They were asked to communicate +this promise to Macdonald and to Galt. The next day saw the +reconciliation of the two leaders who had been estranged for ten years. +They met 'standing in the centre of the Assembly Room' (the formal +memorandum is meticulously exact in these and other particulars), that +is, neither member crossing to that side of the House led by the other. +Macdonald spoke first, mentioning the overtures made and asking if +Brown had any 'objection' to meet Galt and himself. Brown replied, +'Certainly not.' Morris arranged an interview, and the following day +Macdonald and Galt called upon Brown at the St Louis Hotel, Quebec. +Negotiations, ending in the famous coalition, began. + +The memorandum read to the House related in detail every step taken to +bring about the coalition, from the opening conversation {35} which +Brown had with Morris and Pope. It was proper that a full explanation +should be given to the public of a political event so extraordinary and +so unexpected. But the narrative of minute particulars indicates the +complete lack of confidence existing between the parties to the +agreement. The relationships of social life rest upon the belief that +there is a code of honour, affecting words and actions, which is +binding upon gentlemen. The memorandum appeared to assume that in +political life these considerations did not exist, and that unless the +whole of the proceedings were set forth in chronological order, and +with amplitude of detail, some of the group would seek to repudiate the +explanation on one point or another, while the general public would +disbelieve them all. To such a pass had the extremes of partyism +brought the leading men in parliament. If, however, the memorandum is +a very human document, it is also historically most interesting and +important. The leaders began by solemnly assuring each other that +nothing but 'the extreme urgency of the present crisis' could justify +their meeting together for common political action. The idea that the +paramount interests of the nation, threatened by possible invasion and +by {36} commercial disturbance, would be ground for such a junction of +forces does not seem to have suggested itself. After the preliminary +skirmishing upon matters of party concern the negotiators at last +settled down to business. + + +Mr Brown asked what the Government proposed as a remedy for the +injustice complained of by Upper Canada, and as a settlement of the +sectional trouble. Mr Macdonald and Mr Galt replied that their remedy +was a Federal Union of all the British North American Provinces; local +matters being committed to local bodies, and matters common to all to a +General Legislature.[3] + +Mr Brown rejoined that this would not be acceptable to the people of +Upper Canada as a remedy for existing evils. That he believed that +federation of all the provinces ought to come, and would come about ere +long, but it had not yet been thoroughly considered by the people; and +even were this otherwise, there were {37} so many parties to be +consulted that its adoption was uncertain and remote. + +Mr Brown was then asked what his remedy was, when he stated that the +measure acceptable to Upper Canada would be Parliamentary Reform, based +on population, without regard to a separating line between Upper and +Lower Canada. To this both Mr Macdonald and Mr Galt stated that it was +impossible for them to accede, or for any Government to carry such a +measure, and that, unless a basis could be found on the federation +principle suggested by the report of Mr Brown's committee, it did not +appear to them likely that anything could be settled. + + +At this stage, then, Brown thought federation should be limited to +Canada, believing the larger scheme uncertain and remote, while the +others preferred a federal union for all the provinces. At a later +meeting Cartier joined the gathering and a confidential statement was +drawn up (the disinclination to take one another's word being still a +lively sentiment), so that Brown could consult his friends. The +ministerial promise in its final terms was as follows: + + +{38} + +The Government are prepared to pledge themselves to bring in a measure +next session for the purpose of removing existing difficulties by +introducing the federal principle into Canada, coupled with such +provisions as will permit the Maritime Provinces and the North-West +Territory to be incorporated into the same system of government. And +the Government will seek, by sending representatives to the Lower +Provinces and to England, to secure the assent of those interests which +are beyond the control of our own legislation to such a measure as may +enable all British North America to be united under a General +Legislature based upon the federal principle. + + +This basis gave satisfaction all round, and the proceedings relapsed +into the purely political diplomacy which forms the least pleasant +phase of what was otherwise a highly patriotic episode, creditable in +its results to all concerned. Brown fought hard for a representation +of four Liberals in the Cabinet, preferring to remain out of it +himself, and, when his inclusion was deemed indispensable, offering to +join as a minister without portfolio or salary. {39} Finally Macdonald +promised to confer with him upon the personnel of the Conservative +element in the Cabinet, so that the incoming Liberals would meet +colleagues with whom harmonious relations should be ensured. The fates +ordained that, since Brown had been the first to propose the sacrifice +of party to country, the arrangement arrived at was the least +advantageous to his interests. He had the satisfaction of feeling that +the Upper Canada Liberals in the House supported his action, but those +from Lower Canada, both English and French, were entirely +unsympathetic. The Lower Canada section of the ministry accordingly +remained wholly Conservative. + +It does not require much depth of political experience to realize the +embarrassment of Brown's position. The terms were not easy for him. +In a ministry of twelve members he and two colleagues would be the only +Liberals. The leadership of Upper Canada, and in fact the real +premiership, because Taché was frail and past his prime, would rest +with Macdonald. The presidency of the Executive Council, which was +offered him, unless joined to the office of prime minister, was of no +real importance. Some party friends throughout the country {40} would +misunderstand, and more would scoff. He had parted company with his +loyal personal friends Dorion and Holton. If, as Disraeli said, +England does not love coalitions, neither does Canada. For the time +being, and, as events proved, for a considerable time, the Liberal +party would be divided and helpless, because the pledge of Brown +pledged also the fighting strength of the party. Although the union +issue dwarfed all others, questions would arise, awkward questions like +that of patronage, old questions with a new face, on which there had +been vehement differences. For two of his new colleagues, Macdonald +and Galt, Brown entertained feelings far from cordial. Cautious +advisers like Alexander Mackenzie and Oliver Mowat counselled against a +coalition, suggesting that the party should support the government, but +should not take a share in it. All this had to be weighed and a +decision reached quickly. But Brown had put his hand to the plough and +would not turn back. With the dash and determination that +distinguished him, he accepted the proposal, became president of the +Executive Council, with Sir Etienne Taché as prime minister, and +selected William McDougall and Oliver Mowat as his Liberal colleagues. +Amazement and {41} consternation ran like wildfire throughout Upper +Canada when the news arrived from Quebec that Brown and Macdonald were +members of the same government. At the outset Brown had feared that +'the public mind would be shocked,' and he was not wrong. But the +sober second thought of the country in both parties applauded the act, +and the desire for union found free vent. Posterity has endorsed the +course taken by Brown and justly honours his memory for having, at the +critical hour and on terms that would have made the ordinary politician +quail, rendered Confederation possible. There is evidence that the +Conservative members of the coalition played the game fairly and +redeemed their promise to put union in the forefront of their policy. +On this issue complete concord reigned in the Cabinet. The natural +divergences of opinion on minor points in the scheme were arranged +without internal discord. This was fortunate, because grave obstacles +were soon to be encountered. + +If George Brown of Upper Canada was the hero of the hour, George +Cartier of Lower Canada played a rôle equally courageous and +honourable. The hostile forces to be encountered by the +French-Canadian leader were {42} formidable. Able men of his own race, +like Dorion, Letellier, and Fournier, prepared to fight tooth and nail. +The Rouges, as the Liberals there were termed, opposed him to a man. +The idea of British American union had in the past been almost +invariably put forward as a means of destroying the influence of the +French. Influential representatives, too, of the English minority in +Lower Canada, like Dunkin, Holton, and Huntington, opposed it. Joly de +Lotbinière, the French Protestant, warned the Catholics and the French +that federation would endanger their rights. The Rouge resistance was +not a passive parliamentary resistance only, because, later on, the +earnest protests of the dissentients were carried to the foot of the +throne. But all these influences the intrepid Cartier faced +undismayed; and Brown, in announcing his intention to enter the +coalition, paid a warm tribute to Cartier for his frank and manly +attitude. This was the burial of another hatchet, and the amusing +incident related by Cartwright illustrates how it was received. + +[Illustration: Sir George Cartier. From a painting in the Château de +Ramezay.] + +In that memorable afternoon when Mr Brown, not without emotion, made +his {43} statement to a hushed and expectant House, and declared that +he was about to ally himself with Sir George Cartier and his friends, +for the purpose of carrying out Confederation, I saw an excitable, +elderly little French member rush across the floor, climb up on Mr +Brown, who, as you remember, was of a stature approaching the gigantic, +fling his arms about his neck, and hang several seconds there +suspended, to the visible consternation of Mr Brown and to the infinite +joy of all beholders, pit, box, and gallery included. + + +At last statesmanship had taken the place of party bickering, and, as +James Ferrier of Montreal, a member of the Legislative Council, +remarked in the debates of 1865, the legislators 'all thought, in fact, +that a political millennium had arrived.' + + + +[1] _Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald_, by Sir Joseph Pope, vol. i, p. 265. + +[2] This portion of the lengthy survey of the new Dominion in the +_Globe_ of July 1, 1867, is said to have been written by George Brown +himself. + +[3] Sir Joseph Pope states that in the printed copy of this memorandum +which Sir John Macdonald preserved there appears, immediately following +the word 'Legislature' at the end of this paragraph, in the handwriting +of Mr Brown, these words: 'Constituted on the well-understood +principles of federal gov.' + + + + +{44} + +CHAPTER V + +THE CHARLOTTETOWN CONFERENCE + +Not an instant too soon had unity come in Canada. The coalition +ministry, having adjourned parliament, found itself faced with a +situation in the Maritime Provinces which called for speedy action. + +Nova Scotia, the ancient province by the sea, discouraged by the +vacillation of Canada in relation to federation and the construction of +the Intercolonial Railway, was bent upon joining forces with New +Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The proposal was in the nature of +a reunion, for, when constitutional government had been first set up in +Nova Scotia in 1758, the British possessions along the Atlantic coast, +save Newfoundland, were all governed as one province from Halifax. But +the policy in early days of splitting up the colonies into smaller +areas, for convenience of administration, was here faithfully carried +out. In 1770 a separate government was conferred {45} upon Prince +Edward Island. In 1784 New Brunswick was formed. In the same year the +island of Cape Breton was given a governor and council of its own. +Cape Breton was reunited to the parent colony of Nova Scotia in 1820, +but three separate provinces remained, each developing apart from the +others, thus complicating and making more difficult the whole problem +of union when men with foresight and boldness essayed to solve it. +Nova Scotia had kept alive the tradition of leadership. The province +which has supplied three prime ministers to the Canadian Dominion never +lacked statesmen with the imagination to perceive the advantages which +would flow from the consolidation of British power in America. + +In 1864, a few weeks before George Brown in the Canadian House had +moved for his select committee on federal union, Dr Charles Tupper +proposed, in the legislature of Nova Scotia, a legislative union of the +Maritime Provinces. The seal of Imperial authority had been set upon +this movement by the dispatch, already quoted, from the Duke of +Newcastle to Lord Mulgrave in 1862. + +A word concerning the services of Charles Tupper to the cause of union +will be in order here. None of the Fathers of Confederation {46} +fought a more strenuous battle. None faced political obstacles of so +overwhelming a character. None evinced a more unselfish patriotism. +The overturn of Tilley in New Brunswick, of which we shall hear +presently, was a misfortune quickly repaired. The junction of Brown, +Cartier, and Macdonald in Canada ensured for them comparatively plain +sailing. But the Nova Scotian leader was pitted against a redoubtable +foe in Joseph Howe; for five years he faced an angry and rebellious +province; he gallantly gave up his place in the first Dominion ministry +in order that another might have it; and at every turn he displayed +those qualities of pluck, endurance, and dexterity which compel +admiration. The Tuppers were of Puritan stock.[1] The future prime +minister, a practising physician, had scored his first political +victory at the age of thirty-four by defeating Howe in Cumberland +county. Throughout his long and notable career, a superabundance of +energy, and a characteristic which may be defined in a favourable sense +as audacity, never failed him. + +{47} + +When the motion was presented to appoint delegates to a conference at +Charlottetown, to consider a legislative union for the three maritime +provinces, the skies were serene. The idea met with a general, if +rather languid, approval. There was not even a flavour of partisanship +about the proceedings, and the delegates were impartially selected from +both sides. The great Howe regarded the project with a benignant eye. +At this time he was the Imperial fishery commissioner, and it was his +duty to inspect the deep-sea fishing grounds each summer in a vessel of +the Imperial Navy. He was invited to go to Charlottetown as a +delegate, and declined in the following terms: + + +I am sorry for many reasons to be compelled to decline participation in +the conference at Charlottetown. The season is so far advanced that I +find my summer's work would be so seriously deranged by the visit to +Prince Edward Island that, without permission from the Foreign Office, +I would scarcely be justified in consulting my own feelings at the +expense of the public service. I shall be home in October, and will be +very happy to co-operate in {48} carrying out any measure upon which +the conference shall agree. + + +A more striking evidence of his mood at this juncture is afforded by a +speech which he delivered at Halifax in August, when a party of +visitors from Canada were being entertained at dinner. + + +I am not one of those who thank God that I am a Nova Scotian merely, +for I am a Canadian as well. I have never thought I was a Nova +Scotian, but I have looked across the broad continent as the great +territory which the Almighty has given us for an inheritance, and +studied the mode by which it could be consolidated, the mode by which +it could be united, the mode by which it could be made strong and +vigorous while the old flag still floats over the soil.[2] + + +In the time close at hand Howe was to find these words quoted against +him. Meanwhile they were a sure warrant for peace and harmony. + +In addressing the Assembly Tupper stated that his visit to Canada +during the previous {49} year had convinced him that for some time the +larger union was impracticable. He had found in Upper Canada a +disinclination to unite with the Maritime Provinces because, from their +identity of interest and geographical position, they would strengthen +Lower Canada. Lower Canada was equally averse from union through fear +that it would increase the English influence in a common legislature. +Tupper favoured the larger scheme, and looked forward to its future +realization, which would be helped, not hindered, by the union of the +Maritime Provinces as a first step. Other speakers openly declared for +a general union, and consented to the Charlottetown gathering as a +convenient preliminary. The resolution passed without a division; and, +though the members expressed a variety of opinion on details, there was +no hint of a coming storm. + +The conference opened at Charlottetown on September 1, the following +delegates being present: from Nova Scotia, Charles Tupper, William A. +Henry, Robert B. Dickey, Jonathan McCully, Adams G. Archibald; from New +Brunswick, S. L. Tilley, John M. Johnston, John Hamilton Gray, Edward +B. Chandler, W. H. Steeves; from Prince Edward Island, J. H. Gray, +Edward Palmer, W. H. Pope, {50} George Coles, A. A. Macdonald. +Newfoundland, having no part in the movement, sent no representatives. +Meanwhile Lord Monck, at the request of his ministers, had communicated +with the lieutenant-governors asking that a delegation of the Canadian +Cabinet might attend the meeting and lay their own plans before it. +This was readily accorded. The visitors from Canada arrived from +Quebec by steamer. They were George Brown, John A. Macdonald, +Alexander T. Galt, George E. Cartier, Hector L. Langevin, William +McDougall, D'Arcy McGee, and Alexander Campbell. No official report of +the proceedings ever appeared. It is improbable that any exists, but +we know from many subsequent references nearly everything of importance +that took place. On the arrival of the Canadians they were invited to +address the convention at once. The delegates from the Maritime +Provinces took the ground that their own plan might, if adopted, be a +bar to the larger proposal, and accordingly suggested that the visitors +should be heard first. The Canadians, however, saw no reason to fear +the smaller union. They believed that Confederation would gain if the +three provinces by the sea could be treated as a single unit. {51} +But, being requested to state their case, they naturally had no +hesitation in doing so. During the previous two months the members of +the coalition must have applied themselves diligently to all the chief +points in the project. It may be supposed that Galt, Brown, and +Macdonald made a strong impression at Charlottetown. They spoke +respectively on the finance, the general parliament, and the +constitutional structure of the proposed federation. These subjects +contained the germs of nearly all the difficulties. When the delegates +reassembled a month later at Quebec, it is clear, from the allusions +made in the scanty reports that have come down to us, that the leading +phases of the question had already been frankly debated. + +Having heard the proposals of Canada, the delegates of the Maritime +Provinces met separately to debate the question that had brought them +together. Obstacles at once arose. Only Nova Scotia was found to be +in favour of the smaller union. New Brunswick was doubtful, and Prince +Edward Island positively refused to give up her own legislature and +executive. The federation project involved no such sacrifice; and, as +Aaron's rod swallowed up all the others, the dazzling prospects held +out by Canada eclipsed the other proposal, since they {52} provided a +strong central government without destroying the identity of the +component parts. The conference decided to adjourn to Halifax, where, +at the public dinner given to the visitors, Macdonald made the formal +announcement that the delegates were unanimous in thinking that a +federal union could be effected. The members, however, kept the +secrets of the convention with some skill. The speeches at Halifax, +and later on at St John, whither the party repaired, abounded in +glowing passages descriptive of future expansion, but were sparing of +intimate detail. A passage in Brown's speech at Halifax created +favourable comment on both sides of the ocean. + + +In these colonies as heretofore governed [he said] we have enjoyed +great advantages under the protecting shield of the mother country. We +have had no army or navy to sustain, no foreign diplomacy to +sustain,--our whole resources have gone to our internal +improvement,--and notwithstanding our occasional strifes with the +Colonial Office, we have enjoyed a degree of self-government and +generous consideration such as no colonies in ancient or modern history +ever enjoyed at the hands of a {53} parent state. Is it any wonder +that thoughtful men should hesitate to countenance a step that might +change the happy and advantageous relations we have occupied towards +the mother country? I am persuaded there never was a moment in the +history of these colonies when the hearts of our people were so firmly +attached to the parent state by the ties of gratitude and affection as +at this moment, and for one I hesitate not to say that did this +movement for colonial union endanger the connection that has so long +and so happily existed, it would have my firm opposition. + + +These and other utterances, equally forceful and appealing directly to +the pride and ambition of the country, were not without effect in +moulding public opinion. The tour was a campaign of education. By +avoiding the constitutional issues the delegates gave little +information which could afford carping critics an opportunity to assail +the movement prematurely. It is true, some sarcastic comments were +made upon the manner in which the Canadians had walked into the +convention and taken possession. At the Halifax dinner the governor of +Nova Scotia, Sir Richard Graves {54} Macdonnell, dropped an ironical +remark on the 'disinterested' course of Canada, which plainly betrayed +his own attitude. But the gathering was, in the main, highly +successful and augured well for the movement. + +The Charlottetown Conference was therefore an essential part of the +proceedings which culminated at Quebec. The ground had been broken. +The leaders in the various provinces had formed ties of intimacy and +friendship and favourably impressed each other. At this time were laid +the foundations of the alliance between Macdonald and Tilley, the +Liberal leader in New Brunswick, which made it possible to construct +the first federal ministry on a non-party basis and which enlisted in +the national service a devoted and trustworthy public man. Tilley's +career had few blemishes from its beginning to its end. He was a +direct descendant of John Tilley, one of the English emigrants to +Massachusetts in the _Mayflower_, and a great-grandson of Samuel +Tilley, one of the Loyalists who removed to New Brunswick after the War +of Independence. He had been drawn into politics against his wishes by +the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens. A nominating +convention at which he was not present had selected him for {55} the +legislature, and his first election had taken place during his absence +from the country. Yet he had risen to be prime minister of his +province; and his was the guiding hand which brought New Brunswick into +the union. His defeat at first and the speedy reversal of the verdict +against Confederation form one of the most diverting episodes in the +history of the movement. + +The ominous feature of the Charlottetown Conference was the absence of +Joseph Howe, the most popular leader in Nova Scotia. This was one of +the accidents which so often disturb the calculations of statesmen. +When the delegates resumed their labours at Quebec he was in +Newfoundland, and he returned home to find that a plan had been agreed +upon without his aid. From him, as well as from the governors of Nova +Scotia and New Brunswick, the cause of federation was to receive its +next serious check. + + + +[1] See _Recollections of Sixty Years in Canada_, p. 2. The original +Tupper in America came out from England in 1635. Sir Charles Tupper's +great-grandfather migrated from Connecticut to Nova Scotia in 1763. + +[2] _The Speeches and Public Letters of Joseph Howe_, edited by J. A. +Chisholm, vol. ii, p. 433. Halifax, 1909. + + + + +{56} + +CHAPTER VI + +THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE + +The Quebec Conference began its sessions on the 10th of October 1864. +It was now the task of the delegates to challenge and overcome the +separatist tendencies that had dominated British America since the +dismemberment of the Empire eighty years before. They were to prove +that a new nationality could be created, which should retain intact the +connection with the mother country. For an event of such historic +importance no better setting could have been chosen than the Ancient +Capital, with its striking situation and its hallowed memories of +bygone days. The delegates were practical and experienced men of +affairs, but they lacked neither poetic and imaginative sense nor +knowledge of the past; and it may well be that their labours were +inspired and their deliberations influenced by the historic +associations of the place. + +The gathering was remarkable for the varied {57} talents and forceful +character of its principal members. And here it may be noted that the +constitution was not chiefly the product of legal minds. Brown, +Tilley, Galt, Tupper, and others who shared largely in the work of +construction were not lawyers. The conference represented fairly the +different interests and occupations of a young country. It is to be +recorded, too, that the conclusions reached were criticized as the +product of men in a hurry. Edward Goff Penny, editor of the Montreal +_Herald_, a keen critic, and afterwards a senator, complained that the +actual working period of the conference was limited to fourteen days. +Joseph Howe poured scorn upon Ottawa as the capital, stating that he +preferred London, the seat of empire, where there were preserved 'the +archives of a nationality not created in a fortnight.' Still more +vigorous were the protests against the secrecy of the discussions. A +number of distinguished journalists, including several English +correspondents who had come across the ocean to write about the Civil +War, were in Quebec, and they were disposed to find fault with the +precautions taken to guard against publicity. The following memorial +was presented to the delegates: + + +{58} + +The undersigned, representatives of English and Canadian newspapers, +find that it would be impossible for them satisfactorily to discharge +their duties if an injunction of secrecy be imposed on the conference +and stringently carried into effect. They, therefore, beg leave to +suggest whether, while the remarks of individual members of your body +are kept secret, the propositions made and the treatment they meet +with, might not advantageously be made public, and whether such a +course would not best accord with the real interests committed to the +conference. Such a kind of compromise between absolute secrecy and +unlimited publicity is usually, we believe, observed in cases where an +European congress holds the peace of the world and the fate of nations +in its hands. And we have thought that the British American Conference +might perhaps consider the precedent not inapplicable to the present +case. Such a course would have the further advantage of preventing +ill-founded and mischievous rumours regarding the proceedings from +obtaining currency.[1] + + +{59} This ingenious appeal was signed by S. Phillips Day, of the London +_Morning Herald_, by Charles Lindsey of the Toronto _Leader_, and by +Brown Chamberlain of the Montreal _Gazette_. Among the other writers +of distinction in attendance were George Augustus Sala of the London +_Daily Telegraph_, Charles Mackay of _The Times_, Livesy of _Punch_, +and George Brega of the New York _Herald_. But the conference stood +firm, and the impatient correspondents were denied even the mournful +satisfaction of brief daily protocols. They were forced to be content +with overhearing the burst of cheering from the delegates when +Macdonald's motion proposing federation was unanimously adopted. The +reasons for maintaining strict secrecy were thus stated by John +Hamilton Gray,[2] a delegate from New Brunswick, who afterwards became +the historian of the Confederation movement: + + +After much consideration it was determined, as in Prince Edward Island, +that the convention should hold its {60} deliberations with closed +doors. In addition to the reasons which had governed the convention at +Charlottetown, it was further urged, that the views of individual +members, after a first expression, might be changed by the discussion +of new points, differing essentially from the ordinary current of +subjects that came under their consideration in the more limited range +of the Provincial Legislatures; and it was held that no man ought to be +prejudiced, or be liable to the charge in public that he had on some +other occasion advocated this or that doctrine, or this or that +principle, inconsistent with the one that might then be deemed best, in +view of the future union to be adopted.... Liberals and Conservatives +had there met to determine what was best for the future guidance of +half a continent, not to fight old party battles, or stand by old party +cries, and candour was sought for more than mere personal triumph. The +conclusion arrived at, it is thought, was judicious. It ensured the +utmost freedom of debate; the more so, inasmuch as the result would be +in no way binding upon those whose interests were to be affected until +and unless adopted after the {61} greatest publicity and the fullest +public discussions. + + +That the conference decided wisely admits of no doubt. The provincial +secretaries of the several provinces were appointed joint secretaries, +and Hewitt Bernard, chief clerk of the department of the +attorney-general for Upper Canada, was named executive secretary. In +his longhand notes, found among the papers of Sir John Macdonald, and +made public thirty years later by Sir Joseph Pope, we have the only +official record of the resolutions and debates of the conference. +Posterity has reason to be grateful for even this limited revelation of +the proceedings from day to day. It enables us to form an idea of the +difficulties overcome and of the currents of opinion which combined to +give the measure its final shape. No student of Canadian +constitutional history will leave unread a single note thus fortunately +preserved. The various draft motions, we are told by Sir Joseph Pope, +are nearly all in the handwriting of those who moved them, and it was +evidently the intention to prepare a complete record. The conference +was, however, much hurried at the close. When it began, Sir Etienne +Taché, prime minister of Canada, was {62} unanimously elected +chairman.[3] Each province was given one vote, except that Canada, as +consisting of two divisions, was allowed two votes. After the vote on +any motion was put, the delegates of a province might retire for +consultation among themselves. The conference sat as if in committee +of the whole, so as to permit of free discussion and suggestion. The +resolutions, having been passed in committee of the whole, were to be +reconsidered and carried as if parliament were sitting with the speaker +in the chair. + +The first motion, which was offered by Macdonald and seconded by +Tilley, read: _That the {63} best interests and present and future +prosperity of British North America will be promoted by a federal union +under the crown of Great Britain, provided such union can be effected +on principles just to the several provinces_. This motion, general in +its terms, asserted the principle which the conference had met to +decide. It passed unanimously amid much enthusiasm. To support it, +one may think, involved no serious responsibility, since any province +could at a later stage raise objections to any methods proposed in +carrying out the principle. But to secure the hearty and unanimous +acceptance of a federal union, as the basis on which the provinces were +ready to coalesce, was really to submit the whole issue to the crucial +test. {64} Macdonald's motion reflects, in its careful and +comprehensive phrasing, the skill in parliamentary tactics of which he +had, during many years, displayed so complete a mastery. To commit the +conference at the outset to endorsement of the general principle was to +render subsequent objection on some detail, however important, +extremely difficult for earnest and broad-minded patriots. The two +small provinces might withdraw from the scheme, as they subsequently +did, but the larger provinces, led by men of the calibre of Tupper and +Tilley, would feel that any subsequent obstacle must be of gigantic +proportions if it could not be overcome by statesmanship. After +cheerfully taking this momentous step, which irresistibly drove them on +to the next, the conference proceeded to discuss Brown's motion +proposing the form the federation was to assume. There was to be a +general government dealing with matters common to all, and in each +province a local government having control of local matters. The +second motion was likewise unanimously concurred in. Having, as it +were, planted two feet firmly on the ground, the conference was now in +a good position to stand firmly against divergences of view, provincial +rivalries, and extreme demands. + + + +[1] Pope's _Confederation Documents_. + +[2] There were two delegates named John Hamilton Gray, one whose views +are quoted here, the other the prime minister of Prince Edward Island. +Only one volume of Gray's work on Confederation ever appeared, the +second volume, it is said, being unfinished when the author died in +British Columbia. + +[3] A list of the delegates, who are now styled the Fathers of +Confederation, follows: + +_From Canada, twelve delegates_--SIR ETIENNE P. TACHÉ, receiver-general +and minister of Militia; JOHN A. MACDONALD, attorney-general for Upper +Canada; GEORGE E. CARTIER, attorney-general for Lower Canada; GEORGE +BROWN, president of the Executive Council; OLIVER MOWAT, +postmaster-general; ALEXANDER T. GALT, minister of Finance; WILLIAM +McDOUGALL, provincial secretary; T. D'ARCY McGEE, minister of +Agriculture; ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, commissioner of Crown Lands; J. C. +CHAPAIS, commissioner of Public Works; HECTOR L. LANGEVIN, +solicitor-general for Lower Canada; JAMES COCKBURN, solicitor-general +for Upper Canada. + +_From Nova Scotia, five delegates_--CHARLES TUPPER, provincial +secretary; WILLIAM A. HENRY, attorney-general; R. B. DICKEY, member of +the Legislative Council; JONATHAN McCULLY, member of the Legislative +Council; ADAMS G. ARCHIBALD, member of the Legislative Assembly. + +_From New Brunswick, seven delegates_--SAMUEL LEONARD TILLEY, +provincial secretary; WILLIAM H. STEEVES, minister without portfolio; +J. M. JOHNSTON, attorney-general; PETER MITCHELL, minister without +portfolio; E. B. CHANDLER, member of the Legislative Council; JOHN +HAMILTON GRAY, member of the Legislative Assembly; CHARLES FISHER, +member of the Legislative Assembly. + +_From Prince Edward Island, seven delegates_--COLONEL JOHN HAMILTON +GRAY, president of the Council; EDWARD PALMER, attorney-general; +WILLIAM H. POPE, colonial secretary; A. A. MACDONALD, member of the +Legislative Council; GEORGE COLES, member of the Legislative Assembly; +T. HEATH HAVILAND, member of the Legislative Assembly; EDWARD WHELAN, +member of the Legislative Assembly. + +_From Newfoundland, two delegates_--F. B. T. CARTER, speaker of the +Legislative Assembly; AMBROSE SHEA. + + + + +{65} + +CHAPTER VII + +THE RESULTS OF THE CONFERENCE + +The constitution which the founders of the Dominion devised was the +first of its kind on a great scale within the Empire. No English +precedents therefore existed. Yet their chief aim was to preserve the +connection with Great Britain, and to perpetuate in North America the +institutions and principles which the mother of parliaments, during her +splendid history, had bequeathed to the world. The Fathers could look +to Switzerland, to New Zealand, to the American Republic, and to those +experiments and proposals in ancient or modern times which seemed to +present features to imitate or examples to avoid.[1] But they were +guided, perforce, by the special conditions with which they had to +deal. If they had been free to make a perfect contribution to the +science of government, the constitution might have been {66} different. +It is, of course, true of all existing federations that they were +determined largely by the relations and circumstances of the combining +states. This is illustrated by comparing the Canadian constitution +with those of the two most notable unions which followed. Unlike +Canada, Australia preferred to leave the residue of powers to the +individual states, while South Africa adopted a legislative instead of +a federal union. For Canada, a legislative union was impracticable. +This was due partly to the racial solidarity of the French, but even +more largely to the fully developed individualism of each province. It +is to the glory of the Fathers of Confederation that the constitution, +mainly constructed by themselves as the product of their own experience +and reflection, has lasted without substantial change for nearly half a +century. They were forced to deal with conditions which they had not +created, yet could not ignore--conditions which had long perplexed both +Imperial and colonial statesmen, and had rendered government +ineffective if not impossible. They found the remedy; and the result +is seen in the powerful and thriving nationality which their labours +evolved. + +To set up a strong central government was {67} the desire of many of +the delegates. Macdonald, as has been recorded already, had contended +for this in 1861. He argued to the same effect at the conference. The +Civil War in the United States, just concluded, had revealed in +startling fashion the dangers arising from an exaggerated state +sovereignty. 'We must,' he said, 'reverse this process by +strengthening the general government and conferring on the provincial +bodies only such powers as may be required for local purposes.' When +Chandler of New Brunswick perceived with acuteness that in effect this +would mean legislative union, Macdonald, as we gather from the +fragmentary notes of his speech, made an impassioned appeal for a +carefully defined central authority. + + +I think [he declared] the whole affair would fail and the system be a +failure if we adopted Mr Chandler's views. We should concentrate the +power in the federal government and not adopt the decentralization of +the United States. Mr Chandler would give sovereign power to the local +legislatures, just where the United States failed. Canada would be +infinitely stronger as she is than under such a system {68} as proposed +by Mr Chandler. It is said that the tariff is one of the causes of +difficulty in the United States. So it would be with us. Looking at +the agricultural interests of Upper Canada, manufacturing of Lower +Canada, and maritime interests of the lower provinces, in respect to a +tariff, a federal government would be a mediator. No general feeling +of patriotism exists in the United States. In occasions of difficulty +each man sticks to his individual state. Mr Stephens, the present +vice-president [of the Confederacy], was a strong union man, yet, when +the time came, he went with his state. Similarly we should stick to +our province and not be British Americans. It would be introducing a +source of radical weakness. It would ruin us in the eyes of the +civilized world. All writers point out the errors of the United +States. All the feelings prognosticated by Tocqueville are shown to be +fulfilled. + + +These and other arguments prevailed. Several of the most influential +delegates were in theory in favour of legislative union, and these were +anxious to create, as the best alternative, a general parliament +wielding {69} paramount authority. This object was attained by means +of three important clauses in the new constitution: one enumerating the +powers of the federal and provincial bodies respectively and assigning +the undefined residue to the federal parliament; another conferring +upon the federal ministry the right to dismiss for cause the +lieutenant-governors; and another declaring that any provincial law +might, within one year, be disallowed by the central body. Instead of +a loosely knit federation, therefore, which might have fallen to pieces +at the first serious strain, it was resolved to bring the central +legislature into close contact at many points with the individual +citizen, and thus raise the new state to the dignity of a nation. + +How the designs of the Fathers have been modified by the course of +events is well known. The federal power has been restrained from undue +encroachment on provincial rights by the decisions, on various issues, +of the highest court, the judicial committee of the Imperial Privy +Council. The power to dismiss lieutenant-governors was found to be +fraught with danger and has been rarely exercised. The dismissal of +Letellier, a strong Liberal, from the lieutenant-governorship of Quebec +by the {70} Conservative ministry at Ottawa in 1879, gave rise to some +uneasiness and criticism. The reason assigned was that his 'usefulness +was gone,' since both houses of parliament had passed resolutions +calling for his removal. He was accused of partisanship towards his +ministers. The federal prime minister, Sir John Macdonald, assented +reluctantly, it is said, to the dismissal. But some of the facts are +still obscure. The status of the office and the causes that would +warrant removal were thus given by Macdonald at Quebec, according to +the imperfect report which has come down to us: + + +The office must necessarily be during pleasure. The person may break +down, misbehave, etc.... The lieutenant-governor will be a very high +officer. He should be independent of the federal government, except as +to removal for cause, and it is necessary that he should not be +removable by any new political party. It would destroy his +independence. He should only be removable upon an address from the +legislature. + + +The power of disallowance, the third expedient for curbing the +provinces, was exercised with {71} some freedom down to 1888. In that +year a Quebec measure, the Jesuits' Estates Act, with a highly +controversial preamble calculated to provoke a war of creeds, was not +disallowed, although protests were carried past parliament to the +governor-general personally. The incident directed attention to the +previous practice at Ottawa under both parties and a new era of +non-intervention was inaugurated. Disallowance is now rare, except +where Imperial interests are affected, and never occurs on the ground +of the policy or impolicy of the measure. The provinces, as a matter +of practice, are free within their limits to legislate as they please. +But the Dominion as a self-governing state has long passed the stage +where the clashing of provincial and federal jurisdictions could shake +the constitution. + +When the conference, however, considered provincial powers it went to +the root of a federal system. The maritime delegates as a whole +displayed magnanimity and statesmanship. Brown, as the champion of +Upper Canada, was concerned to see that the interests of his own +province were amply secured. He held radical views. When he spoke, +the calm surface of the conference, where a moderate and essentially +conservative {72} constitutionalism sat entrenched, may have been +ruffled. The following is from the summary which has been preserved of +one of his speeches:[2] + + +As to local governments, we desire in Upper Canada that they should not +be expensive, and should not take up political matters. We ought not +to have two electoral bodies. Only one body, members to be elected +once in every three years. Should have whole legislative +power--subject to lieutenant-governor. I would have +lieutenant-governors appointed by general government. It would thus +bring these bodies into harmony with the general government. In Upper +Canada executive officers would be attorney-general, treasurer, +secretary, commissioner of crown lands and commissioner of public +works. These would form the council of the lieutenant-governor. I +would give lieutenant-governors veto without advice, but under certain +vote he should be obliged to assent. During recess lieutenant-governor +could have power to suspend executive officers. They might be elected +for three years or {73} otherwise. You might safely allow county +councils to appoint other officers than those they do now. One +legislative chamber for three years, no power of dissolution, elected +on one day in each third year. Departmental officers to be elected +during pleasure or for three years. To be allowed to speak but not to +vote. + + +A more suggestive extract than this cannot be found in the discussion. +From the astonished Cartier the ejaculation came, 'I entirely differ +with Mr Brown. It introduces in our local bodies republican +institutions.' From the brevity of the report we cannot gather the +whole of Brown's meaning. Apparently his aim was a strictly +businesslike administration of provincial affairs, under complete +popular control, but with the executive functions as far removed from +party domination as erring human nature would permit. There may be +seen here points of resemblance to an American state constitution, but +Brown was no more a republican than was Napoleon. He was, like +Macdonald, an Imperialist who favoured the widest national expansion +for Canada. The idea of a republic, either in the abstract or the +concrete, had no friends in the {74} conference. Galt believed +independence the proper aim for a young state, but we find him stating +later: 'We were and are willing to spend our last men and our last +shilling for our mother country.'[3] Many years after Confederation +Sir Oliver Mowat declared independence the remote goal to keep in view. +These opinions were plainly speculative. Neither statesman took any +step towards carrying them out, but benevolently left them as a legacy, +unencumbered by conditions, to a distant posterity. + +At the conference Mowat was active to strengthen the central authority, +as also was Brown. But there was general agreement, despite Brown's +plea for a change, that the local governments should take the form +preferred by themselves and that ministerial responsibility on the +British model should prevail throughout. Upon the question of +assigning the same subjects, such as agriculture, to both federal and +provincial legislatures, Mowat said: + + +The items of agriculture and immigration should be vested in both +federal and local governments. Danger often arises where there is +exclusive jurisdiction and not so {75} often in cases of concurrent +jurisdiction. In municipal matters the county and township council +often have concurrent jurisdiction. + + +In the famous contests for provincial rights which he was afterwards to +wage before the courts, and always successfully, Mowat was not +necessarily forgetful that he himself moved for the power of +disallowance over provincial laws to be given to the federal authority. +With the caution and clearness of mind that governed his political +course, he naturally made sure of his ground before fighting, and could +thus safely break a lance with the federal government. The provincial +constitutions were, therefore, left to be determined by the provinces +themselves, and this freedom to modify them continues, 'except as +regards the office of lieutenant-governor.' No province has yet +proposed any constitutional change which could be regarded as an +infringement of the inviolacy of that office, and no circumstances have +arisen to throw light upon the kind of measure which would be so +regarded.[4] + +One more point, touching upon provincial autonomy, deserves to be +noticed. In the {76} resolutions of the conference, as well as in the +British North America Act, the laws passed by the local legislatures +are reviewable for one year by the _governor-general_, not by the +_governor-general in council_. The colonial secretary drew attention +in 1876 to this distinction in the expressions used, and suggested that +it was intended to place the responsibility of deciding the validity of +provincial laws upon the governor-general personally. The able and +convincing memoranda in reply were composed by Edward Blake, the +Canadian minister of Justice. He contended that under the letter and +spirit of the constitution ministers must be responsible for the +governor's action. His view prevailed, and thus within ten years after +Confederation the principle that the crown's representative must act +only through his advisers on all Canadian matters was maintained. +There was nothing in the available records in 1876 to explain why the +term 'governor-general' instead of 'governor-general in council' was +employed.[5] It is, {77} however, an unassailable principle that the +control of the crown over the Canadian provinces can be exercised only +through the federal authorities. + +When the conference had accepted the outline of the federal and +provincial constitutions the danger points might reasonably have been +considered past. But there remained to be discussed the representation +in the federal parliament and the financial terms. These were the +rocks on which the ship nearly split. Representation by population in +the proposed House of Commons had been agreed upon at Charlottetown; +but when the Prince Edward Island delegates saw that, with sixty-five +members for Lower Canada as a fixed number, the proportion assigned to +the Island would be five members only, they objected. They were +dismayed by the prospect, and when the financial proposals also proved +unsatisfactory, their discontent foreshadowed the ultimate withdrawal +of the province from the scheme. The other provinces accepted without +demur the basis of representation in the new House of Commons. + +The composition of the Senate, however, brought on a crisis. 'We were +very near broken up,' wrote Brown in a private letter on {78} October +17, 'on the question of the distribution of members in the upper +chamber of the federal legislature, but fortunately we have this +morning got the matter amicably compromised, after a loss of three days +in discussing it.' The difficulty seems to have been to select the +members of the first Senate with due regard to party complexion, so as +not to operate in Upper Canada, as Brown felt, unfairly against the +Liberals. Finally, an agreement was arranged on the basis that the +senators should be drawn from both parties; and this was ultimately +carried out. + +A far more important point, whether the second chamber should be +nominated or elected, caused less debate. Macdonald opened the +discussion with his usual diplomacy: + + +With respect to the mode of appointments to the Upper House, some of us +are in favour of the elective principle. More are in favour of +appointment by the crown. I will keep my own mind open on that point +as if it were a new question to me altogether. At present I am in +favour of appointment by the crown. While I do not admit that the +elective principle has been a failure in Canada, I think we had {79} +better return to the original principle, and in the words of Governor +Simcoe endeavour to make ours 'an image and transcript of the British +constitution.' + + +Differing on other issues, Brown and Macdonald were at one on this. +They were opposed to a second set of general elections, partly because +it would draw too heavily on the organizations and funds of the +parties. As an instance of the stability of Brown's views, it should +be remembered that he never, at any period, approved of an elective +second chamber. The other Liberal ministers from Upper Canada, Mowat +and McDougall, stood by the elective system, but the conference voted +it down. The Quebec correspondence of the _Globe_ at this time throws +some light on the reasons for the decision: 'Judging from the tone of +conversation few delegates are in favour of election. The expense of +contesting a division is enormous and yearly increases. The +consequence is there is great difficulty in getting fit candidates, and +the tendency is to seek corrupt aid from the administration of the day. +There is also fear of a collision between two houses equally +representing the people. It is less important to us than to the {80} +French. Why should we not then let Lower Canada, which desires to +place a barrier against aggression by the west, decide the question and +make her defensive powers as strong as she likes? It would be no great +stretch of liberality on our part to accord it to her.' During the +debates on Confederation in the Canadian Assembly, in the following +year, Macdonald derided the notion that a government would ever +'overrule the independent opinion of the Upper House by filling it with +a number of its partisans and political supporters.' This, however, is +precisely what has taken place. The Senate is one of the few +unsatisfactory creations of the Fathers of Confederation.[6] + +[Illustration: Sir John A. Macdonald. From the painting by A. Dickson +Patterson.] + +The question of the financial terms was surrounded with difficulties. +The Maritime Provinces, unlike Upper Canada, were without the municipal +organization which provides for local needs by direct taxation. With +them {81} the provincial government was a nursing mother and paid for +everything. Out of the general revenue came the money for bridges, +roads, schools, wharves, piers, and other improvements, in addition to +the cost of maintaining the fiscal, postal, and other charges of the +province. The revenue was raised by customs duties, sales of crown +lands, royalties, or export duties. The devotion to indirect taxation, +which is not absent from provinces with municipal bodies, was to them +an all-absorbing passion. The Canadian delegates were unsympathetic. +John Hamilton Gray describes the scene: + + +Agreement seemed hopeless, and on or about the tenth morning, after the +convention met, the conviction was general that it must break up +without coming to any conclusion. The terms of mutual concession and +demand had been drawn to their extremest tension and silence was all +around. At last a proposition was made that the convention should +adjourn for the day, and that in the meantime the finance ministers of +the several provinces should meet, discuss the matter amongst +themselves, and see if they could not agree upon something.[7] + + +{82} On this committee were Brown and Galt acting for Canada, while the +others were Tupper, Tilley, Archibald, Pope, and Shea. The scheme set +forth in the resolutions was the result. It need not be detailed, but +the sixty-fourth resolution, on which was centred the keenest +criticism, reads as follows: + + +In consideration of the transfer to the general parliament of the +powers of taxation, an annual grant in aid of each province shall be +made, equal to 80 cents per head of the population as established by +the census of 1861, the population of Newfoundland being estimated at +130,000. Such aid shall be in full settlement of all future demands +upon the general government for local purposes and shall be paid +half-yearly in advance to each province. + + +The system of provincial subsidies has often been denounced. The +delegates may have thought that they had shut the door to further +claims, but the finality of the arrangement was soon tested, and in +1869 Nova Scotia received better terms. There were increases in the +subsidies to the provinces on several subsequent occasions, and no one +believes the end has yet been reached. The growing needs of the {83} +provinces and the general aversion from direct taxation furnish strong +temptations to make demands upon the federal treasury. + +The conference, after adopting the seventy-two resolutions embodying +the basis of the union, agreed that the several governments should +submit them to the respective legislatures at the ensuing session. +They were to be carried _en bloc_, lest any change should entail a +fresh conference. The delegates made a tour of Canada, visiting +Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, where receptions and congratulations +awaited them. Their work had been done quickly. It had now to run the +gauntlet of parliamentary discussion. + + + +[1] D'Arcy McGee published a treatise in 1865 entitled _Notes on +Federal Government Past and Present_, presenting a useful summary of +the various constitutions. + +[2] The quotations in this chapter are taken from Pope's _Confederation +Documents_. + +[3] At Cornwall, March 2, 1866. + +[4] It is worth noting that almost any change of importance would +affect the office of the lieutenant-governor and thus challenge federal +interference. + +[5] We know now from Sir Joseph Pope's _Confederation Documents_ (p. +140) that it was proposed in the first draft of the union bill to have +interpretation clauses, and one of these declared that where the +governor-general was required to do any act it was to be assumed that +he performed it by the advice and consent of his executive council. + +[6] In the copy of the Confederation debates possessed by the writer +there appears on the margin of the page, in William McDougall's +handwriting and initialled by himself, these words: 'In the Quebec +Conference I moved and Mr Mowat seconded a motion for the elective +principle. About one-third of the delegates voted for the proposition, +Brown arguing and voting against it. At this date (1887) under Sir +John's policy and action the Senate contains only 14 Liberals; all his +appointments being made from his own party.' + +[7] Gray's _Confederation_, p. 62. + + + + +{84} + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE DEBATES OF 1865 + +In the province of Canada no time was lost in placing the new +constitution before parliament. A dilatory course would have been +unwise. The omens were favourable. Such opposition as had developed +was confined to Lower Canada. The Houses met in January 1865, and the +governor-general used this language in his opening speech: + + +With the public men of British North America it now rests to decide +whether the vast tract of country which they inhabit shall be +consolidated into a State, combining within its area all the elements +of national greatness, providing for the security of its component +parts and contributing to the strength and stability of the Empire; or +whether the several Provinces of which it is constituted shall remain +in their present fragmentary and isolated condition, comparatively +powerless for mutual {85} aid, and incapable of undertaking their +proper share of Imperial responsibility. + + +The procedure adopted was the moving in each House of an address to the +Queen praying that a measure might be submitted to the Imperial +parliament based upon the Quebec resolutions. The debate began in the +Legislative Council on the 3rd of February and in the Assembly three +days later. The debate in the popular branch lasted until the 13th of +March; in the smaller chamber it was concluded by the 23rd of February. + +These debates, subsequently published in a volume of 1032 pages, are a +mirror which reflects for us the political life of the time and the +events of the issue under discussion. They set forth the hopes and +intentions of the Fathers with reference to their own work; and if +later developments have presented some surprises, some situations which +they did not foresee, as was indeed inevitable, their prescience is +nowhere shown to have been seriously at fault. Some of the speeches +are commonplace; a few are wearisome; but many of them are examples of +parliamentary eloquence at its best, and the general level is high. + +The profound sincerity of the leaders of the {86} coalition, whether in +or out of office, is not to be questioned. The supporters of the union +bore down all opposition. Macdonald's wonderful tact, Brown's +passionate earnestness, and Galt's mastery of the financial problem, +were never displayed to better advantage; while the redoubtable Cartier +marshalled his French compatriots before their timidity had a chance to +assert itself. Particularly interesting is the attitude which Brown +assumed towards the French. He had been identified with a vicious +crusade against their race and creed. Its cruel intolerance cannot be +justified, and every admirer of Brown deplores it. He met them now +with a frank friendliness which evoked at once the magnanimity and +readiness to forgive that has always marked this people and is one of +their most engaging qualities. Said Brown: + + +The scene presented by this chamber at this moment, I venture to +affirm, has few parallels in history. One hundred years have passed +away since these provinces became by conquest part of the British +Empire. I speak in no boastful spirit. I desire not for a moment to +excite a painful thought. What was then the fortune of {87} war of the +brave French nation might have been ours on that well-fought field. I +recall those olden times merely to mark the fact that here sit to-day +the descendants of the victors and the vanquished in the fight of 1759, +with all the differences of language, religion, civil law and social +habit nearly as distinctly marked as they were a century ago. Here we +sit to-day seeking amicably to find a remedy for constitutional evils +and injustice complained of. By the vanquished? No, sir, but +complained of by the conquerors! [French-Canadian cheers.] + +Here sit the representatives of the British population claiming +justice--only justice; and here sit the representatives of the French +population, discussing in the French tongue whether we shall have it. +One hundred years have passed away since the conquest of Quebec, but +here sit the children of the victor and the vanquished, all avowing +hearty attachment to the British Crown, all earnestly deliberating how +we shall best extend the blessings of British institutions, how a great +people may be established on this continent in close and hearty +connection with Great Britain. + + +{88} + +In thus proclaiming the aim and intent of the advocates of +Confederation in respect to the Imperial link, Brown expressed the +views of all. It was not a cheap appeal for applause, because the +question could not be avoided. It came up at every turn. What was the +purpose, the critics of the measure asked, of this new constitution? +Did it portend separation? Would it not inevitably lead to +independence? and if not, why was the term 'a new nationality' so +freely used? In the opening speech of the debate Macdonald met the +issue squarely with the statesmanlike gravity that befitted the +occasion: + + +No one can look into futurity and say what will be the destiny of this +country. Changes come over peoples and nations in the course of ages. +But so far as we can legislate, we provide that for all time to come +the sovereign of Great Britain shall be the sovereign of British North +America. + + +And he went on to predict that the measure would not tend towards +independence, but that the country, as it grew in wealth and +population, would grow also in attachment to the crown and seek to +preserve it. This prophecy, as we know, has proved true. + +{89} + +The fear of annexation to the United States figured likewise in the +debate, but the condition of the Republic, so recently in the throes of +civil war, was not such as to give rise to serious apprehension on that +score. The national sentiment, however, which would naturally arise +when the new state was constituted, was a proper subject for +consideration, since it might easily result in a complete, if peaceful, +revolution. + +There were other uncertain factors in the situation which gave the +opponents of Confederation an opportunity for destructive criticism. +The measure was subjected to the closest scrutiny by critics who were +well qualified to rouse any hostile feeling in the country if such +existed. Weighty attacks came from dissentient Liberals like Dorion, +Holton, and Sandfield Macdonald. A formidable opponent, too, was +Christopher Dunkin, an independent Conservative, inspired, it may be +supposed, by the distrust of constitutional change entertained by his +immediate fellow-countrymen, the English minority in Lower Canada. + +Brown bore the brunt of the attack from erstwhile allies and faced it +in this fashion: + + +No constitution ever framed was without defect; no act of human wisdom +was ever {90} free from imperfection.... To assert then that our +scheme is without fault, would be folly. It was necessarily the work +of concession; not one of the thirty-three framers but had on some +points to yield his opinions; and, for myself, I freely admit that I +struggled earnestly, for days together, to have portions of the scheme +amended. + + +This was reasonable ground to take and drew some of the sting from the +criticism. + +But all the criticism was not futile. Some of the defects pointed out +bore fruit in the years that followed. As already stated, the +financial terms were far from final, and a demand for larger subsidies +had soon to be met. Friction between the federal and provincial powers +arose in due course, but not precisely for the reasons given. The +administration of the national business has cost more than was +expected, and has not been free, to employ the ugly words used in these +debates, from jobbery and corruption. The cost of a progressive +railway policy has proved infinitely greater than the highest estimates +put forth by the Fathers. The duty of forming a ministry so as to give +adequate representation {91} to all the provinces has been quite as +difficult as Dunkin said it would be. To parcel out the ministerial +offices on this basis is one of the unwritten conventions of the +constitution, and has taxed the resources of successive prime ministers +to the utmost. With all his skill, as we shall see later, Sir John +Macdonald nearly gave up in despair his first attempt to form a +ministry after Confederation. Yet it must be said, surveying the whole +field, that the critics of the resolutions failed to make out a case. + +Both in the Legislative Council and in the Assembly the resolution for +a nominated second chamber caused much debate. But the elective +principle was not defended with marked enthusiasm. By the Act of 1840 +which united the Canadas the Council had been a nominated body solely. +Its members received no indemnity; and, as some of them were averse +from the political strife which raged with special fury until 1850, a +quorum could not always be obtained. Sir Etienne Taché drew an +affecting picture of the speaker frequently taking the chair at the +appointed time, waiting in stiff and solemn silence for one hour by the +clock, and at last retiring discomfited, since members enough did not +appear to form a {92} quorum. To remedy the situation the Imperial +parliament had passed an Act providing for the election of a portion of +the members. Fresh difficulties had then arisen. The electoral +divisions had been largely formed by grouping portions of counties +together; the candidates had found that physical endurance and a long +purse were as needful to gain a seat in the Council as a patriotic +interest in public affairs; and it had become difficult to secure +candidates. This unsatisfactory experience of an elective upper +chamber made it comparatively easy to carry the resolution providing +for a nominated Senate in the new constitution. + +The agreement that the resolutions must be accepted or rejected as a +whole led Dorion to complain that the power of parliament to amend +legislation was curtailed. What value had the debate, if the +resolutions were in the nature of a treaty and could not be moulded to +suit the wishes of the people's representatives? The grievance was not +so substantial as it appeared. The Imperial parliament, which was +finally to pass the measure, could be prompted later on to make any +alterations strongly desired by Canadian public opinion. + +Why were not the terms of Confederation {93} submitted to the Canadian +people for ratification? The most strenuous fight was made in +parliament on this point, and in after years, too, constitutional +writers, gifted with the wisdom which comes after the event, have +declared the omission a serious error. Goldwin Smith observed that +Canadians might conceivably in the future discard their institutions as +lacking popular sanction when they were adopted, seeing that in reality +they were imposed on the country by a group of politicians and a +distant parliament. In dealing with such objections the reasons given +at the time must be considered. The question was discussed at the +Quebec Conference, doubtless informally.[1] The constitutional right +of the legislatures to deal with the matter was unquestioned by the +Canadian members. Shortly after the conference adjourned, Galt in a +speech at Sherbrooke[2] declared that, if during the discussion of the +scheme in parliament any serious doubt arose respecting the public +feeling on the subject, the people would be called upon to decide for +themselves. The {94} _Globe_, which voiced the opinion of Brown, said: + + +If on the assembling of Parliament the majority in that body in favour +of Confederation shall be found so large as to make it manifest that +any reference to the country would simply be a matter of form, +Ministers will not, we take it, feel warranted in putting the country +to great trouble and expense for the sake of that unessential formality. + + +When challenged in parliament the government gave its reasons. The +question of Confederation had, in one form or another, been before the +country for years. During 1864 there had been elections in eleven +ridings for the Assembly and in fourteen for the Legislative Council. +The area of country embraced by these contests included forty counties. +Of the candidates in these elections but four opposed federation and +only two of them were elected. Brown stated impetuously that not five +members of parliament in Upper Canada dare go before the people against +the scheme. No petitions against it were presented, and its opponents +had not ventured to hold meetings, knowing that an enormous majority of +the {95} people favoured it. This evidence, in Upper Canada, was +accepted as conclusive. In Lower Canada appearances were not quite so +convincing. The ministry representing that section was not a +coalition, and the Liberal leaders, both French and English, organized +an agitation. But afterwards, in the campaign of 1867, Cartier swept +all before him. It was also argued that parliament was fresh from the +people as recently as 1864, and that though the mandate to legislate +was not specific, it was sufficient. The method of ascertaining the +popular verdict by means of a referendum was proposed, but rejected as +unknown to the constitution and at variance with British practice. + +Parliament finally adopted the resolutions by a vote of ninety-one to +thirty-three in the Assembly and of forty-five to fifteen in the +Legislative Council. Hillyard Cameron, politically a lineal descendant +of the old Family Compact, supported by Matthew Crooks Cameron, a +Conservative of the highest integrity and afterwards chief justice, +then moved for a reference to the people by a dissolution of +parliament. But after an animated debate the motion was defeated, and +no further efforts in this direction were attempted. That an eagerness +to invoke the judgment of democracy {96} was not seen at its best, when +displayed by two Tories of the old school, may justify the belief that +parliamentary tactics, rather than the pressure of public opinion, +inspired the move. + +Fortune had smiled upon the statesmen of the Canadian coalition. In a +few months they had accomplished wonders. They had secured the aid of +the Maritime Provinces in drafting a scheme of union. They had made +tours in the east and the west to prepare public opinion for the great +stroke of state. They and their co-delegates had formulated and +adopted the Quebec resolutions, on which a chorus of congratulation had +drowned, for the time, the voices of warning and expostulation. And, +finally, the ministers had met parliament and had secured the adoption +of their scheme by overwhelming majorities. + +But all was not so fair in the provinces by the sea. Before the +Canadian legislature prorogued, the Tilley government had been hurled +from power in New Brunswick, Joseph Howe was heading a formidable +agitation in Nova Scotia, and in the other two provinces the cause was +lost. It seemed as if a storm had burst that would overwhelm the union +and that the hands of the clock would be put back. + + + +[1] See the remark of McCully of Nova Scotia that the delegates should +take the matter into their own hands and not wait to educate the people +up to it--Pope's _Confederation Documents_, p. 60. + +[2] November 23, 1864. + + + + +{97} + +CHAPTER IX + +ROCKS IN THE CHANNEL + +In the month of March 1865, as the Canadian debates drew to a close, +ominous reports began to arrive from all the Maritime Provinces. An +election campaign of unusual bitterness was going on in New Brunswick. +The term of the legislature would expire in the following June; and the +Tilley government had decided to dissolve and present the Quebec +resolutions to a newly elected legislature, a blunder in tactics due, +it may be, to over-confidence. The secrecy which had shrouded the +proceedings of the delegates at first was turned to account by their +opponents, who set in motion a campaign of mendacity and +misrepresentation. The actual terms became known too late to +counteract this hostile agitation, which had been systematically +carried on throughout the province. The bogey employed to stampede the +electors was direct taxation. The farmers were told that every cow or +horse they {98} possessed, even the chickens in the farmyard, would be +taxed for the benefit of Canada. Worse than all, it was contended, the +bargain struck at the honour of the province, because, as the subsidy +was on the basis of paying to the provinces annually eighty cents per +head of population, the people were really being sold by the government +like sheep for this paltry price. The trusted Tilley, easily first in +popular affection by reason of his probity and devotion to public duty, +was discredited. His opponent in the city of St John, A. R. Wetmore, +illustrated the dire effects of Confederation in an imaginary dialogue, +between himself and his young son, after this fashion: 'Father, what +country do we live in?'--and, of course, the reply came promptly--'My +dear son, you have no country, for Mr Tilley has sold us all to the +Canadians for eighty cents a head.' Time and full discussion would +have dissipated the forces of the anti-confederates. But +constituencies worked upon by specious appeals to prejudice are +notoriously hard to woo during an election struggle. There existed +also honest doubts in many minds regarding federation. Enough men of +character and influence in both parties joined to form a strong +opposition, while one of Tilley's {99} colleagues in the ministry, +George Hathaway, went over to the enemy at a critical hour. The +agitation swept the province. It was not firmly rooted in the +convictions of the people, but it sufficed to overwhelm the government. +All the Cabinet ministers, including Tilley, were beaten. And so it +happened that, when the Canadian ministers were in the full tide of +parliamentary success at home, the startling news arrived that New +Brunswick had rejected federation, and that in a House of forty-one +members only six supporters of the scheme had been returned from the +polls. + +Equally alarming was the prospect in Nova Scotia. On arriving home +from Quebec, Dr Tupper and his fellow-delegates found a situation which +required careful handling. 'When the delegates returned to the +Province,' says a pamphlet of the time, 'they did not meet with a very +flattering reception. They had no ovation; and no illuminations, +bonfires, and other demonstrations of felicitous welcome hailed their +return. They were not escorted to their homes with torches and +banners, and through triumphal arches; no cannon thundered forth a +noisy welcome. They were received in solemn, sullen and ominous +silence. {100} No happy smiles greeted them; but they entered the +Province as into the house of mourning.'[1] And in Nova Scotia the +hostility was not, as in New Brunswick, merely a passing wave of +surprise and discontent. It lasted for years. Nor was it, as many +think, the sole creation of the ambitious Joseph Howe. It doubtless +owed much to his power as a leader of men and his influence over the +masses of the Nova Scotians. But there is testimony that this proud +and spirited people, with traditions which their origin and history +fully warranted them in cherishing, regarded with aversion the prospect +of a constitutional revolution, especially one which menaced their +political identity. Robert Haliburton has related the results of his +observations before the issue had been fairly disclosed and before Howe +had emerged from seclusion to take a hand in the game. + + +In September and October, 1864, when our delegates were at Quebec, and +therefore before there could be any objections raised to the details of +the scheme, or to the mode of its adoption, I travelled through six +{101} counties, embracing the whole of Cape Breton and two counties in +Nova Scotia, and took some trouble to ascertain the state of public +opinion as to what was taking place, and was greatly surprised at +finding that every one I met, without a solitary exception, from the +highest to the lowest, was alarmed at the idea of a union with Canada, +and that the combination of political leaders, so far from recommending +the scheme, filled their partisans with as much dismay as if the powers +of light and darkness were plotting against the public safety. It was +evident that unless the greatest tact were exercised, a storm of +ignorant prejudice and alarm would be aroused, that would sweep the +friends of union out of power, if not out of public life. The profound +secrecy preserved by the delegates as to the scheme, until an +accomplice turned Queen's evidence, added fuel to the flame, and +convinced the most sceptical that there was a second Gunpowder Plot in +existence, which was destined to annihilate our local legislature and +our provincial rights.[2] + + +{102} + +This was the situation which confronted Howe when he returned in the +autumn from his tour as fishery commissioner. He had written from +Newfoundland, on hearing of the conference at Charlottetown: 'I have +read the proceedings of the delegates and I am glad to be out of the +mess.' At first he listened in silence to the Halifax discussions on +both sides of the question. These were non-partisan, since Archibald +and McCully, the Liberal leaders, were as much concerned in the result +as the Conservative ministers. Howe finally broke silence with the +first of his articles in the Halifax _Chronicle_ on 'The Botheration +Scheme.' This gave the signal for an agitation which finally bore Nova +Scotia to the verge of rebellion. Howe's course has been censured as +the greatest blot upon an otherwise brilliant career. In justice to +his memory the whole situation should be examined. He did not start +the agitation. Many able and patriotic Nova Scotians urged him on. +Favourable to union as an abstract theory he had been: to Confederation +as a policy he had never distinctly pledged himself. The idea that the +Quebec terms were sacrosanct, and that hostility to them involved +disloyalty to the Empire, must be put aside. It is neither {103} +necessary nor fair to assume that Howe's conduct was wholly inspired by +the spleen and jealousy commonly ascribed to him; for, with many +others, he honestly held the view that the interests of his native +province were about to be sacrificed in a bad bargain. Nevertheless, +his was a grave political error--an error for which he paid +bitterly--which in the end cost him popularity, private friendship, and +political reputation. But the noble courage and patience with which he +sought to repair it should redeem his fame.[3] + +It was no secret that the governor of Nova Scotia, Sir Richard Graves +Macdonnell, was opposed to Confederation. The veiled hostility of his +speech in Halifax has already been noted; and he followed it with +another at Montreal, after the conference, which revealed a captious +mind on the subject. Arthur Hamilton Gordon (afterwards Lord +Stanmore), the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, also hampered the +movement; although the Imperial instructions, even at this early stage +of the proceedings, pointed to an opposite {104} course. In the +gossipy diary of Miss Frances Monck, a member of Lord Monck's household +at Quebec in 1864, appears this item: 'Sir R. M. is so against this +confederation scheme because he would be turned away. He said to John +A.: You shall not make a mayor of _me_, I can tell you! meaning a +deputy governor of a province.' Macdonnell was transferred to +Hong-Kong; and Gordon, after a visit to England, experienced a change +of heart. But the mischief done was incalculable. + +In view of the disturbed state of public opinion in Nova Scotia the +Tupper government resolved to play a waiting game. When the +legislature met in February 1865, the federation issue came before it +merely as an open question. The defeat of Tilley in New Brunswick +followed soon after, and the occasion was seen to be inopportune for a +vote upon union. But, as some action had to be taken, a motion was +adopted affirming the previous attitude of the legislature respecting a +maritime union. There was a long debate; Tupper expounded and defended +the Quebec resolutions; but no one seemed disposed to come to close +quarters with the question. Tupper's policy was to mark time. + +Prince Edward Island made another {105} contribution to the chapter of +misfortune by definitely rejecting the proposed union. The Legislative +Council unanimously passed a resolution against it, and in the Assembly +the adverse vote was twenty-three against five. It was declared that +the scheme 'would prove politically, commercially and financially +disastrous'; and an address to the Queen prayed that no Imperial action +should be taken to unite the Island to Canada or any other province. + +Newfoundland, likewise, turned a deaf ear to the proposals. The +commercial interests of that colony assumed the critical attitude of +the same element in Nova Scotia, and objected to the higher customs +duties which a uniform tariff for the federated provinces would +probably entail. It was resolved to take no action until after a +general election; and the representations made to the legislature by +Governor Musgrave produced no effect. Although the governor was +sanguine, it required no great power of observation to perceive that +the ancient colony would not accept federation. + +The Canadian government took prompt measures. On the arrival of the +bad news from New Brunswick it was decided to hurry the debates to a +close, prorogue parliament, and send a committee of the Cabinet to +England {106} to confer with the Imperial authorities on federation, +defence, reciprocity, and the acquisition of the North-West +Territories. This programme was adhered to. The four ministers who +left for England in April were Macdonald, Brown, Galt, and Cartier. +The mission, among other results pertinent to the cause of union, +secured assurances from the home authorities that every legitimate +means for obtaining the early assent of the Maritime Provinces would be +adopted.[4] But the calamities of 1865 were not over. The prime +minister, Sir Etienne Taché, died; and Brown refused to serve under +either Macdonald or Cartier. He took the ground that the coalition of +parties had been held together by a chief (Taché) who had ceased to be +actuated by strong party feelings or personal ambitions and in whom all +sections reposed confidence. Standing alone, this reasoning is sound +in practical politics. Behind it, of course, was the unwillingness of +Brown to accept the leadership of his great rival. Macdonald then +proposed Sir Narcisse Belleau, one of their colleagues, as leader of +the government. Brown assented; and the coalition was {107} +reconstituted on the former basis, but not with the old cordiality. +The rift within the lute steadily widened, and before the year closed +Brown resigned from the ministry. His difference with his colleagues +arose, he stated, from their willingness to renew reciprocal trade +relations with the United States by concurrent legislation instead of, +as heretofore, by a definite treaty. Although his two Liberal +associates remained in the ministry, and the vacancy was given to +another Liberal, Fergusson Blair, the recrudescence of partisan +friction occasioned by the episode was not a good omen. Brown, +however, promised continued support of the federation policy until the +new constitution should come into effect--a promise which he fulfilled +as far as party exigencies permitted. But the outlook was gloomy. +There were rocks ahead which might easily wreck the ship. Who could +read the future so surely as to know what would happen? + + + +[1] _Confederation Examined in the Light of Reason and Common Sense_, +by Martin I. Wilkins. + +[2] _Intercolonial Trade our only Safeguard against Disunion_, by R. G. +Haliburton. Ottawa, 1868. + +[3] Howe's biographers have dealt with this episode in his life in a +vein of intelligent generosity. See _Joseph Howe_ by Mr Justice +Longley in the 'Makers of Canada' series and _The Tribune of Nova +Scotia_, by Prof. W. L. Grant, in the present Series. + +[4] Report of the Canadian ministers to Lord Monck, July 13, 1865. + + + + +{108} + +CHAPTER X + +'THE BATTLE OF UNION' + +At the dawn of 1866 the desperate plight of the cause of union called +for skilful generalship in four different arenas of political action. +In any one of them a false move would have been fatal to success; and +there was always the danger that, on so extended a front, the advocates +of union might be fighting at cross purposes and so inflicting injury +on each other instead of upon the enemy. It was necessary that the +Imperial influence should be exerted as far as the issues at stake +warranted its employment. Canada, the object of suspicion, must march +warily to avoid rousing the hostile elements elsewhere. The unionists +of New Brunswick should be given time to recover their position, while +those of Nova Scotia should stand ready for instant co-operation. + +The judicious but firm attitude of the Imperial authorities was a +material factor in the {109} situation. From 1862 onwards there was no +mistaking the policy of Downing Street, as expressed by the Duke of +Newcastle in that year to the governor of Nova Scotia. Colonial +secretaries came and went and the complexion of British ministries +changed, but the principle of union stood approved. Any proposals, +however, must emanate from the colonies themselves; and, when an +agreement in whole or in part should be reached, the proper procedure +was indicated. 'The most satisfactory mode,' said the dispatch of +1862, 'of testing the opinion of the people of British North America +would probably be by means of resolution or address proposed in +legislatures of each province by its own government.' This course all +the governments had kept in mind, with the additional safeguard that +the ministers of the day had associated with themselves the leaders of +the parliamentary oppositions. Nothing could have savoured less of +partisanship than the Quebec Conference; and Mr Cardwell, the colonial +secretary, had acknowledged the resolutions of that body in handsome +terms. + +The home authorities faced the difficulties with a statesmanlike front. +They had no disposition to dictate, but, once assured that a {110} +substantial majority in each consenting province supported the scheme, +it was their duty to speak plainly, no matter how vehemently a section +of opinion in England or in the provinces protested. They held the +opinion, that since the provinces desired to remain within the Empire, +they must combine. All the grounds for this belief could not be +publicly stated. It was one of those exceptional occasions when +Downing Street, by reason of its superior insight into foreign affairs +and by full comprehension of the danger then threatening, knew better +than the man on the spot. The colonial opposition might be sincere and +patriotic, but it was wrong. Heed could not be paid to the agitations +in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick because they were founded upon narrow +conceptions of statesmanship and erroneous information. + +Another difficulty with which British governments, whether Liberal or +Tory, had to contend was the separatist doctrine known as that of the +Manchester School. When George Brown visited England in 1864 he was +startled into communicating with John A. Macdonald in these terms: + + +I am much concerned to observe--and I {111} write it to you as a thing +that must seriously be considered by all men taking a lead hereafter in +Canadian public matters--that there is a manifest desire in almost +every quarter that, ere long, the British American colonies should +shift for themselves, and in some quarters evident regret that we did +not declare at once for independence. I am very sorry to observe this; +but it arises, I hope, from the fear of invasion of Canada by the +United States, and will soon pass away with the cause that excites it. + + +The feeling did pass away in time. The responsible statesmen of that +period were forced to go steadily forward and ignore it, just as they +refused to be dominated by appeals from colonial reactionaries who +abhorred change and who honestly believed that in so doing they +exhibited the best form of attachment to the Empire. + +Why Mr Arthur Gordon, the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, was at +first opposed to Confederation, when his ministers were in favour of +it, is not quite clear.[1] {112} However this may be, his punishment +was not long in coming; and, if he escaped from the storm without loss +of honour, he certainly suffered in dignity and comfort. The new +ministry which took office in New Brunswick was formed by A. J. Smith, +who afterwards as Sir Albert Smith had a useful career in the Dominion +parliament. His colleagues had taken a prominent part in the agitation +against Confederation, but it appears that they had no very settled +convictions on this question, and that they differed on many others. +At any rate, dissension soon broke out among them. The colonial +secretary pressed upon the province the desirability of the union in +terms described as 'earnest and friendly suggestions,' and which left +no doubt as to the wishes of the home government. 'You will express,' +said the colonial secretary to the lieutenant-governor, 'the strong and +deliberate opinion of Her Majesty's Government that it is an object +much to be desired that all the British North American colonies should +agree to unite in one government.' In stating {113} the reasons for +this opinion the dispatch continued: + + +Looking to the determination which this country has ever exhibited to +regard the defence of the colonies as a matter of Imperial concern, the +colonies must recognize a right, and even acknowledge an obligation, +incumbent on the home government to urge with earnestness and just +authority the measures which they consider to be most expedient on the +part of the colonies with a view to their own defence. + + +The New Brunswick frontier, as well as Canada, was disturbed by the +threatened Fenian invasion, so that the question of defence was +apposite and of vital importance. + +Presently a change of sentiment began to show itself in the province, +and the shaky Cabinet began to totter from resignations and +disagreements. By-elections followed and supporters of federation were +returned. The legislature met early in March. In the +lieutenant-governor's speech from the throne, a reference to the +colonial secretary's dispatch implied that Gordon had changed his views +and was now favourable to union. He {114} afterwards explained that +the first minister and several of his colleagues had privately +intimated to him their concurrence, but felt unable at the time to +explain their altered attitude to the legislature. The next step +involved proceedings still more unusual, if not actually +unconstitutional: the address of the Legislative Council in reply to +the speech from the throne contained a vigorous endorsement of union; +and the lieutenant-governor accepted it, without consulting his +advisers, and in language which left them no recourse but to resign. A +new ministry was formed on the 18th of April, and the House was +dissolved. The ensuing elections resulted in a complete victory for +federation. On the 21st of June the legislature met, fresh from the +people, and adopted, by a vote of thirty to eight, a resolution +appointing delegates to arrange with the Imperial authorities a scheme +of union that would secure 'the just rights and interests of New +Brunswick.' The battle was won. + +Meanwhile, like the mariner who keeps a vigilant eye upon the weather, +the Tupper government in Nova Scotia observed the proceedings in New +Brunswick with a view to action at the proper moment. The agitation +throughout the province had not affected the {115} position of parties +in the legislature which met in February. The government continued to +treat federation as a non-contentious subject. No reference to it was +made in the governor's speech, and the legislature occupied itself with +other business. The agitation in the country, with Howe leading it, +and William Annand, member for East Halifax and editor of the +_Chronicle_, as his chief associate, went on. Then the débâcle of the +anti-confederate party in New Brunswick began to attract attention and +give rise to speculations on what would be the action of the Tupper +government. This was soon to be disclosed. In April, a few days +before the fall of the Smith ministry in New Brunswick, William Miller, +member for Richmond, made a speech in the House which was destined to +produce a momentous effect. His proposal was to appoint delegates to +frame a scheme in consultation with the Imperial authorities, and thus +ignore the Quebec resolutions. To these resolutions Miller had been +strongly opposed. He had borne a leading part with Howe and Annand in +the agitation, although he was always favourable to union in the +abstract and careful on all occasions to say so. Now, however, his +speech provided a means of enabling Nova Scotia to enter the {116} +union with the consent of the legislature, and Tupper was quick to +seize the opportunity by putting it in the form of a motion before the +House. An extremely bitter debate followed; vigorous epithets were +exchanged with much freedom, and Tupper's condemnation of Joseph Howe +omitted nothing essential to the record. But at length, at midnight of +the 10th of April, the legislature, by a vote of thirty-one to +nineteen, adopted the motion which cleared the way for bringing Nova +Scotia into the Dominion. + +Miller's late allies never forgave his action on this occasion. He was +accused of having been bribed to desert them. When he was appointed to +the Senate in 1867 the charge was repeated, and many years afterwards +was revived in an offensive form. Finally, Miller entered suit for +libel against the Halifax _Chronicle_, and in the witness-box Sir +Charles Tupper bore testimony to the propriety of Miller's conduct in +1866. Notwithstanding the hostility between Howe and Tupper, they +afterwards resumed friendly relations and sat comfortably together in +the Dominion Cabinet. In politics hard words can be soon forgotten. +The doughty Tupper had won his province for the union and could afford +to forget. + +[Illustration: Sir Charles Tupper, Bart. From a photograph by Elliott +and Fry, London.] + +{117} + +The tactics pursued in Canada during these exciting months in the +Maritime Provinces were those defined by a great historian, in dealing +with a different convulsion, as 'masterly inactivity.' In that +memorable speech of years afterwards when Macdonald, about to be +overwhelmed by the Pacific Railway charges, appealed to his countrymen +in words that came straight from the heart, he declared: 'I have fought +the battle of union.' The events of 1866 are the key to this +utterance. Parliament was not summoned until June; and meanwhile +ministers said nothing. That this line of policy was deliberate, is +set forth in a private letter from Macdonald to Tilley: + + +Had we met early in the year and before your elections, the greatest +embarrassment and your probable defeat at the polls would have ensued. +We should have been pressed by the Opposition to declare whether we +adhered to the Quebec resolutions or not. Had we answered in the +affirmative, you would have been defeated, as you were never in a +position to go to the polls on those resolutions. Had we replied in +the negative, and stated that it was an {118} open question and that +the resolutions were liable to alteration, Lower Canada would have +arisen as one man, and good-bye to federation. + + +Thus was the situation saved; and, although the delegates from the +Maritime Provinces were obliged to wait in London for some months for +their Canadian colleagues, owing to the Fenian invasion of Canada and +to a change of ministry in England, the body of delegates assembled in +December at the Westminster Palace Hotel, in London, and sat down to +frame the details of the bill for the union of British North America. + + + +[1] Gordon's dispatches to the colonial secretary indicate that from +the first he distrusted the Quebec scheme and that the overthrow of his +ministers owing to it occasioned him no great grief. James Hannay, the +historian, attributes his conduct to chagrin at the pushing aside of +maritime union, as he had hoped to be the first governor of the smaller +union. + + + + +{119} + +CHAPTER XI + +THE FRAMING OF THE BILL + +When the British American delegates met in London to frame the bill +they found themselves in an atmosphere tending to chill their +enthusiasm. Lord Palmerston had died the year before, and with him had +disappeared an adventurous foreign policy and the militant view of +empire. The strictly utilitarian school of thought was dominant. +Canada was unpleasantly associated in the minds of British statesmen +with the hostile attitude of the United States which seemed to threaten +a most unwelcome war. John Bright approved of ceding Canada to the +Republic as the price of peace. Gladstone also wrote to Goldwin Smith +suggesting this course. The delegates were confronted by the same +ideas which had distressed George Brown two years earlier. The +colonies were not to be forcibly cast off, but even in official circles +the opinion prevailed that ultimate separation was the inevitable end. +The reply {120} of Sir Edward Thornton, the British minister at +Washington, to a proposal that Canada should be ceded to the United +States was merely that Great Britain could not thus dispose of a colony +'against the wishes of the inhabitants.' These lukewarm views made no +appeal to the delegates and the young communities they represented. It +was their aim to propound a method of continuing the connection. +Theirs was not the vision of a military sway intended to overawe other +nations and to revive in the modern world the empires of history. To +them Imperialism meant to extend and preserve the principles of +justice, liberty, and peace, which they believed were inherent in +British institutions and more nearly attainable under monarchical than +under republican forms. + +Minds influential in the Colonial Office and elsewhere saw in this only +a flamboyant patriotism. The Duke of Newcastle, when colonial +secretary, had not shared the desire for separation, and he found it +hard to believe that any one charged with colonial administration +wished it. He had written to Palmerston in 1861: + + +You speak of some supposed theoretical gentlemen in the colonial office +who wish {121} to get rid of all colonies as soon as possible. I can +only say that if there are such they have never ventured to open their +opinion to me. If they did so on grounds of peaceful separation, I +should differ from them so long as colonies can be retained by bonds of +mutual sympathy and mutual obligation; but I would meet their views +with indignation if they could suggest disruption by the act of any +other, and that a hostile, Power. + + +The duke was not intimate with his official subordinates, or he would +have known that Palmerston's description exactly fitted the permanent +under-secretary at the Colonial Office. Sir Frederic Rogers (who later +became Lord Blachford) filled that post from 1860 to 1871. He was +therefore in office during the Confederation period. He left on record +his ideas of the future of the Empire: + + +I had always believed--and the belief has so confirmed and consolidated +itself that I can hardly realize the possibility of any one seriously +thinking the contrary--that the destiny of our colonies is +independence; and that in this view, the function of the Colonial +Office is to secure that {122} our connexion, while it lasts, shall be +as profitable to both parties, and our separation, when it comes, as +amicable as possible. This opinion is founded first on the general +principle that a spirited nation (and a colony becomes a nation) will +not submit to be governed in its internal affairs by a distant +government, and that nations geographically remote have no such common +interests as will bind them permanently together in foreign policy with +all its details and mutations. + + +In other words, Sir Frederic was a painstaking honourable official +without a shred of imagination. He typifies the sort of influence +which the delegates had to encounter. + +The conference consisted of sixteen members, six from Canada and ten +from the Maritime Provinces. The Canadians were Macdonald, Cartier, +Galt, McDougall, Howland, and Langevin. From Nova Scotia came Tupper, +Henry, Ritchie, McCully, and Archibald; while New Brunswick was +represented by Tilley, Johnston, Mitchell, Fisher, and Wilmot. They +selected John A. Macdonald as chairman. The resignation of Brown had +left Macdonald the leader of the movement, and the nominal {123} +Canadian prime minister, Sir Narcisse Belleau, was not even a delegate. +The impression Macdonald made in London is thus recorded by Sir +Frederic Rogers in language which gives us an insight into the working +of the conference: + + +They held many meetings, at which I was always present. Lord Carnarvon +[the colonial secretary] was in the chair, and I was rather +disappointed in his power of presidency. Macdonald was the ruling +genius and spokesman, and I was very greatly struck by his power of +management and adroitness. The French delegates were keenly on the +watch for anything which weakened their securities; on the contrary, +the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick delegates were very jealous of +concessions to the _arriérée_ province; while one main stipulation in +favour of the French was open to constitutional objections on the part +of the Home Government. Macdonald had to argue the question with the +Home Government on a point on which the slightest divergence from the +narrow line already agreed upon in Canada was watched for--here by the +French and {124} there by the English--as eager dogs watch a rat hole; +a snap on one side might have provoked a snap on the other and put an +end to the concord. He stated and argued the case with cool ready +fluency, while at the same time you saw that every word was measured, +and that while he was making for a point ahead, he was never for a +moment unconscious of any of the rocks among which he had to steer. + + +The preliminaries had all been settled before the meetings with the +colonial secretary. The gathering was smaller in numbers than the +Quebec Conference, and the experience of two years had not been lost. +We hear no more of deadlocks or of the danger of breaking up. There +was frank discussion on any point that required reconsideration, but +the delegates decided to adhere to the Quebec resolutions as far as +possible. For the Liberal ministers from Upper Canada, Howland and +McDougall, this was the safest course to pursue, because they knew that +George Brown had put his hand and seal upon the basis adopted at Quebec +and would bitterly resent any substantial departure from it. This was +also the view of the representatives of Lower Canada. The {125} +maritime delegates wanted better financial terms if such could be +secured, but beyond this were content with the accepted outline of the +constitution. + +The delegates were careful to make plain their belief that the union +was to cement and not to weaken the Imperial tie. At Quebec they had +agreed upon a motion in these terms: + + +That in framing a constitution for the general government, the +conference, with a view to the perpetuation of our connection with the +Mother Country and to the promotion of the best interests of the people +of these provinces, desire to follow the model of the British +constitution, so far as our circumstances will permit. + + +The saving clause at the close was a frank admission that a federal +system could not be an exact copy of the British model with its one +sovereign parliament charged with the whole power of the nation. But +the delegates were determined to express the idea in some form; and +this led to the words in the preamble of the British North America Act +declaring 'a constitution similar in principle to that of the United +Kingdom.' To this writers {126} of note have objected. Professor +Dicey has complained of the 'official mendacity' involved in the +statement. 'If preambles were intended to express the truth,' he said, +'for the word _Kingdom _ought to have been substituted _States_, since +it is clear that the constitution of the Dominion is modelled on that +of the United States.' It is, however, equally clear what the framers +of the Act intended to convey. If they offended against the precise +canons of constitutional theory, they effected a political object of +greater consequence. The Canadian constitution, in their opinion, was +British in principle for at least three reasons: because it provided +for responsible government in both the general and local legislatures; +because, unlike the system in the United States, the executive and +legislative functions were not divorced; and because this enabled +Canada to incorporate the traditions and conventions of the British +constitution which bring the executive immediately under control of the +popular wish as expressed through parliament. Furthermore, the +principle of defining the jurisdictions of the provinces, while the +residue of power was left to the federal parliament, marked another +wide distinction between Canada and the Republic. A {127} federation +it had to be, but a federation designed in the narrowest sense. In +theory Canada is a dependent and subordinate country, since its +constitution was conferred by an Act of the Imperial parliament, but in +practice it is a self-governing state in the fullest degree. This +anomaly, so fortunate in its results, is no greater than the +maintenance in theory of royal prerogatives which are never exercised. + +It was intended that the name of the new state should be left to the +selection of the Queen, and this was provided for in the first draft of +the bill. But the proposal was soon dropped. It revived the memory of +the regrettable incident of 1858 when the Queen had, by request, +selected Ottawa as the Canadian capital and her decision had been +condemned by a vote of the legislature. The press had discussed a +suitable name long before the London delegates assembled. Some +favoured New Britain, while others preferred Laurentia or Britannia. +If the maritime union had been effected, the name of that division +would probably have been Acadia, and this name was suggested for the +larger union. Other ideas were merely fantastic, such as Cabotia, +Columbia, Canadia, and Ursalia. The decision that Canada should give +up its name {128} to the new Confederation and that Upper and Lower +Canada should find new names for themselves was undoubtedly a happy +conclusion to the discussion. It was desired to call the Confederation +the Kingdom of Canada, and thus fix the monarchical basis of the +constitution. The French were especially attached to this idea. The +word Kingdom appeared in an early draft of the bill as it came from the +conference. But it was vetoed by the foreign secretary, Lord +Stanley,[1] who thought that the republican sensibilities of the United +States would be wounded. This preposterous notion serves to indicate +the inability of the controlling minds of the period to grasp the true +nature of the change. Finally, the word 'Dominion' was decided upon. +Why a term was selected which is so difficult to render in the French +language (_La Puissance_ is the translation employed) is not easy of +comprehension. There is a story, probably invented, that when +'Dominion' was under consideration, a member of the conference, well +versed in the Scriptures, found a verse which, as a piece of +descriptive prophecy, at once clinched the matter: 'And his dominion +shall be from {129} sea even to sea, and from the river even to the +ends of the earth.'[2] + +The knotty question of the second chamber, supposed to have been solved +at Quebec, came up again. The notes of the discussion[3] are as +interesting as the surviving notes of the Quebec Conference. Some of +the difficulties since experienced were foreseen. But no one appears +to have realized that the Senate would become the citadel of a defeated +party, until sufficient vacancies by death should occur to transform it +into the obedient instrument of the government of the day. No one +foresaw, in truth, that the Senate would consider measures chiefly on +party grounds, and would fail to demonstrate the usefulness of a second +chamber by industry and capacity in revising hasty legislation. The +delegates actually believed that equality of representation between the +three divisions, Upper Canada, Lower Canada, and the Maritime +Provinces, would make the Senate a bulwark of protection to individual +provinces. In this character it has never shone.[4] Its chief value +has been as {130} a reservoir of party patronage. The opinions of +several of the delegates are prophetical: + + +HENRY (Nova Scotia)--I oppose the limitation of number. We want a +complete work. Do you wish to stereotype an upper branch irresponsible +both to the crown and the people? A third body interposed +unaccountable to the other two. The crown unable to add to their +number. The people unable to remove them. Suppose a general election +results in the election of a large majority in the Lower House +favourable to a measure, but the legislative council prevents it from +becoming law. The crown should possess some power of enlargement. + +FISHER (New Brunswick)--The prerogative of the crown has been only +occasionally used and always for good. This new fangled thing now +introduced, seventy-two oligarchs, will introduce trouble. I advocate +the principle of the power of the crown to appoint additional members +in case of emergency. + +HOWLAND (Upper Canada)--My remedy would be to limit the period of +service and vest the appointment in the local legislatures. Now, it is +an anomaly. It won't work and cannot be continued. You cannot give +the crown an unlimited power to appoint. + + +One result of the views exchanged is found in the twenty-sixth section +of the Act. This gives the sovereign, acting of course on the advice +of his ministers and at the request of the Canadian government, the +right to add {131} three or six members to the Senate, selected equally +from the three divisions mentioned above. These additional members are +not to be a permanent increase of the Senate, because vacancies +occurring thereafter are not to be filled until the normal number is +restored. Once only has it been sought to invoke the power of this +section. In 1873, when the first Liberal ministry after Confederation +was formed, the prime minister, Alexander Mackenzie, finding himself +faced by a hostile majority in the Senate, asked the Queen to add six +members to the Senate 'in the public interests.' The request was +refused. The colonial secretary, Lord Kimberley, held that the power +was intended solely to bring the two Houses into accord when an actual +collision of opinion took place of so serious and permanent a kind that +the government could not be carried on without the intervention of the +sovereign as prescribed in this section. The Conservative majority in +the Senate highly approved of this decision, and expressed its +appreciation in a series of resolutions which are a fine display of +unconscious humour. + +Not the least important of the changes in the scheme adopted at London +was that relating to the educational privileges of {132} minorities. +This is embodied in the famous ninety-third section of the Act, and +originated in a desire to protect the Protestant minority in Lower +Canada. Its champion was Galt. An understanding existed that the +Canadian parliament would enact the necessary guarantees before Canada +entered the union. But the proposal, when brought before the House in +1866, was so expressed as to apply to the schools of both the +Protestant minority in Lower Canada and the Catholic minority in Upper +Canada. This led to disturbing debates and was withdrawn. No +substitute being offered, Galt, deeming himself pledged to his +co-religionists, at once resigned his place in the Cabinet and stated +his reasons temperately in parliament. Although no longer a minister, +he was selected as one of the London delegates, partly because of the +prominent part taken by him in the cause of Confederation and partly in +order that the anxieties of the Lower Canada minority might be allayed. +Galt's conduct throughout was entirely worthy of him. That he was an +enlightened man the memoranda of the London proceedings prove, for +there is a provision in his handwriting showing his desire to extend to +all minorities the protection he claimed for the Lower {133} Canada +Protestants. The clause drawn by him differs in its phraseology from +the wording in the Act and is as follows: + + +And in any province where a system of separation or dissentient schools +by law obtains, or where the local legislature may adopt a system of +separate or dissentient schools, an appeal shall lie to the governor in +council of the general government from the acts and decisions of the +local authorities which may affect the rights or privileges of the +Protestant or Catholic minority in the matter of education. And the +general parliament shall have power in the last resort to legislate on +the subject.[5] + + +The bill passed through parliament without encountering any serious +opposition. Lord Carnarvon's introductory speech in the House of Lords +was an adequate, although not an eloquent, presentation of the subject. +His closing words were impressive: + + +We are laying the foundation of a great State--perhaps one which at a +future day {134} may even overshadow this country. But, come what may, +we shall rejoice that we have shown neither indifference to their +wishes nor jealousy of their aspirations, but that we honestly and +sincerely, to the utmost of our power and knowledge, fostered their +growth, recognizing in it the conditions of our own greatness. We are +in this measure setting the crown to the free institutions which more +than a quarter of a century ago we gave them, and therein we remove, as +I firmly believe, all possibilities of future jealousy or +misunderstanding. + + +No grave objections were raised in either the Lords or the Commons. In +fact, the criticisms were of a mild character. No division was taken +at any stage. In the House of Commons, Mr Adderley, the +under-secretary for the Colonies, who was in charge of the measure, +found a cordial supporter, instead of a critic, in Mr Cardwell, the +former colonial secretary, so that the bill was carried through with +ease and celerity. John Bright's speech reflected the anti-Imperial +spirit of the time. 'I want the population of these provinces,' he +said, 'to do that which they believe to be the {135} best for their own +interests--remain with this country if they like, in the most friendly +manner, or become independent states if they like. It they should +prefer to unite themselves with the United States, I should not +complain even of that.' + +The strenuous protests made by Joseph Howe and the Nova Scotian +opponents of Confederation were not unnoticed. It was claimed by one +or two speakers that the electors of that province should be allowed to +pronounce upon the measure, but this evoked no support, and the wishes +of all the provinces were considered to have been sufficiently +consulted. The argument for further delay failed to enlist any active +sympathy; and the wish of the delegates that no material alteration be +made in the bill, as it was a compromise based upon a carefully +arranged agreement, was respected. The constitution was thus the +creation of the colonial statesmen themselves, and not of the Imperial +government or parliament. + +That so important a step in the colonial policy of the Empire should +have been received at London in a passive and indifferent spirit has +often been the subject of complaint. When the Australian Commonwealth +came into existence, the event was marked by more {136} ceremony and +signalized by greater impressiveness. But another phase of the +question should be kept in mind. The British North America Act +contained the promise of the vast Dominion which exists to-day, but not +the reality. The measure dealt with the union of the four provinces +only. The Confederation, as we have it, was still incomplete. When +the royal proclamation was issued on the 10th of May bringing the new +Dominion into being on July 1, 1867, much remained to be done. The +constitution must be put to the test of practical experience; and the +task of extending the Dominion across the continent must be undertaken. +Upon the first government of Canada, in truth, would rest a duty as +arduous as ever fell to the lot of statesmen. They had in their hands +a half-finished structure, and might, conceivably, fail in completing +it. + + + +[1] He became Lord Derby in 1869 and bore this title in 1889 when Sir +John Macdonald related the incident. + +[2] Zechariah ix 10. + +[3] Sir Joseph Pope's _Confederation Documents_. + +[4] The recent increase in the number of western senators modifies this +feature. + +[5] _Confederation Documents_, p. 112. Mr Justice Day of Montreal, an +English Protestant enjoying the confidence of the French, is believed +to have had a hand in framing the Galt policy on this subject. + + + + +{137} + +CHAPTER XII + +THE FIRST DOMINION MINISTRY + +Before the delegates left London the governor-general privately invited +John A. Macdonald to form the first ministry of the Dominion. A month +later the same offer was made more formally in writing: + + +I entrust this duty to you as the individual selected for their +chairman and spokesman by the unanimous vote of the delegates when they +were in England, and I adopt this test for my guidance in consequence +of the impossibility, under the circumstances, of ascertaining, in the +ordinary constitutional manner, who possesses the confidence of a +Parliament which does not yet exist. In authorizing you to undertake +the duty of forming an administration for the Dominion of Canada, I +desire to express my strong opinion that, in future, it shall be +distinctly understood that the position of first minister shall be +{138} held by _one_ person, who shall be responsible to the +Governor-General for the appointment of the other ministers, and that +the system of dual first ministers, which has hitherto prevailed, shall +be put an end to.[1] + + +The selection of Macdonald was inevitable. When George Brown by his +action in 1864 made Confederation possible and entered a Cabinet where +his great rival was the commanding influence, he must have foreseen +that, in the event of the cause succeeding, his own chances of +inaugurating the new state as its chief figure were not good. And by +leaving the coalition abruptly before union was accomplished he had put +himself entirely out of the running. In a group of able men which +included several potential prime ministers Macdonald had advanced to +the first place by reason of gifts precisely suited to the demands of +the hour. Lord Monck's choice was therefore justified. Nor was the +resolve to abolish the awkward and indefensible system of a dual +premiership less open to question. It may have given pain to Cartier, +but it was a wise and necessary decision. + +{139} + +Lord Monck, however, does not rank high in the list of talented men who +have filled the office of governor-general. The post had gone +a-begging when he accepted it in 1861. It had been offered to and +refused by Lord Wodehouse, a former viceroy of Ireland; Lord Harris, +once governor of Madras and a contemporary of Elgin; Lord Eversley, who +had been speaker of the House of Commons; and the Duke of Buckingham. +Lord Monck had scarcely arrived in Canada when the _Trent_ Affair +occurred. Later on the St Albans Raid intensified the bitter feelings +between Great Britain and the United States. On both occasions he +performed his duties as an Imperial officer judiciously and well. But +his relations with Canadian affairs were not so happy. He became +dissatisfied with the political conditions as he found them; and his +petulance over the slow progress of Confederation led him to threaten +resignation. He contrived, moreover, to incur much personal +unpopularity, which found vent, during the first session of the +Dominion parliament, in a measure to reduce the salary of the +governor-general from £10,000 to $32,000. That this unparalleled +action was, in part, directed at Lord Monck is shown in the +determination {140} to put the reduction in force at once. The home +authorities, however, disallowed the bill. In his speech in the House +of Lords on the British North America Act, Monck failed to rise to the +occasion, owing to a sympathy with the views of the Manchester School. +To remain long enough in Canada to preside over the new Dominion had +been his own wish. But it does not appear that he utilized his +opportunities to marked advantage. + +A unique political situation confronted Macdonald. It was natural to +suppose that, as the federation leaders belonged to both parties, the +first Cabinet should be composed of representative men of both. This +was the line Macdonald proposed to take. By this policy a strong +national party, with larger aims, would arise, and the old prejudices +and issues would be swept away. This statesmanlike conception involved +certain embarrassments, because the number of ambitious men looking for +Cabinet appointments would be increased and the expectations of +faithful Conservative supporters must suffer disappointment. These +problems, however, were not new to Macdonald. He had faced similar +dangers before, and his skill in handling them was equal to his +experience. + +{141} + +Meanwhile, Brown set himself to prevent a plan which would detach a +section of the Liberals from their former associates and permanently +range them under a Conservative leader. He cannot be blamed for this. +Confederation being now a fact, he considered himself under no +obligation to continue an alliance proposed for a special object. +Although Macdonald might be able to enlist the support of some maritime +Liberals, Brown strove to reunite his party in Ontario and present a +solid phalanx to the enemy. + +A Liberal convention met in Toronto on the 27th and 28th of June 1867. +There was a good attendance, and impassioned appeals were made to men +of the party throughout the province to join in opposing any ministry +which Macdonald might form. It was generally understood that the three +Liberal ministers--Howland, McDougall, and Blair--were to continue in +the government, which would be renewed as a coalition with a certain +degree of Liberal support in the House. To strict party men this was +obnoxious. George Brown denounced any further coalition of parties: + + +If, sir, there is any large number of men in this assembly who will +record their votes {142} this night in favour of the degradation of the +public men of that party [the Liberals] by joining a coalition, I +neither want to be a leader nor a humble member of that party. +[Cheers.] If that is the reward you intend to give us all for our +services, I scorn connection with you. [Immense cheering.] Go into +the same government with Mr John A. Macdonald! [Cries of never! +never!] Sir, I understood what degradation it was to be compelled to +adopt that step by the necessities of the case, by the feeling that the +interests of my country were at stake, which alone induced me ever to +put my foot into that government; and glad was I when I got out of it. +None ever went into a government with such sore hearts as did two out +of the three who entered it on behalf of the Reform party--I cannot +speak for the third. It was the happiest day of my life when I got out +of the concern. [Cheers.] + + +These were warm words, designed to rally a divided party. In due time +the tireless energy of the speaker and his friends reawakened the +fighting strength of their followers. For the moment, however, a +considerable number of {143} Liberals were disposed to give the new +conditions a trial. Howland and McDougall were invited to address the +convention, and they put their case in temperate and dignified +language. Howland pointed out that in the new ministry there would be +several Liberals from the lower provinces, and these men had requested +their Ontario friends not to leave them. McDougall's address was +especially apt and convincing: + + +We think that the work of coalition is not done, but only begun. We +think that British Columbia should be brought into the confederacy, +that the great north-western territory should be brought in, that +Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland should be brought in. I say that +the negotiations of the terms upon which these provinces are to be +brought in are important, and that it is as necessary that the +government in power should not be obliged to fight from day to day for +its political existence, as when Confederation was carried up to the +point we have now reached.... I think the coalition ought not to cease +until the work begun under Mr Brown's auspices is ended. + + +{144} + +It was evident from these remarks that the arguments--what his critics +called the blandishments--of Macdonald had prevailed. + + +The first Cabinet, which was announced on July 1, began on a non-party +basis. This commended it to moderate men generally. But the task of +getting it together had been herculean. To secure a ministry +representative of all parts of the country seemed a reasonable policy +at the beginning. With time this has grown into an unwritten +convention of the constitution which cannot be ignored. In 1867 the +Cabinet representation had to be determined by geography, race, creed, +and party. None but an old parliamentary hand could have made the +attempt successfully. Ontario claimed and was assigned five ministers, +Quebec four, and the Maritime Provinces four. So much for geography. +Then came race and creed. It was found necessary to give the Irish +Catholics and the English minority in Quebec each a minister. The +French demanded and were granted three ministers. Finally, the fusion +of parties imposed another difficulty upon the cabinet-maker. He could +not find room for all the really deserving. There were thirteen +ministers--too many, {145} thought Brown and the _Globe_--and of these +six were Liberal and six Conservative, while Kenny of Nova Scotia had +once been a Liberal but had lately acted with the Tupper party. The +surprises were the absence of the names of McGee and Tupper from the +list. To have selected McGee as the Irish Catholic minister meant five +representatives for Quebec, and Ontario would not consent. This +threatened a deadlock, and Macdonald was about to advise the +governor-general to send for George Brown, when McGee and Tupper, with +a disinterested generosity rare in politics, waived their claims, and +Edward Kenny became the Irish representative and second minister from +Nova Scotia. The first administration was thus constituted: + + + JOHN A. MACDONALD, Prime Minister and Minister of Justice. + GEORGE E. CARTIER, Minister of Militia and Defence. + S. LEONARD TILLEY, Minister of Customs. + ALEXANDER T. GALT, Minister of Finance. + WILLIAM McDOUGALL, Minister of Public Works. + WILLIAM P. HOWLAND, Minister of Inland Revenue. + ADAMS G. ARCHIBALD, Secretary of State for the Provinces. + A. J. FERGUSSON BLAIR, President of the Privy Council. + +{146} + + PETER MITCHELL, Minister of Marine and Fisheries. + ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, Postmaster-General. + JEAN C. CHAPAIS, Minister of Agriculture. + HECTOR L. LANGEVIN, Secretary of State of Canada. + EDWARD KENNY, Receiver-General. + + +The two men who had stepped aside in order that a ministry might be +formed under Macdonald were actuated partly by personal regard for +their leader. It was not a small sacrifice. Macdonald wrote to McGee: + + +The difficulties of adjusting the representation in the Cabinet from +the several provinces were great and embarrassing. Your disinterested +and patriotic conduct--and I speak of Tupper as well as yourself--had +certainly the effect of removing those difficulties. Still, I think +you should have first consulted me. However, the thing is done and +can't be undone for the present; but I am very sure that at a very +early day your valuable services will be sought for by the government. + + +McGee was to have retired from political life and to have received the +appointment of commissioner of patents at $3200 a year, a sinecure +which would have enabled him to pursue his literary work. His +assassination in the {147} early morning of April 7, 1868, on returning +to his lodging after a late session of the House, is one of the most +tragic episodes in the annals of Canada. + +The ministers having been sworn of the Privy Council, Lord Monck +announced that Her Majesty had been pleased to confer upon the new +prime minister the rank of Knight Commander of the Bath, and upon +Cartier, Galt, Tilley, Tupper, Howland, and McDougall the companionship +of the same order. No previous intimation had been given to any of +them. Cartier and Galt, deeming the recognition of their services +inadequate, declined to receive it. This incident is only worthy of +mention because it tended to disturb the personal relations of men who +should have acted in complete harmony at a time of national importance. +No Imperial honours had been conferred in Canada since 1860, and it was +unfortunate that the advice tendered the crown on this historic +occasion should have been open to criticism and have engendered ill +feeling. Cartier thought that his race had been affronted in his +person, and his reasons for protest were political. He told his +colleagues: 'Personally I care nothing for honours, but as a +representative of one of the {148} two great provinces in Confederation +I have a position to maintain, and I shall not accept the honour. I +regret that such an action is necessary, because it may be construed as +an insult to Her Majesty. I feel aggrieved that I should not have been +notified in advance, so that I should not now have to refuse, but I +shall write to Her Majesty myself explaining the reasons for my +refusing the honour.'[2] The error was soon rectified and Cartier was +made a baronet. A number of persons, including Charles Tupper and +Edward Watkin, a member of the Imperial parliament, interested +themselves in the matter, pointing out to the London authorities the +unwisdom of bestowing titles without due regard to the Imperial +services of the recipients. The reputations of Galt and Cartier as +serious statesmen were not enhanced. Explain it as we may, there is a +flavour of absurdity about their proceedings. Galt was offered a +knighthood in 1869, and would not accept until the Imperial government +had been made aware of his views upon the ultimate destiny of Canada. +In a letter to the governor-general he thus placed himself on record: + + +{149} + +I regard the confederation of the British North American Provinces as a +measure which must ultimately lead to their separation from Great +Britain. The present connection is undoubtedly an embarrassment to +Great Britain in her relations to the United States and a source of +uneasiness to the Dominion, owing to the insecurity which is felt to +exist from the possibility of a rupture between the two nations. It +cannot be the policy of England, and is certainly not the desire of the +people here, to become annexed to the United States; but I believe the +best, and indeed the only way to prevent this, is to teach the Canadian +people to look forward to an independent existence as a nation in the +future as desirable and possible. Unless such a spirit be cultivated, +the idea will become engrained in the public mind, that failing the +connection with Great Britain annexation must ensue. + + +Galt went on to state that he hoped separation would be postponed as +long as possible. The reply of the secretary of state, Lord Granville, +was private, but it appears to have been in effect a declaration that +Galt could hold {150} any views he pleased about the future of the +Empire. He accepted the K.C.M.G. and worthily wore it to the end of an +honourable and public-spirited career. Thus was vindicated the freedom +of speech which is the birthright of every British subject. But Galt, +in exercising it, showed lack of stability and a tendency to take an +erratic course, which crippled his influence in the young state he had +done so much to found. + +It was an enormous burden of duty which now fell upon the executive. +The whole machinery of state required recasting. The uncertainties of +a situation wherein party bonds sat lightly and diversities of opinion +lingered, taxed all the resources of the leader of the government. +Although different views are held as to the particular stage in his +long career in which the remarkable qualities of Sir John Macdonald +displayed themselves most conspicuously, the first five years of the +union may well be regarded by future historians as the period when his +patience, tenacity, and adroitness were especially in evidence. + +The provincial governments had to be constituted; and in Ontario +Macdonald scored again by persuading Sandfield Macdonald to form a +coalition ministry in which party lines {151} were effaced and the +policy of coalition was defended by an erstwhile Liberal leader. +Sandfield Macdonald was a man of talent and integrity. His attitude of +mind was rather that of an oppositionist, upon whom the functions of +independent critic sat more easily than the compromises and discipline +entailed by party leadership. He bore restraint with impatience, and +if his affiliations had always been with the Liberals, it was not +because his sympathies were radical and progressive.[3] In the Liberal +caucus of 1864 he had moved the resolution requesting George Brown to +enter the coalition government, without recognizing, apparently, that +he thereby incurred an obligation himself to support federation. Both +in the Ontario legislature, where he was loth to follow any course but +his own, and in the Dominion parliament, where he ostentatiously {152} +sat on an Opposition bench, he presented a shining example of that type +of mind which lacks the capacity for unity and co-operation with +others. He illustrated, too, one of the difficult features of +Macdonald's problem--the absence of unity among the public men of the +time--a condition which complicated, if it did not retard, the +formation of a homogeneous national sentiment.[4] + +The general elections were impending, and everything turned upon the +verdict of the country. The first elections for the House of Commons +took place during the months of August and September, the practice of +holding elections all on one day having not yet come into vogue. The +three provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick sustained the +government by large majorities. But in Nova Scotia the agitation +against the union swept the province. Tupper was the only Conservative +elected. His victory was the more notable in that he defeated William +Annand, the chief lieutenant of Howe and afterwards the leader of the +repeal movement. Adams Archibald, the secretary of state, was {153} +defeated in Colchester by A. W. McLelan, and Henry, another member of +the Quebec Conference, was rejected in Antigonish. In Ontario there +were losses. George Brown was defeated in South Ontario by a few +votes, and did not again sit in parliament until he was appointed to +the Senate in 1874. In the early years of the Dominion a member might +sit both in the House of Commons and in the legislature of his +province. So it was that at this election Edward Blake was returned +from South Bruce to the Ontario legislature and from West Durham to the +House of Commons. Other members who occupied seats in both bodies were +Sandfield Macdonald, John Carling, Alexander Mackenzie, and E. B. Wood. +Cartier's success in Quebec left his opponents only fifteen seats out +of sixty-five. The stars in their courses fought for the government; +and had it not been for Nova Scotia, where the victorious and hostile +forces were pledged to repeal, the consolidation of the Dominion could +have gone forward without hindrance. + +To deal with 'that pestilent fellow Howe,' to use Macdonald's phrase, +was a first charge upon the energies of the government. The history of +the repeal movement in Nova Scotia, {154} with all its incidents and +sidelights, has yet to be written. It was but one of the +disintegrating forces which Macdonald found so hard to cope with, that +in a moment of discouragement he seriously thought of withdrawing from +the government and letting others carry it on. A large portion of the +year 1868 was occupied with the effort to reconcile the Nova Scotians. +Instead of abating, the anti-confederate feeling in that province grew +more bitter. A delegation headed by Howe and Annand went to England to +demand repeal from the Imperial authorities. To counteract this move +the Dominion government sent Charles Tupper to present the other side +of the case. None of the passages in his political life reflect more +credit upon him than his diplomacy upon this occasion. He had already +declined, as we have seen, a seat in the Cabinet. Later, he had +further strengthened his reputation by refusing the lucrative office of +chairman of the commission to build the Intercolonial Railway. This +fresh display of independence enabled him to meet the repeal delegates +on ground as patriotic as their own, for it had shown that in this +crisis they were not the only Nova Scotians who wanted nothing for +themselves. + +{155} + +Tupper's first step on reaching London was to call on Howe. 'I said to +him,' writes Tupper, 'I will not insult you by suggesting that you +should fail to undertake the mission that brought you here. When you +find out, however, that the Government and the Imperial Parliament are +overwhelmingly against you, it is important for you to consider the +next step.'[5] This was to put the finger upon the weakest spot in +Howe's armour. After his mission had failed and the Imperial +authorities had refused to allow the union to be broken up, as they +most assuredly would, what could Howe and his friends do next? A +revolution was unthinkable. A province 'on strike' would have no +adequate means of raising a revenue, and a government lacking the power +of taxation soon ceases to exist. The extremists talked Annexation; +but in this they counted without Howe and the loyal province of Nova +Scotia. The movement, noisy and formidable as it appeared, was +foredoomed to failure. All this Tupper put to Joseph Howe; and when +Tupper proposed that Howe should enter the Dominion Cabinet, not as his +docile follower but as his leader, it {156} can readily be believed +that he was 'completely staggered.' + +True to Tupper's forecast, and due in part, at least, to his powerful +advocacy of the cause of union, the home government stood firm against +the cry from Nova Scotia. The delegates and their opponents returned +home. Then the rapid development of events compelled Howe to face the +issue: when legal and constitutional methods were exhausted without +avail, what then? The crisis came. Howe was obliged to break with his +associates, some of whom were preaching sedition, and to take a stand +more in accordance with his real convictions and his Imperial +sentiments. Early in August 1868 Sir John Macdonald went to Halifax +and met the leading malcontents. 'They have got the idea into their +heads,' wrote Howe in a private letter, 'that you are a sort of wizard +that, having beguiled Brown, McDougall, Tupper, etc., to destruction, +is about to do the same kind of office to me.' Howe was not beguiled, +but a master of tactics showed him the means by which Nova Scotia could +be kept in the union; the way was paved for a final settlement; and a +few months later Howe joined the Dominion government. + +Long after Joseph Howe had passed to his {157} rest, echoes of the +repeal agitation were heard in Nova Scotia; and it was frequently +asserted that the question of union should have been submitted to a +vote of the people. Such a course, owing to the circumstances already +narrated, was impracticable and would have been fatal to Confederation. +But the pacification of the province was a great feat of statesmanship; +for to maintain the young Dominion intact was essential to its further +extension. + + + +[1] _Memoirs_, vol. i, p. 319. + +[2] _Sir George Etienne Cartier, Bart; His Life and Times_, by John +Boyd. Toronto, 1914. + +[3] Sir James Whitney, prime minister of Ontario from 1903 to 1914, who +was a young student in Sandfield Macdonald's law office in Cornwall and +shared his political confidence, assured the present writer that +Ontario's first prime minister was not a Liberal in the real sense, his +instincts and point of view being essentially Conservative. After +Robert Baldwin's retirement Sandfield Macdonald's natural course would +have been an alliance with the progressive Conservatives under John A. +Macdonald, but his antipathy to acknowledging any leader kept him +aloof. His laconic telegram in reply to John A. Macdonald's offer of +cabinet office is characteristic: 'No go!' + +[4] A conspicuous case in point is the entire want of sympathy between +Brown and Galt, men of similar type, whose opinions on several +questions coincided. + +[5] _Recollections of Sixty Years in Canada_, by the Rt. Hon. Sir +Charles Tupper, Bart. + + + + +{158} + +CHAPTER XIII + +FROM SEA TO SEA + +The extension of the Dominion to the Pacific ocean had been discussed +at the Quebec Conference. Some of the maritime delegates, however, +thought they had no authority to discuss the acquisition of territory +beyond the boundaries of the provinces; and George Brown, one of the +strongest advocates of western extension, conceded that the inclusion +of British Columbia and Vancouver Island in the scheme of union was +'rather an extreme proposition.' But the Canadian leaders never lost +sight of the intervening regions of Rupert's Land and the North-West +Territory. They foresaw the danger of the rich prairie lands falling +under foreign control, and entertained no doubts as to the necessity of +terminating in favour of Canada the hold of the Hudson's Bay Company +over these regions. + +In 1857 the select committee of the Imperial House of Commons, +mentioned in a preceding {159} chapter, had believed it 'essential to +meet the just and reasonable wishes of Canada to be enabled to annex to +her territory such portion of the land in her neighbourhood as may be +available to her for the purposes of settlement.' The districts on the +Red River and on the Saskatchewan were considered as likely to be +desired; and, as a condition of occupation, Canada should open up and +maintain communication and provide for local administration. The +committee thought that if Canada were unwilling to take over the Red +River country at an early date some temporary means of government might +be devised. Nothing, however, had come of the suggestion. Had it been +carried out, and a crown colony created, comprising the territory which +is now the province of Manitoba, the Dominion would have been saved a +disagreeable and humiliating episode, as well as political +complications which shook the young state to its foundations. This was +the trouble known to history as the Red River Rebellion. As an armed +insurrection it was only a flash in the pan. But it awoke passions in +Ontario and Quebec, and revived all those dissensions, racial and +religious, which the union had lulled into a semblance of harmony. + +{160} + +One of the first steps taken by parliament in the autumn of 1867 was +the adoption of an address to the Queen, moved by William McDougall, +asking that Rupert's Land and the North-West Territory be united with +Canada. Two members of the government, Cartier and McDougall, went to +England to negotiate for the extinction of the rights of the Hudson's +Bay Company. After months of delay, caused partly by the serious +illness of McDougall, it was agreed that the company should receive +£300,000, one-twentieth of the lands lying within the Fertile Belt, and +45,000 acres adjacent to its trading-posts. The Canadian parliament +formally accepted the bargain, and the deed of surrender provided that +the change of rule should come into force on December 1, 1869. + +It was no mean ambition of William McDougall to be the first Canadian +administrator of this vast region with its illimitable prospects; a man +of talent, experience, and breadth of view, such as McDougall was, +might reasonably hope there to carve out a great career for himself and +do the state some service. He was appointed on September 26, 1869, +lieutenant-governor of the 'North-West Territory'--an indefinite term +meant {161} apparently to cover the whole western country--and left at +once for his post. He appears to have been quite in the dark +concerning the perilous nature of the mission. At any rate, he could +not foresee that, far from bringing him distinction, the task would +shortly end, as Sir John Macdonald described it, in an inglorious +fiasco. + +At this time, it should be remembered, the actual conditions in the +West were but vaguely known in Canada. Efforts towards communication +and exploration, it is true, had begun as early as 1857, when Simon +Dawson made surveys for a road from Fort William and Professor Henry +Youle Hind undertook his famous journey to the plains for scientific +and general observation. A number of adventurous Canadians had gone +out to settle on the plains. There was a newspaper at Fort Garry--the +_Nor'Wester_--the pioneer newspaper of the country--which had been +started by Mr William Buckingham and a colleague in 1859. But even in +official circles the community to which Governor McDougall went to +introduce authority was very imperfectly understood. + +The Red River Settlement in 1869 contained about twelve thousand +inhabitants. The English-speaking portion of the population {162} +consisted of heterogeneous groups without unity among them for any +public purpose. Some were descendants or survivors of Lord Selkirk's +settlers who had come out half a century before; others were servants +of the Hudson's Bay Company, both retired and active; a third group +were the Canadians; while a fourth was made up of a small though noisy +body of Americans. Outnumbering the English, and united under leaders +of their own race, the French and French half-breeds dwelt chiefly on +the east bank of the Red River, south of Fort Garry. These +half-breeds, or Métis, were a hardy race, who subsisted by hunting +rather than by farming, and who were trained to the use of arms. They +regarded with suspicion the threatened introduction of new political +institutions, and were quite content under the paternal sway of the +Hudson's Bay Company and under the leadership of their spiritual +advisers, Bishop Taché and the priests of the Métis parishes. + +The Canadian population numbered about three hundred, with perhaps a +hundred adults, and they, conscious that they represented the coming +régime, were not disposed to conciliate either the company or the +native settlers. It was mooted among the half-breeds that they {163} +were to be swamped by the incoming Canadians, and much resentment was +aroused among them against the assumption of authority by the Dominion +government. To make matters worse, a Canadian surveying party, led by +Colonel J. Stoughton Dennis, had begun in the summer of 1869 to make +surveys in the Province. This created alarm among the half-breed +settlers, whose titles did not rest in any secure legal authority, and +who were fearful that they were about to lose their possessions. Thus +it came about that they resolved upon making a determined attempt to +resist the transfer of the country to Canada. + +Underrating the difficulty and impatient of delay, McDougall took the +unwise step of issuing a proclamation, from his temporary headquarters +at Pembina, assuming control of the territory and calling upon the +inhabitants to recognize his authority. He supposed, of course, that +the transfer would be made, according to agreement, on December 1, and +did not know that the Canadian government had declined to accept it or +pay over the purchase-money until assured that peace and good order +prevailed. The advices from Ottawa to McDougall were delayed, and he +felt himself {164} obliged to act without definite knowledge of the +position of affairs. + +After months of agitation the Métis under Louis Riel took command of +the situation, armed their fighting men, seized Fort Garry, put a +number of prominent white residents under arrest, and formed a +provisional government. They sent word to the new governor not to +enter the country; and when he advanced, with his official party, a +short distance over the frontier, he was forcibly compelled by the +insurgents to retreat into the United States. The rebels at Fort Garry +became extremely menacing. Louis Riel, the central figure in this +drama, was a young French half-breed, vain, ambitious, with some +ability and the qualities of a demagogue. He had received his +education in Lower Canada, and was on intimate terms with the French +priests of the settlement. His conduct fifteen years later, when he +returned to head another Métis rebellion farther west and paid the +penalty on the scaffold, indicates that once embarked on a dangerous +course he would be restrained by no one. That he was half, or wholly, +insane on either occasion is not credible. + +Efforts were now made to negotiate with {165} the rebels and quiet the +disturbance. Delegates went to the West from Canada consisting of +Grand Vicar Thibault, Colonel de Salaberry, and Donald A. Smith +(afterwards Lord Strathcona). There were exciting scenes; but the +negotiations bore no immediate fruit. It was the depth of winter. The +delegates had not come to threaten because they had no force to employ. +The rebels had the game in their own hands. Bishop Taché, who was +unhappily absent in Rome, was summoned home to arrange a peace on terms +which might have left Riel and his associates some of the high stakes +for which they were playing, had they not spoiled their own chances by +a cruel, vindictive murder. + +After the departure of the Canadian delegates and the announcement of +Bishop Taché's return, Riel felt his power ebbing away. His +provisional government became a thing of shreds and patches, in spite +of its large assumptions and its temporary control during the winter +when the country was inaccessible. Among the imprisoned whites was +Thomas Scott, a young man from Ontario who had been employed in +surveying work and who was prominent in resistance to the usurpers. +Riel is credited with a threat to shed some {166} blood to prove the +reality of his power and to quell opposition. He rearrested a number +of whites who had been released under promise of safety. One of them +was Scott, charged with insubordination and breaking his parole. He +was brought before a revolutionary tribunal resembling a court-martial, +and was sentenced to be shot. Even if Riel's lawless tribunal had +possessed judicial authority, Scott's conduct in no respect justified a +death sentence. He had not been under arms when captured, and he was +given no fair opportunity of defending himself. Efforts were made to +save him, but Riel refused to show mercy. On March 4, a few days +before Bishop Taché arrived at the settlement, Scott was shot by six +men, several of them intoxicated, one refusing to prime his rifle, and +one discharging a pistol at the victim as he lay moaning on the ground. + +[Illustration: Alexandre Antonin Taché. From a photograph lent by Rev. +L. Messier, St. Boniface.] + +When the news of this barbarous murder reached the East, a political +crisis was imminent. Scott was an Orangeman; and Catholic priests, it +was said, had been closely identified with the rising. This was enough +to start an agitation and to give it the character of a race and creed +struggle. There existed also a suspicion that a miniature Quebec was +to {167} be set up on the Red River, thus creating a sort of buffer +French state between Ontario and the plains. Another cause of +discontent was the belief that the government proposed to connive at +the assassination of Scott and to allow his murderers to escape +punishment. McDougall returned home, mortified by his want of success, +and soon resigned his position. He blamed the government for what had +occurred, and associated himself with the agitation in Ontario. The +organization known as the Canada First party took a hand in the fray. +It was composed of a few patriotic and able young men, including W. A. +Foster, a Toronto barrister; Charles Mair, the well-known poet; John +Schultz, who many years later, as Sir John Schultz, became governor of +Manitoba, and who with Mair had been imprisoned by Riel and threatened +with death; and Colonel George T. Denison, whose distinguished career +as the promoter of Imperial unity has since made him famous in Canada +and far beyond it. + +The circumstances of the time, the distrust between the races and the +vacillation of a sorely pressed government, combined to make an awkward +situation. The evidence does not show that the Ontario agitators let +slip any {168} of their opportunities. The government was compelled to +send under Colonel Wolseley an expeditionary force of Imperial troops +and Canadian volunteers to nip in the bud the supposed attempt to +establish French ascendancy on the Red River. This expedition was +completely successful without the firing of a shot. Riel, at the sight +of the troops, fled to the United States, and the British flag was +raised over Fort Garry. So, in 1870, Manitoba entered the Dominion as +a new province, and the adjacent territories were organized under a +lieutenant-governor and council directly under federal jurisdiction. +Out of them, thirty-five years later, came the provinces of Alberta and +Saskatchewan. + +But the fruits of the rebellion were evident for years. One result was +the defeat in Ontario of Sandfield Macdonald's ministry in 1871. 'I +find the country in a sound state,' wrote Sir John Macdonald during the +general elections of 1872, 'the only rock ahead being that infernal +Scott murder case, about which the Orangemen have quite lost their +heads.'[1] + +When order was restored the clever miscreant Riel returned to the +settlement. By raising a force to aid in quelling a threatened Fenian +{169} invasion, he gulled Bishop Taché and the new governor, Adams G. +Archibald, and had himself elected to the Dominion parliament. But +Riel's crimes were too recent and too gross to be overlooked. His +effrontery in taking the oath as a member was followed by his expulsion +from the House; and once more he fled the country, only to reappear in +the rôle of a rebel on the Saskatchewan in 1884, and, in the following +year, to expiate his crimes on the scaffold. + + +Having carried the Dominion to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, the +next step for the government was the acquisition of British Columbia. +After the Oregon Treaty of 1846 the British possessions on the Pacific +coast lay in three divisions, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and +the Stikeen Territory, all in the domains of the Hudson's Bay Company. +In 1863, after the inrush of gold-seekers, the two latter had been +united under one government and granted a Legislative Council, partly +elective. Vancouver Island already had a legislature with two +chambers, one elective. In 1865 Amor DeCosmos, one of the members of +the Assembly for Victoria, began the union movement by proposing that +Vancouver Island should be joined to British Columbia. There {170} was +friction between the two colonies, largely on commercial grounds. A +tariff enacted by the colony on the mainland proved injurious to the +island merchants who flourished under a free port. So in 1866 the +Imperial parliament passed an Act uniting the two colonies. Despite +the isolation of the Pacific coast settlements from the British +colonies across the continent on the Atlantic, the Confederation +movement had not passed unnoticed in the Far West; and in March 1867 +the Legislative Council of British Columbia adopted a resolution +requesting Governor Seymour to take measures to secure the admission of +British Columbia into the Dominion 'on fair and equitable terms.' In +transmitting the resolution to the home authorities the governor +candidly pointed out the difficulties. He was not strongly in favour +of the policy. The country east of the Rocky Mountains, it should be +kept in mind, was still in the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company. An +alien population from the United States was increasing in number. +Enormous obstacles stood in the way of communication eastward. 'The +resolution,' wrote Seymour, 'was the expression of a despondent +community longing for change.' However, a public meeting in Victoria +held on January {171} 29, 1868, urgently recommended union. A memorial +to the Canadian government declared that the people generally were +enthusiastic for the change. The leading newspapers endorsed it. The +popularly elected councils of Victoria and New Westminster were of the +same mind. Opposed to this body of opinion were the official class and +a small party who desired annexation to the United States. The terms +demanded were the assumption by Canada of a debt of about $1,500,000, a +fixed annual subsidy, a wagon-road between Lake Superior and the head +of navigation on the Fraser within two years, local representative +institutions, and representation in the Canadian parliament. + +The legislature, despite the alluring prospect set forth in an address +to the Queen moved by DeCosmos, cautiously adopted an amendment +declaring that, while it adhered to its previous action in endorsing +the principle of union 'to accomplish the consolidation of British +interests and institutions in North America,' it lacked the knowledge +necessary to define advantageous terms of union. A convention of +delegates met at Yale to express dissatisfaction with local conditions +in British Columbia and to frame the terms on which {172} union would +be desirable. The Legislative Council, still unconvinced, again +declared for delay; but a dispatch from Lord Granville in August 1869, +addressed to the new governor, Anthony Musgrave, who, on the +recommendation of Sir John Macdonald, had succeeded Seymour, +emphatically endorsed Confederation, leaving open only the question of +the terms. The Confederation debate took place in the Legislative +Council in 1870. In concluding his speech in favour of the policy, +Joseph Trutch, one of the three delegates who afterwards went to Canada +to perfect the bargain, said: + + +I advocate Confederation because it will secure the continuance of this +colony under the British flag and strengthen British interests on this +continent, and because it will benefit this community--by lessening +taxation and giving increased revenue for local expenditure; by +advancing the political status of the colony; by securing the practical +aid of the Dominion Government...; and by affording, through a railway, +the only means of acquiring a permanent population which must come from +the east of the Rocky Mountains. + + +{173} The arrangement made by Canada was a generous one. It included a +promise to begin within two years and to complete within ten a railway +to the Pacific, thus connecting British Columbia with the eastern +provinces. The terms were ratified by the people of British Columbia +in the general election of 1870, and the union went into force on July +20, 1871. The Dominion now stretched from sea to sea. + +Prince Edward Island had fought stoutly in resistance to the union. +For six years it remained aloof. The fears of a small community, proud +of its local rights and conscious that its place in a federal system +could never be a commanding one, are not to be despised. At first +federation had found eloquent advocates. There could not be, it was +pointed out, any career for men of distinction in a small sea-girt +province cut off completely from the life and interests of the larger +area. But these arguments failed, as also did proposals of a more +substantial kind. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick desired greatly to +augment the maritime importance and influence in the Dominion by the +inclusion of the little island province. During the summer of 1866, +while the delegates from the two maritime provinces {174} were waiting +in London for the arrival of their Canadian colleagues, they made an +offer to James C. Pope, prime minister of the Island, who happened to +be in London, that the sum of $800,000 should be allowed the Island, in +order to extinguish the rights of the absentee land-owners, an incubus +that had long caused discontent. The Canadian delegates, at first +reluctant, were brought to agree to this proposal. But it was +declined, and the same fate overtook better financial terms which +Tilley offered in 1869. The Island went its way, but soon found that +the capital necessary for internal development was hard to secure and +harder still to repay if once obtained. A railway debt was incurred, +and financial difficulties arose. + +This situation came to the knowledge of Sir John Rose, the first +finance minister of Canada, who had gone to reside in London as a +partner in the great banking house of Morton, Rose and Co. There is a +touch of romance both in the career of Rose and in the fact that it was +through his agency that the little province entered the federation. +Rose was a Scottish lad who had come to Canada to make his fortune. +When a practising barrister in Montreal he had lost his silk gown as +Queen's Counsel {175} for signing the Annexation Manifesto in 1849. +His abilities were of the first order, but his tastes inclined to law +rather than to politics. The Dominion was in its infancy when his +talents for finance attracted attention abroad and secured him the +handsome offer which drew him away from Canada and led to his +remarkable success in the money centre of the world. But he never lost +interest in the Dominion. He maintained a close and intimate +correspondence with Sir John Macdonald, and, learning of Prince Edward +Island's difficulties, communicated with the Canadian prime minister. +Thus was the way opened for negotiations. Finally a basis of union was +arranged by which the Dominion assumed the provincial burden and made +the Island railway part of the state system of railways. Prince Edward +Island joined the union on July 1, 1873, and has contributed its full +quota of brain and energy to the upbuilding of Canada. + + +Newfoundland definitely rejected union in the general election of 1869, +and only once since has it shown an inclination to join the Dominion. +During the financial crisis of 1893 delegates from Newfoundland visited +Ottawa and sought to reach a satisfactory {176} arrangement. But the +opportunity was allowed to pass, and the ancient colony has ever since +turned a deaf ear to all suggestions of federation. But it is still +the hope of many that the 'Oldest Colony' will one day acknowledge the +hegemony of Canada. + + + +[1] _Memoirs_, vol. ii, p. 150. + + + + +{177} + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE WORK OF THE FATHERS + +The lapse of fifty years should make it possible for us to value the +work of the Fathers with due regard for historical truth. Time has +thrown into bold relief the essential greatness of their undertaking +and has softened the asperities of criticism which seem inseparable +from all political movements. A struggle for national unity brings out +the stronger qualities of man's nature, but is not a magic remedy for +rivalries between the leading minds in the state. On the contrary, it +accentuates for the time being the differences of temperament and the +clash of individual opinions which accompany a notable effort in +nation-making. But distance from the scene and from the men furnishes +a truer perspective. The Fathers were not exempt from the defects that +mark any group of statesmen who take part in a political upheaval; who +uproot existing conditions and disturb settled interests; and who bid, +each {178} after his own fashion, for popular support and approval. +The chief leaders in the federation movement survived to comparatively +recent years. The last of them, Sir Charles Tupper, died in the autumn +of 1915. All were closely associated with party politics. There yet +live many who walked and talked with them, who rejoiced with them in +victory and condoled with them in defeat. It were vain to hope that +the voice of faction has been silenced and that the labours of the +Fathers can be viewed in the serene atmosphere which strips the mind of +prejudice and passion. And yet the attempt should be made, because the +founders of Canada are entitled to share the fame of those who made the +nineteenth century remarkable for the unification of states and the +expansion of popular government. + +During Sir John Macdonald's lifetime his admirers called him the Father +of Confederation. In length and prestige of official service and in +talent for leadership he had no equals. His was the guiding hand after +the union. The first constructive measures that cemented the Dominion +are identified with his régime. When he died in the twenty-fourth year +of Confederation he had been prime minister for nearly nineteen years. +To his contemporaries {179} he towered above others. Time established +his reputation and authority. The personal attachment of his followers +was like to nothing we have seen since, because to their natural pride +in his political triumphs was added a passionate devotion to the man +himself. His opponents have cheerfully borne tribute to the +fascination he exercised over young and old. Holton's delightfully +ambiguous remark, on the occasion of Macdonald's marvellous restoration +to office in 1878, is historic: 'Well! John A. beats the devil.' Sir +Oliver Mowat said, 'He was a genial man, a pleasant companion, full of +humour and wit.' Even his satirical foe, Sir Richard Cartwright, +recognized in him an unusual personality impressing all who came in +contact with it. 'He had an immense acquaintance,' wrote Cartwright, +'with men of all sorts and conditions from one end of Canada to the +other.' + +As long as he lived, therefore, an impartial estimate of Macdonald's +share in effecting Confederation could not be expected. After his +death the glamour of his name prevented a critical survey of his +achievements. Even yet it is too soon to render a final verdict. He +took control of the situation at an early stage, because to frame a new +constitution was a task {180} after his own heart. He managed the +Quebec Conference with the arts which none of the other members +possessed in equal degree. As political complications arose his +remarkable astuteness soon overcame them; and he emerged from the +negotiations the most conspicuous figure in a distinguished group. It +is inevitable that genius for command should overshadow the merits of +others. True in every line of endeavour, this is especially so in +politics. With his great gifts, Macdonald preserved his ascendancy in +the young nation and was the chief architect of its fortunes for many +years. + +[Illustration: An election campaign--George Brown addressing an +audience of farmers. From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys] + +To assert, however, that one person was the author of Confederation, in +the sense that the others played subordinate parts and were mere +satellites revolving round the sun, is to mistake the nature and +history of the movement. It was a long battle against adverse +influences. If left unchallenged, they forbade the idea of a Dominion +stretching from sea to sea. It was not Macdonald who forced the issue +to the front, who bore down stubborn opposition, and who rallied to its +support the elements indispensable to success. Into the common fund +contributions were made from many sources. At least eight of the +Fathers of Confederation {181} must be placed in the first rank of +those to whom Canada owes undying gratitude. The names of Brown, +Cartier, Galt, Macdonald, Tupper, Tilley, McGee, and McDougall stand +pre-eminent. All these performed services, each according to his +opportunities, which history will not ignore. + +The foremost champion of union at the critical moment was George Brown. +But for him, it is easy to believe, Confederation might have been +delayed for a generation or never have come at all. His enthusiasm +inspired the willing and carried the doubting. In the somewhat rare +combination of courage, force, and breadth of view no one excelled him. +As a political tactician he was not so successful, and to this defect +may be traced the entanglements in which he was prone to land both +himself and his party. His resignation from the coalition in 1865 was +a mistake. It could not be explained. In leaving the ship before it +reached the haven of safety he laid himself open to charges of spleen +and instability. Impulsive he was, but not unstable, and his jealousy +was not greater than other men's. He was always embarrassed by the +fact that the criticisms of his newspaper the _Globe_, in the exercise +of its undoubted rights as an organ {182} of public opinion, were laid +at his door. He found, as other editors have found, that the +compromises of political life and the freedom of the press are natural +enemies. In his patriotic sacrifice in behalf of Confederation lies +his best claim to the respect and affection of his countrymen. + +The quality most commonly ascribed to Cartier is courage; and rightly +so. But equally important were his freedom from religious bigotry and +his devotion to the interests of his own people. He guarded at every +step the place of his race in the constitution of the Dominion; and if +we are to believe the story that he fought stoutly in London for strict +adherence to every concession agreed upon at Quebec, his insight into +the future proved equal to his courage. The French were rooted in the +belief that union meant for them a diminished power. There were +grounds for the apprehension. To Cartier was due the subordination of +prejudice to the common good. He was great enough to see that if Lower +Canada was to become the guardian of its special interests and +privileges, Upper Canada must be given a similar security; and this +threw him into the closest alliance with Brown. This principle, as +embodied in the {183} constitution, is the real basis of Confederation, +which cannot be seriously menaced as long as neither of the central +provinces interferes with the other. Cartier exemplified in his own +person the truth that the French are a tolerant and kindly community, +and that pride of race, displayed within its own proper bounds, makes +for the strength and not the weakness of the Dominion. Unhappily, his +health declined, and he did not live to lead his race in the +development of that larger patriotism of which, with good reason, he +believed them to be capable. But his example survives, and its +influence will be felt in the generations to come. + +What share Galt had in affecting Cartier's course is not fully known, +but the two men between them dominated Lower Canada, and their +_rapprochement_ was more than a match for the nullifying efforts of +Dorion and Holton. Galt's best work was also done before the +consummation of the union. After 1867 he practically retired from the +activities of politics, owing more to a distaste for the yoke of party +than to any loss of interest in the welfare of Canada. He had an ample +mind, and in his speeches and writings there is a valuable legacy of +suggestion. + +{184} + +Thomas D'Arcy McGee was the orator of the movement. While other +politicians hung back, he proclaimed the advantages of union in season +and out with the zeal of the crusader. His speeches, delivered in the +principal cities of all the provinces, did much to rouse patriotic +fervour. + +To Tupper and to Tilley, as this narrative has sought to show, we owe +the adherence of the Maritime Provinces. The present Dominion would +have been impossible but for their labours and sacrifice. A federated +state without an Atlantic seaboard would have resulted in a different +destiny for Canada. Each of these statesmen withstood the temptation +to bend before the storm of local prejudice. By yielding to the +passion of the hour each would have been a hero in his own province and +have enjoyed a long term of office. If evidence were needed that +Confederation inspired its authors to nobler aims than party victories, +the course taken by these leaders furnishes conclusive proof. + +William McDougall's part in the movement has suffered eclipse owing to +his political mishaps. No one brought more brilliant qualities to bear +upon the work than he. On the platform and in parliament he had, as a +{185} speaker, no superior. In his newspaper, the _North American_, he +had espoused a federal union as the first article of his political +creed; and when Brown purchased the paper, McDougall, as the chief +writer for the _Globe_, strengthened Brown's hands and became his +natural ally in the coalition. They quarrelled openly when McDougall +elected to cast in his lot with Macdonald in the first Dominion +ministry. The Red River episode ruptured his relations with Macdonald, +who never again sought his support. Avoided by both leaders and never +tolerant of party discipline, McDougall sought to fill the rôle of +independent critic and thus earned for himself, unfairly, the sobriquet +'Wandering Willie.' But the Dominion owed much to his constructive +talent. There is evidence that his influence was potent in the +constitutional conferences, and that during his term as minister he had +a strong hand in shaping public policy. + +Oliver Mowat left politics for the judicial bench immediately after the +Quebec Conference. He has related that, as the delegates sat round the +table, Macdonald, on being notified of the vacancy in the +vice-chancellorship of Upper Canada, silently passed him a note in +appreciative terms offering him the place. {186} For seven years he +remained on the bench. But he returned in 1872 to active political +life, and his services to the nation as prime minister of Ontario +display his balanced judgment and clearness of intellect. + +Some Canadian statesmen who were invaluable to the new nationality +suffer in being judged too exclusively from a party standpoint. Canada +was fortunate in drawing from the ranks of both Conservatives and +Liberals many men capable of developing the Dominion and adapting an +untried constitution to unforeseen conditions. None had quite the same +opportunities as Sir John Macdonald, who not only helped to frame the +union but administered its policy for a lengthy period. Alexander +Mackenzie gave the country an example of rectitude in public life and +of devotion to duty which is of supreme value to all who recognize that +free government may be undermined and finally destroyed by selfishness +and corruption. Edward Blake, with his lofty conceptions of national +ambition and his profound insight into the working of the constitution, +also exerted a beneficial effect on the evolution of the state. He, +like Sir John Thompson, was a native of the country. In temperament, +in breadth of mind, and in contempt for petty {187} and sordid aims, +Blake and Thompson had much in common. They, and others who are too +near our own day for final judgment, fully grasped the work of the +Fathers and helped to give Canada its honourable status in the British +Empire and its distinctive place as a self-governing community. + + +A retrospective glance reveals the extent to which the Fathers attained +their principal objects. A threefold purpose inspired them. Their +first duty was to evolve a workable plan of government. In this they +succeeded, as fifty years of experience shows. The constitution, after +having stood the usual tests and strain, is firmly rooted in national +approval; and this result has been reached by healthy normal processes, +not by exaggerated claims or a spurious enthusiasm. The constitution +has always been on trial, so to speak, because Canadians are prone to +be critical of their institutions. But at every acute crisis popular +discontent has been due to maladministration and not to defects of +organization. The structure itself stands a monument to those who +erected it. + +In the second and most trying of their tasks, the unification of the +provinces, the Fathers {188} were also triumphant. From the beginning +the country was well stocked with pessimists and Job's comforters. +They derived inspiration during many years from the brilliant writings +of Goldwin Smith. But in the end even the doubters had to succumb to +the stern logic of the facts. Under any federation, growth in unity is +bound to be slow. The relations of the provinces to the federal power +must be worked out and their relations to each other must be adjusted. +Time alone could solve such a problem. Until the system took definite +shape national sentiment was feeble. But a modified and well-poised +federation, with its strong central government and its carefully +guarded provincial rights, at last won the day. Years of doubt and +trial there were, but in due course the Nova Scotian came to regard +himself as a Canadian and the British Columbian ceased to feel that a +man from the East was a foreigner. The provinces have steadily +developed a community of interest. They meet cordially in periodical +conferences to discuss the rights and claims possessed in common, and +if serious, even menacing, questions are not dealt with as they should +be, the failure will be traced to faulty statesmanship and not to lack +of unity. + +{189} + +To preserve the Imperial tie was the third and greatest object of the +Fathers. They realized that many dangers threatened it--some tangible +and visible, others hidden and beyond the ken of man. It may not be +denied that the barque of the new nationality was launched into an +unknown sea. The course might conceivably lead straight to complete +independence, and honest minds, like Galt's, were held in thrall by +this view. Could monarchy in any shape be re-vitalized on the +continent where the Great Republic sat entrenched? What sinister ideas +would not the word Imperialism convey to the practical men of the +western world? These fears the Fathers met with resolute faith and the +seeing eye. They believed that inherent in the beneficent rule of +Queen Victoria there was a constitutional sovereignty which would +appeal irresistibly to a young democracy; that unwavering fidelity to +the crown could be reconciled with the fullest extension of +self-government; and that the British Empire when organized on this +basis would hold its daughter states beyond the seas with bonds that +would not break. + +And so it has proved. Of all the achievements of the Fathers this is +the most splendid {190} and enduring. The Empire came to mean, not the +survival of antiquated ideas, but the blessings of a well-ordered +civilization. And when in 1914 the Great War shook the world, +Canadians, having found that the sway of Britain brought them peace, +honour, and contentment, were proud to die for the Empire. To debate +the future of Canada was long the staple subject for abstract +discussion, but the march of events has carried us past the stage of +idle imaginings. A knowledge of the laws by which Divine Providence +controls the destinies of nations has thus far eluded the subtlest +intellect, and it may be impossible for any man, however gifted, to +foresee what fate may one day overtake the British Empire. But its +traditions of freedom and toleration, its ideals of pure government and +respect for law, can be handed on unimpaired through the ages. The +opportunity to maintain and perpetuate these traditions and ideals is +the priceless inheritance which Canada has received from the Fathers of +Confederation. + + + + +{191} + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The printed material relative to Confederation is voluminous. The +earliest proposals are to be found in the _Constitutional Documents_ by +Shortt and Doughty. The parliamentary debates of the four provinces +from 1864 to 1867 record the progress of the movement which culminated +in the British North America Act. For the intimate history of the +coalition ministry and the conferences in Quebec and in London the two +works by Sir Joseph Pope, _Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald_ and +_Confederation Documents_, are mines of indispensable information. The +files of the Toronto _Globe_ and the Halifax _Chronicle_ are valuable, +while the pamphlets, especially those relating to the events in Quebec +and Nova Scotia, are essential. Gray's _Confederation_ confirms other +material, but is not in itself of paramount importance. Mr Chisholm's +_Speeches and Public Letters of Joseph Howe_ and Dr Saunders's _Three +Premiers of Nova Scotia_ must be consulted. Mr John Boyd's _Sir George +Etienne Cartier: His Life and Times_ exhibits full knowledge and is +free from bias. See also the _Life and Speeches of {192} George +Brown_, by Alexander Mackenzie, which contains some valuable material. +For a clear and impartial biography of Brown, see _George Brown_, by +John Lewis. For the period after the union, consult Pope's _Memoirs of +Sir John Macdonald_ and Sir John Willison's _Sir Wilfrid Laurier and +the Liberal Party_. _The Life and Times of Sir Leonard Tilley_ by +James Hannay and Sir Charles Tupper's _Recollections_ throw light on +the question in the Maritime Provinces. The official dispatches +between the colonial secretary and the governors of the provinces laid +before the Imperial parliament are collected in one volume. Mr +William Houston's _Constitutional Documents_ contains useful notes. + +See also _Canada and its Provinces_, vols. v, vi, xiii, xix, xxi; and, +in the present Series, _The Day of Sir John Macdonald_, _The Day of Sir +Wilfrid Laurier_, and _The Railway Builders_. + + + + +{193} + +INDEX + +Adderley, Mr, 134. + +Alberta, in the Dominion, 159, 168. + +American Civil War, the, and Confederation, 20, 24-5, 67. + +American Revolution, 1; cause of, 4. + +Annand, William, his opposition to Confederation, 28, 115, 152, 154. + +Annexation Manifesto of 1849, the, 15, 18. + +Archibald, Adams G., a father of Confederation, 49, 62 n., 82, 102, +122, 145, 152-3; lieutenant-governor of Manitoba, 169. + +Australia, her form of government, 66. + + +Belleau, Sir Narcisse, prime minister of Canada, 106, 123. + +Bernard, Hewitt, secretary of the Quebec Conference, 61. + +Blair, A. J. Fergusson, 107, 141, 145. + +Blake, Edward, 76, 153, 186-187. + +Bright, John, his anti-Imperial views, 119, 134-5. + +British American League, the, 15. + +British Columbia, 169-70; joins the Dominion, 170-3. + +British North America Act, the, 76, 124-36. See Confederation. + +Brown, George, advocates a federation confined to the Canadas, 19, 20; +and extension westward, 22-3, 158; his relations with Macdonald, 31-2, +106, 138, 142; his committee on federal union, 32-3; expresses his +readiness to co-operate with the Conservatives in promoting the federal +system, 32-3, 143; his conference with Macdonald and Galt, 34-8; joins +Macdonald in a coalition government, 38-43, 138, 151; an amusing +incident in the House, 42-3; at the Charlottetown Conference, 50-1; his +speech emphasizing the happy relations of Canada with Britain, 52-3; at +the Quebec Conference, 57, 62 n., 64, 71-3, 74, 77-8, 79, 80 and note, +82, 158; his speech upholding the Imperial link, 86-7, 88; admits +imperfection in the Confederation constitution scheme, 89-90, 94; +resigns from the coalition, 106-7; and the Manchester School, 106, +110-11, his influence in the London Conference, 124; after +Confederation denounces any further coalition of parties, 141-2, 144-5, +185; a member of the Senate, 153; an estimate of his work, 181-2; his +personality, 31-2, 43, 73, 86, 152 n., 181-2. + +Buckingham, William, 161. + + +Cameron, Hillyard, 95. + +Cameron, M. C., 95. + +Campbell, Alexander, a father of Confederation, 50-1, 62 n., 146. + +Canada, in the early nineteenth century, 11-14; the call of the West, +22-3; the visit of the Prince of Wales (Edward VII), 23-4; her +relations with United States, 25-6, 107; the intercolonial railway +negotiations, 28-9. See Dominion, Parliament. + +Canada First party, the, 167. + +Canada Union Bill of 1822, the, 8. + +Cape Breton Island, 45. + +Cardwell, Mr, colonial secretary, 109, 134; his dispatch urging +federation, 112-13. + +Carleton, Sir Guy, 2. See Dorchester. + +Carling, John, 153. + +Carnarvon, Lord, on Canadian currency, 13-14; and Confederation, 123, +133-4. + +Carter, F. B., a father of Confederation, 63 n. + +Cartier, George E., his work on behalf of Confederation 18, 19, 37, +41-3, 50-1, 62 n., 73, 86, 95, 122, 145, 153, 160; Brown's tribute to, +42-3; accepts a baronetcy, 147-8; an estimate of his work, 182-3. + +Cartwright, Sir Richard, on land communication in the early nineteenth +century, 12-13; an amusing incident in the House, 42-3; on Sir John +Macdonald, 179. + +Chandler, E. B., a father of Confederation, 49, 63 n., 67. + +Chapais, Jean C., a father of Confederation, 62 n., 146. + +Charlottetown Conference, the, 47-55, 77. See Confederation. + +Cobden, William, 26. + +Cockburn, James, a father of Confederation, 62 n. + +Coles, George H., a father of Confederation, 50, 63 n. + +Confederation, when first mooted, 2; William Smith's plan, 3-6; +Sewell's plan, 7; W. L. Mackenzie's belief in, 8-9; Lord Durham's plan, +9-10; Constitutional Act of 1791, 10-11; a period of Particularism, +11-15; 21, 30-1; makes headway in Nova Scotia, 16-17, 26-7, 44-5; +becomes a question of practical politics, 17-20; events which hastened, +20-5; political deadlock, 30-2; coalition government formed to promote, +34-41; some opposition and objection to, 42-3, 49, 84, 89-90, 135; the +CHARLOTTETOWN CONFERENCE, 47-55, 77. THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE: +constituted, 56-7, 61-2; held with closed doors, 58-61; the Fathers of +Confederation, 62 n.-63 n.; federal union, 62-64; provincial +legislatures with a strong central government, 64, 66-9; federal +powers, 69-71; provincial powers, 71-77; the governor-general's powers, +76-7; the House of Commons, 77; the Senate, 77-80, 91-2, 129-31; the +financial terms, 80-3, 90; the Quebec resolutions adopted in Canada, +84-96; opposition in Maritime Provinces, 97-105; finally accepted in +New Brunswick, 112-14, and in Nova Scotia, 114-16. THE FRAMING OF THE +BILL: the lukewarm reception of the delegates in London, 118-22, 124, +135-6, 173-4; the desire to cement the Imperial tie by framing a +constitution similar in principle to that of Britain, 125-7; naming of +the Dominion, 127; the Senate, 129-131; the educational privileges of +minorities, 131-2; the passage of the British North America Act, 133-5; +some criticism, 90-1, 92-5; a priceless inheritance, 187-90. THE +DOMINION: Nova Scotia reconciled, 152-7; the prairie provinces, 158-9, +168; British Columbia, 158, 169-73; Prince Edward Island, 173-6. See +Dominion, Fathers, Parliament. + +Constitutional Act of 1791, the, 3, 11. + + +Dawson, Simon, 161. + +Day, Mr Justice, 133 n. + +DeCosmos, Amor, advocates union, 169, 171. + +Denison, Colonel G. T., vii, 167. + +Dennis, Colonel J. S., 163. Dicey, Professor, his view of the +Canadian constitution, 126. + +Dickey, R. B., a father of Confederation, 49, 62 n. + +Dominion of Canada, the, source and extent of, 1-2; her constitution +compared, 65-6, 125-7; her government representative of all parts of +the country, 144; the naming of, 127-9; the forming of the first +ministry, 137-8, 144-6; the first general elections, 152-153; the +Hudson's Bay Company, 158-60; the Red River Rebellion, 159, 161-8; her +Imperialism, 190. See Canada, Confederation, Parliament. + +Dorchester, Lord, and Confederation, 2-4. + +Dorion, A. A., his opposition to Confederation, 28, 40, 42, 89, 92, 183. + +Draper, Chief Justice, 22. + +Dunkin, Christopher, his opposition to Confederation, 42, 89, 91. + +Durham, Lord, his scheme of union, 9-10. + + +Edward VII, his visit to Canada, 23-4. + + +Fathers of Confederation, the, 62 n.-63 n.; the leaders honoured, +147-50; an estimate of their work, 177-90. See Confederation. + +Fenian invasion, the, and Confederation, 113, 118. + +Ferrier, James, 43. + +Fisher, Charles, a father of Confederation, 63 n., 122, 130 + +Foster, W. A., 167. + +Fournier, Telesphore, 42. + + +Galt, A. T., forces Confederation out of the sphere of speculation, +17-19, 34-8, 40, 50-1, 57, 62 n., 80, 86, 93, 106, 122, 132-3, 145, +181; his views on the ultimate destiny of Canada, 74, 148-9; desires to +extend educational privileges to all minorities, 132-3; K.C.M.G., +147-50; his personality, 17-18, 132, 152 n., 183. + +George III, and the American Revolution, 1. + +Gladstone, W. E., favours cession of Canada to United States, 119. + +Gordon, A. H., lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, 55, 103, 104, +111-12, 113-14. + +Gourlay, Robert, and Confederation, 6. + +Gray, J. H. (P.E.I.), a father of Confederation, 49, 63 n. + +Gray, J. H. (N.B.), a father of Confederation, 49, 59-61, 63 n., 81. + +Great Britain: the Union Bill of 1822, 7; her colonial policy in 1852, +15; the Hudson's Bay Company, 22, 158-9; the 'Trent' Affair, 25; her +interest in Confederation, 26-27, 108-13, 170; opinions in regarding +the ultimate destiny of Canada, 110-11, 119-122; her consideration for +United States, 119, 128. + +Granville, Lord, colonial secretary, 149, 172. + +Grenville, Lord, and Dorchester's proposal, 3, 6. + +Grey, Earl, governor-general, 15. + + +Haliburton, Robert, on opinion in Nova Scotia regarding Confederation, +100-1. + +Halifax, the Canadian delegates entertained at, 48, 52-4. + +Halliburton, Brenton, 8. + +Hamilton, P. S., 15. + +Hathaway, George, 99. + +Haviland, T. Heath, a father of Confederation, 63 n. + +Head, Sir Edmund, governor of Canada, 18. + +Henry, William A., a father of Confederation, 49, 62 n., 122, 130, 153. + +Hind, Prof. Henry Youle, 161. + +Holton, Luther H., opposes Confederation, 28, 40, 42, 89, 183; on Sir +John Macdonald, 179. + +House of Commons, the basis of representation in, 77. See Parliament. + +Howe, Joseph, 28-9; his opposition to Confederation, 16-17, 46, 55, 57, +100, 102-3, 115-116, 135; favours maritime union, 47-8; his speech +upholding federation, 48; 'that pestilent fellow,' 153; goes to England +to demand repeal, 154, 156; his meeting with Tupper, 155-6; enters the +Dominion Cabinet, 156. + +Howland, William P., and Confederation, 122, 130, 141, 143, 145; C.B.; +147. + +Hudsons Bay Company, the, 2, 22; and the Dominion, 158-60. + +Huntington, L. S., opposes Confederation, 28, 42. + + +Intercolonial Railway, the, 13, 28-9. + + +Jesuits' Estates Act, the, 71. + +Johnston, J. W., and Confederation, 16. + +Johnston, John M., a father of Confederation, 49, 63 n., 122. + + +Kenny, Edward, his inclusion in the first Dominion Cabinet, 145, 146. + +Kent, Duke of, and Confederation, 7. + +Kimberley, Lord, his views on the power to add to the Senate, 131. + + +Langevin, Hector L., a father of Confederation, 50-1, 62 n., 122, 146. + +Letellier, Lieutenant-Governor, 42; the case of his dismissal, 69-70. + +Liberals, and Confederation, 39, 40, 42, 141-4. + +Lincoln, Abraham, and the 'Trent' Affair, 25. + +Lotbinière, Joly de, 42. + +Lower Canada, 3; its relations with Upper Canada, 6-8; and +Confederation, 84, 95. + +Lyons, Lord, and the 'Trent' Affair, 25. + +Lytton, Sir E. B., and Confederation, 19. + + +McCully, Jonathan, a father of Confederation, 49, 62 n., 93 n., 102, +122. + +Macdonald, A. A., a father of Confederation, 50, 63 n. + +Macdonald, John A., the Father of Confederation, 19, 33, 54, 106, +178-81; his relations with Brown, 31-2, 106, 142; the reconciliation +and conference with Brown, 34-8, 39; the Charlottetown Conference, +50-1, 52; the Quebec Conference, 59, 61, 62 and note, 64, 180, 185; his +appeal for a strong central authority, 67-8; on the office of +lieutenant-governor, 70; on the mode of appointment to the Senate, +78-9, 80 and note; his prophetic utterance, 88; his policy of 'masterly +inactivity,' 117; chairman at the London Conference, 122; a tribute to, +123-4; forms the first Dominion Cabinet on a non-party basis, 137-8, +140, 142, 144-6, 150; K.C.B., 147; his troubles with Howe and Nova +Scotia, 153-6; the Red River Rebellion, 161; the Scott murder case, +168; and Sir John Rose, 175; his personality, 31, 86, 117, 150, 178-180. + +Macdonald, John Sandfield, 151-2; opposed to Confederation, 27-8, 32, +89; prime minister of Ontario, 150-1, 153, 168. + +Macdonnell, Sir R. G., governor of Nova Scotia, 53-4, 55, 103, 104. + +McDougall, William, 160, 184-185; a father of Confederation, 40, 50-1, +62 n., 79, 80 n., 122, 181, 184-5; joins the Dominion Cabinet, 141, +143-4, 145, 160; C.B., 147; lieutenant-governor of the West Territory, +160-1, 163-164, 167. + +McGee, Thomas D'Arcy, the orator of the Confederation movement, 24-5, +50-1, 62 n., 65 n., 181, 184; his patriotic conduct, 145, 146; +assassinated, 146-7. + +Mackenzie, Alexander, 40, 153; and a hostile Senate, 131; his +integrity, 186. + +Mackenzie, W. L., 6; his plan of Confederation, 8-9. + +McLelan, A. W., 153. + +Mair, Charles, 167. + +Manitoba, in the Dominion, 159-68. + +Maritime Provinces, the, and communication with Canada, 11-12; object +to direct taxation, 80-1, 97. See various provinces. + +Miller, William, his troubles in Nova Scotia, 115-16. + +Mitchell, Peter, 28; a father of Confederation, 63 n., 122, 146. + +Monck, Lord, first governor-general of the Dominion, 27, 50, 84-5, +137-8, 147; his personality and record, 139-40. + +Morris, Alexander, 15; and the meeting between Macdonald and Brown, 34, +35. + +Mowat, Oliver, a father of Confederation, 40, 62 n., 74-5, 79, 80 n.; +and Macdonald, 179, 185; his career, 185-6. + +Mulgrave, Lord, governor of Nova Scotia, 17, 26-7. + +Musgrave, Anthony, governor of Newfoundland, 105; and of British +Columbia, 172. + + +New Brunswick, 13, 44-5, 49, 51; the agitation against Confederation, +97-9; a change of front, 112-14, 173-4. + +Newcastle, Duke of, on Canadian loyalty, 24; and Confederation, 26-7, +28, 109, 120-121. + +Newfoundland, 13-14, 44, 50; rejects Confederation, 105, 175-6. + +North-West Company, the, 2. + +Nova Scotia, 13, 14; favours maritime union, 27, 45, 47, 49, 51; the +opposition to Confederation, 99-104, 114-116; the agitation for repeal, +152-7; reconciled, 82, 156, 173-4. + + +Ontario. See Upper Canada. + + +Palmer, Edward, a father of Confederation, 49, 63 n. + +Palmerston, Lord, 23; his adventurous foreign policy, 119, 120. + +Parliament: Confederation a question of practical politics, 18-19; +political deadlock, 30-32; Brown's committee on federal union, 32-3; +the public reconciliation of Brown and Macdonald, 34; a coalition +formed to forward Confederation, 38-41, 44, 144; an amusing incident, +42-3; the debate on the Quebec resolutions, 84-96; the mission to +England and the resignation of Brown, 105-7; a period of 'masterly +inactivity,' 117; the educational privileges of minorities, 132-3; dual +premiership abolished, 137-9; the Hudson's Bay Company, 160. See +Dominion. + +Penny, Edward Goff, 57. + +Pope, James C., 174. + +Pope, John Henry, and Brown, 34, 35. + +Pope, Sir Joseph, quoted, 32, 36, 61, 72 n., 76 n., 80, 93 n., 129, 138 +n. + +Pope, W. H., a father of Confederation, 49, 63 n., 82. + +Prince Edward Island, 14, 44-45, 49, 51; and Confederation, 77, 104-5, +173-6. + + +Quebec. See Lower Canada. + +Quebec Conference, the, 56-83. See under Confederation. + + +Reciprocity Treaty, the, 14, 25-26, 107. + +Red River Rebellion, the, 159, 161-8. + +Riel, Louis, leader in the Red River Rebellion, 164-6, 167, 168; his +later career, 168-9. + +Robinson, John Beverley, 8. + +Rogers, Sir Frederic, his colonial views, 121-2; his tribute to +Macdonald, 123-4. + +Rose, Sir John, 174-5. + +Ross, John, 18. + +Rouges, the, and Confederation, 42. See Liberals. + +Russell, Lord John, 15. + + +Saskatchewan, in the Dominion, 159, 168. + +Schultz, Sir John, 167. + +Scott, Thomas, his murder, 165-6. + +Senate, the, composition of, 77-78, 129-31; mode of appointment to, +78-80, 91-2. See Parliament. + +Sewell, Chief Justice, his plan of Confederation, 7-8. + +Seymour, Frederick, governor of British Columbia, 170, 172. + +Shea, Ambrose, a father of Confederation, 63 n., 82. + +Smith, Sir Albert, prime minister of New Brunswick, 112, 114. + +Smith, Goldwin, quoted, 21, 30, 93, 188. + +Smith, William, his plan of Confederation, 2, 3, 4-6. + +South Africa, her form of government, 66. + +Stanley, Lord, and the naming of Canada, 128. + +Steeves, W. H., a father of Confederation, 49, 63 n. + +Strachan, Bishop, 7-8. + +Strathcona, Lord, and the Red River Rebellion, 165. + + +Taché, Sir Etienne, prime minister of Canada, 39, 40, 61, 62 n., 91-2; +death of, 106. + +Taché, Bishop, and the Red River Rebellion, 162, 165, 169. + +Taché, J. C., 15. + +Thibault, Grand Vicar, 165. + +Thirteen Colonies, granted independence, 1. See United States. + +Thompson, Sir John, 186-7. + +Tilley, S. L., 28, 54-5; a father of Confederation, 49, 57, 62 and +note, 82, 122, 145, 181, 184; his defeat in New Brunswick, 97-9, 184; +C.B., 147. + +'Trent' Affair, the, 25. + +Trutch, Joseph, advocates joining the Dominion, 172. + +Tupper, Charles, 46, 154; proposes a maritime union, 45, 48-9; his +services to the cause of Confederation, 45-6, 57, 62 n., 64, 82, 122, +154-6, 181, 184; plays a waiting game in Nova Scotia, 99, 104, 115-116; +waives his claim to a place in the first Dominion Cabinet, 145, 146, +152; C.B., 147, 148; his meeting with Howe in London, 154-6, 116; his +death, 178. + + +United States, and the 'Trent' Affair, 25; the weakness of her +constitution, 67-8, 126. + +Upper Canada, 3; its relations with Lower Canada, 6-8; and +Confederation, 94-5. + + +Vancouver Island, 169-70. + + +War of 1812, a proof of the necessity for Confederation, 6-7. + +Watkin, Edward, 148. + +Wetmore, A. R., defeats Tilley on Confederation, 98-9. + +Whelan, Edward, a father of Confederation, 63 n. + +Whitney, Sir James, 151 n. + +Wolseley, Colonel, quells the Red River Rebellion, 168. + +Wood, E. B., 153. + + + + + Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty + at the Edinburgh University Press + + + + +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA + +THIRTY-TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED + +Edited by GEORGE M. WRONG and H. H. LANGTON + + + +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA + +PART I + +THE FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS + +1. THE DAWN OF CANADIAN HISTORY + By Stephen Leacock. + +2. THE MARINER OF ST MALO + By Stephen Leacock. + + +PART II + +THE RISE OF NEW FRANCE + +3. THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE + By Charles W. Colby. + +4. THE JESUIT MISSIONS + By Thomas Guthrie Marquis. + +5. THE SEIGNEURS OF OLD CANADA + By William Bennett Munro. + +6. THE GREAT INTENDANT + By Thomas Chapais. + +7. THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR + By Charles W. Colby. + + +PART III + +THE ENGLISH INVASION + +8. THE GREAT FORTRESS + By William Wood. + +9. THE ACADIAN EXILES + By Arthur G. Doughty. + +10. THE PASSING OF NEW FRANCE + By William Wood. + +11. THE WINNING OF CANADA + By William Wood. + + +PART IV + +THE BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH CANADA + +12. THE FATHER OF BRITISH CANADA + By William Wood. + +13. THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS + By W. Stewart Wallace. + +14. THE WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES + By William Wood. + + +PART V + +THE RED MAN IN CANADA + +15. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE OTTAWAS + By Thomas Guthrie Marquis. + +16. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE SIX NATIONS + By Louis Aubrey Wood. + +17. TECUMSEH: THE LAST GREAT LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE + By Ethel T. Raymond. + + +PART VI + +PIONEERS OF THE NORTH AND WEST + +18. THE 'ADVENTURERS OF ENGLAND' ON HUDSON BAY + By Agnes C. Laut. + +19. PATHFINDERS OF THE GREAT PLAINS + By Lawrence J. Burpee. + +20. ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH + By Stephen Leacock. + +21. THE RED RIVER COLONY + By Louis Aubrey Wood. + +22. PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST + By Agnes C. Laut. + +23. THE CARIBOO TRAIL + By Agnes C. Laut. + + +PART VII + +THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM + +24. THE FAMILY COMPACT + By W. Stewart Wallace. + +25. THE 'PATRIOTES' OF '37 + By Alfred D. DeCelles. + +26. THE TRIBUNE OF NOVA SCOTIA + By William Lawson Grant. + +27. THE WINNING OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT + By Archibald MacMechan. + + +PART VIII + +THE GROWTH OF NATIONALITY + +28. THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION + By A. H. U. Colquhoun. + +29. THE DAY OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD + By Sir Joseph Pope. + +30. THE DAY OF SIR WILFRID LAURIER + By Oscar D. Skelton. + + +PART IX + +NATIONAL HIGHWAYS + +31. ALL AFLOAT + By William Wood. + +32. THE RAILWAY BUILDERS + By Oscar D. Skelton. + + + +TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Fathers of Confederation, by A. H. U. 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H. U. Colquhoun +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.block {text-indent: 4%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 4% ; + margin-right: 4% } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.salutation {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.closing {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: 80%; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.index {font-size: small ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-top: 0% ; + margin-bottom: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.dedication {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 15%; + text-align: justify } + +P.published {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 15% } + +P.quote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report2 {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +H3.h3left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H3.h3right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H3.h3center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgleft { float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: 1%; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgright {float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1%; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +.pagenum { position: absolute; + left: 1%; + font-size: 95%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + +.sidenote { left: 0%; + font-size: 65%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0%; + width: 17%; + float: left; + clear: left; + padding-left: 0%; + padding-right: 2%; + padding-top: 2%; + padding-bottom: 2%; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Fathers of Confederation, by A. H. U. Colquhoun + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Fathers of Confederation + A Chronicle of the Birth of the Dominion + +Author: A. H. U. Colquhoun + +Release Date: September 13, 2009 [EBook #29972] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="The Fathers of Confederation. After a painting by Robert Harris." BORDER="2" WIDTH="666" HEIGHT="491"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 666px"> +The Fathers of Confederation. <BR>After a painting by Robert Harris. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION +</H1> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +A Chronicle of the Birth of the Dominion +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +by +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +A. H. U. COLQUHOUN +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TORONTO +<BR> +GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY +<BR> +1916 +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Copyright in all Countries subscribing to<BR> +the Berne Convention</I><BR> +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TO +<BR> +COLONEL GEORGE T. DENISON +<BR> +WHOSE LIFE-WORK IS PROOF THAT<BR> +LOYALTY TO THE EMPIRE IS<BR> +FIDELITY TO CANADA<BR> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pix"></A>ix}</SPAN> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">Page</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE DAWN OF THE MOVEMENT</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 1</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">OBSTACLES TO UNION</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 11</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE EVE OF CONFEDERATION</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 21</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">THE HOUR AND THE MEN</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 30</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">THE CHARLOTTETOWN CONFERENCE</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 44</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 56</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">THE RESULTS OF THE CONFERENCE</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 65</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">THE DEBATES OF 1865</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 84</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">ROCKS IN THE CHANNEL</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 97</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">'THE BATTLE OF UNION'</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 108</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">THE FRAMING OF THE BILL</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 119</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">THE FIRST DOMINION MINISTRY</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 137</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">FROM SEA TO SEA</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 158</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">THE WORK OF THE FATHERS</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> +188</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#biblio">BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 191</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#index">INDEX</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 193</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxi"></A>xi}</SPAN> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION</A><BR> + After the painting by Robert Harris. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> +<I>Frontispiece</I> +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-004"> +WILLIAM SMITH</A><BR> + From a portrait in the Parliament Buildings, Ottawa. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> +<I>facing page</I> 4 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-016"> +SIR ALEXANDER T. GALT</A><BR> + From a photograph by Topley. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 16 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-032"> +GEORGE BROWN</A><BR> + From a photograph in the possession of Mrs Freeland Barbour, Edinburgh.<BR> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 32 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-042"> +SIR GEORGE CARTIER</A><BR> + From a painting in the Château de Ramezay. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 42 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-080"> +SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD</A><BR> + From the painting by A. Dickson Patterson. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 80 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-116"> +SIR CHARLES TUPPER, BART.</A><BR> + From a photograph by Elliott and Fry, London. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 116 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-166"> +ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHÉ</A><BR> + From a photograph lent by Rev. L. Messier, St Boniface. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 166 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-180"> +AN ELECTION CAMPAIGN—GEORGE BROWN <BR> +ADDRESSING AN AUDIENCE OF FARMERS</A><BR> + From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 180<BR> +</TD></TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P1"></A>1}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE DAWN OF THE MOVEMENT +</H4> + +<P> +The sources of the Canadian Dominion must be sought in the period +immediately following the American Revolution. In 1783 the Treaty of +Paris granted independence to the Thirteen Colonies. Their vast +territories, rich resources, and hardy population were lost to the +British crown. From the ruins of the Empire, so it seemed for the +moment, the young Republic rose. The issue of the struggle gave no +indication that British power in America could ever be revived; and +King George mournfully hoped that posterity would not lay at his door +'the downfall of this once respectable empire.' +</P> + +<P> +But, disastrous as the war had proved, there still remained the +fragments of the once mighty domain. If the treaty of peace had shorn +the Empire of the Thirteen Colonies and the great region south of the +Lakes, it had left unimpaired the provinces to the east and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P2"></A>2}</SPAN> +north—Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Canada—while still farther north +and west an unexplored continent in itself, stretching to the Pacific +Ocean, was either held in the tight grip of the Hudson's Bay Company or +was shortly to be won by its intrepid rival, the North-West Company of +Montreal. There were not lacking men of prescience and courage who +looked beyond the misfortunes of the hour, and who saw in the dominions +still vested in the crown an opportunity to repair the shattered empire +and restore it to a modified splendour. A general union of the +colonies had been mooted before the Revolution. The idea naturally +cropped up again as a means of consolidating what was left. Those who +on the king's side had borne a leading part in the conflict took to +heart the lesson it conveyed. Foremost among these were Lord +Dorchester, whom Canada had long known as Guy Carleton, and William +Smith, the Loyalist refugee from New York, who was appointed chief +justice of Lower Canada. Each had special claims to be consulted on +the future government of the country. During the war Dorchester's +military services in preserving Canada from the invaders had been of +supreme value; and his occupation +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P3"></A>3}</SPAN> +of New York after the peace, +while he guided and protected the Loyalist emigration, had furnished a +signal proof of his vigour and sagacity. William Smith belonged to a +family of distinction in the old colony of New York. He possessed +learning and probity. His devotion to the crown had cost him his +fortune. It appears that it was with him, rather than with Dorchester, +that the plan originated of uniting the British provinces under a +central government. The two were close friends and had gone to England +together. They came out to Quebec in company, the one as +governor-general, the other as chief justice. The period of confusion, +when constructive measures were on foot, suggested to them the need of +some general authority which would ensure unity of administration. +</P> + +<P> +And so, in October 1789, when Grenville, the secretary of state, sent +to Dorchester the draft of the measure passed in 1791 to divide Quebec +into Upper and Lower Canada, and invited such observations as +'experience and local knowledge may suggest,' Dorchester wrote: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +I have to submit to the wisdom of His Majesty's councils, whether it +may not be +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P4"></A>4}</SPAN> +advisable to establish a general government for His +Majesty's dominions upon this continent, as well as a governor-general, +whereby the united exertions of His Majesty's North American Provinces +may more effectually be directed to the general interest and to the +preservation of the unity of the Empire. I inclose a copy of a letter +from the Chief Justice, with some additional clauses upon this subject +prepared by him at my request. +</P> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="img-004"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-004.jpg" ALT="William Smith. From a portrait in the Parliament Buildings, Ottawa" BORDER="2" WIDTH="364" HEIGHT="530"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 364px"> +William Smith. <BR>From a portrait in the Parliament Buildings, Ottawa +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The letter referred to made a plea for a comprehensive plan bringing +all the provinces together, rather than a scheme to perpetuate local +divisions. It reflected the hopes of the Loyalists then and of their +descendants at a later day. In William Smith's view it was an +imperfect system of government, not the policy of the mother country, +that had brought on the Revolution. There are few historical documents +relating to Canada which possess as much human interest as the +reminiscent letter of the old chief justice, with its melancholy +recital of former mistakes, its reminder that Britons going beyond the +seas would inevitably carry with them their instinct for liberal +government, and its striking prophecy +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P5"></A>5}</SPAN> +that 'the new nation' about +to be created would prove a source of strength to Great Britain. Many +a year was to elapse before the prophecy should come true. This was +due less to the indifference of statesmen than to the inherent +difficulties of devising a workable plan. William Smith's idea of +confederation was a central legislative body, in addition to the +provincial legislatures, this legislative body to consist of a council +nominated by the crown and of a general assembly. The members of the +assembly were to be chosen by the elective branches of the provincial +legislatures. No law should be effective until it passed in the +assembly 'by such and so many voices as will make it the Act of the +majority of the Provinces.' The central body must meet at least once +every two years, and could sit for seven years unless sooner dissolved. +There were provisions for maintaining the authority of the crown and +the Imperial parliament over all legislation. The bill, however, made +no attempt to limit the powers of the local legislatures and to reserve +certain subjects to the general assembly. It would have brought forth, +as drafted, but a crude instrument of government. The outline of the +measure revealed the honest +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P6"></A>6}</SPAN> +enthusiasm of the Loyalists for unity, +but as a constitution for half a continent, remote and unsettled, it +was too slight in texture and would have certainly broken down. +Grenville replied at length to Dorchester's other suggestions, but of +the proposed general parliament he wrote this only: 'The formation of a +general legislative government for all the King's provinces in America +is a point which has been under consideration, but I think it liable to +considerable objection.' +</P> + +<P> +Thus briefly was the first definite proposal set aside. The idea, +however, had taken root and never ceased to show signs of life. As +time wore on, the provincial constitutions proved unsatisfactory. At +each outbreak of political agitation and discontent, in one quarter or +another, some one was sure to come forward with a fresh plea for +intercolonial union. Nor did the entreaty always emanate from men of +pronounced Loyalist convictions; it sometimes came from root-and-branch +Reformers like Robert Gourlay and William Lyon Mackenzie. +</P> + +<P> +The War of 1812 furnished another startling proof of the isolated and +defenceless position of the provinces. The relations between Upper +Canada and Lower Canada, never cordial, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P7"></A>7}</SPAN> +became worse. In 1814, at +the close of the war, Chief Justice Sewell of Quebec, in a +correspondence with the Duke of Kent (Queen Victoria's father), +disclosed a plan for a small central parliament of thirty members with +subordinate legislatures.[<A NAME="chap01fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap01fn1">1</A>] Sewell was a son-in-law of Chief Justice +Smith and shared his views. The duke suggested that these legislatures +need be only two in number, because the Canadas should be reunited and +the three Atlantic colonies placed under one government. No one heeded +the suggestion. A few years intervened, and an effort was made to +patch up a satisfactory arrangement between Lower Canada and Upper +Canada. The two provinces quarrelled over the division of the customs +revenue. When the dispute had reached a critical stage a bill was +introduced in the Imperial parliament to unite them. This was in 1822. +But the proposal to force two disputing neighbours to dwell together in +the same house as a remedy for disagreements failed to evoke enthusiasm +from either. The friends of federation then drew together, and Sewell +joined hands with Bishop Strachan +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P8"></A>8}</SPAN> +and John Beverley Robinson of +Upper Canada in reviving the plea for a wider union and in placing the +arguments in its favour before the Imperial government. Brenton +Halliburton, judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia (afterwards +chief justice), wrote a pamphlet to help on the cause. The Canada +union bill fell through, the revenue dispute being settled on another +basis, but the discussion of federation proceeded. +</P> + +<P> +To this period belongs the support given to the project by William Lyon +Mackenzie. Writing in 1824 to Mr Canning, he believed that +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +a union of all the colonies, with a government suitably poised and +modelled, so as to have under its eye the resources of our whole +territory and having the means in its power to administer impartial +justice in all its bounds, to no one part at the expense of another, +would require few boons from Britain, and would advance her interests +much more in a few years than the bare right of possession of a barren, +uncultivated wilderness of lake and forest, with some three or four +inhabitants to the square mile, can do in centuries. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P9"></A>9}</SPAN> +Here we have the whole picture drawn in a few strokes. Mackenzie +had vision and brilliancy. If he had given himself wholly to this +task, posterity would have passed a verdict upon his career different +from that now accepted. As late as in 1833 he declared: 'I have long +desired to see a conference assembled at Quebec, consisting of +delegates freely elected by the people of the six northern colonies, to +express to England the opinion of the whole body on matters of great +general interest.' But instead of pursuing this idea he threw himself +into the mad project of armed rebellion, and the fruits of that folly +were unfavourable for a long time to the dreams of federation. Lord +Durham came. He found 'the leading minds of the various colonies +strongly and generally inclined to a scheme that would elevate their +countries into something like a national existence.' Such a scheme, he +rightly argued, would not weaken the connection with the Empire, and +the closing passages of his Report are memorable for the insight and +statesmanship with which the solid advantages of union are discussed. +If Lord Durham erred, it was in advocating the immediate union of the +two Canadas as the first necessary step, and in announcing as one of +his objects +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P10"></A>10}</SPAN> +the assimilation to the prevailing British type in +Canada of the French-Canadian race, a thing which, as events proved, +was neither possible nor necessary. +</P> + +<P> +Many of the advocates of union, never blessed with much confidence in +their cause, were made timid by this point of Durham's reasoning. His +arguments, which were intended to urge the advantages of a complete +reform in the system and machinery of government, produced for a time a +contrary effect. Governments might propose and parliaments might +discuss resolutions of an academic kind, while eloquent men with voice +and pen sought to rouse the imaginations of the people. But for twenty +years after the union of the Canadas in 1841 federation remained little +more than a noble aspiration. The statesmen who wielded power looked +over the field and sighed that the time had not yet come. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01fn1"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap01fn1text">1</A>] It has been said that Attorney-General Uniacke of Nova Scotia +submitted, in 1809, a measure for a general union, but of this there +does not appear to be any authentic record. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P11"></A>11}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +OBSTACLES TO UNION +</H4> + +<P> +The prospect was indeed one to dismay the most ardent patriot. After +the passage of the Constitutional Act of 1791 the trend of events had +set steadily in the direction of separation. Nature had placed +physical obstacles in the road to union, and man did his best to render +the task of overcoming them as hopeless as possible. The land +communication between the Maritime Provinces and Canada, such as it +was, precluded effective intercourse. In winter there could be no +access by the St Lawrence, so that Canada's winter port was in the +United States. As late as 1850 it took ten days, often longer, for a +letter to go from Halifax to Toronto. Previous to 1867 there were but +two telegraph lines connecting Halifax with Canada. Messages by wire +were a luxury, the rate between Quebec and Toronto being seventy-five +cents for ten words and eight cents for each additional word. Neither +commerce nor friendship could +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P12"></A>12}</SPAN> +be much developed by telegraph in +those days, and, as the rates were based on the distance, a telegram +sent from Upper Canada to Nova Scotia was a costly affair. To reach +the Red River Settlement, the nucleus of Manitoba, the Canadian +travelled through the United States. With the colonies of Vancouver +Island and British Columbia the East had practically no dealings. Down +to 1863, as Sir Richard Cartwright once said,[<A NAME="chap02fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap02fn1">1</A>] there existed for the +average Canadian no North-West. A great lone land there was, and a few +men in parliament looked forward to its ultimate acquisition, but +popular opinion regarded it vaguely as something dim and distant. In +course of time railways came, but they were not interprovincial and +they did nothing to bind the East to the West. The railway service of +early days is not to be confounded with the rapid trains of to-day, +when a traveller leaves Montreal after ten in the morning and finds +himself in Toronto before six o'clock in the afternoon. Said +Cartwright, in the address already cited: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Even in our own territory, and it was a matter not to be disregarded, +the state +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P13"></A>13}</SPAN> +of communication was exceedingly slow and imperfect. +Practically the city of Quebec was almost as far from Toronto in those +days, during a great part of the year, as Ottawa is from Vancouver +to-day. I can remember, myself, on one occasion being on a train which +took four days to make its way from Prescott to Ottawa. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Each province had its own constitution, its tariff, postage laws, and +currency. It promoted its own interests, regardless of the existence +of its British neighbours. Differences arose, says one writer, between +their codes of law, their public institutions, and their commercial +regulations.[<A NAME="chap02fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap02fn2">2</A>] Provincial misunderstandings, that should have been +avoided, seriously retarded the building of the Inter-colonial Railway. +'The very currencies differ,' said Lord Carnarvon in the House of +Lords. 'In Canada the pound or the dollar are legal tender. In Nova +Scotia, the Peruvian, Mexican, Columbian dollars are all legal; in New +Brunswick, British and American coins are recognized by law, though I +believe that the shilling is taken at twenty-four cents, which is less +than its value; in Newfoundland, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P14"></A>14}</SPAN> +Peruvian, Mexican, Columbian, old +Spanish dollars, are all equally legal; whilst in Prince Edward's +Island the complexity of currencies and of their relative value is even +greater.' When the Reciprocity Treaty was negotiated at Washington in +1854, Nova Scotia felt, with some reason, that she had not been +adequately consulted in the granting to foreign fishermen of her +inshore fisheries. In a word, the chief political forces were +centrifugal, not centripetal. All the jealousy, the factious spirit, +and the prejudice, which petty local sovereignties are bound to +engender, flourished apace; and the general effect was to develop what +European statesmen of a certain period termed Particularism. The +marvel is not that federation lagged, but that men with vision and +courage, forced to view these depressing conditions at close range, +were able to keep the idea alive. +</P> + +<P> +There was some advance in public opinion between 1850 and 1860, but, on +the whole, adverse influences prevailed and little was achieved. The +effects of separate political development and of divided interest were +deeply rooted. Leaders of opinion in the various provinces, and even +men of the same province, refused to join hands for any great national +purpose. Party conflict absorbed +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P15"></A>15}</SPAN> +their best energies. To this +period, however, belongs the spadework which laid the foundations of +the future structure. The British American League held its various +meetings and adopted its resolutions. But the League was mainly a +party counterblast to the Annexation Manifesto of 1849 and soon +disappeared. To this period, too, belong the writings of able +advocates of union like P. S. Hamilton of Halifax and J. C. Taché of +Quebec, whose treatises possess even to-day more than historical value. +Another notable contribution to the subject was the lecture by +Alexander Morris entitled <I>Nova Britannia</I>, first delivered at Montreal +in 1858 and afterwards published. Yet such propaganda aroused no +perceptible enthusiasm. In Great Britain the whole question of +colonial relations was in process of evolution, while her statesmen +were doubtful, as ours were, of what the ultimate end would be. That a +full conception of colonial self-government had not yet dawned is shown +by these words, written in 1852 by Earl Grey to Lord John Russell: '<I>It +is obvious that if the colonies are not to become independent states, +some kind of authority must be exercised by the Government at home.</I>' +</P> + +<P> +This decade, however, witnessed some +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P16"></A>16}</SPAN> +definite political action. +In 1854 Johnston, the Conservative Opposition leader in the Nova Scotia +legislature, presented a motion in these terms: 'Resolved, That the +union or confederation of the British Provinces on just principles, +while calculated to perpetuate their connection with the parent state, +will promote their advancement, increase their strength and influence, +and elevate their position.' This resolution, academic in form, but +supported in a well-balanced and powerful speech by the mover, drew +from Joseph Howe, then leader of the government, his preference for +representation in the British House of Commons. The attitude of Howe, +then and afterwards, should be examined with impartiality, because he +and other British Americans, as well as some English statesmen, were +the victims of the honest doubts which command respect but block the +way to action. Johnston, as prime minister in 1857, pressed his policy +upon the Imperial government, but met with no response. When Howe +returned to power, he carried a motion which declared for a conference +to promote either the union of the Maritime Provinces or a general +federation, but expressing no preference for either. Howe never was +pledged to federation as his fixed +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P17"></A>17}</SPAN> +policy, as so many persons have +asserted. He made various declarations which betokened uncertainty. +So little had the efforts put forth down to 1861 impressed the official +mind that Lord Mulgrave, the governor of Nova Scotia, in forwarding +Howe's motion to the Colonial Office, wrote: 'As an abstract question +the union of the North American colonies has long received the support +of many persons of weight and ability, but so far as I am aware, no +political mode of carrying out this union has ever been proposed.' +</P> + +<A NAME="img-016"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-016.jpg" ALT="Sir Alexander T. Galt. From a photograph by Topley." BORDER="2" WIDTH="372" HEIGHT="517"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 372px"> +Sir Alexander T. Galt. <BR>From a photograph by Topley. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The most encouraging step taken at this time, and the most far-reaching +in its consequences, was the action of Alexander Galt in Canada. Galt +possessed a strong and independent mind. The youngest son of John +Galt, the Scottish novelist, he had come across the ocean in the +service of the British American Land Company, and had settled at +Sherbrooke in the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada. Though personally +influential and respected, he wielded no general political authority, +for he lacked the aptitude for compromise demanded in the game of +party. He was the outspoken champion of Protestant interests in the +Catholic part of Canada, and had boldly declared for the annexation of +Canada to the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P18"></A>18}</SPAN> +United States in the agitation of 1849. His views +on clericalism he never greatly modified, but annexation to the United +States he abandoned, with characteristic candour, for federation. In +1858 he advocated a federal union of all the provinces in a telling +speech in parliament, which revealed a thorough knowledge of the +material resources of the country, afterwards issued in book form in +his <I>Canada: 1849 to 1859</I>. During the ministerial crisis of August +1858 Sir Edmund Head asked Galt to form a government. He declined, and +indicated George Cartier as a fit and proper person to do so. The +former Conservative Cabinet, with some changes, then resumed office, +and Galt himself, exacting a pledge that Confederation should form part +of the government's policy, assumed the portfolio of Finance. The +pledge was kept in the speech of the governor-general closing the +session, and in October of that year Cartier, with two of his +colleagues, Galt and Ross, visited London to secure approval for a +meeting of provincial delegates on union. Galt's course had forced the +question out of the sphere of speculation. A careful student of the +period[<A NAME="chap02fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap02fn3">3</A>] argues with point +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P19"></A>19}</SPAN> +that to Galt we owe the introduction +of the policy into practical politics. In the light of after events +this view cannot be lightly set aside. But the effort bore no fruit +for the moment. The colonial secretary, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, +declined to authorize the conference without first consulting the other +provinces, and the government did not feel itself bound because of this +to resign or consult the constituencies. In other words, the question +did not involve the fate of the Cabinet. But Galt had gained a great +advantage. He had enlisted the support of Cartier, whose influence in +Lower Canada was henceforth exerted with fidelity to win over the +French to a policy which they had long resisted. The cause attained +additional strength in 1860 by the action of two other statesmen, +George Brown and John A. Macdonald, who between them commanded the +confidence of Upper Canada, the one as Liberal, the other as +Conservative leader. Brown brought before parliament resolutions +embodying the decisions of the Reform Convention of 1859 in favour of a +federation confined to the Canadas, and Macdonald declared +unequivocally for federative union as a principle, arguing that a +strong central government should be the chief aim. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P20"></A>20}</SPAN> +Brown's +resolutions were rejected, and the movement so auspiciously begun once +more exhibited an ominous tendency to subside. The varying fortunes +which attended the cause during these years resembled its previous +vicissitudes. It appeared as if all were for a party and none were for +the state. If those who witnessed the events of 1860 had been asked +for their opinion, they would probably have declared that the problem +was as far from solution as ever. Yet they would have been mistaken, +as the near future was to show. A great war was close at hand, and, as +war so often does, it stimulated movements and policies which otherwise +might have lain dormant. The situation which arose out of the Civil +War in the United States neither created nor carried Confederation, but +it resulted, through a sense of common danger, in bringing the British +provinces together and in giving full play to all the forces that were +making for their union. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02fn1"></A> +<A NAME="chap02fn2"></A> +<A NAME="chap02fn3"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap02fn1text">1</A>] Address to Canadian Club, Ottawa, 1906. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap02fn2text">2</A>] <I>Union of the Colonies</I>, by P. S. Hamilton, Halifax, 1864. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap02fn3text">3</A>] See the chapter, 'Parties and Politics, 1840-1867,' by J. L. +Morison, in <I>Canada and its Provinces</I>, vol. v. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P21"></A>21}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE EVE OF CONFEDERATION +</H4> + +<P> +A day of loftier ideas and greater issues in all the provinces was +about to dawn. The ablest politicians had been prone to wrangle like +washerwomen over a tub, colouring the parliamentary debates by personal +rivalry and narrow aims, while measures of first-rate importance went +unheeded. The change did not occur in the twinkling of an eye, for the +cherished habits of two generations were not to be discarded so +quickly. Goldwin Smith asserted[<A NAME="chap03fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap03fn1">1</A>] that, whoever laid claim to the +parentage of Confederation, the real parent was Deadlock. But this was +the critic, not the historian, who spoke. The causes lay far deeper +than in the breakdown of party government in Canada. Events of +profound significance were about to change an atmosphere overladen with +partisanship and to strike the imaginations of men. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P22"></A>22}</SPAN> + +<P> +The first factor in the national awakening was the call of the great +western domain. British Americans began to realize that they were the +heirs of a rich and noble possession. The idea was not entirely new. +The fur traders had indeed long tried to keep secret the truth as to +the fertility of the plains; but men who had been born or had lived in +the West were now settled in the East. They had stories to tell, and +their testimony was emphatic. In 1856 the Imperial authorities had +intimated to Canada that, as the licence of the Hudson's Bay Company to +an exclusive trade in certain regions would expire in 1859, it was +intended to appoint a select committee of the British House of Commons +to investigate the existing situation in those territories and to +report upon their future status; and Canada had sent Chief Justice +Draper to London as her commissioner to watch the proceedings, to give +evidence, and to submit to his government any proposals that might be +made. Simultaneously a select committee of the Canadian Assembly sat +to hear evidence and to report a basis for legislation. Canada boldly +claimed that her western boundary was the Pacific ocean, and this +prospect had long encouraged men like George Brown to look +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P23"></A>23}</SPAN> +forward +to extension westward, and to advocate it, as one solution of Upper +Canada's political grievances. It was a vision calculated to rouse +the adventurous spirit of the British race in colonizing and in +developing vast and unknown lands. Another wonderful page was about to +open in the history of British expansion. And, hand in hand with +romance, went the desire for dominion and commerce. +</P> + +<P> +But if the call of the West drew men partly by its material +attractions, another event, of a wholly different sort, appealed +vividly to their sentiment. In 1860 the young Prince of Wales visited +the provinces as the representative of his mother, the beloved Queen +Victoria. His tour resembled a triumphal progress. It evoked feelings +and revived memories which the young prince himself, pleasing though +his personality was, could not have done. It was the first clear +revelation of the intensity of that attachment to the traditions and +institutions of the Empire which in our own day has so vitally affected +the relations of the self-governing states to the mother country. In a +letter from Ottawa[<A NAME="chap03fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap03fn2">2</A>] to Lord Palmerston, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P24"></A>24}</SPAN> +the Duke of Newcastle, +the prince's tutor, wrote: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +I never saw in any part of England such extensive or beautiful outward +demonstrations of respect and affection, either to the Queen or to any +private object of local interest, as I have seen in every one of these +colonies, and, what is more important, there have been circumstances +attending all these displays which have marked their sincerity and +proved that neither curiosity nor self-interest were the only or the +ruling influences. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Of all the events, however, that startled the British provinces out of +the self-absorbed contemplation of their own little affairs, the Civil +War in the United States exerted the most immediate influence. It not +only brought close the menace of a war between Great Britain and the +Republic, with Canada as the battle-ground, but it forced a complete +readjustment of our commercial relations. Not less important, the +attitude of the Imperial government toward Confederation underwent a +change. It was D'Arcy McGee who perceived, at the very outset, the +probable +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P25"></A>25}</SPAN> +bearing of the Civil War upon the future of Canada. 'I +said in the House during the session of 1861,' he subsequently +declared, 'that the first gun fired at Fort Sumter had a message for +us.' The situation became plainer when the <I>Trent</I> Affair embroiled +Great Britain directly with the North, and the safety of Canada +appeared to be threatened. While Lincoln was anxiously pondering the +British demand that the Confederate agents, Mason and Slidell, removed +by an American warship from the British steamer the <I>Trent</I>, should be +given up, and Lord Lyons was labouring to preserve peace, the fate of +Canada hung in the balance. The agents were released, but there +followed ten years of unfriendly relations between Great Britain and +the United States. There were murmurs that when the South was subdued +the trained armies of the North would be turned against the British +provinces. The termination of the Reciprocity Treaty, which provided +for a large measure of free trade between the two countries, was seen +to be reasonably sure. The treaty had existed through a period which +favoured a large increase in the exports of the provinces. The Crimean +War at first and the Civil War later had created an unparalleled demand +for the food products +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P26"></A>26}</SPAN> +which Canada could supply; and although the +records showed the enhanced trade to be mutually profitable, with a +balance rather in favour of the United States, the anti-British feeling +in the Republic was directed against the treaty. Thus military defence +and the necessity of finding new markets became two pressing problems +for Canada. +</P> + +<P> +From the Imperial authorities there came now at last distinct +encouragement. Hitherto they had hung back. The era of economic dogma +in regard to free trade, to some minds more authoritative than Holy +Writ, was at its height. Even Cobden was censured because, in the +French treaty of 1861, he had departed from the free trade theory. The +doctrine of <I>laissez-faire</I>, carried to extremes, meant that the +colonies should be allowed to cut adrift. But the practical English +mind saw the sense and statesmanship of a British American union, and +the tone of the colonial secretary changed. In July 1862 the Duke of +Newcastle, who then held that office and who did not share the +indifference of so many of his predecessors[<A NAME="chap03fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap03fn3">3</A>] to the colonial +connection, wrote sympathetically to Lord Mulgrave, the governor of +Nova Scotia: +</P> + +<BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P27"></A>27}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="block"> +If a union, either partial or complete, should hereafter be proposed +with the concurrence of all the Provinces to be united, I am sure that +the matter would be weighed in this country both by the public, by +Parliament, and by Her Majesty's Government, with no other feeling than +an anxiety to discern and promote any course which might be the most +conducive to the prosperity, the strength and the harmony of all the +British communities in North America. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Nova Scotia, always to the front on the question, had declared for +either a general union or a union of the Maritime Provinces, and this +had drawn the dispatch of the Duke of Newcastle. A copy of this +dispatch was sent to Lord Monck, the governor-general of Canada, for +his information and guidance, so that the attitude of the Imperial +authorities was generally known. It remained for the various +provincial Cabinets to confer and to arrange a course of action. The +omens pointed to union in the near future. But, as it happened, a new +Canadian ministry, that of Sandfield Macdonald, had shortly before +assumed office, and its members were in no wise pledged to the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P28"></A>28}</SPAN> +union project. In fact, as was proved later, several of them, notably +the prime minister himself, with Dorion, Holton, and Huntington, +regarded federation with suspicion and were its consistent opponents +until the final accomplishment. +</P> + +<P> +The negotiations for the joint construction of an intercolonial railway +had been proceeding for some time. These the ministry continued, but +without enthusiasm. The building of this line had been ardently +promoted for years. It was the necessary link to bind the provinces +together. To secure Imperial financial aid in one form or another +delegates had more than once gone to London. The Duke of Newcastle had +announced in April 1862 that the nature and extent of the guarantee +which Her Majesty's government would recommend to parliament depended +upon the arrangements which the provinces themselves had to propose.[<A NAME="chap03fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap03fn4">4</A>] +There was a conference in Quebec. From Nova Scotia came Howe and +Annand, who two years later fought Confederation; from New Brunswick +came Tilley and Peter Mitchell, who carried the cause to victory in +their province. Delegates from the Quebec meeting +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P29"></A>29}</SPAN> +went to London, +but the railway plan broke down, and the failure was due to Canada. +The episode left a bad impression in the minds of the maritime +statesmen, and during the whole of 1863 it seemed as if union were +indefinitely postponed. Yet this was the very eve of Confederation, +and forces already in motion made it inevitable. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03fn1"></A> +<A NAME="chap03fn2"></A> +<A NAME="chap03fn3"></A> +<A NAME="chap03fn4"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap03fn1text">1</A>] <I>Canada and the Canadian Question</I>, by Goldwin Smith, p. 143. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap03fn2text">2</A>] <I>Life of Henry Pelham, fifth Duke of Newcastle</I>, by John Martineau, +p. 292. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap03fn3text">3</A>] Between 1852 and 1870 there were thirteen colonial secretaries. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap03fn4text">4</A>] Dispatch of the colonial secretary to the lieutenant-governor of +New Brunswick. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P30"></A>30}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE HOUR AND THE MEN +</H4> + +<P> +The acceptance of federation in the province of Canada came about with +dramatic simplicity. Political deadlock was the occasion, rather than +the cause, of this acceptance. Racial and religious differences had +bred strife and disunion, but no principle of any substance divided the +parties. The absence of large issues had encouraged a senseless +rivalry between individuals. Surveying the scene not long after, +Goldwin Smith, fresh from English conditions, cynically quoted the +proverb: 'the smaller the pit, the fiercer the rats.' The upper and +lower branches of parliament were elective, and in both bodies the +ablest men in the country held seats. In those days commerce, +manufacturing, or banking did not, as they do now, withhold men of +marked talent from public affairs. But personal antipathies, magnified +into feuds, embittered the relations of men who naturally held many +views in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P31"></A>31}</SPAN> +common, and distracted the politics of a province which +needed nothing so much as peace and unity of action. +</P> + +<P> +The central figures in this storm of controversy were George Brown and +John A. Macdonald, easily the first personages in their respective +parties. The two were antipathetic. Their dispositions were as wide +asunder as the poles. Brown was serious, bold, and masterful. +Macdonald concealed unrivalled powers in statecraft and in the +leadership of men behind a droll humour and convivial habits. From the +first they had been political antagonists. But the differences were +more than political. Neither liked nor trusted the other. Brown bore +a grudge for past attacks reflecting upon his integrity, while +Macdonald, despite his experience in the warfare of party, must often +have winced at the epithets of the <I>Globe</I>, Brown's newspaper. During +ten years they were not on speaking terms. But when they joined to +effect a great object, dear to both, a truce was declared. 'We acted +together,' wrote Macdonald long after of Brown, 'dined in public places +together, played euchre in crossing the Atlantic and went into society +in England together. And yet on the day after he resigned we resumed +our old positions +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P32"></A>32}</SPAN> +and ceased to speak.'[<A NAME="chap04fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap04fn1">1</A>] To imagine that of all +men those two should combine to carry federation seemed the wildest and +most improbable dream. Yet that is what actually happened. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-032"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-032.jpg" ALT="George Brown. From a photograph in the possession of Mrs Freeland Barbour, Edinburgh." BORDER="2" WIDTH="364" HEIGHT="553"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 500px"> +George Brown. <BR>From a photograph in the possession of Mrs Freeland Barbour, Edinburgh. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +In June 1864, during the session of parliament in Quebec, government by +party collapsed. In the previous three years there had been two +general elections, and four Cabinets had gone to pieces. And while the +politicians wrangled, the popular mind, swayed by influences stronger +than party interest, convinced itself that the remedy lay in the +federal system. Brown felt that Upper Canada looked to him for relief; +and as early as in 1862 he had conveyed private intimation to his +Conservative opponents that if they would ensure Upper Canada's just +preponderance in parliamentary representation, which at that date the +Liberal ministry of Sandfield Macdonald refused to do, they would +receive his countenance and approval. In 1864 he moved for a select +committee of nineteen members to consider the prospects of federal +union. It sat with closed doors. A few hours before the defeat of the +Taché-Macdonald ministry in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P33"></A>33}</SPAN> +June, he, the chairman of the +committee, reported to the House that +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +a strong feeling was found to exist among the members of the committee +in favour of changes in the direction of a federative system, applied +either to Canada alone, or to the whole British North American +provinces, and such progress has been made as to warrant the committee +in recommending that the subject be referred to a committee at the next +session of Parliament. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Three years later, on the first Dominion Day, the <I>Globe</I>,[<A NAME="chap04fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap04fn2">2</A>] in +discussing this committee and its work, declared that 'a very free +interchange of opinion took place. In the course of the discussions it +appeared probable that a union of parties might be effected for the +purpose of grappling with the constitutional difficulties.' Macdonald +voted against the committee's report. Brown was thoroughly in earnest, +and the desperate nature of the political situation gave him an +opportunity to prove his sincerity and his unselfishness. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P34"></A>34}</SPAN> + +<P> +On the evening of Tuesday, June 14, 1864, immediately after the defeat +of the ministry on an unimportant question, Brown spoke to two +Conservative members and promised to co-operate with any government +that would settle the constitutional difficulty. These members, +Alexander Morris and John Henry Pope, were on friendly terms with him +and became serviceable intermediaries. They were asked to communicate +this promise to Macdonald and to Galt. The next day saw the +reconciliation of the two leaders who had been estranged for ten years. +They met 'standing in the centre of the Assembly Room' (the formal +memorandum is meticulously exact in these and other particulars), that +is, neither member crossing to that side of the House led by the other. +Macdonald spoke first, mentioning the overtures made and asking if +Brown had any 'objection' to meet Galt and himself. Brown replied, +'Certainly not.' Morris arranged an interview, and the following day +Macdonald and Galt called upon Brown at the St Louis Hotel, Quebec. +Negotiations, ending in the famous coalition, began. +</P> + +<P> +The memorandum read to the House related in detail every step taken to +bring about the coalition, from the opening conversation +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P35"></A>35}</SPAN> +which +Brown had with Morris and Pope. It was proper that a full explanation +should be given to the public of a political event so extraordinary and +so unexpected. But the narrative of minute particulars indicates the +complete lack of confidence existing between the parties to the +agreement. The relationships of social life rest upon the belief that +there is a code of honour, affecting words and actions, which is +binding upon gentlemen. The memorandum appeared to assume that in +political life these considerations did not exist, and that unless the +whole of the proceedings were set forth in chronological order, and +with amplitude of detail, some of the group would seek to repudiate the +explanation on one point or another, while the general public would +disbelieve them all. To such a pass had the extremes of partyism +brought the leading men in parliament. If, however, the memorandum is +a very human document, it is also historically most interesting and +important. The leaders began by solemnly assuring each other that +nothing but 'the extreme urgency of the present crisis' could justify +their meeting together for common political action. The idea that the +paramount interests of the nation, threatened by possible invasion and +by +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P36"></A>36}</SPAN> +commercial disturbance, would be ground for such a junction of +forces does not seem to have suggested itself. After the preliminary +skirmishing upon matters of party concern the negotiators at last +settled down to business. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Mr Brown asked what the Government proposed as a remedy for the +injustice complained of by Upper Canada, and as a settlement of the +sectional trouble. Mr Macdonald and Mr Galt replied that their remedy +was a Federal Union of all the British North American Provinces; local +matters being committed to local bodies, and matters common to all to a +General Legislature.[<A NAME="chap04fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap04fn3">3</A>] +</P> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Mr Brown rejoined that this would not be acceptable to the people of +Upper Canada as a remedy for existing evils. That he believed that +federation of all the provinces ought to come, and would come about ere +long, but it had not yet been thoroughly considered by the people; and +even were this otherwise, there were +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P37"></A>37}</SPAN> +so many parties to be +consulted that its adoption was uncertain and remote. +</P> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Mr Brown was then asked what his remedy was, when he stated that the +measure acceptable to Upper Canada would be Parliamentary Reform, based +on population, without regard to a separating line between Upper and +Lower Canada. To this both Mr Macdonald and Mr Galt stated that it was +impossible for them to accede, or for any Government to carry such a +measure, and that, unless a basis could be found on the federation +principle suggested by the report of Mr Brown's committee, it did not +appear to them likely that anything could be settled. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +At this stage, then, Brown thought federation should be limited to +Canada, believing the larger scheme uncertain and remote, while the +others preferred a federal union for all the provinces. At a later +meeting Cartier joined the gathering and a confidential statement was +drawn up (the disinclination to take one another's word being still a +lively sentiment), so that Brown could consult his friends. The +ministerial promise in its final terms was as follows: +</P> + +<BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P38"></A>38}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="block"> +The Government are prepared to pledge themselves to bring in a measure +next session for the purpose of removing existing difficulties by +introducing the federal principle into Canada, coupled with such +provisions as will permit the Maritime Provinces and the North-West +Territory to be incorporated into the same system of government. And +the Government will seek, by sending representatives to the Lower +Provinces and to England, to secure the assent of those interests which +are beyond the control of our own legislation to such a measure as may +enable all British North America to be united under a General +Legislature based upon the federal principle. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This basis gave satisfaction all round, and the proceedings relapsed +into the purely political diplomacy which forms the least pleasant +phase of what was otherwise a highly patriotic episode, creditable in +its results to all concerned. Brown fought hard for a representation +of four Liberals in the Cabinet, preferring to remain out of it +himself, and, when his inclusion was deemed indispensable, offering to +join as a minister without portfolio or salary. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P39"></A>39}</SPAN> +Finally Macdonald +promised to confer with him upon the personnel of the Conservative +element in the Cabinet, so that the incoming Liberals would meet +colleagues with whom harmonious relations should be ensured. The fates +ordained that, since Brown had been the first to propose the sacrifice +of party to country, the arrangement arrived at was the least +advantageous to his interests. He had the satisfaction of feeling that +the Upper Canada Liberals in the House supported his action, but those +from Lower Canada, both English and French, were entirely +unsympathetic. The Lower Canada section of the ministry accordingly +remained wholly Conservative. +</P> + +<P> +It does not require much depth of political experience to realize the +embarrassment of Brown's position. The terms were not easy for him. +In a ministry of twelve members he and two colleagues would be the only +Liberals. The leadership of Upper Canada, and in fact the real +premiership, because Taché was frail and past his prime, would rest +with Macdonald. The presidency of the Executive Council, which was +offered him, unless joined to the office of prime minister, was of no +real importance. Some party friends throughout the country +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P40"></A>40}</SPAN> +would +misunderstand, and more would scoff. He had parted company with his +loyal personal friends Dorion and Holton. If, as Disraeli said, +England does not love coalitions, neither does Canada. For the time +being, and, as events proved, for a considerable time, the Liberal +party would be divided and helpless, because the pledge of Brown +pledged also the fighting strength of the party. Although the union +issue dwarfed all others, questions would arise, awkward questions like +that of patronage, old questions with a new face, on which there had +been vehement differences. For two of his new colleagues, Macdonald +and Galt, Brown entertained feelings far from cordial. Cautious +advisers like Alexander Mackenzie and Oliver Mowat counselled against a +coalition, suggesting that the party should support the government, but +should not take a share in it. All this had to be weighed and a +decision reached quickly. But Brown had put his hand to the plough and +would not turn back. With the dash and determination that +distinguished him, he accepted the proposal, became president of the +Executive Council, with Sir Etienne Taché as prime minister, and +selected William McDougall and Oliver Mowat as his Liberal colleagues. +Amazement and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P41"></A>41}</SPAN> +consternation ran like wildfire throughout Upper +Canada when the news arrived from Quebec that Brown and Macdonald were +members of the same government. At the outset Brown had feared that +'the public mind would be shocked,' and he was not wrong. But the +sober second thought of the country in both parties applauded the act, +and the desire for union found free vent. Posterity has endorsed the +course taken by Brown and justly honours his memory for having, at the +critical hour and on terms that would have made the ordinary politician +quail, rendered Confederation possible. There is evidence that the +Conservative members of the coalition played the game fairly and +redeemed their promise to put union in the forefront of their policy. +On this issue complete concord reigned in the Cabinet. The natural +divergences of opinion on minor points in the scheme were arranged +without internal discord. This was fortunate, because grave obstacles +were soon to be encountered. +</P> + +<P> +If George Brown of Upper Canada was the hero of the hour, George +Cartier of Lower Canada played a rôle equally courageous and +honourable. The hostile forces to be encountered by the +French-Canadian leader were +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P42"></A>42}</SPAN> +formidable. Able men of his own race, +like Dorion, Letellier, and Fournier, prepared to fight tooth and nail. +The Rouges, as the Liberals there were termed, opposed him to a man. +The idea of British American union had in the past been almost +invariably put forward as a means of destroying the influence of the +French. Influential representatives, too, of the English minority in +Lower Canada, like Dunkin, Holton, and Huntington, opposed it. Joly de +Lotbinière, the French Protestant, warned the Catholics and the French +that federation would endanger their rights. The Rouge resistance was +not a passive parliamentary resistance only, because, later on, the +earnest protests of the dissentients were carried to the foot of the +throne. But all these influences the intrepid Cartier faced +undismayed; and Brown, in announcing his intention to enter the +coalition, paid a warm tribute to Cartier for his frank and manly +attitude. This was the burial of another hatchet, and the amusing +incident related by Cartwright illustrates how it was received. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-042"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-042.jpg" ALT="Sir George Cartier. From a painting in the Château de Ramezay." BORDER="2" WIDTH="367" HEIGHT="499"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 367px"> +Sir George Cartier. <BR>From a painting in the Château de Ramezay. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P CLASS="block"> +In that memorable afternoon when Mr Brown, not without emotion, made +his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P43"></A>43}</SPAN> +statement to a hushed and expectant House, and declared that +he was about to ally himself with Sir George Cartier and his friends, +for the purpose of carrying out Confederation, I saw an excitable, +elderly little French member rush across the floor, climb up on Mr +Brown, who, as you remember, was of a stature approaching the gigantic, +fling his arms about his neck, and hang several seconds there +suspended, to the visible consternation of Mr Brown and to the infinite +joy of all beholders, pit, box, and gallery included. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +At last statesmanship had taken the place of party bickering, and, as +James Ferrier of Montreal, a member of the Legislative Council, +remarked in the debates of 1865, the legislators 'all thought, in fact, +that a political millennium had arrived.' +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04fn1"></A> +<A NAME="chap04fn2"></A> +<A NAME="chap04fn3"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap04fn1text">1</A>] <I>Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald</I>, by Sir Joseph Pope, vol. i, p. 265. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap04fn2text">2</A>] This portion of the lengthy survey of the new Dominion in the +<I>Globe</I> of July 1, 1867, is said to have been written by George Brown +himself. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap04fn3text">3</A>] Sir Joseph Pope states that in the printed copy of this memorandum +which Sir John Macdonald preserved there appears, immediately following +the word 'Legislature' at the end of this paragraph, in the handwriting +of Mr Brown, these words: 'Constituted on the well-understood +principles of federal gov.' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P44"></A>44}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHARLOTTETOWN CONFERENCE +</H4> + +<P> +Not an instant too soon had unity come in Canada. The coalition +ministry, having adjourned parliament, found itself faced with a +situation in the Maritime Provinces which called for speedy action. +</P> + +<P> +Nova Scotia, the ancient province by the sea, discouraged by the +vacillation of Canada in relation to federation and the construction of +the Intercolonial Railway, was bent upon joining forces with New +Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The proposal was in the nature of +a reunion, for, when constitutional government had been first set up in +Nova Scotia in 1758, the British possessions along the Atlantic coast, +save Newfoundland, were all governed as one province from Halifax. But +the policy in early days of splitting up the colonies into smaller +areas, for convenience of administration, was here faithfully carried +out. In 1770 a separate government was conferred +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P45"></A>45}</SPAN> +upon Prince +Edward Island. In 1784 New Brunswick was formed. In the same year the +island of Cape Breton was given a governor and council of its own. +Cape Breton was reunited to the parent colony of Nova Scotia in 1820, +but three separate provinces remained, each developing apart from the +others, thus complicating and making more difficult the whole problem +of union when men with foresight and boldness essayed to solve it. +Nova Scotia had kept alive the tradition of leadership. The province +which has supplied three prime ministers to the Canadian Dominion never +lacked statesmen with the imagination to perceive the advantages which +would flow from the consolidation of British power in America. +</P> + +<P> +In 1864, a few weeks before George Brown in the Canadian House had +moved for his select committee on federal union, Dr Charles Tupper +proposed, in the legislature of Nova Scotia, a legislative union of the +Maritime Provinces. The seal of Imperial authority had been set upon +this movement by the dispatch, already quoted, from the Duke of +Newcastle to Lord Mulgrave in 1862. +</P> + +<P> +A word concerning the services of Charles Tupper to the cause of union +will be in order here. None of the Fathers of Confederation +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P46"></A>46}</SPAN> +fought a more strenuous battle. None faced political obstacles of so +overwhelming a character. None evinced a more unselfish patriotism. +The overturn of Tilley in New Brunswick, of which we shall hear +presently, was a misfortune quickly repaired. The junction of Brown, +Cartier, and Macdonald in Canada ensured for them comparatively plain +sailing. But the Nova Scotian leader was pitted against a redoubtable +foe in Joseph Howe; for five years he faced an angry and rebellious +province; he gallantly gave up his place in the first Dominion ministry +in order that another might have it; and at every turn he displayed +those qualities of pluck, endurance, and dexterity which compel +admiration. The Tuppers were of Puritan stock.[<A NAME="chap05fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap05fn1">1</A>] The future prime +minister, a practising physician, had scored his first political +victory at the age of thirty-four by defeating Howe in Cumberland +county. Throughout his long and notable career, a superabundance of +energy, and a characteristic which may be defined in a favourable sense +as audacity, never failed him. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P47"></A>47}</SPAN> + +<P> +When the motion was presented to appoint delegates to a conference at +Charlottetown, to consider a legislative union for the three maritime +provinces, the skies were serene. The idea met with a general, if +rather languid, approval. There was not even a flavour of partisanship +about the proceedings, and the delegates were impartially selected from +both sides. The great Howe regarded the project with a benignant eye. +At this time he was the Imperial fishery commissioner, and it was his +duty to inspect the deep-sea fishing grounds each summer in a vessel of +the Imperial Navy. He was invited to go to Charlottetown as a +delegate, and declined in the following terms: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +I am sorry for many reasons to be compelled to decline participation in +the conference at Charlottetown. The season is so far advanced that I +find my summer's work would be so seriously deranged by the visit to +Prince Edward Island that, without permission from the Foreign Office, +I would scarcely be justified in consulting my own feelings at the +expense of the public service. I shall be home in October, and will be +very happy to co-operate in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P48"></A>48}</SPAN> +carrying out any measure upon which +the conference shall agree. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A more striking evidence of his mood at this juncture is afforded by a +speech which he delivered at Halifax in August, when a party of +visitors from Canada were being entertained at dinner. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +I am not one of those who thank God that I am a Nova Scotian merely, +for I am a Canadian as well. I have never thought I was a Nova +Scotian, but I have looked across the broad continent as the great +territory which the Almighty has given us for an inheritance, and +studied the mode by which it could be consolidated, the mode by which +it could be united, the mode by which it could be made strong and +vigorous while the old flag still floats over the soil.[<A NAME="chap05fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap05fn2">2</A>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In the time close at hand Howe was to find these words quoted against +him. Meanwhile they were a sure warrant for peace and harmony. +</P> + +<P> +In addressing the Assembly Tupper stated that his visit to Canada +during the previous +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P49"></A>49}</SPAN> +year had convinced him that for some time the +larger union was impracticable. He had found in Upper Canada a +disinclination to unite with the Maritime Provinces because, from their +identity of interest and geographical position, they would strengthen +Lower Canada. Lower Canada was equally averse from union through fear +that it would increase the English influence in a common legislature. +Tupper favoured the larger scheme, and looked forward to its future +realization, which would be helped, not hindered, by the union of the +Maritime Provinces as a first step. Other speakers openly declared for +a general union, and consented to the Charlottetown gathering as a +convenient preliminary. The resolution passed without a division; and, +though the members expressed a variety of opinion on details, there was +no hint of a coming storm. +</P> + +<P> +The conference opened at Charlottetown on September 1, the following +delegates being present: from Nova Scotia, Charles Tupper, William A. +Henry, Robert B. Dickey, Jonathan McCully, Adams G. Archibald; from New +Brunswick, S. L. Tilley, John M. Johnston, John Hamilton Gray, Edward +B. Chandler, W. H. Steeves; from Prince Edward Island, J. H. Gray, +Edward Palmer, W. H. Pope, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P50"></A>50}</SPAN> +George Coles, A. A. Macdonald. +Newfoundland, having no part in the movement, sent no representatives. +Meanwhile Lord Monck, at the request of his ministers, had communicated +with the lieutenant-governors asking that a delegation of the Canadian +Cabinet might attend the meeting and lay their own plans before it. +This was readily accorded. The visitors from Canada arrived from +Quebec by steamer. They were George Brown, John A. Macdonald, +Alexander T. Galt, George E. Cartier, Hector L. Langevin, William +McDougall, D'Arcy McGee, and Alexander Campbell. No official report of +the proceedings ever appeared. It is improbable that any exists, but +we know from many subsequent references nearly everything of importance +that took place. On the arrival of the Canadians they were invited to +address the convention at once. The delegates from the Maritime +Provinces took the ground that their own plan might, if adopted, be a +bar to the larger proposal, and accordingly suggested that the visitors +should be heard first. The Canadians, however, saw no reason to fear +the smaller union. They believed that Confederation would gain if the +three provinces by the sea could be treated as a single unit. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P51"></A>51}</SPAN> +But, being requested to state their case, they naturally had no +hesitation in doing so. During the previous two months the members of +the coalition must have applied themselves diligently to all the chief +points in the project. It may be supposed that Galt, Brown, and +Macdonald made a strong impression at Charlottetown. They spoke +respectively on the finance, the general parliament, and the +constitutional structure of the proposed federation. These subjects +contained the germs of nearly all the difficulties. When the delegates +reassembled a month later at Quebec, it is clear, from the allusions +made in the scanty reports that have come down to us, that the leading +phases of the question had already been frankly debated. +</P> + +<P> +Having heard the proposals of Canada, the delegates of the Maritime +Provinces met separately to debate the question that had brought them +together. Obstacles at once arose. Only Nova Scotia was found to be +in favour of the smaller union. New Brunswick was doubtful, and Prince +Edward Island positively refused to give up her own legislature and +executive. The federation project involved no such sacrifice; and, as +Aaron's rod swallowed up all the others, the dazzling prospects held +out by Canada eclipsed the other proposal, since they +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P52"></A>52}</SPAN> +provided a +strong central government without destroying the identity of the +component parts. The conference decided to adjourn to Halifax, where, +at the public dinner given to the visitors, Macdonald made the formal +announcement that the delegates were unanimous in thinking that a +federal union could be effected. The members, however, kept the +secrets of the convention with some skill. The speeches at Halifax, +and later on at St John, whither the party repaired, abounded in +glowing passages descriptive of future expansion, but were sparing of +intimate detail. A passage in Brown's speech at Halifax created +favourable comment on both sides of the ocean. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +In these colonies as heretofore governed [he said] we have enjoyed +great advantages under the protecting shield of the mother country. We +have had no army or navy to sustain, no foreign diplomacy to +sustain,—our whole resources have gone to our internal +improvement,—and notwithstanding our occasional strifes with the +Colonial Office, we have enjoyed a degree of self-government and +generous consideration such as no colonies in ancient or modern history +ever enjoyed at the hands of a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P53"></A>53}</SPAN> +parent state. Is it any wonder +that thoughtful men should hesitate to countenance a step that might +change the happy and advantageous relations we have occupied towards +the mother country? I am persuaded there never was a moment in the +history of these colonies when the hearts of our people were so firmly +attached to the parent state by the ties of gratitude and affection as +at this moment, and for one I hesitate not to say that did this +movement for colonial union endanger the connection that has so long +and so happily existed, it would have my firm opposition. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +These and other utterances, equally forceful and appealing directly to +the pride and ambition of the country, were not without effect in +moulding public opinion. The tour was a campaign of education. By +avoiding the constitutional issues the delegates gave little +information which could afford carping critics an opportunity to assail +the movement prematurely. It is true, some sarcastic comments were +made upon the manner in which the Canadians had walked into the +convention and taken possession. At the Halifax dinner the governor of +Nova Scotia, Sir Richard Graves +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P54"></A>54}</SPAN> +Macdonnell, dropped an ironical +remark on the 'disinterested' course of Canada, which plainly betrayed +his own attitude. But the gathering was, in the main, highly +successful and augured well for the movement. +</P> + +<P> +The Charlottetown Conference was therefore an essential part of the +proceedings which culminated at Quebec. The ground had been broken. +The leaders in the various provinces had formed ties of intimacy and +friendship and favourably impressed each other. At this time were laid +the foundations of the alliance between Macdonald and Tilley, the +Liberal leader in New Brunswick, which made it possible to construct +the first federal ministry on a non-party basis and which enlisted in +the national service a devoted and trustworthy public man. Tilley's +career had few blemishes from its beginning to its end. He was a +direct descendant of John Tilley, one of the English emigrants to +Massachusetts in the <I>Mayflower</I>, and a great-grandson of Samuel +Tilley, one of the Loyalists who removed to New Brunswick after the War +of Independence. He had been drawn into politics against his wishes by +the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens. A nominating +convention at which he was not present had selected him for +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P55"></A>55}</SPAN> +the +legislature, and his first election had taken place during his absence +from the country. Yet he had risen to be prime minister of his +province; and his was the guiding hand which brought New Brunswick into +the union. His defeat at first and the speedy reversal of the verdict +against Confederation form one of the most diverting episodes in the +history of the movement. +</P> + +<P> +The ominous feature of the Charlottetown Conference was the absence of +Joseph Howe, the most popular leader in Nova Scotia. This was one of +the accidents which so often disturb the calculations of statesmen. +When the delegates resumed their labours at Quebec he was in +Newfoundland, and he returned home to find that a plan had been agreed +upon without his aid. From him, as well as from the governors of Nova +Scotia and New Brunswick, the cause of federation was to receive its +next serious check. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05fn1"></A> +<A NAME="chap05fn2"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap05fn1text">1</A>] See <I>Recollections of Sixty Years in Canada</I>, p. 2. The original +Tupper in America came out from England in 1635. Sir Charles Tupper's +great-grandfather migrated from Connecticut to Nova Scotia in 1763. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap05fn2text">2</A>] <I>The Speeches and Public Letters of Joseph Howe</I>, edited by J. A. +Chisholm, vol. ii, p. 433. Halifax, 1909. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P56"></A>56}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE +</H4> + +<P> +The Quebec Conference began its sessions on the 10th of October 1864. +It was now the task of the delegates to challenge and overcome the +separatist tendencies that had dominated British America since the +dismemberment of the Empire eighty years before. They were to prove +that a new nationality could be created, which should retain intact the +connection with the mother country. For an event of such historic +importance no better setting could have been chosen than the Ancient +Capital, with its striking situation and its hallowed memories of +bygone days. The delegates were practical and experienced men of +affairs, but they lacked neither poetic and imaginative sense nor +knowledge of the past; and it may well be that their labours were +inspired and their deliberations influenced by the historic +associations of the place. +</P> + +<P> +The gathering was remarkable for the varied +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P57"></A>57}</SPAN> +talents and forceful +character of its principal members. And here it may be noted that the +constitution was not chiefly the product of legal minds. Brown, +Tilley, Galt, Tupper, and others who shared largely in the work of +construction were not lawyers. The conference represented fairly the +different interests and occupations of a young country. It is to be +recorded, too, that the conclusions reached were criticized as the +product of men in a hurry. Edward Goff Penny, editor of the Montreal +<I>Herald</I>, a keen critic, and afterwards a senator, complained that the +actual working period of the conference was limited to fourteen days. +Joseph Howe poured scorn upon Ottawa as the capital, stating that he +preferred London, the seat of empire, where there were preserved 'the +archives of a nationality not created in a fortnight.' Still more +vigorous were the protests against the secrecy of the discussions. A +number of distinguished journalists, including several English +correspondents who had come across the ocean to write about the Civil +War, were in Quebec, and they were disposed to find fault with the +precautions taken to guard against publicity. The following memorial +was presented to the delegates: +</P> + +<BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P58"></A>58}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="block"> +The undersigned, representatives of English and Canadian newspapers, +find that it would be impossible for them satisfactorily to discharge +their duties if an injunction of secrecy be imposed on the conference +and stringently carried into effect. They, therefore, beg leave to +suggest whether, while the remarks of individual members of your body +are kept secret, the propositions made and the treatment they meet +with, might not advantageously be made public, and whether such a +course would not best accord with the real interests committed to the +conference. Such a kind of compromise between absolute secrecy and +unlimited publicity is usually, we believe, observed in cases where an +European congress holds the peace of the world and the fate of nations +in its hands. And we have thought that the British American Conference +might perhaps consider the precedent not inapplicable to the present +case. Such a course would have the further advantage of preventing +ill-founded and mischievous rumours regarding the proceedings from +obtaining currency.[<A NAME="chap06fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap06fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P59"></A>59}</SPAN> +This ingenious appeal was signed by S. Phillips Day, of the London +<I>Morning Herald</I>, by Charles Lindsey of the Toronto <I>Leader</I>, and by +Brown Chamberlain of the Montreal <I>Gazette</I>. Among the other writers +of distinction in attendance were George Augustus Sala of the London +<I>Daily Telegraph</I>, Charles Mackay of <I>The Times</I>, Livesy of <I>Punch</I>, +and George Brega of the New York <I>Herald</I>. But the conference stood +firm, and the impatient correspondents were denied even the mournful +satisfaction of brief daily protocols. They were forced to be content +with overhearing the burst of cheering from the delegates when +Macdonald's motion proposing federation was unanimously adopted. The +reasons for maintaining strict secrecy were thus stated by John +Hamilton Gray,[<A NAME="chap06fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap06fn2">2</A>] a delegate from New Brunswick, who afterwards became +the historian of the Confederation movement: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +After much consideration it was determined, as in Prince Edward Island, +that the convention should hold its +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P60"></A>60}</SPAN> +deliberations with closed +doors. In addition to the reasons which had governed the convention at +Charlottetown, it was further urged, that the views of individual +members, after a first expression, might be changed by the discussion +of new points, differing essentially from the ordinary current of +subjects that came under their consideration in the more limited range +of the Provincial Legislatures; and it was held that no man ought to be +prejudiced, or be liable to the charge in public that he had on some +other occasion advocated this or that doctrine, or this or that +principle, inconsistent with the one that might then be deemed best, in +view of the future union to be adopted.... Liberals and Conservatives +had there met to determine what was best for the future guidance of +half a continent, not to fight old party battles, or stand by old party +cries, and candour was sought for more than mere personal triumph. The +conclusion arrived at, it is thought, was judicious. It ensured the +utmost freedom of debate; the more so, inasmuch as the result would be +in no way binding upon those whose interests were to be affected until +and unless adopted after the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P61"></A>61}</SPAN> +greatest publicity and the fullest +public discussions. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +That the conference decided wisely admits of no doubt. The provincial +secretaries of the several provinces were appointed joint secretaries, +and Hewitt Bernard, chief clerk of the department of the +attorney-general for Upper Canada, was named executive secretary. In +his longhand notes, found among the papers of Sir John Macdonald, and +made public thirty years later by Sir Joseph Pope, we have the only +official record of the resolutions and debates of the conference. +Posterity has reason to be grateful for even this limited revelation of +the proceedings from day to day. It enables us to form an idea of the +difficulties overcome and of the currents of opinion which combined to +give the measure its final shape. No student of Canadian +constitutional history will leave unread a single note thus fortunately +preserved. The various draft motions, we are told by Sir Joseph Pope, +are nearly all in the handwriting of those who moved them, and it was +evidently the intention to prepare a complete record. The conference +was, however, much hurried at the close. When it began, Sir Etienne +Taché, prime minister of Canada, was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P62"></A>62}</SPAN> +unanimously elected +chairman.[<A NAME="chap06fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap06fn3">3</A>] Each province was given one vote, except that Canada, as +consisting of two divisions, was allowed two votes. After the vote on +any motion was put, the delegates of a province might retire for +consultation among themselves. The conference sat as if in committee +of the whole, so as to permit of free discussion and suggestion. The +resolutions, having been passed in committee of the whole, were to be +reconsidered and carried as if parliament were sitting with the speaker +in the chair. +</P> + +<P> +The first motion, which was offered by Macdonald and seconded by +Tilley, read: <I>That the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P63"></A>63}</SPAN> +best interests and present and future +prosperity of British North America will be promoted by a federal union +under the crown of Great Britain, provided such union can be effected +on principles just to the several provinces</I>. This motion, general in +its terms, asserted the principle which the conference had met to +decide. It passed unanimously amid much enthusiasm. To support it, +one may think, involved no serious responsibility, since any province +could at a later stage raise objections to any methods proposed in +carrying out the principle. But to secure the hearty and unanimous +acceptance of a federal union, as the basis on which the provinces were +ready to coalesce, was really to submit the whole issue to the crucial +test. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P64"></A>64}</SPAN> +Macdonald's motion reflects, in its careful and +comprehensive phrasing, the skill in parliamentary tactics of which he +had, during many years, displayed so complete a mastery. To commit the +conference at the outset to endorsement of the general principle was to +render subsequent objection on some detail, however important, +extremely difficult for earnest and broad-minded patriots. The two +small provinces might withdraw from the scheme, as they subsequently +did, but the larger provinces, led by men of the calibre of Tupper and +Tilley, would feel that any subsequent obstacle must be of gigantic +proportions if it could not be overcome by statesmanship. After +cheerfully taking this momentous step, which irresistibly drove them on +to the next, the conference proceeded to discuss Brown's motion +proposing the form the federation was to assume. There was to be a +general government dealing with matters common to all, and in each +province a local government having control of local matters. The +second motion was likewise unanimously concurred in. Having, as it +were, planted two feet firmly on the ground, the conference was now in +a good position to stand firmly against divergences of view, provincial +rivalries, and extreme demands. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06fn1"></A> +<A NAME="chap06fn2"></A> +<A NAME="chap06fn3"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap06fn1text">1</A>] Pope's <I>Confederation Documents</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap06fn2text">2</A>] There were two delegates named John Hamilton Gray, one whose views +are quoted here, the other the prime minister of Prince Edward Island. +Only one volume of Gray's work on Confederation ever appeared, the +second volume, it is said, being unfinished when the author died in +British Columbia. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap06fn3text">3</A>] A list of the delegates, who are now styled the Fathers of +Confederation, follows: +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<I>From Canada, twelve delegates</I>—SIR ETIENNE P. TACHÉ, receiver-general +and minister of Militia; JOHN A. MACDONALD, attorney-general for Upper +Canada; GEORGE E. CARTIER, attorney-general for Lower Canada; GEORGE +BROWN, president of the Executive Council; OLIVER MOWAT, +postmaster-general; ALEXANDER T. GALT, minister of Finance; WILLIAM +McDOUGALL, provincial secretary; T. D'ARCY McGEE, minister of +Agriculture; ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, commissioner of Crown Lands; J. C. +CHAPAIS, commissioner of Public Works; HECTOR L. LANGEVIN, +solicitor-general for Lower Canada; JAMES COCKBURN, solicitor-general +for Upper Canada. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<I>From Nova Scotia, five delegates</I>—CHARLES TUPPER, provincial +secretary; WILLIAM A. HENRY, attorney-general; R. B. DICKEY, member of +the Legislative Council; JONATHAN McCULLY, member of the Legislative +Council; ADAMS G. ARCHIBALD, member of the Legislative Assembly. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<I>From New Brunswick, seven delegates</I>—SAMUEL LEONARD TILLEY, +provincial secretary; WILLIAM H. STEEVES, minister without portfolio; +J. M. JOHNSTON, attorney-general; PETER MITCHELL, minister without +portfolio; E. B. CHANDLER, member of the Legislative Council; JOHN +HAMILTON GRAY, member of the Legislative Assembly; CHARLES FISHER, +member of the Legislative Assembly. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<I>From Prince Edward Island, seven delegates</I>—COLONEL JOHN HAMILTON +GRAY, president of the Council; EDWARD PALMER, attorney-general; +WILLIAM H. POPE, colonial secretary; A. A. MACDONALD, member of the +Legislative Council; GEORGE COLES, member of the Legislative Assembly; +T. HEATH HAVILAND, member of the Legislative Assembly; EDWARD WHELAN, +member of the Legislative Assembly. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<I>From Newfoundland, two delegates</I>—F. B. T. CARTER, speaker of the +Legislative Assembly; AMBROSE SHEA. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P65"></A>65}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE RESULTS OF THE CONFERENCE +</H4> + +<P> +The constitution which the founders of the Dominion devised was the +first of its kind on a great scale within the Empire. No English +precedents therefore existed. Yet their chief aim was to preserve the +connection with Great Britain, and to perpetuate in North America the +institutions and principles which the mother of parliaments, during her +splendid history, had bequeathed to the world. The Fathers could look +to Switzerland, to New Zealand, to the American Republic, and to those +experiments and proposals in ancient or modern times which seemed to +present features to imitate or examples to avoid.[<A NAME="chap07fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap07fn1">1</A>] But they were +guided, perforce, by the special conditions with which they had to +deal. If they had been free to make a perfect contribution to the +science of government, the constitution might have been +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P66"></A>66}</SPAN> +different. +It is, of course, true of all existing federations that they were +determined largely by the relations and circumstances of the combining +states. This is illustrated by comparing the Canadian constitution +with those of the two most notable unions which followed. Unlike +Canada, Australia preferred to leave the residue of powers to the +individual states, while South Africa adopted a legislative instead of +a federal union. For Canada, a legislative union was impracticable. +This was due partly to the racial solidarity of the French, but even +more largely to the fully developed individualism of each province. It +is to the glory of the Fathers of Confederation that the constitution, +mainly constructed by themselves as the product of their own experience +and reflection, has lasted without substantial change for nearly half a +century. They were forced to deal with conditions which they had not +created, yet could not ignore—conditions which had long perplexed both +Imperial and colonial statesmen, and had rendered government +ineffective if not impossible. They found the remedy; and the result +is seen in the powerful and thriving nationality which their labours +evolved. +</P> + +<P> +To set up a strong central government was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P67"></A>67}</SPAN> +the desire of many of +the delegates. Macdonald, as has been recorded already, had contended +for this in 1861. He argued to the same effect at the conference. The +Civil War in the United States, just concluded, had revealed in +startling fashion the dangers arising from an exaggerated state +sovereignty. 'We must,' he said, 'reverse this process by +strengthening the general government and conferring on the provincial +bodies only such powers as may be required for local purposes.' When +Chandler of New Brunswick perceived with acuteness that in effect this +would mean legislative union, Macdonald, as we gather from the +fragmentary notes of his speech, made an impassioned appeal for a +carefully defined central authority. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +I think [he declared] the whole affair would fail and the system be a +failure if we adopted Mr Chandler's views. We should concentrate the +power in the federal government and not adopt the decentralization of +the United States. Mr Chandler would give sovereign power to the local +legislatures, just where the United States failed. Canada would be +infinitely stronger as she is than under such a system +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P68"></A>68}</SPAN> +as proposed +by Mr Chandler. It is said that the tariff is one of the causes of +difficulty in the United States. So it would be with us. Looking at +the agricultural interests of Upper Canada, manufacturing of Lower +Canada, and maritime interests of the lower provinces, in respect to a +tariff, a federal government would be a mediator. No general feeling +of patriotism exists in the United States. In occasions of difficulty +each man sticks to his individual state. Mr Stephens, the present +vice-president [of the Confederacy], was a strong union man, yet, when +the time came, he went with his state. Similarly we should stick to +our province and not be British Americans. It would be introducing a +source of radical weakness. It would ruin us in the eyes of the +civilized world. All writers point out the errors of the United +States. All the feelings prognosticated by Tocqueville are shown to be +fulfilled. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +These and other arguments prevailed. Several of the most influential +delegates were in theory in favour of legislative union, and these were +anxious to create, as the best alternative, a general parliament +wielding +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P69"></A>69}</SPAN> +paramount authority. This object was attained by means +of three important clauses in the new constitution: one enumerating the +powers of the federal and provincial bodies respectively and assigning +the undefined residue to the federal parliament; another conferring +upon the federal ministry the right to dismiss for cause the +lieutenant-governors; and another declaring that any provincial law +might, within one year, be disallowed by the central body. Instead of +a loosely knit federation, therefore, which might have fallen to pieces +at the first serious strain, it was resolved to bring the central +legislature into close contact at many points with the individual +citizen, and thus raise the new state to the dignity of a nation. +</P> + +<P> +How the designs of the Fathers have been modified by the course of +events is well known. The federal power has been restrained from undue +encroachment on provincial rights by the decisions, on various issues, +of the highest court, the judicial committee of the Imperial Privy +Council. The power to dismiss lieutenant-governors was found to be +fraught with danger and has been rarely exercised. The dismissal of +Letellier, a strong Liberal, from the lieutenant-governorship of Quebec +by the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P70"></A>70}</SPAN> +Conservative ministry at Ottawa in 1879, gave rise to some +uneasiness and criticism. The reason assigned was that his 'usefulness +was gone,' since both houses of parliament had passed resolutions +calling for his removal. He was accused of partisanship towards his +ministers. The federal prime minister, Sir John Macdonald, assented +reluctantly, it is said, to the dismissal. But some of the facts are +still obscure. The status of the office and the causes that would +warrant removal were thus given by Macdonald at Quebec, according to +the imperfect report which has come down to us: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +The office must necessarily be during pleasure. The person may break +down, misbehave, etc.... The lieutenant-governor will be a very high +officer. He should be independent of the federal government, except as +to removal for cause, and it is necessary that he should not be +removable by any new political party. It would destroy his +independence. He should only be removable upon an address from the +legislature. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The power of disallowance, the third expedient for curbing the +provinces, was exercised with +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P71"></A>71}</SPAN> +some freedom down to 1888. In that +year a Quebec measure, the Jesuits' Estates Act, with a highly +controversial preamble calculated to provoke a war of creeds, was not +disallowed, although protests were carried past parliament to the +governor-general personally. The incident directed attention to the +previous practice at Ottawa under both parties and a new era of +non-intervention was inaugurated. Disallowance is now rare, except +where Imperial interests are affected, and never occurs on the ground +of the policy or impolicy of the measure. The provinces, as a matter +of practice, are free within their limits to legislate as they please. +But the Dominion as a self-governing state has long passed the stage +where the clashing of provincial and federal jurisdictions could shake +the constitution. +</P> + +<P> +When the conference, however, considered provincial powers it went to +the root of a federal system. The maritime delegates as a whole +displayed magnanimity and statesmanship. Brown, as the champion of +Upper Canada, was concerned to see that the interests of his own +province were amply secured. He held radical views. When he spoke, +the calm surface of the conference, where a moderate and essentially +conservative +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P72"></A>72}</SPAN> +constitutionalism sat entrenched, may have been +ruffled. The following is from the summary which has been preserved of +one of his speeches:[<A NAME="chap07fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap07fn2">2</A>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +As to local governments, we desire in Upper Canada that they should not +be expensive, and should not take up political matters. We ought not +to have two electoral bodies. Only one body, members to be elected +once in every three years. Should have whole legislative +power—subject to lieutenant-governor. I would have +lieutenant-governors appointed by general government. It would thus +bring these bodies into harmony with the general government. In Upper +Canada executive officers would be attorney-general, treasurer, +secretary, commissioner of crown lands and commissioner of public +works. These would form the council of the lieutenant-governor. I +would give lieutenant-governors veto without advice, but under certain +vote he should be obliged to assent. During recess lieutenant-governor +could have power to suspend executive officers. They might be elected +for three years or +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P73"></A>73}</SPAN> +otherwise. You might safely allow county +councils to appoint other officers than those they do now. One +legislative chamber for three years, no power of dissolution, elected +on one day in each third year. Departmental officers to be elected +during pleasure or for three years. To be allowed to speak but not to +vote. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +A more suggestive extract than this cannot be found in the discussion. +From the astonished Cartier the ejaculation came, 'I entirely differ +with Mr Brown. It introduces in our local bodies republican +institutions.' From the brevity of the report we cannot gather the +whole of Brown's meaning. Apparently his aim was a strictly +businesslike administration of provincial affairs, under complete +popular control, but with the executive functions as far removed from +party domination as erring human nature would permit. There may be +seen here points of resemblance to an American state constitution, but +Brown was no more a republican than was Napoleon. He was, like +Macdonald, an Imperialist who favoured the widest national expansion +for Canada. The idea of a republic, either in the abstract or the +concrete, had no friends in the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P74"></A>74}</SPAN> +conference. Galt believed +independence the proper aim for a young state, but we find him stating +later: 'We were and are willing to spend our last men and our last +shilling for our mother country.'[<A NAME="chap07fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap07fn3">3</A>] Many years after Confederation +Sir Oliver Mowat declared independence the remote goal to keep in view. +These opinions were plainly speculative. Neither statesman took any +step towards carrying them out, but benevolently left them as a legacy, +unencumbered by conditions, to a distant posterity. +</P> + +<P> +At the conference Mowat was active to strengthen the central authority, +as also was Brown. But there was general agreement, despite Brown's +plea for a change, that the local governments should take the form +preferred by themselves and that ministerial responsibility on the +British model should prevail throughout. Upon the question of +assigning the same subjects, such as agriculture, to both federal and +provincial legislatures, Mowat said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +The items of agriculture and immigration should be vested in both +federal and local governments. Danger often arises where there is +exclusive jurisdiction and not so +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P75"></A>75}</SPAN> +often in cases of concurrent +jurisdiction. In municipal matters the county and township council +often have concurrent jurisdiction. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +In the famous contests for provincial rights which he was afterwards to +wage before the courts, and always successfully, Mowat was not +necessarily forgetful that he himself moved for the power of +disallowance over provincial laws to be given to the federal authority. +With the caution and clearness of mind that governed his political +course, he naturally made sure of his ground before fighting, and could +thus safely break a lance with the federal government. The provincial +constitutions were, therefore, left to be determined by the provinces +themselves, and this freedom to modify them continues, 'except as +regards the office of lieutenant-governor.' No province has yet +proposed any constitutional change which could be regarded as an +infringement of the inviolacy of that office, and no circumstances have +arisen to throw light upon the kind of measure which would be so +regarded.[<A NAME="chap07fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap07fn4">4</A>] +</P> + +<P> +One more point, touching upon provincial autonomy, deserves to be +noticed. In the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P76"></A>76}</SPAN> +resolutions of the conference, as well as in the +British North America Act, the laws passed by the local legislatures +are reviewable for one year by the <I>governor-general</I>, not by the +<I>governor-general in council</I>. The colonial secretary drew attention +in 1876 to this distinction in the expressions used, and suggested that +it was intended to place the responsibility of deciding the validity of +provincial laws upon the governor-general personally. The able and +convincing memoranda in reply were composed by Edward Blake, the +Canadian minister of Justice. He contended that under the letter and +spirit of the constitution ministers must be responsible for the +governor's action. His view prevailed, and thus within ten years after +Confederation the principle that the crown's representative must act +only through his advisers on all Canadian matters was maintained. +There was nothing in the available records in 1876 to explain why the +term 'governor-general' instead of 'governor-general in council' was +employed.[<A NAME="chap07fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap07fn5">5</A>] It is, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P77"></A>77}</SPAN> +however, an unassailable principle that the +control of the crown over the Canadian provinces can be exercised only +through the federal authorities. +</P> + +<P> +When the conference had accepted the outline of the federal and +provincial constitutions the danger points might reasonably have been +considered past. But there remained to be discussed the representation +in the federal parliament and the financial terms. These were the +rocks on which the ship nearly split. Representation by population in +the proposed House of Commons had been agreed upon at Charlottetown; +but when the Prince Edward Island delegates saw that, with sixty-five +members for Lower Canada as a fixed number, the proportion assigned to +the Island would be five members only, they objected. They were +dismayed by the prospect, and when the financial proposals also proved +unsatisfactory, their discontent foreshadowed the ultimate withdrawal +of the province from the scheme. The other provinces accepted without +demur the basis of representation in the new House of Commons. +</P> + +<P> +The composition of the Senate, however, brought on a crisis. 'We were +very near broken up,' wrote Brown in a private letter on +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P78"></A>78}</SPAN> +October +17, 'on the question of the distribution of members in the upper +chamber of the federal legislature, but fortunately we have this +morning got the matter amicably compromised, after a loss of three days +in discussing it.' The difficulty seems to have been to select the +members of the first Senate with due regard to party complexion, so as +not to operate in Upper Canada, as Brown felt, unfairly against the +Liberals. Finally, an agreement was arranged on the basis that the +senators should be drawn from both parties; and this was ultimately +carried out. +</P> + +<P> +A far more important point, whether the second chamber should be +nominated or elected, caused less debate. Macdonald opened the +discussion with his usual diplomacy: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +With respect to the mode of appointments to the Upper House, some of us +are in favour of the elective principle. More are in favour of +appointment by the crown. I will keep my own mind open on that point +as if it were a new question to me altogether. At present I am in +favour of appointment by the crown. While I do not admit that the +elective principle has been a failure in Canada, I think we had +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P79"></A>79}</SPAN> +better return to the original principle, and in the words of Governor +Simcoe endeavour to make ours 'an image and transcript of the British +constitution.' +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Differing on other issues, Brown and Macdonald were at one on this. +They were opposed to a second set of general elections, partly because +it would draw too heavily on the organizations and funds of the +parties. As an instance of the stability of Brown's views, it should +be remembered that he never, at any period, approved of an elective +second chamber. The other Liberal ministers from Upper Canada, Mowat +and McDougall, stood by the elective system, but the conference voted +it down. The Quebec correspondence of the <I>Globe</I> at this time throws +some light on the reasons for the decision: 'Judging from the tone of +conversation few delegates are in favour of election. The expense of +contesting a division is enormous and yearly increases. The +consequence is there is great difficulty in getting fit candidates, and +the tendency is to seek corrupt aid from the administration of the day. +There is also fear of a collision between two houses equally +representing the people. It is less important to us than to the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P80"></A>80}</SPAN> + +French. Why should we not then let Lower Canada, which desires to +place a barrier against aggression by the west, decide the question and +make her defensive powers as strong as she likes? It would be no great +stretch of liberality on our part to accord it to her.' During the +debates on Confederation in the Canadian Assembly, in the following +year, Macdonald derided the notion that a government would ever +'overrule the independent opinion of the Upper House by filling it with +a number of its partisans and political supporters.' This, however, is +precisely what has taken place. The Senate is one of the few +unsatisfactory creations of the Fathers of Confederation.[<A NAME="chap07fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap07fn6">6</A>] +</P> + +<A NAME="img-080"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-080.jpg" ALT="Sir John A. Macdonald. From the painting by A. Dickson Patterson." BORDER="2" WIDTH="369" HEIGHT="544"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 369px"> +Sir John A. Macdonald. <BR>From the painting by A. Dickson Patterson. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The question of the financial terms was surrounded with difficulties. +The Maritime Provinces, unlike Upper Canada, were without the municipal +organization which provides for local needs by direct taxation. With +them +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P81"></A>81}</SPAN> +the provincial government was a nursing mother and paid for +everything. Out of the general revenue came the money for bridges, +roads, schools, wharves, piers, and other improvements, in addition to +the cost of maintaining the fiscal, postal, and other charges of the +province. The revenue was raised by customs duties, sales of crown +lands, royalties, or export duties. The devotion to indirect taxation, +which is not absent from provinces with municipal bodies, was to them +an all-absorbing passion. The Canadian delegates were unsympathetic. +John Hamilton Gray describes the scene: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Agreement seemed hopeless, and on or about the tenth morning, after the +convention met, the conviction was general that it must break up +without coming to any conclusion. The terms of mutual concession and +demand had been drawn to their extremest tension and silence was all +around. At last a proposition was made that the convention should +adjourn for the day, and that in the meantime the finance ministers of +the several provinces should meet, discuss the matter amongst +themselves, and see if they could not agree upon something.[<A NAME="chap07fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap07fn7">7</A>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P82"></A>82}</SPAN> +On this committee were Brown and Galt acting for Canada, while the +others were Tupper, Tilley, Archibald, Pope, and Shea. The scheme set +forth in the resolutions was the result. It need not be detailed, but +the sixty-fourth resolution, on which was centred the keenest +criticism, reads as follows: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +In consideration of the transfer to the general parliament of the +powers of taxation, an annual grant in aid of each province shall be +made, equal to 80 cents per head of the population as established by +the census of 1861, the population of Newfoundland being estimated at +130,000. Such aid shall be in full settlement of all future demands +upon the general government for local purposes and shall be paid +half-yearly in advance to each province. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The system of provincial subsidies has often been denounced. The +delegates may have thought that they had shut the door to further +claims, but the finality of the arrangement was soon tested, and in +1869 Nova Scotia received better terms. There were increases in the +subsidies to the provinces on several subsequent occasions, and no one +believes the end has yet been reached. The growing needs of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P83"></A>83}</SPAN> +provinces and the general aversion from direct taxation furnish strong +temptations to make demands upon the federal treasury. +</P> + +<P> +The conference, after adopting the seventy-two resolutions embodying +the basis of the union, agreed that the several governments should +submit them to the respective legislatures at the ensuing session. +They were to be carried <I>en bloc</I>, lest any change should entail a +fresh conference. The delegates made a tour of Canada, visiting +Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, where receptions and congratulations +awaited them. Their work had been done quickly. It had now to run the +gauntlet of parliamentary discussion. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07fn1"></A> +<A NAME="chap07fn2"></A> +<A NAME="chap07fn3"></A> +<A NAME="chap07fn4"></A> +<A NAME="chap07fn5"></A> +<A NAME="chap07fn6"></A> +<A NAME="chap07fn7"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap07fn1text">1</A>] D'Arcy McGee published a treatise in 1865 entitled <I>Notes on +Federal Government Past and Present</I>, presenting a useful summary of +the various constitutions. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap07fn2text">2</A>] The quotations in this chapter are taken from Pope's <I>Confederation +Documents</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap07fn3text">3</A>] At Cornwall, March 2, 1866. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap07fn4text">4</A>] It is worth noting that almost any change of importance would +affect the office of the lieutenant-governor and thus challenge federal +interference. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap07fn5text">5</A>] We know now from Sir Joseph Pope's <I>Confederation Documents</I> (p. +140) that it was proposed in the first draft of the union bill to have +interpretation clauses, and one of these declared that where the +governor-general was required to do any act it was to be assumed that +he performed it by the advice and consent of his executive council. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap07fn6text">6</A>] In the copy of the Confederation debates possessed by the writer +there appears on the margin of the page, in William McDougall's +handwriting and initialled by himself, these words: 'In the Quebec +Conference I moved and Mr Mowat seconded a motion for the elective +principle. About one-third of the delegates voted for the proposition, +Brown arguing and voting against it. At this date (1887) under Sir +John's policy and action the Senate contains only 14 Liberals; all his +appointments being made from his own party.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap07fn7text">7</A>] Gray's <I>Confederation</I>, p. 62. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P84"></A>84}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE DEBATES OF 1865 +</H4> + +<P> +In the province of Canada no time was lost in placing the new +constitution before parliament. A dilatory course would have been +unwise. The omens were favourable. Such opposition as had developed +was confined to Lower Canada. The Houses met in January 1865, and the +governor-general used this language in his opening speech: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +With the public men of British North America it now rests to decide +whether the vast tract of country which they inhabit shall be +consolidated into a State, combining within its area all the elements +of national greatness, providing for the security of its component +parts and contributing to the strength and stability of the Empire; or +whether the several Provinces of which it is constituted shall remain +in their present fragmentary and isolated condition, comparatively +powerless for mutual +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P85"></A>85}</SPAN> +aid, and incapable of undertaking their +proper share of Imperial responsibility. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The procedure adopted was the moving in each House of an address to the +Queen praying that a measure might be submitted to the Imperial +parliament based upon the Quebec resolutions. The debate began in the +Legislative Council on the 3rd of February and in the Assembly three +days later. The debate in the popular branch lasted until the 13th of +March; in the smaller chamber it was concluded by the 23rd of February. +</P> + +<P> +These debates, subsequently published in a volume of 1032 pages, are a +mirror which reflects for us the political life of the time and the +events of the issue under discussion. They set forth the hopes and +intentions of the Fathers with reference to their own work; and if +later developments have presented some surprises, some situations which +they did not foresee, as was indeed inevitable, their prescience is +nowhere shown to have been seriously at fault. Some of the speeches +are commonplace; a few are wearisome; but many of them are examples of +parliamentary eloquence at its best, and the general level is high. +</P> + +<P> +The profound sincerity of the leaders of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P86"></A>86}</SPAN> +coalition, whether in +or out of office, is not to be questioned. The supporters of the union +bore down all opposition. Macdonald's wonderful tact, Brown's +passionate earnestness, and Galt's mastery of the financial problem, +were never displayed to better advantage; while the redoubtable Cartier +marshalled his French compatriots before their timidity had a chance to +assert itself. Particularly interesting is the attitude which Brown +assumed towards the French. He had been identified with a vicious +crusade against their race and creed. Its cruel intolerance cannot be +justified, and every admirer of Brown deplores it. He met them now +with a frank friendliness which evoked at once the magnanimity and +readiness to forgive that has always marked this people and is one of +their most engaging qualities. Said Brown: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +The scene presented by this chamber at this moment, I venture to +affirm, has few parallels in history. One hundred years have passed +away since these provinces became by conquest part of the British +Empire. I speak in no boastful spirit. I desire not for a moment to +excite a painful thought. What was then the fortune of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P87"></A>87}</SPAN> +war of the +brave French nation might have been ours on that well-fought field. I +recall those olden times merely to mark the fact that here sit to-day +the descendants of the victors and the vanquished in the fight of 1759, +with all the differences of language, religion, civil law and social +habit nearly as distinctly marked as they were a century ago. Here we +sit to-day seeking amicably to find a remedy for constitutional evils +and injustice complained of. By the vanquished? No, sir, but +complained of by the conquerors! [French-Canadian cheers.] +</P> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Here sit the representatives of the British population claiming +justice—only justice; and here sit the representatives of the French +population, discussing in the French tongue whether we shall have it. +One hundred years have passed away since the conquest of Quebec, but +here sit the children of the victor and the vanquished, all avowing +hearty attachment to the British Crown, all earnestly deliberating how +we shall best extend the blessings of British institutions, how a great +people may be established on this continent in close and hearty +connection with Great Britain. +</P> + +<BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P88"></A>88}</SPAN> + +<P> +In thus proclaiming the aim and intent of the advocates of +Confederation in respect to the Imperial link, Brown expressed the +views of all. It was not a cheap appeal for applause, because the +question could not be avoided. It came up at every turn. What was the +purpose, the critics of the measure asked, of this new constitution? +Did it portend separation? Would it not inevitably lead to +independence? and if not, why was the term 'a new nationality' so +freely used? In the opening speech of the debate Macdonald met the +issue squarely with the statesmanlike gravity that befitted the +occasion: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +No one can look into futurity and say what will be the destiny of this +country. Changes come over peoples and nations in the course of ages. +But so far as we can legislate, we provide that for all time to come +the sovereign of Great Britain shall be the sovereign of British North +America. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +And he went on to predict that the measure would not tend towards +independence, but that the country, as it grew in wealth and +population, would grow also in attachment to the crown and seek to +preserve it. This prophecy, as we know, has proved true. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P89"></A>89}</SPAN> + +<P> +The fear of annexation to the United States figured likewise in the +debate, but the condition of the Republic, so recently in the throes of +civil war, was not such as to give rise to serious apprehension on that +score. The national sentiment, however, which would naturally arise +when the new state was constituted, was a proper subject for +consideration, since it might easily result in a complete, if peaceful, +revolution. +</P> + +<P> +There were other uncertain factors in the situation which gave the +opponents of Confederation an opportunity for destructive criticism. +The measure was subjected to the closest scrutiny by critics who were +well qualified to rouse any hostile feeling in the country if such +existed. Weighty attacks came from dissentient Liberals like Dorion, +Holton, and Sandfield Macdonald. A formidable opponent, too, was +Christopher Dunkin, an independent Conservative, inspired, it may be +supposed, by the distrust of constitutional change entertained by his +immediate fellow-countrymen, the English minority in Lower Canada. +</P> + +<P> +Brown bore the brunt of the attack from erstwhile allies and faced it +in this fashion: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +No constitution ever framed was without defect; no act of human wisdom +was ever +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P90"></A>90}</SPAN> +free from imperfection.... To assert then that our +scheme is without fault, would be folly. It was necessarily the work +of concession; not one of the thirty-three framers but had on some +points to yield his opinions; and, for myself, I freely admit that I +struggled earnestly, for days together, to have portions of the scheme +amended. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +This was reasonable ground to take and drew some of the sting from the +criticism. +</P> + +<P> +But all the criticism was not futile. Some of the defects pointed out +bore fruit in the years that followed. As already stated, the +financial terms were far from final, and a demand for larger subsidies +had soon to be met. Friction between the federal and provincial powers +arose in due course, but not precisely for the reasons given. The +administration of the national business has cost more than was +expected, and has not been free, to employ the ugly words used in these +debates, from jobbery and corruption. The cost of a progressive +railway policy has proved infinitely greater than the highest estimates +put forth by the Fathers. The duty of forming a ministry so as to give +adequate representation +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P91"></A>91}</SPAN> +to all the provinces has been quite as +difficult as Dunkin said it would be. To parcel out the ministerial +offices on this basis is one of the unwritten conventions of the +constitution, and has taxed the resources of successive prime ministers +to the utmost. With all his skill, as we shall see later, Sir John +Macdonald nearly gave up in despair his first attempt to form a +ministry after Confederation. Yet it must be said, surveying the whole +field, that the critics of the resolutions failed to make out a case. +</P> + +<P> +Both in the Legislative Council and in the Assembly the resolution for +a nominated second chamber caused much debate. But the elective +principle was not defended with marked enthusiasm. By the Act of 1840 +which united the Canadas the Council had been a nominated body solely. +Its members received no indemnity; and, as some of them were averse +from the political strife which raged with special fury until 1850, a +quorum could not always be obtained. Sir Etienne Taché drew an +affecting picture of the speaker frequently taking the chair at the +appointed time, waiting in stiff and solemn silence for one hour by the +clock, and at last retiring discomfited, since members enough did not +appear to form a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P92"></A>92}</SPAN> +quorum. To remedy the situation the Imperial +parliament had passed an Act providing for the election of a portion of +the members. Fresh difficulties had then arisen. The electoral +divisions had been largely formed by grouping portions of counties +together; the candidates had found that physical endurance and a long +purse were as needful to gain a seat in the Council as a patriotic +interest in public affairs; and it had become difficult to secure +candidates. This unsatisfactory experience of an elective upper +chamber made it comparatively easy to carry the resolution providing +for a nominated Senate in the new constitution. +</P> + +<P> +The agreement that the resolutions must be accepted or rejected as a +whole led Dorion to complain that the power of parliament to amend +legislation was curtailed. What value had the debate, if the +resolutions were in the nature of a treaty and could not be moulded to +suit the wishes of the people's representatives? The grievance was not +so substantial as it appeared. The Imperial parliament, which was +finally to pass the measure, could be prompted later on to make any +alterations strongly desired by Canadian public opinion. +</P> + +<P> +Why were not the terms of Confederation +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P93"></A>93}</SPAN> +submitted to the Canadian +people for ratification? The most strenuous fight was made in +parliament on this point, and in after years, too, constitutional +writers, gifted with the wisdom which comes after the event, have +declared the omission a serious error. Goldwin Smith observed that +Canadians might conceivably in the future discard their institutions as +lacking popular sanction when they were adopted, seeing that in reality +they were imposed on the country by a group of politicians and a +distant parliament. In dealing with such objections the reasons given +at the time must be considered. The question was discussed at the +Quebec Conference, doubtless informally.[<A NAME="chap08fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap08fn1">1</A>] The constitutional right +of the legislatures to deal with the matter was unquestioned by the +Canadian members. Shortly after the conference adjourned, Galt in a +speech at Sherbrooke[<A NAME="chap08fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap08fn2">2</A>] declared that, if during the discussion of the +scheme in parliament any serious doubt arose respecting the public +feeling on the subject, the people would be called upon to decide for +themselves. The +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P94"></A>94}</SPAN> +<I>Globe</I>, which voiced the opinion of Brown, said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +If on the assembling of Parliament the majority in that body in favour +of Confederation shall be found so large as to make it manifest that +any reference to the country would simply be a matter of form, +Ministers will not, we take it, feel warranted in putting the country +to great trouble and expense for the sake of that unessential formality. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +When challenged in parliament the government gave its reasons. The +question of Confederation had, in one form or another, been before the +country for years. During 1864 there had been elections in eleven +ridings for the Assembly and in fourteen for the Legislative Council. +The area of country embraced by these contests included forty counties. +Of the candidates in these elections but four opposed federation and +only two of them were elected. Brown stated impetuously that not five +members of parliament in Upper Canada dare go before the people against +the scheme. No petitions against it were presented, and its opponents +had not ventured to hold meetings, knowing that an enormous majority of +the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P95"></A>95}</SPAN> +people favoured it. This evidence, in Upper Canada, was +accepted as conclusive. In Lower Canada appearances were not quite so +convincing. The ministry representing that section was not a +coalition, and the Liberal leaders, both French and English, organized +an agitation. But afterwards, in the campaign of 1867, Cartier swept +all before him. It was also argued that parliament was fresh from the +people as recently as 1864, and that though the mandate to legislate +was not specific, it was sufficient. The method of ascertaining the +popular verdict by means of a referendum was proposed, but rejected as +unknown to the constitution and at variance with British practice. +</P> + +<P> +Parliament finally adopted the resolutions by a vote of ninety-one to +thirty-three in the Assembly and of forty-five to fifteen in the +Legislative Council. Hillyard Cameron, politically a lineal descendant +of the old Family Compact, supported by Matthew Crooks Cameron, a +Conservative of the highest integrity and afterwards chief justice, +then moved for a reference to the people by a dissolution of +parliament. But after an animated debate the motion was defeated, and +no further efforts in this direction were attempted. That an eagerness +to invoke the judgment of democracy +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P96"></A>96}</SPAN> +was not seen at its best, when +displayed by two Tories of the old school, may justify the belief that +parliamentary tactics, rather than the pressure of public opinion, +inspired the move. +</P> + +<P> +Fortune had smiled upon the statesmen of the Canadian coalition. In a +few months they had accomplished wonders. They had secured the aid of +the Maritime Provinces in drafting a scheme of union. They had made +tours in the east and the west to prepare public opinion for the great +stroke of state. They and their co-delegates had formulated and +adopted the Quebec resolutions, on which a chorus of congratulation had +drowned, for the time, the voices of warning and expostulation. And, +finally, the ministers had met parliament and had secured the adoption +of their scheme by overwhelming majorities. +</P> + +<P> +But all was not so fair in the provinces by the sea. Before the +Canadian legislature prorogued, the Tilley government had been hurled +from power in New Brunswick, Joseph Howe was heading a formidable +agitation in Nova Scotia, and in the other two provinces the cause was +lost. It seemed as if a storm had burst that would overwhelm the union +and that the hands of the clock would be put back. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08fn1"></A> +<A NAME="chap08fn2"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap08fn1text">1</A>] See the remark of McCully of Nova Scotia that the delegates should +take the matter into their own hands and not wait to educate the people +up to it—Pope's <I>Confederation Documents</I>, p. 60. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap08fn2text">2</A>] November 23, 1864. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P97"></A>97}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ROCKS IN THE CHANNEL +</H4> + +<P> +In the month of March 1865, as the Canadian debates drew to a close, +ominous reports began to arrive from all the Maritime Provinces. An +election campaign of unusual bitterness was going on in New Brunswick. +The term of the legislature would expire in the following June; and the +Tilley government had decided to dissolve and present the Quebec +resolutions to a newly elected legislature, a blunder in tactics due, +it may be, to over-confidence. The secrecy which had shrouded the +proceedings of the delegates at first was turned to account by their +opponents, who set in motion a campaign of mendacity and +misrepresentation. The actual terms became known too late to +counteract this hostile agitation, which had been systematically +carried on throughout the province. The bogey employed to stampede the +electors was direct taxation. The farmers were told that every cow or +horse they +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P98"></A>98}</SPAN> +possessed, even the chickens in the farmyard, would be +taxed for the benefit of Canada. Worse than all, it was contended, the +bargain struck at the honour of the province, because, as the subsidy +was on the basis of paying to the provinces annually eighty cents per +head of population, the people were really being sold by the government +like sheep for this paltry price. The trusted Tilley, easily first in +popular affection by reason of his probity and devotion to public duty, +was discredited. His opponent in the city of St John, A. R. Wetmore, +illustrated the dire effects of Confederation in an imaginary dialogue, +between himself and his young son, after this fashion: 'Father, what +country do we live in?'—and, of course, the reply came promptly—'My +dear son, you have no country, for Mr Tilley has sold us all to the +Canadians for eighty cents a head.' Time and full discussion would +have dissipated the forces of the anti-confederates. But +constituencies worked upon by specious appeals to prejudice are +notoriously hard to woo during an election struggle. There existed +also honest doubts in many minds regarding federation. Enough men of +character and influence in both parties joined to form a strong +opposition, while one of Tilley's +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P99"></A>99}</SPAN> +colleagues in the ministry, +George Hathaway, went over to the enemy at a critical hour. The +agitation swept the province. It was not firmly rooted in the +convictions of the people, but it sufficed to overwhelm the government. +All the Cabinet ministers, including Tilley, were beaten. And so it +happened that, when the Canadian ministers were in the full tide of +parliamentary success at home, the startling news arrived that New +Brunswick had rejected federation, and that in a House of forty-one +members only six supporters of the scheme had been returned from the +polls. +</P> + +<P> +Equally alarming was the prospect in Nova Scotia. On arriving home +from Quebec, Dr Tupper and his fellow-delegates found a situation which +required careful handling. 'When the delegates returned to the +Province,' says a pamphlet of the time, 'they did not meet with a very +flattering reception. They had no ovation; and no illuminations, +bonfires, and other demonstrations of felicitous welcome hailed their +return. They were not escorted to their homes with torches and +banners, and through triumphal arches; no cannon thundered forth a +noisy welcome. They were received in solemn, sullen and ominous +silence. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P100"></A>100}</SPAN> +No happy smiles greeted them; but they entered the +Province as into the house of mourning.'[<A NAME="chap09fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap09fn1">1</A>] And in Nova Scotia the +hostility was not, as in New Brunswick, merely a passing wave of +surprise and discontent. It lasted for years. Nor was it, as many +think, the sole creation of the ambitious Joseph Howe. It doubtless +owed much to his power as a leader of men and his influence over the +masses of the Nova Scotians. But there is testimony that this proud +and spirited people, with traditions which their origin and history +fully warranted them in cherishing, regarded with aversion the prospect +of a constitutional revolution, especially one which menaced their +political identity. Robert Haliburton has related the results of his +observations before the issue had been fairly disclosed and before Howe +had emerged from seclusion to take a hand in the game. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +In September and October, 1864, when our delegates were at Quebec, and +therefore before there could be any objections raised to the details of +the scheme, or to the mode of its adoption, I travelled through six +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P101"></A>101}</SPAN> +counties, embracing the whole of Cape Breton and two counties in +Nova Scotia, and took some trouble to ascertain the state of public +opinion as to what was taking place, and was greatly surprised at +finding that every one I met, without a solitary exception, from the +highest to the lowest, was alarmed at the idea of a union with Canada, +and that the combination of political leaders, so far from recommending +the scheme, filled their partisans with as much dismay as if the powers +of light and darkness were plotting against the public safety. It was +evident that unless the greatest tact were exercised, a storm of +ignorant prejudice and alarm would be aroused, that would sweep the +friends of union out of power, if not out of public life. The profound +secrecy preserved by the delegates as to the scheme, until an +accomplice turned Queen's evidence, added fuel to the flame, and +convinced the most sceptical that there was a second Gunpowder Plot in +existence, which was destined to annihilate our local legislature and +our provincial rights.[<A NAME="chap09fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap09fn2">2</A>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P102"></A>102}</SPAN> + +<P> +This was the situation which confronted Howe when he returned in the +autumn from his tour as fishery commissioner. He had written from +Newfoundland, on hearing of the conference at Charlottetown: 'I have +read the proceedings of the delegates and I am glad to be out of the +mess.' At first he listened in silence to the Halifax discussions on +both sides of the question. These were non-partisan, since Archibald +and McCully, the Liberal leaders, were as much concerned in the result +as the Conservative ministers. Howe finally broke silence with the +first of his articles in the Halifax <I>Chronicle</I> on 'The Botheration +Scheme.' This gave the signal for an agitation which finally bore Nova +Scotia to the verge of rebellion. Howe's course has been censured as +the greatest blot upon an otherwise brilliant career. In justice to +his memory the whole situation should be examined. He did not start +the agitation. Many able and patriotic Nova Scotians urged him on. +Favourable to union as an abstract theory he had been: to Confederation +as a policy he had never distinctly pledged himself. The idea that the +Quebec terms were sacrosanct, and that hostility to them involved +disloyalty to the Empire, must be put aside. It is neither +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P103"></A>103}</SPAN> +necessary nor fair to assume that Howe's conduct was wholly inspired by +the spleen and jealousy commonly ascribed to him; for, with many +others, he honestly held the view that the interests of his native +province were about to be sacrificed in a bad bargain. Nevertheless, +his was a grave political error—an error for which he paid +bitterly—which in the end cost him popularity, private friendship, and +political reputation. But the noble courage and patience with which he +sought to repair it should redeem his fame.[<A NAME="chap09fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap09fn3">3</A>] +</P> + +<P> +It was no secret that the governor of Nova Scotia, Sir Richard Graves +Macdonnell, was opposed to Confederation. The veiled hostility of his +speech in Halifax has already been noted; and he followed it with +another at Montreal, after the conference, which revealed a captious +mind on the subject. Arthur Hamilton Gordon (afterwards Lord +Stanmore), the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, also hampered the +movement; although the Imperial instructions, even at this early stage +of the proceedings, pointed to an opposite +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P104"></A>104}</SPAN> +course. In the +gossipy diary of Miss Frances Monck, a member of Lord Monck's household +at Quebec in 1864, appears this item: 'Sir R. M. is so against this +confederation scheme because he would be turned away. He said to John +A.: You shall not make a mayor of <I>me</I>, I can tell you! meaning a +deputy governor of a province.' Macdonnell was transferred to +Hong-Kong; and Gordon, after a visit to England, experienced a change +of heart. But the mischief done was incalculable. +</P> + +<P> +In view of the disturbed state of public opinion in Nova Scotia the +Tupper government resolved to play a waiting game. When the +legislature met in February 1865, the federation issue came before it +merely as an open question. The defeat of Tilley in New Brunswick +followed soon after, and the occasion was seen to be inopportune for a +vote upon union. But, as some action had to be taken, a motion was +adopted affirming the previous attitude of the legislature respecting a +maritime union. There was a long debate; Tupper expounded and defended +the Quebec resolutions; but no one seemed disposed to come to close +quarters with the question. Tupper's policy was to mark time. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Edward Island made another +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P105"></A>105}</SPAN> +contribution to the chapter of +misfortune by definitely rejecting the proposed union. The Legislative +Council unanimously passed a resolution against it, and in the Assembly +the adverse vote was twenty-three against five. It was declared that +the scheme 'would prove politically, commercially and financially +disastrous'; and an address to the Queen prayed that no Imperial action +should be taken to unite the Island to Canada or any other province. +</P> + +<P> +Newfoundland, likewise, turned a deaf ear to the proposals. The +commercial interests of that colony assumed the critical attitude of +the same element in Nova Scotia, and objected to the higher customs +duties which a uniform tariff for the federated provinces would +probably entail. It was resolved to take no action until after a +general election; and the representations made to the legislature by +Governor Musgrave produced no effect. Although the governor was +sanguine, it required no great power of observation to perceive that +the ancient colony would not accept federation. +</P> + +<P> +The Canadian government took prompt measures. On the arrival of the +bad news from New Brunswick it was decided to hurry the debates to a +close, prorogue parliament, and send a committee of the Cabinet to +England +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P106"></A>106}</SPAN> +to confer with the Imperial authorities on federation, +defence, reciprocity, and the acquisition of the North-West +Territories. This programme was adhered to. The four ministers who +left for England in April were Macdonald, Brown, Galt, and Cartier. +The mission, among other results pertinent to the cause of union, +secured assurances from the home authorities that every legitimate +means for obtaining the early assent of the Maritime Provinces would be +adopted.[<A NAME="chap09fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap09fn4">4</A>] But the calamities of 1865 were not over. The prime +minister, Sir Etienne Taché, died; and Brown refused to serve under +either Macdonald or Cartier. He took the ground that the coalition of +parties had been held together by a chief (Taché) who had ceased to be +actuated by strong party feelings or personal ambitions and in whom all +sections reposed confidence. Standing alone, this reasoning is sound +in practical politics. Behind it, of course, was the unwillingness of +Brown to accept the leadership of his great rival. Macdonald then +proposed Sir Narcisse Belleau, one of their colleagues, as leader of +the government. Brown assented; and the coalition was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P107"></A>107}</SPAN> + +reconstituted on the former basis, but not with the old cordiality. +The rift within the lute steadily widened, and before the year closed +Brown resigned from the ministry. His difference with his colleagues +arose, he stated, from their willingness to renew reciprocal trade +relations with the United States by concurrent legislation instead of, +as heretofore, by a definite treaty. Although his two Liberal +associates remained in the ministry, and the vacancy was given to +another Liberal, Fergusson Blair, the recrudescence of partisan +friction occasioned by the episode was not a good omen. Brown, +however, promised continued support of the federation policy until the +new constitution should come into effect—a promise which he fulfilled +as far as party exigencies permitted. But the outlook was gloomy. +There were rocks ahead which might easily wreck the ship. Who could +read the future so surely as to know what would happen? +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09fn1"></A> +<A NAME="chap09fn2"></A> +<A NAME="chap09fn3"></A> +<A NAME="chap09fn4"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap09fn1text">1</A>] <I>Confederation Examined in the Light of Reason and Common Sense</I>, +by Martin I. Wilkins. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap09fn2text">2</A>] <I>Intercolonial Trade our only Safeguard against Disunion</I>, by R. G. +Haliburton. Ottawa, 1868. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap09fn3text">3</A>] Howe's biographers have dealt with this episode in his life in a +vein of intelligent generosity. See <I>Joseph Howe</I> by Mr Justice +Longley in the 'Makers of Canada' series and <I>The Tribune of Nova +Scotia</I>, by Prof. W. L. Grant, in the present Series. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap09fn4text">4</A>] Report of the Canadian ministers to Lord Monck, July 13, 1865. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P108"></A>108}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +'THE BATTLE OF UNION' +</H4> + +<P> +At the dawn of 1866 the desperate plight of the cause of union called +for skilful generalship in four different arenas of political action. +In any one of them a false move would have been fatal to success; and +there was always the danger that, on so extended a front, the advocates +of union might be fighting at cross purposes and so inflicting injury +on each other instead of upon the enemy. It was necessary that the +Imperial influence should be exerted as far as the issues at stake +warranted its employment. Canada, the object of suspicion, must march +warily to avoid rousing the hostile elements elsewhere. The unionists +of New Brunswick should be given time to recover their position, while +those of Nova Scotia should stand ready for instant co-operation. +</P> + +<P> +The judicious but firm attitude of the Imperial authorities was a +material factor in the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P109"></A>109}</SPAN> +situation. From 1862 onwards there was no +mistaking the policy of Downing Street, as expressed by the Duke of +Newcastle in that year to the governor of Nova Scotia. Colonial +secretaries came and went and the complexion of British ministries +changed, but the principle of union stood approved. Any proposals, +however, must emanate from the colonies themselves; and, when an +agreement in whole or in part should be reached, the proper procedure +was indicated. 'The most satisfactory mode,' said the dispatch of +1862, 'of testing the opinion of the people of British North America +would probably be by means of resolution or address proposed in +legislatures of each province by its own government.' This course all +the governments had kept in mind, with the additional safeguard that +the ministers of the day had associated with themselves the leaders of +the parliamentary oppositions. Nothing could have savoured less of +partisanship than the Quebec Conference; and Mr Cardwell, the colonial +secretary, had acknowledged the resolutions of that body in handsome +terms. +</P> + +<P> +The home authorities faced the difficulties with a statesmanlike front. +They had no disposition to dictate, but, once assured that a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P110"></A>110}</SPAN> + +substantial majority in each consenting province supported the scheme, +it was their duty to speak plainly, no matter how vehemently a section +of opinion in England or in the provinces protested. They held the +opinion, that since the provinces desired to remain within the Empire, +they must combine. All the grounds for this belief could not be +publicly stated. It was one of those exceptional occasions when +Downing Street, by reason of its superior insight into foreign affairs +and by full comprehension of the danger then threatening, knew better +than the man on the spot. The colonial opposition might be sincere and +patriotic, but it was wrong. Heed could not be paid to the agitations +in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick because they were founded upon narrow +conceptions of statesmanship and erroneous information. +</P> + +<P> +Another difficulty with which British governments, whether Liberal or +Tory, had to contend was the separatist doctrine known as that of the +Manchester School. When George Brown visited England in 1864 he was +startled into communicating with John A. Macdonald in these terms: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +I am much concerned to observe—and I +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P111"></A>111}</SPAN> +write it to you as a thing +that must seriously be considered by all men taking a lead hereafter in +Canadian public matters—that there is a manifest desire in almost +every quarter that, ere long, the British American colonies should +shift for themselves, and in some quarters evident regret that we did +not declare at once for independence. I am very sorry to observe this; +but it arises, I hope, from the fear of invasion of Canada by the +United States, and will soon pass away with the cause that excites it. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The feeling did pass away in time. The responsible statesmen of that +period were forced to go steadily forward and ignore it, just as they +refused to be dominated by appeals from colonial reactionaries who +abhorred change and who honestly believed that in so doing they +exhibited the best form of attachment to the Empire. +</P> + +<P> +Why Mr Arthur Gordon, the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, was at +first opposed to Confederation, when his ministers were in favour of +it, is not quite clear.[<A NAME="chap10fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap10fn1">1</A>] +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P112"></A>112}</SPAN> +However this may be, his punishment +was not long in coming; and, if he escaped from the storm without loss +of honour, he certainly suffered in dignity and comfort. The new +ministry which took office in New Brunswick was formed by A. J. Smith, +who afterwards as Sir Albert Smith had a useful career in the Dominion +parliament. His colleagues had taken a prominent part in the agitation +against Confederation, but it appears that they had no very settled +convictions on this question, and that they differed on many others. +At any rate, dissension soon broke out among them. The colonial +secretary pressed upon the province the desirability of the union in +terms described as 'earnest and friendly suggestions,' and which left +no doubt as to the wishes of the home government. 'You will express,' +said the colonial secretary to the lieutenant-governor, 'the strong and +deliberate opinion of Her Majesty's Government that it is an object +much to be desired that all the British North American colonies should +agree to unite in one government.' In stating +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P113"></A>113}</SPAN> +the reasons for +this opinion the dispatch continued: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Looking to the determination which this country has ever exhibited to +regard the defence of the colonies as a matter of Imperial concern, the +colonies must recognize a right, and even acknowledge an obligation, +incumbent on the home government to urge with earnestness and just +authority the measures which they consider to be most expedient on the +part of the colonies with a view to their own defence. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The New Brunswick frontier, as well as Canada, was disturbed by the +threatened Fenian invasion, so that the question of defence was +apposite and of vital importance. +</P> + +<P> +Presently a change of sentiment began to show itself in the province, +and the shaky Cabinet began to totter from resignations and +disagreements. By-elections followed and supporters of federation were +returned. The legislature met early in March. In the +lieutenant-governor's speech from the throne, a reference to the +colonial secretary's dispatch implied that Gordon had changed his views +and was now favourable to union. He +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P114"></A>114}</SPAN> +afterwards explained that +the first minister and several of his colleagues had privately +intimated to him their concurrence, but felt unable at the time to +explain their altered attitude to the legislature. The next step +involved proceedings still more unusual, if not actually +unconstitutional: the address of the Legislative Council in reply to +the speech from the throne contained a vigorous endorsement of union; +and the lieutenant-governor accepted it, without consulting his +advisers, and in language which left them no recourse but to resign. A +new ministry was formed on the 18th of April, and the House was +dissolved. The ensuing elections resulted in a complete victory for +federation. On the 21st of June the legislature met, fresh from the +people, and adopted, by a vote of thirty to eight, a resolution +appointing delegates to arrange with the Imperial authorities a scheme +of union that would secure 'the just rights and interests of New +Brunswick.' The battle was won. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, like the mariner who keeps a vigilant eye upon the weather, +the Tupper government in Nova Scotia observed the proceedings in New +Brunswick with a view to action at the proper moment. The agitation +throughout the province had not affected the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P115"></A>115}</SPAN> +position of parties +in the legislature which met in February. The government continued to +treat federation as a non-contentious subject. No reference to it was +made in the governor's speech, and the legislature occupied itself with +other business. The agitation in the country, with Howe leading it, +and William Annand, member for East Halifax and editor of the +<I>Chronicle</I>, as his chief associate, went on. Then the débâcle of the +anti-confederate party in New Brunswick began to attract attention and +give rise to speculations on what would be the action of the Tupper +government. This was soon to be disclosed. In April, a few days +before the fall of the Smith ministry in New Brunswick, William Miller, +member for Richmond, made a speech in the House which was destined to +produce a momentous effect. His proposal was to appoint delegates to +frame a scheme in consultation with the Imperial authorities, and thus +ignore the Quebec resolutions. To these resolutions Miller had been +strongly opposed. He had borne a leading part with Howe and Annand in +the agitation, although he was always favourable to union in the +abstract and careful on all occasions to say so. Now, however, his +speech provided a means of enabling Nova Scotia to enter the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P116"></A>116}</SPAN> +union with the consent of the legislature, and Tupper was quick to +seize the opportunity by putting it in the form of a motion before the +House. An extremely bitter debate followed; vigorous epithets were +exchanged with much freedom, and Tupper's condemnation of Joseph Howe +omitted nothing essential to the record. But at length, at midnight of +the 10th of April, the legislature, by a vote of thirty-one to +nineteen, adopted the motion which cleared the way for bringing Nova +Scotia into the Dominion. +</P> + +<P> +Miller's late allies never forgave his action on this occasion. He was +accused of having been bribed to desert them. When he was appointed to +the Senate in 1867 the charge was repeated, and many years afterwards +was revived in an offensive form. Finally, Miller entered suit for +libel against the Halifax <I>Chronicle</I>, and in the witness-box Sir +Charles Tupper bore testimony to the propriety of Miller's conduct in +1866. Notwithstanding the hostility between Howe and Tupper, they +afterwards resumed friendly relations and sat comfortably together in +the Dominion Cabinet. In politics hard words can be soon forgotten. +The doughty Tupper had won his province for the union and could afford +to forget. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-116"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-116.jpg" ALT="Sir Charles Tupper, Bart. From a photograph by Elliott and Fry, London." BORDER="2" WIDTH="372" HEIGHT="529"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 372px"> +Sir Charles Tupper, Bart. <BR>From a photograph by Elliott and Fry, London. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P117"></A>117}</SPAN> + +<P> +The tactics pursued in Canada during these exciting months in the +Maritime Provinces were those defined by a great historian, in dealing +with a different convulsion, as 'masterly inactivity.' In that +memorable speech of years afterwards when Macdonald, about to be +overwhelmed by the Pacific Railway charges, appealed to his countrymen +in words that came straight from the heart, he declared: 'I have fought +the battle of union.' The events of 1866 are the key to this +utterance. Parliament was not summoned until June; and meanwhile +ministers said nothing. That this line of policy was deliberate, is +set forth in a private letter from Macdonald to Tilley: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Had we met early in the year and before your elections, the greatest +embarrassment and your probable defeat at the polls would have ensued. +We should have been pressed by the Opposition to declare whether we +adhered to the Quebec resolutions or not. Had we answered in the +affirmative, you would have been defeated, as you were never in a +position to go to the polls on those resolutions. Had we replied in +the negative, and stated that it was an +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P118"></A>118}</SPAN> +open question and that +the resolutions were liable to alteration, Lower Canada would have +arisen as one man, and good-bye to federation. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Thus was the situation saved; and, although the delegates from the +Maritime Provinces were obliged to wait in London for some months for +their Canadian colleagues, owing to the Fenian invasion of Canada and +to a change of ministry in England, the body of delegates assembled in +December at the Westminster Palace Hotel, in London, and sat down to +frame the details of the bill for the union of British North America. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10fn1"></A> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[<A HREF="#chap10fn1text">1</A>] Gordon's dispatches to the colonial secretary indicate that from +the first he distrusted the Quebec scheme and that the overthrow of his +ministers owing to it occasioned him no great grief. James Hannay, the +historian, attributes his conduct to chagrin at the pushing aside of +maritime union, as he had hoped to be the first governor of the smaller +union. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P119"></A>119}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE FRAMING OF THE BILL +</H4> + +<P> +When the British American delegates met in London to frame the bill +they found themselves in an atmosphere tending to chill their +enthusiasm. Lord Palmerston had died the year before, and with him had +disappeared an adventurous foreign policy and the militant view of +empire. The strictly utilitarian school of thought was dominant. +Canada was unpleasantly associated in the minds of British statesmen +with the hostile attitude of the United States which seemed to threaten +a most unwelcome war. John Bright approved of ceding Canada to the +Republic as the price of peace. Gladstone also wrote to Goldwin Smith +suggesting this course. The delegates were confronted by the same +ideas which had distressed George Brown two years earlier. The +colonies were not to be forcibly cast off, but even in official circles +the opinion prevailed that ultimate separation was the inevitable end. +The reply +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P120"></A>120}</SPAN> +of Sir Edward Thornton, the British minister at +Washington, to a proposal that Canada should be ceded to the United +States was merely that Great Britain could not thus dispose of a colony +'against the wishes of the inhabitants.' These lukewarm views made no +appeal to the delegates and the young communities they represented. It +was their aim to propound a method of continuing the connection. +Theirs was not the vision of a military sway intended to overawe other +nations and to revive in the modern world the empires of history. To +them Imperialism meant to extend and preserve the principles of +justice, liberty, and peace, which they believed were inherent in +British institutions and more nearly attainable under monarchical than +under republican forms. +</P> + +<P> +Minds influential in the Colonial Office and elsewhere saw in this only +a flamboyant patriotism. The Duke of Newcastle, when colonial +secretary, had not shared the desire for separation, and he found it +hard to believe that any one charged with colonial administration +wished it. He had written to Palmerston in 1861: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +You speak of some supposed theoretical gentlemen in the colonial office +who wish +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P121"></A>121}</SPAN> +to get rid of all colonies as soon as possible. I can +only say that if there are such they have never ventured to open their +opinion to me. If they did so on grounds of peaceful separation, I +should differ from them so long as colonies can be retained by bonds of +mutual sympathy and mutual obligation; but I would meet their views +with indignation if they could suggest disruption by the act of any +other, and that a hostile, Power. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The duke was not intimate with his official subordinates, or he would +have known that Palmerston's description exactly fitted the permanent +under-secretary at the Colonial Office. Sir Frederic Rogers (who later +became Lord Blachford) filled that post from 1860 to 1871. He was +therefore in office during the Confederation period. He left on record +his ideas of the future of the Empire: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +I had always believed—and the belief has so confirmed and consolidated +itself that I can hardly realize the possibility of any one seriously +thinking the contrary—that the destiny of our colonies is +independence; and that in this view, the function of the Colonial +Office is to secure that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P122"></A>122}</SPAN> +our connexion, while it lasts, shall be +as profitable to both parties, and our separation, when it comes, as +amicable as possible. This opinion is founded first on the general +principle that a spirited nation (and a colony becomes a nation) will +not submit to be governed in its internal affairs by a distant +government, and that nations geographically remote have no such common +interests as will bind them permanently together in foreign policy with +all its details and mutations. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +In other words, Sir Frederic was a painstaking honourable official +without a shred of imagination. He typifies the sort of influence +which the delegates had to encounter. +</P> + +<P> +The conference consisted of sixteen members, six from Canada and ten +from the Maritime Provinces. The Canadians were Macdonald, Cartier, +Galt, McDougall, Howland, and Langevin. From Nova Scotia came Tupper, +Henry, Ritchie, McCully, and Archibald; while New Brunswick was +represented by Tilley, Johnston, Mitchell, Fisher, and Wilmot. They +selected John A. Macdonald as chairman. The resignation of Brown had +left Macdonald the leader of the movement, and the nominal +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P123"></A>123}</SPAN> +Canadian prime minister, Sir Narcisse Belleau, was not even a delegate. +The impression Macdonald made in London is thus recorded by Sir +Frederic Rogers in language which gives us an insight into the working +of the conference: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +They held many meetings, at which I was always present. Lord Carnarvon +[the colonial secretary] was in the chair, and I was rather +disappointed in his power of presidency. Macdonald was the ruling +genius and spokesman, and I was very greatly struck by his power of +management and adroitness. The French delegates were keenly on the +watch for anything which weakened their securities; on the contrary, +the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick delegates were very jealous of +concessions to the <I>arriérée</I> province; while one main stipulation in +favour of the French was open to constitutional objections on the part +of the Home Government. Macdonald had to argue the question with the +Home Government on a point on which the slightest divergence from the +narrow line already agreed upon in Canada was watched for—here by the +French and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P124"></A>124}</SPAN> +there by the English—as eager dogs watch a rat hole; +a snap on one side might have provoked a snap on the other and put an +end to the concord. He stated and argued the case with cool ready +fluency, while at the same time you saw that every word was measured, +and that while he was making for a point ahead, he was never for a +moment unconscious of any of the rocks among which he had to steer. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The preliminaries had all been settled before the meetings with the +colonial secretary. The gathering was smaller in numbers than the +Quebec Conference, and the experience of two years had not been lost. +We hear no more of deadlocks or of the danger of breaking up. There +was frank discussion on any point that required reconsideration, but +the delegates decided to adhere to the Quebec resolutions as far as +possible. For the Liberal ministers from Upper Canada, Howland and +McDougall, this was the safest course to pursue, because they knew that +George Brown had put his hand and seal upon the basis adopted at Quebec +and would bitterly resent any substantial departure from it. This was +also the view of the representatives of Lower Canada. The +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P125"></A>125}</SPAN> +maritime delegates wanted better financial terms if such could be +secured, but beyond this were content with the accepted outline of the +constitution. +</P> + +<P> +The delegates were careful to make plain their belief that the union +was to cement and not to weaken the Imperial tie. At Quebec they had +agreed upon a motion in these terms: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +That in framing a constitution for the general government, the +conference, with a view to the perpetuation of our connection with the +Mother Country and to the promotion of the best interests of the people +of these provinces, desire to follow the model of the British +constitution, so far as our circumstances will permit. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The saving clause at the close was a frank admission that a federal +system could not be an exact copy of the British model with its one +sovereign parliament charged with the whole power of the nation. But +the delegates were determined to express the idea in some form; and +this led to the words in the preamble of the British North America Act +declaring 'a constitution similar in principle to that of the United +Kingdom.' To this writers +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P126"></A>126}</SPAN> +of note have objected. Professor +Dicey has complained of the 'official mendacity' involved in the +statement. 'If preambles were intended to express the truth,' he said, +'for the word <I>Kingdom </I>ought to have been substituted <I>States</I>, since +it is clear that the constitution of the Dominion is modelled on that +of the United States.' It is, however, equally clear what the framers +of the Act intended to convey. If they offended against the precise +canons of constitutional theory, they effected a political object of +greater consequence. The Canadian constitution, in their opinion, was +British in principle for at least three reasons: because it provided +for responsible government in both the general and local legislatures; +because, unlike the system in the United States, the executive and +legislative functions were not divorced; and because this enabled +Canada to incorporate the traditions and conventions of the British +constitution which bring the executive immediately under control of the +popular wish as expressed through parliament. Furthermore, the +principle of defining the jurisdictions of the provinces, while the +residue of power was left to the federal parliament, marked another +wide distinction between Canada and the Republic. A +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P127"></A>127}</SPAN> +federation +it had to be, but a federation designed in the narrowest sense. In +theory Canada is a dependent and subordinate country, since its +constitution was conferred by an Act of the Imperial parliament, but in +practice it is a self-governing state in the fullest degree. This +anomaly, so fortunate in its results, is no greater than the +maintenance in theory of royal prerogatives which are never exercised. +</P> + +<P> +It was intended that the name of the new state should be left to the +selection of the Queen, and this was provided for in the first draft of +the bill. But the proposal was soon dropped. It revived the memory of +the regrettable incident of 1858 when the Queen had, by request, +selected Ottawa as the Canadian capital and her decision had been +condemned by a vote of the legislature. The press had discussed a +suitable name long before the London delegates assembled. Some +favoured New Britain, while others preferred Laurentia or Britannia. +If the maritime union had been effected, the name of that division +would probably have been Acadia, and this name was suggested for the +larger union. Other ideas were merely fantastic, such as Cabotia, +Columbia, Canadia, and Ursalia. The decision that Canada should give +up its name +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P128"></A>128}</SPAN> +to the new Confederation and that Upper and Lower +Canada should find new names for themselves was undoubtedly a happy +conclusion to the discussion. It was desired to call the Confederation +the Kingdom of Canada, and thus fix the monarchical basis of the +constitution. The French were especially attached to this idea. The +word Kingdom appeared in an early draft of the bill as it came from the +conference. But it was vetoed by the foreign secretary, Lord +Stanley,[<A NAME="chap11fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap11fn1">1</A>] who thought that the republican sensibilities of the United +States would be wounded. This preposterous notion serves to indicate +the inability of the controlling minds of the period to grasp the true +nature of the change. Finally, the word 'Dominion' was decided upon. +Why a term was selected which is so difficult to render in the French +language (<I>La Puissance</I> is the translation employed) is not easy of +comprehension. There is a story, probably invented, that when +'Dominion' was under consideration, a member of the conference, well +versed in the Scriptures, found a verse which, as a piece of +descriptive prophecy, at once clinched the matter: 'And his dominion +shall be from +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P129"></A>129}</SPAN> +sea even to sea, and from the river even to the +ends of the earth.'[<A NAME="chap11fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap11fn2">2</A>] +</P> + +<P> +The knotty question of the second chamber, supposed to have been solved +at Quebec, came up again. The notes of the discussion[<A NAME="chap11fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap11fn3">3</A>] are as +interesting as the surviving notes of the Quebec Conference. Some of +the difficulties since experienced were foreseen. But no one appears +to have realized that the Senate would become the citadel of a defeated +party, until sufficient vacancies by death should occur to transform it +into the obedient instrument of the government of the day. No one +foresaw, in truth, that the Senate would consider measures chiefly on +party grounds, and would fail to demonstrate the usefulness of a second +chamber by industry and capacity in revising hasty legislation. The +delegates actually believed that equality of representation between the +three divisions, Upper Canada, Lower Canada, and the Maritime +Provinces, would make the Senate a bulwark of protection to individual +provinces. In this character it has never shone.[<A NAME="chap11fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap11fn4">4</A>] Its chief value +has been as +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P130"></A>130}</SPAN> +a reservoir of party patronage. The opinions of +several of the delegates are prophetical: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +HENRY (Nova Scotia)—I oppose the limitation of number. We want a +complete work. Do you wish to stereotype an upper branch irresponsible +both to the crown and the people? A third body interposed +unaccountable to the other two. The crown unable to add to their +number. The people unable to remove them. Suppose a general election +results in the election of a large majority in the Lower House +favourable to a measure, but the legislative council prevents it from +becoming law. The crown should possess some power of enlargement. +</P> + +<P> +FISHER (New Brunswick)—The prerogative of the crown has been only +occasionally used and always for good. This new fangled thing now +introduced, seventy-two oligarchs, will introduce trouble. I advocate +the principle of the power of the crown to appoint additional members +in case of emergency. +</P> + +<P> +HOWLAND (Upper Canada)—My remedy would be to limit the period of +service and vest the appointment in the local legislatures. Now, it is +an anomaly. It won't work and cannot be continued. You cannot give +the crown an unlimited power to appoint. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +One result of the views exchanged is found in the twenty-sixth section +of the Act. This gives the sovereign, acting of course on the advice +of his ministers and at the request of the Canadian government, the +right to add +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P131"></A>131}</SPAN> +three or six members to the Senate, selected equally +from the three divisions mentioned above. These additional members are +not to be a permanent increase of the Senate, because vacancies +occurring thereafter are not to be filled until the normal number is +restored. Once only has it been sought to invoke the power of this +section. In 1873, when the first Liberal ministry after Confederation +was formed, the prime minister, Alexander Mackenzie, finding himself +faced by a hostile majority in the Senate, asked the Queen to add six +members to the Senate 'in the public interests.' The request was +refused. The colonial secretary, Lord Kimberley, held that the power +was intended solely to bring the two Houses into accord when an actual +collision of opinion took place of so serious and permanent a kind that +the government could not be carried on without the intervention of the +sovereign as prescribed in this section. The Conservative majority in +the Senate highly approved of this decision, and expressed its +appreciation in a series of resolutions which are a fine display of +unconscious humour. +</P> + +<P> +Not the least important of the changes in the scheme adopted at London +was that relating to the educational privileges of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P132"></A>132}</SPAN> +minorities. +This is embodied in the famous ninety-third section of the Act, and +originated in a desire to protect the Protestant minority in Lower +Canada. Its champion was Galt. An understanding existed that the +Canadian parliament would enact the necessary guarantees before Canada +entered the union. But the proposal, when brought before the House in +1866, was so expressed as to apply to the schools of both the +Protestant minority in Lower Canada and the Catholic minority in Upper +Canada. This led to disturbing debates and was withdrawn. No +substitute being offered, Galt, deeming himself pledged to his +co-religionists, at once resigned his place in the Cabinet and stated +his reasons temperately in parliament. Although no longer a minister, +he was selected as one of the London delegates, partly because of the +prominent part taken by him in the cause of Confederation and partly in +order that the anxieties of the Lower Canada minority might be allayed. +Galt's conduct throughout was entirely worthy of him. That he was an +enlightened man the memoranda of the London proceedings prove, for +there is a provision in his handwriting showing his desire to extend to +all minorities the protection he claimed for the Lower +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P133"></A>133}</SPAN> +Canada +Protestants. The clause drawn by him differs in its phraseology from +the wording in the Act and is as follows: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +And in any province where a system of separation or dissentient schools +by law obtains, or where the local legislature may adopt a system of +separate or dissentient schools, an appeal shall lie to the governor in +council of the general government from the acts and decisions of the +local authorities which may affect the rights or privileges of the +Protestant or Catholic minority in the matter of education. And the +general parliament shall have power in the last resort to legislate on +the subject.[<A NAME="chap11fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap11fn5">5</A>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The bill passed through parliament without encountering any serious +opposition. Lord Carnarvon's introductory speech in the House of Lords +was an adequate, although not an eloquent, presentation of the subject. +His closing words were impressive: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +We are laying the foundation of a great State—perhaps one which at a +future day +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P134"></A>134}</SPAN> +may even overshadow this country. But, come what may, +we shall rejoice that we have shown neither indifference to their +wishes nor jealousy of their aspirations, but that we honestly and +sincerely, to the utmost of our power and knowledge, fostered their +growth, recognizing in it the conditions of our own greatness. We are +in this measure setting the crown to the free institutions which more +than a quarter of a century ago we gave them, and therein we remove, as +I firmly believe, all possibilities of future jealousy or +misunderstanding. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +No grave objections were raised in either the Lords or the Commons. In +fact, the criticisms were of a mild character. No division was taken +at any stage. In the House of Commons, Mr Adderley, the +under-secretary for the Colonies, who was in charge of the measure, +found a cordial supporter, instead of a critic, in Mr Cardwell, the +former colonial secretary, so that the bill was carried through with +ease and celerity. John Bright's speech reflected the anti-Imperial +spirit of the time. 'I want the population of these provinces,' he +said, 'to do that which they believe to be the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P135"></A>135}</SPAN> +best for their own +interests—remain with this country if they like, in the most friendly +manner, or become independent states if they like. It they should +prefer to unite themselves with the United States, I should not +complain even of that.' +</P> + +<P> +The strenuous protests made by Joseph Howe and the Nova Scotian +opponents of Confederation were not unnoticed. It was claimed by one +or two speakers that the electors of that province should be allowed to +pronounce upon the measure, but this evoked no support, and the wishes +of all the provinces were considered to have been sufficiently +consulted. The argument for further delay failed to enlist any active +sympathy; and the wish of the delegates that no material alteration be +made in the bill, as it was a compromise based upon a carefully +arranged agreement, was respected. The constitution was thus the +creation of the colonial statesmen themselves, and not of the Imperial +government or parliament. +</P> + +<P> +That so important a step in the colonial policy of the Empire should +have been received at London in a passive and indifferent spirit has +often been the subject of complaint. When the Australian Commonwealth +came into existence, the event was marked by more +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P136"></A>136}</SPAN> +ceremony and +signalized by greater impressiveness. But another phase of the +question should be kept in mind. The British North America Act +contained the promise of the vast Dominion which exists to-day, but not +the reality. The measure dealt with the union of the four provinces +only. The Confederation, as we have it, was still incomplete. When +the royal proclamation was issued on the 10th of May bringing the new +Dominion into being on July 1, 1867, much remained to be done. The +constitution must be put to the test of practical experience; and the +task of extending the Dominion across the continent must be undertaken. +Upon the first government of Canada, in truth, would rest a duty as +arduous as ever fell to the lot of statesmen. They had in their hands +a half-finished structure, and might, conceivably, fail in completing +it. +</P> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap11fn1"></A> +<A NAME="chap11fn2"></A> +<A NAME="chap11fn3"></A> +<A NAME="chap11fn4"></A> +<A NAME="chap11fn5"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap11fn1text">1</A>] He became Lord Derby in 1869 and bore this title in 1889 when Sir +John Macdonald related the incident. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap11fn2text">2</A>] Zechariah ix 10. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap11fn3text">3</A>] Sir Joseph Pope's <I>Confederation Documents</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap11fn4text">4</A>] The recent increase in the number of western senators modifies this +feature. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap11fn5text">5</A>] <I>Confederation Documents</I>, p. 112. Mr Justice Day of Montreal, an +English Protestant enjoying the confidence of the French, is believed +to have had a hand in framing the Galt policy on this subject. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P137"></A>137}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE FIRST DOMINION MINISTRY +</H4> + +<P> +Before the delegates left London the governor-general privately invited +John A. Macdonald to form the first ministry of the Dominion. A month +later the same offer was made more formally in writing: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +I entrust this duty to you as the individual selected for their +chairman and spokesman by the unanimous vote of the delegates when they +were in England, and I adopt this test for my guidance in consequence +of the impossibility, under the circumstances, of ascertaining, in the +ordinary constitutional manner, who possesses the confidence of a +Parliament which does not yet exist. In authorizing you to undertake +the duty of forming an administration for the Dominion of Canada, I +desire to express my strong opinion that, in future, it shall be +distinctly understood that the position of first minister shall be +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P138"></A>138}</SPAN> +held by <I>one</I> person, who shall be responsible to the +Governor-General for the appointment of the other ministers, and that +the system of dual first ministers, which has hitherto prevailed, shall +be put an end to.[<A NAME="chap12fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap12fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The selection of Macdonald was inevitable. When George Brown by his +action in 1864 made Confederation possible and entered a Cabinet where +his great rival was the commanding influence, he must have foreseen +that, in the event of the cause succeeding, his own chances of +inaugurating the new state as its chief figure were not good. And by +leaving the coalition abruptly before union was accomplished he had put +himself entirely out of the running. In a group of able men which +included several potential prime ministers Macdonald had advanced to +the first place by reason of gifts precisely suited to the demands of +the hour. Lord Monck's choice was therefore justified. Nor was the +resolve to abolish the awkward and indefensible system of a dual +premiership less open to question. It may have given pain to Cartier, +but it was a wise and necessary decision. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P139"></A>139}</SPAN> + +<P> +Lord Monck, however, does not rank high in the list of talented men who +have filled the office of governor-general. The post had gone +a-begging when he accepted it in 1861. It had been offered to and +refused by Lord Wodehouse, a former viceroy of Ireland; Lord Harris, +once governor of Madras and a contemporary of Elgin; Lord Eversley, who +had been speaker of the House of Commons; and the Duke of Buckingham. +Lord Monck had scarcely arrived in Canada when the <I>Trent</I> Affair +occurred. Later on the St Albans Raid intensified the bitter feelings +between Great Britain and the United States. On both occasions he +performed his duties as an Imperial officer judiciously and well. But +his relations with Canadian affairs were not so happy. He became +dissatisfied with the political conditions as he found them; and his +petulance over the slow progress of Confederation led him to threaten +resignation. He contrived, moreover, to incur much personal +unpopularity, which found vent, during the first session of the +Dominion parliament, in a measure to reduce the salary of the +governor-general from £10,000 to $32,000. That this unparalleled +action was, in part, directed at Lord Monck is shown in the +determination +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P140"></A>140}</SPAN> +to put the reduction in force at once. The home +authorities, however, disallowed the bill. In his speech in the House +of Lords on the British North America Act, Monck failed to rise to the +occasion, owing to a sympathy with the views of the Manchester School. +To remain long enough in Canada to preside over the new Dominion had +been his own wish. But it does not appear that he utilized his +opportunities to marked advantage. +</P> + +<P> +A unique political situation confronted Macdonald. It was natural to +suppose that, as the federation leaders belonged to both parties, the +first Cabinet should be composed of representative men of both. This +was the line Macdonald proposed to take. By this policy a strong +national party, with larger aims, would arise, and the old prejudices +and issues would be swept away. This statesmanlike conception involved +certain embarrassments, because the number of ambitious men looking for +Cabinet appointments would be increased and the expectations of +faithful Conservative supporters must suffer disappointment. These +problems, however, were not new to Macdonald. He had faced similar +dangers before, and his skill in handling them was equal to his +experience. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P141"></A>141}</SPAN> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Brown set himself to prevent a plan which would detach a +section of the Liberals from their former associates and permanently +range them under a Conservative leader. He cannot be blamed for this. +Confederation being now a fact, he considered himself under no +obligation to continue an alliance proposed for a special object. +Although Macdonald might be able to enlist the support of some maritime +Liberals, Brown strove to reunite his party in Ontario and present a +solid phalanx to the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +A Liberal convention met in Toronto on the 27th and 28th of June 1867. +There was a good attendance, and impassioned appeals were made to men +of the party throughout the province to join in opposing any ministry +which Macdonald might form. It was generally understood that the three +Liberal ministers—Howland, McDougall, and Blair—were to continue in +the government, which would be renewed as a coalition with a certain +degree of Liberal support in the House. To strict party men this was +obnoxious. George Brown denounced any further coalition of parties: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +If, sir, there is any large number of men in this assembly who will +record their votes +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P142"></A>142}</SPAN> +this night in favour of the degradation of the +public men of that party [the Liberals] by joining a coalition, I +neither want to be a leader nor a humble member of that party. +[Cheers.] If that is the reward you intend to give us all for our +services, I scorn connection with you. [Immense cheering.] Go into +the same government with Mr John A. Macdonald! [Cries of never! +never!] Sir, I understood what degradation it was to be compelled to +adopt that step by the necessities of the case, by the feeling that the +interests of my country were at stake, which alone induced me ever to +put my foot into that government; and glad was I when I got out of it. +None ever went into a government with such sore hearts as did two out +of the three who entered it on behalf of the Reform party—I cannot +speak for the third. It was the happiest day of my life when I got out +of the concern. [Cheers.] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +These were warm words, designed to rally a divided party. In due time +the tireless energy of the speaker and his friends reawakened the +fighting strength of their followers. For the moment, however, a +considerable number of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P143"></A>143}</SPAN> +Liberals were disposed to give the new +conditions a trial. Howland and McDougall were invited to address the +convention, and they put their case in temperate and dignified +language. Howland pointed out that in the new ministry there would be +several Liberals from the lower provinces, and these men had requested +their Ontario friends not to leave them. McDougall's address was +especially apt and convincing: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +We think that the work of coalition is not done, but only begun. We +think that British Columbia should be brought into the confederacy, +that the great north-western territory should be brought in, that +Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland should be brought in. I say that +the negotiations of the terms upon which these provinces are to be +brought in are important, and that it is as necessary that the +government in power should not be obliged to fight from day to day for +its political existence, as when Confederation was carried up to the +point we have now reached.... I think the coalition ought not to cease +until the work begun under Mr Brown's auspices is ended. +</P> + +<BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P144"></A>144}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +It was evident from these remarks that the arguments—what his critics +called the blandishments—of Macdonald had prevailed. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The first Cabinet, which was announced on July 1, began on a non-party +basis. This commended it to moderate men generally. But the task of +getting it together had been herculean. To secure a ministry +representative of all parts of the country seemed a reasonable policy +at the beginning. With time this has grown into an unwritten +convention of the constitution which cannot be ignored. In 1867 the +Cabinet representation had to be determined by geography, race, creed, +and party. None but an old parliamentary hand could have made the +attempt successfully. Ontario claimed and was assigned five ministers, +Quebec four, and the Maritime Provinces four. So much for geography. +Then came race and creed. It was found necessary to give the Irish +Catholics and the English minority in Quebec each a minister. The +French demanded and were granted three ministers. Finally, the fusion +of parties imposed another difficulty upon the cabinet-maker. He could +not find room for all the really deserving. There were thirteen +ministers—too many, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P145"></A>145}</SPAN> +thought Brown and the <I>Globe</I>—and of these +six were Liberal and six Conservative, while Kenny of Nova Scotia had +once been a Liberal but had lately acted with the Tupper party. The +surprises were the absence of the names of McGee and Tupper from the +list. To have selected McGee as the Irish Catholic minister meant five +representatives for Quebec, and Ontario would not consent. This +threatened a deadlock, and Macdonald was about to advise the +governor-general to send for George Brown, when McGee and Tupper, with +a disinterested generosity rare in politics, waived their claims, and +Edward Kenny became the Irish representative and second minister from +Nova Scotia. The first administration was thus constituted: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +JOHN A. MACDONALD, Prime Minister and Minister of Justice.<BR> +GEORGE E. CARTIER, Minister of Militia and Defence.<BR> +S. LEONARD TILLEY, Minister of Customs.<BR> +ALEXANDER T. GALT, Minister of Finance.<BR> +WILLIAM McDOUGALL, Minister of Public Works.<BR> +WILLIAM P. HOWLAND, Minister of Inland Revenue.<BR> +ADAMS G. ARCHIBALD, Secretary of State for the Provinces.<BR> +A. J. FERGUSSON BLAIR, President of the Privy Council.<BR> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P146"></A>146}</SPAN> +PETER MITCHELL, Minister of Marine and Fisheries.<BR> +ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, Postmaster-General.<BR> +JEAN C. CHAPAIS, Minister of Agriculture.<BR> +HECTOR L. LANGEVIN, Secretary of State of Canada.<BR> +EDWARD KENNY, Receiver-General.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The two men who had stepped aside in order that a ministry might be +formed under Macdonald were actuated partly by personal regard for +their leader. It was not a small sacrifice. Macdonald wrote to McGee: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +The difficulties of adjusting the representation in the Cabinet from +the several provinces were great and embarrassing. Your disinterested +and patriotic conduct—and I speak of Tupper as well as yourself—had +certainly the effect of removing those difficulties. Still, I think +you should have first consulted me. However, the thing is done and +can't be undone for the present; but I am very sure that at a very +early day your valuable services will be sought for by the government. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +McGee was to have retired from political life and to have received the +appointment of commissioner of patents at $3200 a year, a sinecure +which would have enabled him to pursue his literary work. His +assassination in the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P147"></A>147}</SPAN> +early morning of April 7, 1868, on returning +to his lodging after a late session of the House, is one of the most +tragic episodes in the annals of Canada. +</P> + +<P> +The ministers having been sworn of the Privy Council, Lord Monck +announced that Her Majesty had been pleased to confer upon the new +prime minister the rank of Knight Commander of the Bath, and upon +Cartier, Galt, Tilley, Tupper, Howland, and McDougall the companionship +of the same order. No previous intimation had been given to any of +them. Cartier and Galt, deeming the recognition of their services +inadequate, declined to receive it. This incident is only worthy of +mention because it tended to disturb the personal relations of men who +should have acted in complete harmony at a time of national importance. +No Imperial honours had been conferred in Canada since 1860, and it was +unfortunate that the advice tendered the crown on this historic +occasion should have been open to criticism and have engendered ill +feeling. Cartier thought that his race had been affronted in his +person, and his reasons for protest were political. He told his +colleagues: 'Personally I care nothing for honours, but as a +representative of one of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P148"></A>148}</SPAN> +two great provinces in Confederation +I have a position to maintain, and I shall not accept the honour. I +regret that such an action is necessary, because it may be construed as +an insult to Her Majesty. I feel aggrieved that I should not have been +notified in advance, so that I should not now have to refuse, but I +shall write to Her Majesty myself explaining the reasons for my +refusing the honour.'[<A NAME="chap12fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap12fn2">2</A>] The error was soon rectified and Cartier was +made a baronet. A number of persons, including Charles Tupper and +Edward Watkin, a member of the Imperial parliament, interested +themselves in the matter, pointing out to the London authorities the +unwisdom of bestowing titles without due regard to the Imperial +services of the recipients. The reputations of Galt and Cartier as +serious statesmen were not enhanced. Explain it as we may, there is a +flavour of absurdity about their proceedings. Galt was offered a +knighthood in 1869, and would not accept until the Imperial government +had been made aware of his views upon the ultimate destiny of Canada. +In a letter to the governor-general he thus placed himself on record: +</P> + +<BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P149"></A>149}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="block"> +I regard the confederation of the British North American Provinces as a +measure which must ultimately lead to their separation from Great +Britain. The present connection is undoubtedly an embarrassment to +Great Britain in her relations to the United States and a source of +uneasiness to the Dominion, owing to the insecurity which is felt to +exist from the possibility of a rupture between the two nations. It +cannot be the policy of England, and is certainly not the desire of the +people here, to become annexed to the United States; but I believe the +best, and indeed the only way to prevent this, is to teach the Canadian +people to look forward to an independent existence as a nation in the +future as desirable and possible. Unless such a spirit be cultivated, +the idea will become engrained in the public mind, that failing the +connection with Great Britain annexation must ensue. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Galt went on to state that he hoped separation would be postponed as +long as possible. The reply of the secretary of state, Lord Granville, +was private, but it appears to have been in effect a declaration that +Galt could hold +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P150"></A>150}</SPAN> +any views he pleased about the future of the +Empire. He accepted the K.C.M.G. and worthily wore it to the end of an +honourable and public-spirited career. Thus was vindicated the freedom +of speech which is the birthright of every British subject. But Galt, +in exercising it, showed lack of stability and a tendency to take an +erratic course, which crippled his influence in the young state he had +done so much to found. +</P> + +<P> +It was an enormous burden of duty which now fell upon the executive. +The whole machinery of state required recasting. The uncertainties of +a situation wherein party bonds sat lightly and diversities of opinion +lingered, taxed all the resources of the leader of the government. +Although different views are held as to the particular stage in his +long career in which the remarkable qualities of Sir John Macdonald +displayed themselves most conspicuously, the first five years of the +union may well be regarded by future historians as the period when his +patience, tenacity, and adroitness were especially in evidence. +</P> + +<P> +The provincial governments had to be constituted; and in Ontario +Macdonald scored again by persuading Sandfield Macdonald to form a +coalition ministry in which party lines +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P151"></A>151}</SPAN> +were effaced and the +policy of coalition was defended by an erstwhile Liberal leader. +Sandfield Macdonald was a man of talent and integrity. His attitude of +mind was rather that of an oppositionist, upon whom the functions of +independent critic sat more easily than the compromises and discipline +entailed by party leadership. He bore restraint with impatience, and +if his affiliations had always been with the Liberals, it was not +because his sympathies were radical and progressive.[<A NAME="chap12fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap12fn3">3</A>] In the Liberal +caucus of 1864 he had moved the resolution requesting George Brown to +enter the coalition government, without recognizing, apparently, that +he thereby incurred an obligation himself to support federation. Both +in the Ontario legislature, where he was loth to follow any course but +his own, and in the Dominion parliament, where he ostentatiously +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P152"></A>152}</SPAN> +sat on an Opposition bench, he presented a shining example of that type +of mind which lacks the capacity for unity and co-operation with +others. He illustrated, too, one of the difficult features of +Macdonald's problem—the absence of unity among the public men of the +time—a condition which complicated, if it did not retard, the +formation of a homogeneous national sentiment.[<A NAME="chap12fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap12fn4">4</A>] +</P> + +<P> +The general elections were impending, and everything turned upon the +verdict of the country. The first elections for the House of Commons +took place during the months of August and September, the practice of +holding elections all on one day having not yet come into vogue. The +three provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick sustained the +government by large majorities. But in Nova Scotia the agitation +against the union swept the province. Tupper was the only Conservative +elected. His victory was the more notable in that he defeated William +Annand, the chief lieutenant of Howe and afterwards the leader of the +repeal movement. Adams Archibald, the secretary of state, was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P153"></A>153}</SPAN> +defeated in Colchester by A. W. McLelan, and Henry, another member of +the Quebec Conference, was rejected in Antigonish. In Ontario there +were losses. George Brown was defeated in South Ontario by a few +votes, and did not again sit in parliament until he was appointed to +the Senate in 1874. In the early years of the Dominion a member might +sit both in the House of Commons and in the legislature of his +province. So it was that at this election Edward Blake was returned +from South Bruce to the Ontario legislature and from West Durham to the +House of Commons. Other members who occupied seats in both bodies were +Sandfield Macdonald, John Carling, Alexander Mackenzie, and E. B. Wood. +Cartier's success in Quebec left his opponents only fifteen seats out +of sixty-five. The stars in their courses fought for the government; +and had it not been for Nova Scotia, where the victorious and hostile +forces were pledged to repeal, the consolidation of the Dominion could +have gone forward without hindrance. +</P> + +<P> +To deal with 'that pestilent fellow Howe,' to use Macdonald's phrase, +was a first charge upon the energies of the government. The history of +the repeal movement in Nova Scotia, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P154"></A>154}</SPAN> +with all its incidents and +sidelights, has yet to be written. It was but one of the +disintegrating forces which Macdonald found so hard to cope with, that +in a moment of discouragement he seriously thought of withdrawing from +the government and letting others carry it on. A large portion of the +year 1868 was occupied with the effort to reconcile the Nova Scotians. +Instead of abating, the anti-confederate feeling in that province grew +more bitter. A delegation headed by Howe and Annand went to England to +demand repeal from the Imperial authorities. To counteract this move +the Dominion government sent Charles Tupper to present the other side +of the case. None of the passages in his political life reflect more +credit upon him than his diplomacy upon this occasion. He had already +declined, as we have seen, a seat in the Cabinet. Later, he had +further strengthened his reputation by refusing the lucrative office of +chairman of the commission to build the Intercolonial Railway. This +fresh display of independence enabled him to meet the repeal delegates +on ground as patriotic as their own, for it had shown that in this +crisis they were not the only Nova Scotians who wanted nothing for +themselves. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P155"></A>155}</SPAN> + +<P> +Tupper's first step on reaching London was to call on Howe. 'I said to +him,' writes Tupper, 'I will not insult you by suggesting that you +should fail to undertake the mission that brought you here. When you +find out, however, that the Government and the Imperial Parliament are +overwhelmingly against you, it is important for you to consider the +next step.'[<A NAME="chap12fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap12fn5">5</A>] This was to put the finger upon the weakest spot in +Howe's armour. After his mission had failed and the Imperial +authorities had refused to allow the union to be broken up, as they +most assuredly would, what could Howe and his friends do next? A +revolution was unthinkable. A province 'on strike' would have no +adequate means of raising a revenue, and a government lacking the power +of taxation soon ceases to exist. The extremists talked Annexation; +but in this they counted without Howe and the loyal province of Nova +Scotia. The movement, noisy and formidable as it appeared, was +foredoomed to failure. All this Tupper put to Joseph Howe; and when +Tupper proposed that Howe should enter the Dominion Cabinet, not as his +docile follower but as his leader, it +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P156"></A>156}</SPAN> +can readily be believed +that he was 'completely staggered.' +</P> + +<P> +True to Tupper's forecast, and due in part, at least, to his powerful +advocacy of the cause of union, the home government stood firm against +the cry from Nova Scotia. The delegates and their opponents returned +home. Then the rapid development of events compelled Howe to face the +issue: when legal and constitutional methods were exhausted without +avail, what then? The crisis came. Howe was obliged to break with his +associates, some of whom were preaching sedition, and to take a stand +more in accordance with his real convictions and his Imperial +sentiments. Early in August 1868 Sir John Macdonald went to Halifax +and met the leading malcontents. 'They have got the idea into their +heads,' wrote Howe in a private letter, 'that you are a sort of wizard +that, having beguiled Brown, McDougall, Tupper, etc., to destruction, +is about to do the same kind of office to me.' Howe was not beguiled, +but a master of tactics showed him the means by which Nova Scotia could +be kept in the union; the way was paved for a final settlement; and a +few months later Howe joined the Dominion government. +</P> + +<P> +Long after Joseph Howe had passed to his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P157"></A>157}</SPAN> +rest, echoes of the +repeal agitation were heard in Nova Scotia; and it was frequently +asserted that the question of union should have been submitted to a +vote of the people. Such a course, owing to the circumstances already +narrated, was impracticable and would have been fatal to Confederation. +But the pacification of the province was a great feat of statesmanship; +for to maintain the young Dominion intact was essential to its further +extension. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12fn1"></A> +<A NAME="chap12fn2"></A> +<A NAME="chap12fn3"></A> +<A NAME="chap12fn4"></A> +<A NAME="chap12fn5"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap12fn1text">1</A>] <I>Memoirs</I>, vol. i, p. 319. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap12fn2text">2</A>] <I>Sir George Etienne Cartier, Bart; His Life and Times</I>, by John +Boyd. Toronto, 1914. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap12fn3text">3</A>] Sir James Whitney, prime minister of Ontario from 1903 to 1914, who +was a young student in Sandfield Macdonald's law office in Cornwall and +shared his political confidence, assured the present writer that +Ontario's first prime minister was not a Liberal in the real sense, his +instincts and point of view being essentially Conservative. After +Robert Baldwin's retirement Sandfield Macdonald's natural course would +have been an alliance with the progressive Conservatives under John A. +Macdonald, but his antipathy to acknowledging any leader kept him +aloof. His laconic telegram in reply to John A. Macdonald's offer of +cabinet office is characteristic: 'No go!' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap12fn4text">4</A>] A conspicuous case in point is the entire want of sympathy between +Brown and Galt, men of similar type, whose opinions on several +questions coincided. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap12fn5text">5</A>] <I>Recollections of Sixty Years in Canada</I>, by the Rt. Hon. Sir +Charles Tupper, Bart. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P158"></A>158}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +FROM SEA TO SEA +</H4> + +<P> +The extension of the Dominion to the Pacific ocean had been discussed +at the Quebec Conference. Some of the maritime delegates, however, +thought they had no authority to discuss the acquisition of territory +beyond the boundaries of the provinces; and George Brown, one of the +strongest advocates of western extension, conceded that the inclusion +of British Columbia and Vancouver Island in the scheme of union was +'rather an extreme proposition.' But the Canadian leaders never lost +sight of the intervening regions of Rupert's Land and the North-West +Territory. They foresaw the danger of the rich prairie lands falling +under foreign control, and entertained no doubts as to the necessity of +terminating in favour of Canada the hold of the Hudson's Bay Company +over these regions. +</P> + +<P> +In 1857 the select committee of the Imperial House of Commons, +mentioned in a preceding +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P159"></A>159}</SPAN> +chapter, had believed it 'essential to +meet the just and reasonable wishes of Canada to be enabled to annex to +her territory such portion of the land in her neighbourhood as may be +available to her for the purposes of settlement.' The districts on the +Red River and on the Saskatchewan were considered as likely to be +desired; and, as a condition of occupation, Canada should open up and +maintain communication and provide for local administration. The +committee thought that if Canada were unwilling to take over the Red +River country at an early date some temporary means of government might +be devised. Nothing, however, had come of the suggestion. Had it been +carried out, and a crown colony created, comprising the territory which +is now the province of Manitoba, the Dominion would have been saved a +disagreeable and humiliating episode, as well as political +complications which shook the young state to its foundations. This was +the trouble known to history as the Red River Rebellion. As an armed +insurrection it was only a flash in the pan. But it awoke passions in +Ontario and Quebec, and revived all those dissensions, racial and +religious, which the union had lulled into a semblance of harmony. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P160"></A>160}</SPAN> + +<P> +One of the first steps taken by parliament in the autumn of 1867 was +the adoption of an address to the Queen, moved by William McDougall, +asking that Rupert's Land and the North-West Territory be united with +Canada. Two members of the government, Cartier and McDougall, went to +England to negotiate for the extinction of the rights of the Hudson's +Bay Company. After months of delay, caused partly by the serious +illness of McDougall, it was agreed that the company should receive +£300,000, one-twentieth of the lands lying within the Fertile Belt, and +45,000 acres adjacent to its trading-posts. The Canadian parliament +formally accepted the bargain, and the deed of surrender provided that +the change of rule should come into force on December 1, 1869. +</P> + +<P> +It was no mean ambition of William McDougall to be the first Canadian +administrator of this vast region with its illimitable prospects; a man +of talent, experience, and breadth of view, such as McDougall was, +might reasonably hope there to carve out a great career for himself and +do the state some service. He was appointed on September 26, 1869, +lieutenant-governor of the 'North-West Territory'—an indefinite term +meant +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P161"></A>161}</SPAN> +apparently to cover the whole western country—and left at +once for his post. He appears to have been quite in the dark +concerning the perilous nature of the mission. At any rate, he could +not foresee that, far from bringing him distinction, the task would +shortly end, as Sir John Macdonald described it, in an inglorious +fiasco. +</P> + +<P> +At this time, it should be remembered, the actual conditions in the +West were but vaguely known in Canada. Efforts towards communication +and exploration, it is true, had begun as early as 1857, when Simon +Dawson made surveys for a road from Fort William and Professor Henry +Youle Hind undertook his famous journey to the plains for scientific +and general observation. A number of adventurous Canadians had gone +out to settle on the plains. There was a newspaper at Fort Garry—the +<I>Nor'Wester</I>—the pioneer newspaper of the country—which had been +started by Mr William Buckingham and a colleague in 1859. But even in +official circles the community to which Governor McDougall went to +introduce authority was very imperfectly understood. +</P> + +<P> +The Red River Settlement in 1869 contained about twelve thousand +inhabitants. The English-speaking portion of the population +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P162"></A>162}</SPAN> +consisted of heterogeneous groups without unity among them for any +public purpose. Some were descendants or survivors of Lord Selkirk's +settlers who had come out half a century before; others were servants +of the Hudson's Bay Company, both retired and active; a third group +were the Canadians; while a fourth was made up of a small though noisy +body of Americans. Outnumbering the English, and united under leaders +of their own race, the French and French half-breeds dwelt chiefly on +the east bank of the Red River, south of Fort Garry. These +half-breeds, or Métis, were a hardy race, who subsisted by hunting +rather than by farming, and who were trained to the use of arms. They +regarded with suspicion the threatened introduction of new political +institutions, and were quite content under the paternal sway of the +Hudson's Bay Company and under the leadership of their spiritual +advisers, Bishop Taché and the priests of the Métis parishes. +</P> + +<P> +The Canadian population numbered about three hundred, with perhaps a +hundred adults, and they, conscious that they represented the coming +régime, were not disposed to conciliate either the company or the +native settlers. It was mooted among the half-breeds that they +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P163"></A>163}</SPAN> + +were to be swamped by the incoming Canadians, and much resentment was +aroused among them against the assumption of authority by the Dominion +government. To make matters worse, a Canadian surveying party, led by +Colonel J. Stoughton Dennis, had begun in the summer of 1869 to make +surveys in the Province. This created alarm among the half-breed +settlers, whose titles did not rest in any secure legal authority, and +who were fearful that they were about to lose their possessions. Thus +it came about that they resolved upon making a determined attempt to +resist the transfer of the country to Canada. +</P> + +<P> +Underrating the difficulty and impatient of delay, McDougall took the +unwise step of issuing a proclamation, from his temporary headquarters +at Pembina, assuming control of the territory and calling upon the +inhabitants to recognize his authority. He supposed, of course, that +the transfer would be made, according to agreement, on December 1, and +did not know that the Canadian government had declined to accept it or +pay over the purchase-money until assured that peace and good order +prevailed. The advices from Ottawa to McDougall were delayed, and he +felt himself +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P164"></A>164}</SPAN> +obliged to act without definite knowledge of the +position of affairs. +</P> + +<P> +After months of agitation the Métis under Louis Riel took command of +the situation, armed their fighting men, seized Fort Garry, put a +number of prominent white residents under arrest, and formed a +provisional government. They sent word to the new governor not to +enter the country; and when he advanced, with his official party, a +short distance over the frontier, he was forcibly compelled by the +insurgents to retreat into the United States. The rebels at Fort Garry +became extremely menacing. Louis Riel, the central figure in this +drama, was a young French half-breed, vain, ambitious, with some +ability and the qualities of a demagogue. He had received his +education in Lower Canada, and was on intimate terms with the French +priests of the settlement. His conduct fifteen years later, when he +returned to head another Métis rebellion farther west and paid the +penalty on the scaffold, indicates that once embarked on a dangerous +course he would be restrained by no one. That he was half, or wholly, +insane on either occasion is not credible. +</P> + +<P> +Efforts were now made to negotiate with +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P165"></A>165}</SPAN> +the rebels and quiet the +disturbance. Delegates went to the West from Canada consisting of +Grand Vicar Thibault, Colonel de Salaberry, and Donald A. Smith +(afterwards Lord Strathcona). There were exciting scenes; but the +negotiations bore no immediate fruit. It was the depth of winter. The +delegates had not come to threaten because they had no force to employ. +The rebels had the game in their own hands. Bishop Taché, who was +unhappily absent in Rome, was summoned home to arrange a peace on terms +which might have left Riel and his associates some of the high stakes +for which they were playing, had they not spoiled their own chances by +a cruel, vindictive murder. +</P> + +<P> +After the departure of the Canadian delegates and the announcement of +Bishop Taché's return, Riel felt his power ebbing away. His +provisional government became a thing of shreds and patches, in spite +of its large assumptions and its temporary control during the winter +when the country was inaccessible. Among the imprisoned whites was +Thomas Scott, a young man from Ontario who had been employed in +surveying work and who was prominent in resistance to the usurpers. +Riel is credited with a threat to shed some +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P166"></A>166}</SPAN> +blood to prove the +reality of his power and to quell opposition. He rearrested a number +of whites who had been released under promise of safety. One of them +was Scott, charged with insubordination and breaking his parole. He +was brought before a revolutionary tribunal resembling a court-martial, +and was sentenced to be shot. Even if Riel's lawless tribunal had +possessed judicial authority, Scott's conduct in no respect justified a +death sentence. He had not been under arms when captured, and he was +given no fair opportunity of defending himself. Efforts were made to +save him, but Riel refused to show mercy. On March 4, a few days +before Bishop Taché arrived at the settlement, Scott was shot by six +men, several of them intoxicated, one refusing to prime his rifle, and +one discharging a pistol at the victim as he lay moaning on the ground. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-166"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-166.jpg" ALT="Alexandre Antonin Taché. From a photograph lent by Rev. L. Messier, St. Boniface." BORDER="2" WIDTH="368" HEIGHT="511"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 400px"> +Alexandre Antonin Taché. <BR>From a photograph lent by Rev. L. Messier, St. Boniface. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +When the news of this barbarous murder reached the East, a political +crisis was imminent. Scott was an Orangeman; and Catholic priests, it +was said, had been closely identified with the rising. This was enough +to start an agitation and to give it the character of a race and creed +struggle. There existed also a suspicion that a miniature Quebec was +to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P167"></A>167}</SPAN> +be set up on the Red River, thus creating a sort of buffer +French state between Ontario and the plains. Another cause of +discontent was the belief that the government proposed to connive at +the assassination of Scott and to allow his murderers to escape +punishment. McDougall returned home, mortified by his want of success, +and soon resigned his position. He blamed the government for what had +occurred, and associated himself with the agitation in Ontario. The +organization known as the Canada First party took a hand in the fray. +It was composed of a few patriotic and able young men, including W. A. +Foster, a Toronto barrister; Charles Mair, the well-known poet; John +Schultz, who many years later, as Sir John Schultz, became governor of +Manitoba, and who with Mair had been imprisoned by Riel and threatened +with death; and Colonel George T. Denison, whose distinguished career +as the promoter of Imperial unity has since made him famous in Canada +and far beyond it. +</P> + +<P> +The circumstances of the time, the distrust between the races and the +vacillation of a sorely pressed government, combined to make an awkward +situation. The evidence does not show that the Ontario agitators let +slip any +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P168"></A>168}</SPAN> +of their opportunities. The government was compelled to +send under Colonel Wolseley an expeditionary force of Imperial troops +and Canadian volunteers to nip in the bud the supposed attempt to +establish French ascendancy on the Red River. This expedition was +completely successful without the firing of a shot. Riel, at the sight +of the troops, fled to the United States, and the British flag was +raised over Fort Garry. So, in 1870, Manitoba entered the Dominion as +a new province, and the adjacent territories were organized under a +lieutenant-governor and council directly under federal jurisdiction. +Out of them, thirty-five years later, came the provinces of Alberta and +Saskatchewan. +</P> + +<P> +But the fruits of the rebellion were evident for years. One result was +the defeat in Ontario of Sandfield Macdonald's ministry in 1871. 'I +find the country in a sound state,' wrote Sir John Macdonald during the +general elections of 1872, 'the only rock ahead being that infernal +Scott murder case, about which the Orangemen have quite lost their +heads.'[<A NAME="chap13fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap13fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P> +When order was restored the clever miscreant Riel returned to the +settlement. By raising a force to aid in quelling a threatened Fenian +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P169"></A>169}</SPAN> +invasion, he gulled Bishop Taché and the new governor, Adams G. +Archibald, and had himself elected to the Dominion parliament. But +Riel's crimes were too recent and too gross to be overlooked. His +effrontery in taking the oath as a member was followed by his expulsion +from the House; and once more he fled the country, only to reappear in +the rôle of a rebel on the Saskatchewan in 1884, and, in the following +year, to expiate his crimes on the scaffold. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Having carried the Dominion to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, the +next step for the government was the acquisition of British Columbia. +After the Oregon Treaty of 1846 the British possessions on the Pacific +coast lay in three divisions, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and +the Stikeen Territory, all in the domains of the Hudson's Bay Company. +In 1863, after the inrush of gold-seekers, the two latter had been +united under one government and granted a Legislative Council, partly +elective. Vancouver Island already had a legislature with two +chambers, one elective. In 1865 Amor DeCosmos, one of the members of +the Assembly for Victoria, began the union movement by proposing that +Vancouver Island should be joined to British Columbia. There +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P170"></A>170}</SPAN> +was +friction between the two colonies, largely on commercial grounds. A +tariff enacted by the colony on the mainland proved injurious to the +island merchants who flourished under a free port. So in 1866 the +Imperial parliament passed an Act uniting the two colonies. Despite +the isolation of the Pacific coast settlements from the British +colonies across the continent on the Atlantic, the Confederation +movement had not passed unnoticed in the Far West; and in March 1867 +the Legislative Council of British Columbia adopted a resolution +requesting Governor Seymour to take measures to secure the admission of +British Columbia into the Dominion 'on fair and equitable terms.' In +transmitting the resolution to the home authorities the governor +candidly pointed out the difficulties. He was not strongly in favour +of the policy. The country east of the Rocky Mountains, it should be +kept in mind, was still in the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company. An +alien population from the United States was increasing in number. +Enormous obstacles stood in the way of communication eastward. 'The +resolution,' wrote Seymour, 'was the expression of a despondent +community longing for change.' However, a public meeting in Victoria +held on January +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P171"></A>171}</SPAN> +29, 1868, urgently recommended union. A memorial +to the Canadian government declared that the people generally were +enthusiastic for the change. The leading newspapers endorsed it. The +popularly elected councils of Victoria and New Westminster were of the +same mind. Opposed to this body of opinion were the official class and +a small party who desired annexation to the United States. The terms +demanded were the assumption by Canada of a debt of about $1,500,000, a +fixed annual subsidy, a wagon-road between Lake Superior and the head +of navigation on the Fraser within two years, local representative +institutions, and representation in the Canadian parliament. +</P> + +<P> +The legislature, despite the alluring prospect set forth in an address +to the Queen moved by DeCosmos, cautiously adopted an amendment +declaring that, while it adhered to its previous action in endorsing +the principle of union 'to accomplish the consolidation of British +interests and institutions in North America,' it lacked the knowledge +necessary to define advantageous terms of union. A convention of +delegates met at Yale to express dissatisfaction with local conditions +in British Columbia and to frame the terms on which +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P172"></A>172}</SPAN> +union would +be desirable. The Legislative Council, still unconvinced, again +declared for delay; but a dispatch from Lord Granville in August 1869, +addressed to the new governor, Anthony Musgrave, who, on the +recommendation of Sir John Macdonald, had succeeded Seymour, +emphatically endorsed Confederation, leaving open only the question of +the terms. The Confederation debate took place in the Legislative +Council in 1870. In concluding his speech in favour of the policy, +Joseph Trutch, one of the three delegates who afterwards went to Canada +to perfect the bargain, said: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +I advocate Confederation because it will secure the continuance of this +colony under the British flag and strengthen British interests on this +continent, and because it will benefit this community—by lessening +taxation and giving increased revenue for local expenditure; by +advancing the political status of the colony; by securing the practical +aid of the Dominion Government...; and by affording, through a railway, +the only means of acquiring a permanent population which must come from +the east of the Rocky Mountains. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P173"></A>173}</SPAN> +The arrangement made by Canada was a generous one. It included a +promise to begin within two years and to complete within ten a railway +to the Pacific, thus connecting British Columbia with the eastern +provinces. The terms were ratified by the people of British Columbia +in the general election of 1870, and the union went into force on July +20, 1871. The Dominion now stretched from sea to sea. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Edward Island had fought stoutly in resistance to the union. +For six years it remained aloof. The fears of a small community, proud +of its local rights and conscious that its place in a federal system +could never be a commanding one, are not to be despised. At first +federation had found eloquent advocates. There could not be, it was +pointed out, any career for men of distinction in a small sea-girt +province cut off completely from the life and interests of the larger +area. But these arguments failed, as also did proposals of a more +substantial kind. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick desired greatly to +augment the maritime importance and influence in the Dominion by the +inclusion of the little island province. During the summer of 1866, +while the delegates from the two maritime provinces +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P174"></A>174}</SPAN> +were waiting +in London for the arrival of their Canadian colleagues, they made an +offer to James C. Pope, prime minister of the Island, who happened to +be in London, that the sum of $800,000 should be allowed the Island, in +order to extinguish the rights of the absentee land-owners, an incubus +that had long caused discontent. The Canadian delegates, at first +reluctant, were brought to agree to this proposal. But it was +declined, and the same fate overtook better financial terms which +Tilley offered in 1869. The Island went its way, but soon found that +the capital necessary for internal development was hard to secure and +harder still to repay if once obtained. A railway debt was incurred, +and financial difficulties arose. +</P> + +<P> +This situation came to the knowledge of Sir John Rose, the first +finance minister of Canada, who had gone to reside in London as a +partner in the great banking house of Morton, Rose and Co. There is a +touch of romance both in the career of Rose and in the fact that it was +through his agency that the little province entered the federation. +Rose was a Scottish lad who had come to Canada to make his fortune. +When a practising barrister in Montreal he had lost his silk gown as +Queen's Counsel +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P175"></A>175}</SPAN> +for signing the Annexation Manifesto in 1849. +His abilities were of the first order, but his tastes inclined to law +rather than to politics. The Dominion was in its infancy when his +talents for finance attracted attention abroad and secured him the +handsome offer which drew him away from Canada and led to his +remarkable success in the money centre of the world. But he never lost +interest in the Dominion. He maintained a close and intimate +correspondence with Sir John Macdonald, and, learning of Prince Edward +Island's difficulties, communicated with the Canadian prime minister. +Thus was the way opened for negotiations. Finally a basis of union was +arranged by which the Dominion assumed the provincial burden and made +the Island railway part of the state system of railways. Prince Edward +Island joined the union on July 1, 1873, and has contributed its full +quota of brain and energy to the upbuilding of Canada. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Newfoundland definitely rejected union in the general election of 1869, +and only once since has it shown an inclination to join the Dominion. +During the financial crisis of 1893 delegates from Newfoundland visited +Ottawa and sought to reach a satisfactory +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P176"></A>176}</SPAN> +arrangement. But the +opportunity was allowed to pass, and the ancient colony has ever since +turned a deaf ear to all suggestions of federation. But it is still +the hope of many that the 'Oldest Colony' will one day acknowledge the +hegemony of Canada. +</P> + +<BR> + +<A NAME="chap13fn1"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap13fn1text">1</A>] <I>Memoirs</I>, vol. ii, p. 150. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P177"></A>177}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE WORK OF THE FATHERS +</H4> + +<P> +The lapse of fifty years should make it possible for us to value the +work of the Fathers with due regard for historical truth. Time has +thrown into bold relief the essential greatness of their undertaking +and has softened the asperities of criticism which seem inseparable +from all political movements. A struggle for national unity brings out +the stronger qualities of man's nature, but is not a magic remedy for +rivalries between the leading minds in the state. On the contrary, it +accentuates for the time being the differences of temperament and the +clash of individual opinions which accompany a notable effort in +nation-making. But distance from the scene and from the men furnishes +a truer perspective. The Fathers were not exempt from the defects that +mark any group of statesmen who take part in a political upheaval; who +uproot existing conditions and disturb settled interests; and who bid, +each +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P178"></A>178}</SPAN> +after his own fashion, for popular support and approval. +The chief leaders in the federation movement survived to comparatively +recent years. The last of them, Sir Charles Tupper, died in the autumn +of 1915. All were closely associated with party politics. There yet +live many who walked and talked with them, who rejoiced with them in +victory and condoled with them in defeat. It were vain to hope that +the voice of faction has been silenced and that the labours of the +Fathers can be viewed in the serene atmosphere which strips the mind of +prejudice and passion. And yet the attempt should be made, because the +founders of Canada are entitled to share the fame of those who made the +nineteenth century remarkable for the unification of states and the +expansion of popular government. +</P> + +<P> +During Sir John Macdonald's lifetime his admirers called him the Father +of Confederation. In length and prestige of official service and in +talent for leadership he had no equals. His was the guiding hand after +the union. The first constructive measures that cemented the Dominion +are identified with his régime. When he died in the twenty-fourth year +of Confederation he had been prime minister for nearly nineteen years. +To his contemporaries +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P179"></A>179}</SPAN> +he towered above others. Time established +his reputation and authority. The personal attachment of his followers +was like to nothing we have seen since, because to their natural pride +in his political triumphs was added a passionate devotion to the man +himself. His opponents have cheerfully borne tribute to the +fascination he exercised over young and old. Holton's delightfully +ambiguous remark, on the occasion of Macdonald's marvellous restoration +to office in 1878, is historic: 'Well! John A. beats the devil.' Sir +Oliver Mowat said, 'He was a genial man, a pleasant companion, full of +humour and wit.' Even his satirical foe, Sir Richard Cartwright, +recognized in him an unusual personality impressing all who came in +contact with it. 'He had an immense acquaintance,' wrote Cartwright, +'with men of all sorts and conditions from one end of Canada to the +other.' +</P> + +<P> +As long as he lived, therefore, an impartial estimate of Macdonald's +share in effecting Confederation could not be expected. After his +death the glamour of his name prevented a critical survey of his +achievements. Even yet it is too soon to render a final verdict. He +took control of the situation at an early stage, because to frame a new +constitution was a task +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P180"></A>180}</SPAN> +after his own heart. He managed the +Quebec Conference with the arts which none of the other members +possessed in equal degree. As political complications arose his +remarkable astuteness soon overcame them; and he emerged from the +negotiations the most conspicuous figure in a distinguished group. It +is inevitable that genius for command should overshadow the merits of +others. True in every line of endeavour, this is especially so in +politics. With his great gifts, Macdonald preserved his ascendancy in +the young nation and was the chief architect of its fortunes for many +years. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-180"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-180.jpg" ALT="An election campaign--George Brown addressing an audience of farmers. From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys" BORDER="2" WIDTH="369" HEIGHT="574"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 500px"> +An election campaign—George Brown addressing an audience of farmers. <BR> +From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +To assert, however, that one person was the author of Confederation, in +the sense that the others played subordinate parts and were mere +satellites revolving round the sun, is to mistake the nature and +history of the movement. It was a long battle against adverse +influences. If left unchallenged, they forbade the idea of a Dominion +stretching from sea to sea. It was not Macdonald who forced the issue +to the front, who bore down stubborn opposition, and who rallied to its +support the elements indispensable to success. Into the common fund +contributions were made from many sources. At least eight of the +Fathers of Confederation +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P181"></A>181}</SPAN> +must be placed in the first rank of +those to whom Canada owes undying gratitude. The names of Brown, +Cartier, Galt, Macdonald, Tupper, Tilley, McGee, and McDougall stand +pre-eminent. All these performed services, each according to his +opportunities, which history will not ignore. +</P> + +<P> +The foremost champion of union at the critical moment was George Brown. +But for him, it is easy to believe, Confederation might have been +delayed for a generation or never have come at all. His enthusiasm +inspired the willing and carried the doubting. In the somewhat rare +combination of courage, force, and breadth of view no one excelled him. +As a political tactician he was not so successful, and to this defect +may be traced the entanglements in which he was prone to land both +himself and his party. His resignation from the coalition in 1865 was +a mistake. It could not be explained. In leaving the ship before it +reached the haven of safety he laid himself open to charges of spleen +and instability. Impulsive he was, but not unstable, and his jealousy +was not greater than other men's. He was always embarrassed by the +fact that the criticisms of his newspaper the <I>Globe</I>, in the exercise +of its undoubted rights as an organ +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P182"></A>182}</SPAN> +of public opinion, were laid +at his door. He found, as other editors have found, that the +compromises of political life and the freedom of the press are natural +enemies. In his patriotic sacrifice in behalf of Confederation lies +his best claim to the respect and affection of his countrymen. +</P> + +<P> +The quality most commonly ascribed to Cartier is courage; and rightly +so. But equally important were his freedom from religious bigotry and +his devotion to the interests of his own people. He guarded at every +step the place of his race in the constitution of the Dominion; and if +we are to believe the story that he fought stoutly in London for strict +adherence to every concession agreed upon at Quebec, his insight into +the future proved equal to his courage. The French were rooted in the +belief that union meant for them a diminished power. There were +grounds for the apprehension. To Cartier was due the subordination of +prejudice to the common good. He was great enough to see that if Lower +Canada was to become the guardian of its special interests and +privileges, Upper Canada must be given a similar security; and this +threw him into the closest alliance with Brown. This principle, as +embodied in the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P183"></A>183}</SPAN> +constitution, is the real basis of Confederation, +which cannot be seriously menaced as long as neither of the central +provinces interferes with the other. Cartier exemplified in his own +person the truth that the French are a tolerant and kindly community, +and that pride of race, displayed within its own proper bounds, makes +for the strength and not the weakness of the Dominion. Unhappily, his +health declined, and he did not live to lead his race in the +development of that larger patriotism of which, with good reason, he +believed them to be capable. But his example survives, and its +influence will be felt in the generations to come. +</P> + +<P> +What share Galt had in affecting Cartier's course is not fully known, +but the two men between them dominated Lower Canada, and their +<I>rapprochement</I> was more than a match for the nullifying efforts of +Dorion and Holton. Galt's best work was also done before the +consummation of the union. After 1867 he practically retired from the +activities of politics, owing more to a distaste for the yoke of party +than to any loss of interest in the welfare of Canada. He had an ample +mind, and in his speeches and writings there is a valuable legacy of +suggestion. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P184"></A>184}</SPAN> + +<P> +Thomas D'Arcy McGee was the orator of the movement. While other +politicians hung back, he proclaimed the advantages of union in season +and out with the zeal of the crusader. His speeches, delivered in the +principal cities of all the provinces, did much to rouse patriotic +fervour. +</P> + +<P> +To Tupper and to Tilley, as this narrative has sought to show, we owe +the adherence of the Maritime Provinces. The present Dominion would +have been impossible but for their labours and sacrifice. A federated +state without an Atlantic seaboard would have resulted in a different +destiny for Canada. Each of these statesmen withstood the temptation +to bend before the storm of local prejudice. By yielding to the +passion of the hour each would have been a hero in his own province and +have enjoyed a long term of office. If evidence were needed that +Confederation inspired its authors to nobler aims than party victories, +the course taken by these leaders furnishes conclusive proof. +</P> + +<P> +William McDougall's part in the movement has suffered eclipse owing to +his political mishaps. No one brought more brilliant qualities to bear +upon the work than he. On the platform and in parliament he had, as a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P185"></A>185}</SPAN> +speaker, no superior. In his newspaper, the <I>North American</I>, he +had espoused a federal union as the first article of his political +creed; and when Brown purchased the paper, McDougall, as the chief +writer for the <I>Globe</I>, strengthened Brown's hands and became his +natural ally in the coalition. They quarrelled openly when McDougall +elected to cast in his lot with Macdonald in the first Dominion +ministry. The Red River episode ruptured his relations with Macdonald, +who never again sought his support. Avoided by both leaders and never +tolerant of party discipline, McDougall sought to fill the rôle of +independent critic and thus earned for himself, unfairly, the sobriquet +'Wandering Willie.' But the Dominion owed much to his constructive +talent. There is evidence that his influence was potent in the +constitutional conferences, and that during his term as minister he had +a strong hand in shaping public policy. +</P> + +<P> +Oliver Mowat left politics for the judicial bench immediately after the +Quebec Conference. He has related that, as the delegates sat round the +table, Macdonald, on being notified of the vacancy in the +vice-chancellorship of Upper Canada, silently passed him a note in +appreciative terms offering him the place. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P186"></A>186}</SPAN> +For seven years he +remained on the bench. But he returned in 1872 to active political +life, and his services to the nation as prime minister of Ontario +display his balanced judgment and clearness of intellect. +</P> + +<P> +Some Canadian statesmen who were invaluable to the new nationality +suffer in being judged too exclusively from a party standpoint. Canada +was fortunate in drawing from the ranks of both Conservatives and +Liberals many men capable of developing the Dominion and adapting an +untried constitution to unforeseen conditions. None had quite the same +opportunities as Sir John Macdonald, who not only helped to frame the +union but administered its policy for a lengthy period. Alexander +Mackenzie gave the country an example of rectitude in public life and +of devotion to duty which is of supreme value to all who recognize that +free government may be undermined and finally destroyed by selfishness +and corruption. Edward Blake, with his lofty conceptions of national +ambition and his profound insight into the working of the constitution, +also exerted a beneficial effect on the evolution of the state. He, +like Sir John Thompson, was a native of the country. In temperament, +in breadth of mind, and in contempt for petty +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P187"></A>187}</SPAN> +and sordid aims, +Blake and Thompson had much in common. They, and others who are too +near our own day for final judgment, fully grasped the work of the +Fathers and helped to give Canada its honourable status in the British +Empire and its distinctive place as a self-governing community. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A retrospective glance reveals the extent to which the Fathers attained +their principal objects. A threefold purpose inspired them. Their +first duty was to evolve a workable plan of government. In this they +succeeded, as fifty years of experience shows. The constitution, after +having stood the usual tests and strain, is firmly rooted in national +approval; and this result has been reached by healthy normal processes, +not by exaggerated claims or a spurious enthusiasm. The constitution +has always been on trial, so to speak, because Canadians are prone to +be critical of their institutions. But at every acute crisis popular +discontent has been due to maladministration and not to defects of +organization. The structure itself stands a monument to those who +erected it. +</P> + +<P> +In the second and most trying of their tasks, the unification of the +provinces, the Fathers +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P188"></A>188}</SPAN> +were also triumphant. From the beginning +the country was well stocked with pessimists and Job's comforters. +They derived inspiration during many years from the brilliant writings +of Goldwin Smith. But in the end even the doubters had to succumb to +the stern logic of the facts. Under any federation, growth in unity is +bound to be slow. The relations of the provinces to the federal power +must be worked out and their relations to each other must be adjusted. +Time alone could solve such a problem. Until the system took definite +shape national sentiment was feeble. But a modified and well-poised +federation, with its strong central government and its carefully +guarded provincial rights, at last won the day. Years of doubt and +trial there were, but in due course the Nova Scotian came to regard +himself as a Canadian and the British Columbian ceased to feel that a +man from the East was a foreigner. The provinces have steadily +developed a community of interest. They meet cordially in periodical +conferences to discuss the rights and claims possessed in common, and +if serious, even menacing, questions are not dealt with as they should +be, the failure will be traced to faulty statesmanship and not to lack +of unity. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P189"></A>189}</SPAN> + +<P> +To preserve the Imperial tie was the third and greatest object of the +Fathers. They realized that many dangers threatened it—some tangible +and visible, others hidden and beyond the ken of man. It may not be +denied that the barque of the new nationality was launched into an +unknown sea. The course might conceivably lead straight to complete +independence, and honest minds, like Galt's, were held in thrall by +this view. Could monarchy in any shape be re-vitalized on the +continent where the Great Republic sat entrenched? What sinister ideas +would not the word Imperialism convey to the practical men of the +western world? These fears the Fathers met with resolute faith and the +seeing eye. They believed that inherent in the beneficent rule of +Queen Victoria there was a constitutional sovereignty which would +appeal irresistibly to a young democracy; that unwavering fidelity to +the crown could be reconciled with the fullest extension of +self-government; and that the British Empire when organized on this +basis would hold its daughter states beyond the seas with bonds that +would not break. +</P> + +<P> +And so it has proved. Of all the achievements of the Fathers this is +the most splendid +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P190"></A>190}</SPAN> +and enduring. The Empire came to mean, not the +survival of antiquated ideas, but the blessings of a well-ordered +civilization. And when in 1914 the Great War shook the world, +Canadians, having found that the sway of Britain brought them peace, +honour, and contentment, were proud to die for the Empire. To debate +the future of Canada was long the staple subject for abstract +discussion, but the march of events has carried us past the stage of +idle imaginings. A knowledge of the laws by which Divine Providence +controls the destinies of nations has thus far eluded the subtlest +intellect, and it may be impossible for any man, however gifted, to +foresee what fate may one day overtake the British Empire. But its +traditions of freedom and toleration, its ideals of pure government and +respect for law, can be handed on unimpaired through the ages. The +opportunity to maintain and perpetuate these traditions and ideals is +the priceless inheritance which Canada has received from the Fathers of +Confederation. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="biblio"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P191"></A>191}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE +</H3> + +<P> +The printed material relative to Confederation is voluminous. The +earliest proposals are to be found in the <I>Constitutional Documents</I> by +Shortt and Doughty. The parliamentary debates of the four provinces +from 1864 to 1867 record the progress of the movement which culminated +in the British North America Act. For the intimate history of the +coalition ministry and the conferences in Quebec and in London the two +works by Sir Joseph Pope, <I>Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald</I> and +<I>Confederation Documents</I>, are mines of indispensable information. The +files of the Toronto <I>Globe</I> and the Halifax <I>Chronicle</I> are valuable, +while the pamphlets, especially those relating to the events in Quebec +and Nova Scotia, are essential. Gray's <I>Confederation</I> confirms other +material, but is not in itself of paramount importance. Mr Chisholm's +<I>Speeches and Public Letters of Joseph Howe</I> and Dr Saunders's <I>Three +Premiers of Nova Scotia</I> must be consulted. Mr John Boyd's <I>Sir George +Etienne Cartier: His Life and Times</I> exhibits full knowledge and is +free from bias. See also the <I>Life and Speeches of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P192"></A>192}</SPAN> +George +Brown</I>, by Alexander Mackenzie, which contains some valuable material. +For a clear and impartial biography of Brown, see <I>George Brown</I>, by +John Lewis. For the period after the union, consult Pope's <I>Memoirs of +Sir John Macdonald</I> and Sir John Willison's <I>Sir Wilfrid Laurier and +the Liberal Party</I>. <I>The Life and Times of Sir Leonard Tilley</I> by +James Hannay and Sir Charles Tupper's <I>Recollections</I> throw light on +the question in the Maritime Provinces. The official dispatches +between the colonial secretary and the governors of the provinces laid +before the Imperial parliament are collected in one volume. Mr +William Houston's <I>Constitutional Documents</I> contains useful notes. +</P> + +<P> +See also <I>Canada and its Provinces</I>, vols. v, vi, xiii, xix, xxi; and, +in the present Series, <I>The Day of Sir John Macdonald</I>, <I>The Day of Sir +Wilfrid Laurier</I>, and <I>The Railway Builders</I>. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="index"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P193"></A>193}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +INDEX +</H3> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Adderley, Mr, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Alberta, in the Dominion, <A HREF="#P159">159</A>, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +American Civil War, the, and Confederation, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>, <A HREF="#P24">24-5</A>, <A HREF="#P67">67</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +American Revolution, <A HREF="#P1">1</A>; cause of, <A HREF="#P4">4</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Annand, William, his opposition to Confederation, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>, <A HREF="#P115">115</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Annexation Manifesto of 1849, the, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Archibald, Adams G., a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n., <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>, +<A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152-3</A>; lieutenant-governor of Manitoba, <A HREF="#P169">169</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Australia, her form of government, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Belleau, Sir Narcisse, prime minister of Canada, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P123">123</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bernard, Hewitt, secretary of the Quebec Conference, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Blair, A. J. Fergusson, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>, <A HREF="#P141">141</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Blake, Edward, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>, <A HREF="#P186">186-187</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bright, John, his anti-Imperial views, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>, <A HREF="#P134">134-5</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +British American League, the, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +British Columbia, <A HREF="#P169">169-70</A>; joins the Dominion, <A HREF="#P170">170-3</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +British North America Act, the, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>, <A HREF="#P124">124-36</A>. See Confederation. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Brown, George, advocates a federation confined to the Canadas, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>; +and extension westward, <A HREF="#P22">22-3</A>, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>; his relations with Macdonald, <A HREF="#P31">31-2</A>, +<A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P138">138</A>, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>; his committee on federal union, <A HREF="#P32">32-3</A>; expresses his +readiness to co-operate with the Conservatives in promoting the federal +system, <A HREF="#P32">32-3</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>; his conference with Macdonald and Galt, <A HREF="#P34">34-8</A>; joins +Macdonald in a coalition government, <A HREF="#P38">38-43</A>, <A HREF="#P138">138</A>, <A HREF="#P151">151</A>; an amusing +incident in the House, <A HREF="#P42">42-3</A>; at the Charlottetown Conference, <A HREF="#P50">50-1</A>; his +speech emphasizing the happy relations of Canada with Britain, <A HREF="#P52">52-3</A>; at +the Quebec Conference, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n., <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P71">71-3</A>, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>, <A HREF="#P77">77-8</A>, <A HREF="#P79">79</A>, <A HREF="#P80">80</A> and note, +<A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>; his speech upholding the Imperial link, <A HREF="#P86">86-7</A>, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>; admits +imperfection in the Confederation constitution scheme, <A HREF="#P89">89-90</A>, <A HREF="#P94">94</A>; +resigns from the coalition, <A HREF="#P106">106-7</A>; and the Manchester School, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, +<A HREF="#P110">110-11</A>, his influence in the London Conference, <A HREF="#P124">124</A>; after +Confederation denounces any further coalition of parties, <A HREF="#P141">141-2</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144-5</A>, +<A HREF="#P185">185</A>; a member of the Senate, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>; an estimate of his work, <A HREF="#P181">181-2</A>; his +personality, <A HREF="#P31">31-2</A>, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152</A> n., <A HREF="#P181">181-2</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Buckingham, William, <A HREF="#P161">161</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cameron, Hillyard, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cameron, M. C., <A HREF="#P95">95</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Campbell, Alexander, a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P50">50-1</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n., <A HREF="#P146">146</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Canada, in the early nineteenth century, <A HREF="#P11">11-14</A>; the call of the West, +<A HREF="#P22">22-3</A>; the visit of the Prince of Wales (Edward VII), <A HREF="#P23">23-4</A>; her +relations with United States, <A HREF="#P25">25-6</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>; the intercolonial railway +negotiations, <A HREF="#P28">28-9</A>. See Dominion, Parliament. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Canada First party, the, <A HREF="#P167">167</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Canada Union Bill of 1822, the, <A HREF="#P8">8</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cape Breton Island, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cardwell, Mr, colonial secretary, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P134">134</A>; his dispatch urging +federation, <A HREF="#P112">112-13</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Carleton, Sir Guy, <A HREF="#P2">2</A>. See Dorchester. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Carling, John, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Carnarvon, Lord, on Canadian currency, <A HREF="#P13">13-14</A>; and Confederation, <A HREF="#P123">123</A>, +<A HREF="#P133">133-4</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Carter, F. B., a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> n. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cartier, George E., his work on behalf of Confederation <A HREF="#P18">18</A>, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>, +<A HREF="#P41">41-3</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50-1</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n., <A HREF="#P73">73</A>, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>; Brown's tribute to, +<A HREF="#P42">42-3</A>; accepts a baronetcy, <A HREF="#P147">147-8</A>; an estimate of his work, <A HREF="#P182">182-3</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cartwright, Sir Richard, on land communication in the early nineteenth +century, <A HREF="#P12">12-13</A>; an amusing incident in the House, <A HREF="#P42">42-3</A>; on Sir John +Macdonald, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Chandler, E. B., a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> n., <A HREF="#P67">67</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Chapais, Jean C., a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n., <A HREF="#P146">146</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Charlottetown Conference, the, <A HREF="#P47">47-55</A>, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>. See Confederation. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cobden, William, <A HREF="#P26">26</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cockburn, James, a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Coles, George H., a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> n. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Confederation, when first mooted, <A HREF="#P2">2</A>; William Smith's plan, <A HREF="#P3">3-6</A>; +Sewell's plan, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>; W. L. Mackenzie's belief in, <A HREF="#P8">8-9</A>; Lord Durham's plan, +<A HREF="#P9">9-10</A>; Constitutional Act of 1791, <A HREF="#P10">10-11</A>; a period of Particularism, +<A HREF="#P11">11-15</A>; <A HREF="#P21">21</A>, <A HREF="#P30">30-1</A>; makes headway in Nova Scotia, <A HREF="#P16">16-17</A>, <A HREF="#P26">26-7</A>, <A HREF="#P44">44-5</A>; +becomes a question of practical politics, <A HREF="#P17">17-20</A>; events which hastened, +<A HREF="#P20">20-5</A>; political deadlock, <A HREF="#P30">30-2</A>; coalition government formed to promote, +<A HREF="#P34">34-41</A>; some opposition and objection to, <A HREF="#P42">42-3</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P89">89-90</A>, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>; the +CHARLOTTETOWN CONFERENCE, <A HREF="#P47">47-55</A>, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>. THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE: +constituted, <A HREF="#P56">56-7</A>, <A HREF="#P61">61-2</A>; held with closed doors, <A HREF="#P58">58-61</A>; the Fathers of +Confederation, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n.-63 n.; federal union, <A HREF="#P62">62-64</A>; provincial +legislatures with a strong central government, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P66">66-9</A>; federal +powers, <A HREF="#P69">69-71</A>; provincial powers, <A HREF="#P71">71-77</A>; the governor-general's powers, +<A HREF="#P76">76-7</A>; the House of Commons, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>; the Senate, <A HREF="#P77">77-80</A>, <A HREF="#P91">91-2</A>, <A HREF="#P129">129-31</A>; the +financial terms, <A HREF="#P80">80-3</A>, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>; the Quebec resolutions adopted in Canada, +<A HREF="#P84">84-96</A>; opposition in Maritime Provinces, <A HREF="#P97">97-105</A>; finally accepted in +New Brunswick, <A HREF="#P112">112-14</A>, and in Nova Scotia, <A HREF="#P114">114-16</A>. THE FRAMING OF THE +BILL: the lukewarm reception of the delegates in London, <A HREF="#P118">118-22</A>, <A HREF="#P124">124</A>, +<A HREF="#P135">135-6</A>, <A HREF="#P173">173-4</A>; the desire to cement the Imperial tie by framing a +constitution similar in principle to that of Britain, <A HREF="#P125">125-7</A>; naming of +the Dominion, <A HREF="#P127">127</A>; the Senate, <A HREF="#P129">129-131</A>; the educational privileges of +minorities, <A HREF="#P131">131-2</A>; the passage of the British North America Act, <A HREF="#P133">133-5</A>; +some criticism, <A HREF="#P90">90-1</A>, <A HREF="#P92">92-5</A>; a priceless inheritance, <A HREF="#P187">187-90</A>. THE +DOMINION: Nova Scotia reconciled, <A HREF="#P152">152-7</A>; the prairie provinces, <A HREF="#P158">158-9</A>, +<A HREF="#P168">168</A>; British Columbia, <A HREF="#P158">158</A>, <A HREF="#P169">169-73</A>; Prince Edward Island, <A HREF="#P173">173-6</A>. See +Dominion, Fathers, Parliament. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Constitutional Act of 1791, the, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dawson, Simon, <A HREF="#P161">161</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Day, Mr Justice, <A HREF="#P133">133</A> n. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +DeCosmos, Amor, advocates union, <A HREF="#P169">169</A>, <A HREF="#P171">171</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Denison, Colonel G. T., vii, <A HREF="#P167">167</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dennis, Colonel J. S., <A HREF="#P163">163</A>. Dicey, Professor, his view of the +Canadian constitution, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dickey, R. B., a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dominion of Canada, the, source and extent of, <A HREF="#P1">1-2</A>; her constitution +compared, <A HREF="#P65">65-6</A>, <A HREF="#P125">125-7</A>; her government representative of all parts of +the country, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>; the naming of, <A HREF="#P127">127-9</A>; the forming of the first +ministry, <A HREF="#P137">137-8</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144-6</A>; the first general elections, <A HREF="#P152">152-153</A>; the +Hudson's Bay Company, <A HREF="#P158">158-60</A>; the Red River Rebellion, <A HREF="#P159">159</A>, <A HREF="#P161">161-8</A>; her +Imperialism, <A HREF="#P190">190</A>. See Canada, Confederation, Parliament. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dorchester, Lord, and Confederation, <A HREF="#P2">2-4</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dorion, A. A., his opposition to Confederation, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>, <A HREF="#P92">92</A>, <A HREF="#P183">183</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Draper, Chief Justice, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dunkin, Christopher, his opposition to Confederation, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Durham, Lord, his scheme of union, <A HREF="#P9">9-10</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Edward VII, his visit to Canada, <A HREF="#P23">23-4</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fathers of Confederation, the, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n.-63 n.; the leaders honoured, +<A HREF="#P147">147-50</A>; an estimate of their work, <A HREF="#P177">177-90</A>. See Confederation. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fenian invasion, the, and Confederation, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ferrier, James, <A HREF="#P43">43</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fisher, Charles, a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> n., <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P130">130</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Foster, W. A., <A HREF="#P167">167</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fournier, Telesphore, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Galt, A. T., forces Confederation out of the sphere of speculation, +<A HREF="#P17">17-19</A>, <A HREF="#P34">34-8</A>, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50-1</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n., <A HREF="#P80">80</A>, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P132">132-3</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, +<A HREF="#P181">181</A>; his views on the ultimate destiny of Canada, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>, <A HREF="#P148">148-9</A>; desires to +extend educational privileges to all minorities, <A HREF="#P132">132-3</A>; K.C.M.G., +<A HREF="#P147">147-50</A>; his personality, <A HREF="#P17">17-18</A>, <A HREF="#P132">132</A>, <A HREF="#P152">152</A> n., <A HREF="#P183">183</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +George III, and the American Revolution, <A HREF="#P1">1</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gladstone, W. E., favours cession of Canada to United States, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gordon, A. H., lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>, +<A HREF="#P111">111-12</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113-14</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gourlay, Robert, and Confederation, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gray, J. H. (P.E.I.), a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> n. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gray, J. H. (N.B.), a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P59">59-61</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> n., <A HREF="#P81">81</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Great Britain: the Union Bill of 1822, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>; her colonial policy in 1852, +<A HREF="#P15">15</A>; the Hudson's Bay Company, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>, <A HREF="#P158">158-9</A>; the 'Trent' Affair, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>; her +interest in Confederation, <A HREF="#P26">26-27</A>, <A HREF="#P108">108-13</A>, <A HREF="#P170">170</A>; opinions in regarding +the ultimate destiny of Canada, <A HREF="#P110">110-11</A>, <A HREF="#P119">119-122</A>; her consideration for +United States, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>, <A HREF="#P128">128</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Granville, Lord, colonial secretary, <A HREF="#P149">149</A>, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Grenville, Lord, and Dorchester's proposal, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Grey, Earl, governor-general, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Haliburton, Robert, on opinion in Nova Scotia regarding Confederation, +<A HREF="#P100">100-1</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Halifax, the Canadian delegates entertained at, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>, <A HREF="#P52">52-4</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Halliburton, Brenton, <A HREF="#P8">8</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hamilton, P. S., <A HREF="#P15">15</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hathaway, George, <A HREF="#P99">99</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Haviland, T. Heath, a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> n. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Head, Sir Edmund, governor of Canada, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Henry, William A., a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n., <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hind, Prof. Henry Youle, <A HREF="#P161">161</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Holton, Luther H., opposes Confederation, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>, <A HREF="#P183">183</A>; on Sir +John Macdonald, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +House of Commons, the basis of representation in, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>. See Parliament. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Howe, Joseph, <A HREF="#P28">28-9</A>; his opposition to Confederation, <A HREF="#P16">16-17</A>, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, +<A HREF="#P100">100</A>, <A HREF="#P102">102-3</A>, <A HREF="#P115">115-116</A>, <A HREF="#P135">135</A>; favours maritime union, <A HREF="#P47">47-8</A>; his speech +upholding federation, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>; 'that pestilent fellow,' <A HREF="#P153">153</A>; goes to England +to demand repeal, <A HREF="#P154">154</A>, <A HREF="#P156">156</A>; his meeting with Tupper, <A HREF="#P155">155-6</A>; enters the +Dominion Cabinet, <A HREF="#P156">156</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Howland, William P., and Confederation, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P130">130</A>, <A HREF="#P141">141</A>, <A HREF="#P143">143</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>; C.B.; +<A HREF="#P147">147</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hudsons Bay Company, the, <A HREF="#P2">2</A>, <A HREF="#P22">22</A>; and the Dominion, <A HREF="#P158">158-60</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Huntington, L. S., opposes Confederation, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Intercolonial Railway, the, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P28">28-9</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Jesuits' Estates Act, the, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Johnston, J. W., and Confederation, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Johnston, John M., a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> n., <A HREF="#P122">122</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Kenny, Edward, his inclusion in the first Dominion Cabinet, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Kent, Duke of, and Confederation, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Kimberley, Lord, his views on the power to add to the Senate, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Langevin, Hector L., a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P50">50-1</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n., <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Letellier, Lieutenant-Governor, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>; the case of his dismissal, <A HREF="#P69">69-70</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Liberals, and Confederation, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P141">141-4</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lincoln, Abraham, and the 'Trent' Affair, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lotbinière, Joly de, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lower Canada, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>; its relations with Upper Canada, <A HREF="#P6">6-8</A>; and +Confederation, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lyons, Lord, and the 'Trent' Affair, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Lytton, Sir E. B., and Confederation, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +McCully, Jonathan, a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n., <A HREF="#P93">93</A> n., <A HREF="#P102">102</A>, +<A HREF="#P122">122</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Macdonald, A. A., a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> n. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Macdonald, John A., the Father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P19">19</A>, <A HREF="#P33">33</A>, <A HREF="#P54">54</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, +<A HREF="#P178">178-81</A>; his relations with Brown, <A HREF="#P31">31-2</A>, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>; the reconciliation +and conference with Brown, <A HREF="#P34">34-8</A>, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>; the Charlottetown Conference, +<A HREF="#P50">50-1</A>, <A HREF="#P52">52</A>; the Quebec Conference, <A HREF="#P59">59</A>, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> and note, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P180">180</A>, <A HREF="#P185">185</A>; his +appeal for a strong central authority, <A HREF="#P67">67-8</A>; on the office of +lieutenant-governor, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>; on the mode of appointment to the Senate, +<A HREF="#P78">78-9</A>, <A HREF="#P80">80</A> and note; his prophetic utterance, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>; his policy of 'masterly +inactivity,' <A HREF="#P117">117</A>; chairman at the London Conference, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>; a tribute to, +<A HREF="#P123">123-4</A>; forms the first Dominion Cabinet on a non-party basis, <A HREF="#P137">137-8</A>, +<A HREF="#P140">140</A>, <A HREF="#P142">142</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144-6</A>, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>; K.C.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A>; his troubles with Howe and Nova +Scotia, <A HREF="#P153">153-6</A>; the Red River Rebellion, <A HREF="#P161">161</A>; the Scott murder case, +<A HREF="#P168">168</A>; and Sir John Rose, <A HREF="#P175">175</A>; his personality, <A HREF="#P31">31</A>, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>, <A HREF="#P150">150</A>, <A HREF="#P178">178-180</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Macdonald, John Sandfield, <A HREF="#P151">151-2</A>; opposed to Confederation, <A HREF="#P27">27-8</A>, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>, +<A HREF="#P89">89</A>; prime minister of Ontario, <A HREF="#P150">150-1</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Macdonnell, Sir R. G., governor of Nova Scotia, <A HREF="#P53">53-4</A>, <A HREF="#P55">55</A>, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +McDougall, William, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184-185</A>; a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50-1</A>, +<A HREF="#P62">62</A> n., <A HREF="#P79">79</A>, <A HREF="#P80">80</A> n., <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P181">181</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184-5</A>; joins the Dominion Cabinet, <A HREF="#P141">141</A>, +<A HREF="#P143">143-4</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>; C.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A>; lieutenant-governor of the West Territory, +<A HREF="#P160">160-1</A>, <A HREF="#P163">163-164</A>, <A HREF="#P167">167</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +McGee, Thomas D'Arcy, the orator of the Confederation movement, <A HREF="#P24">24-5</A>, +<A HREF="#P50">50-1</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n., <A HREF="#P65">65</A> n., <A HREF="#P181">181</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>; his patriotic conduct, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>; +assassinated, <A HREF="#P146">146-7</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mackenzie, Alexander, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>, <A HREF="#P153">153</A>; and a hostile Senate, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>; his +integrity, <A HREF="#P186">186</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mackenzie, W. L., <A HREF="#P6">6</A>; his plan of Confederation, <A HREF="#P8">8-9</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +McLelan, A. W., <A HREF="#P153">153</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mair, Charles, <A HREF="#P167">167</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Manitoba, in the Dominion, <A HREF="#P159">159-68</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Maritime Provinces, the, and communication with Canada, <A HREF="#P11">11-12</A>; object +to direct taxation, <A HREF="#P80">80-1</A>, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>. See various provinces. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Miller, William, his troubles in Nova Scotia, <A HREF="#P115">115-16</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mitchell, Peter, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>; a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> n., <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Monck, Lord, first governor-general of the Dominion, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84-5</A>, +<A HREF="#P137">137-8</A>, <A HREF="#P147">147</A>; his personality and record, <A HREF="#P139">139-40</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Morris, Alexander, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>; and the meeting between Macdonald and Brown, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, +<A HREF="#P35">35</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mowat, Oliver, a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n., <A HREF="#P74">74-5</A>, <A HREF="#P79">79</A>, <A HREF="#P80">80</A> n.; +and Macdonald, <A HREF="#P179">179</A>, <A HREF="#P185">185</A>; his career, <A HREF="#P185">185-6</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mulgrave, Lord, governor of Nova Scotia, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>, <A HREF="#P26">26-7</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Musgrave, Anthony, governor of Newfoundland, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>; and of British +Columbia, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +New Brunswick, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P44">44-5</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P51">51</A>; the agitation against Confederation, +<A HREF="#P97">97-9</A>; a change of front, <A HREF="#P112">112-14</A>, <A HREF="#P173">173-4</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Newcastle, Duke of, on Canadian loyalty, <A HREF="#P24">24</A>; and Confederation, <A HREF="#P26">26-7</A>, +<A HREF="#P28">28</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P120">120-121</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Newfoundland, <A HREF="#P13">13-14</A>, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>; rejects Confederation, <A HREF="#P105">105</A>, <A HREF="#P175">175-6</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +North-West Company, the, <A HREF="#P2">2</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nova Scotia, <A HREF="#P13">13</A>, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>; favours maritime union, <A HREF="#P27">27</A>, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P51">51</A>; the +opposition to Confederation, <A HREF="#P99">99-104</A>, <A HREF="#P114">114-116</A>; the agitation for repeal, +<A HREF="#P152">152-7</A>; reconciled, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P156">156</A>, <A HREF="#P173">173-4</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ontario. See Upper Canada. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Palmer, Edward, a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> n. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Palmerston, Lord, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>; his adventurous foreign policy, <A HREF="#P119">119</A>, <A HREF="#P120">120</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Parliament: Confederation a question of practical politics, <A HREF="#P18">18-19</A>; +political deadlock, <A HREF="#P30">30-32</A>; Brown's committee on federal union, <A HREF="#P32">32-3</A>; +the public reconciliation of Brown and Macdonald, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>; a coalition +formed to forward Confederation, <A HREF="#P38">38-41</A>, <A HREF="#P44">44</A>, <A HREF="#P144">144</A>; an amusing incident, +<A HREF="#P42">42-3</A>; the debate on the Quebec resolutions, <A HREF="#P84">84-96</A>; the mission to +England and the resignation of Brown, <A HREF="#P105">105-7</A>; a period of 'masterly +inactivity,' <A HREF="#P117">117</A>; the educational privileges of minorities, <A HREF="#P132">132-3</A>; dual +premiership abolished, <A HREF="#P137">137-9</A>; the Hudson's Bay Company, <A HREF="#P160">160</A>. See +Dominion. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Penny, Edward Goff, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pope, James C., <A HREF="#P174">174</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pope, John Henry, and Brown, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pope, Sir Joseph, quoted, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>, <A HREF="#P72">72</A> n., <A HREF="#P76">76</A> n., <A HREF="#P80">80</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A> n., <A HREF="#P129">129</A>, <A HREF="#P138">138</A> +n. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pope, W. H., a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> n., <A HREF="#P82">82</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Prince Edward Island, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P44">44-45</A>, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P51">51</A>; and Confederation, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104-5</A>, +<A HREF="#P173">173-6</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Quebec. See Lower Canada. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Quebec Conference, the, <A HREF="#P56">56-83</A>. See under Confederation. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Reciprocity Treaty, the, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P25">25-26</A>, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Red River Rebellion, the, <A HREF="#P159">159</A>, <A HREF="#P161">161-8</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Riel, Louis, leader in the Red River Rebellion, <A HREF="#P164">164-6</A>, <A HREF="#P167">167</A>, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>; his +later career, <A HREF="#P168">168-9</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Robinson, John Beverley, <A HREF="#P8">8</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rogers, Sir Frederic, his colonial views, <A HREF="#P121">121-2</A>; his tribute to +Macdonald, <A HREF="#P123">123-4</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rose, Sir John, <A HREF="#P174">174-5</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ross, John, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rouges, the, and Confederation, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>. See Liberals. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Russell, Lord John, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Saskatchewan, in the Dominion, <A HREF="#P159">159</A>, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Schultz, Sir John, <A HREF="#P167">167</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Scott, Thomas, his murder, <A HREF="#P165">165-6</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Senate, the, composition of, <A HREF="#P77">77-78</A>, <A HREF="#P129">129-31</A>; mode of appointment to, +<A HREF="#P78">78-80</A>, <A HREF="#P91">91-2</A>. See Parliament. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Sewell, Chief Justice, his plan of Confederation, <A HREF="#P7">7-8</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Seymour, Frederick, governor of British Columbia, <A HREF="#P170">170</A>, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Shea, Ambrose, a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> n., <A HREF="#P82">82</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Smith, Sir Albert, prime minister of New Brunswick, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>, <A HREF="#P114">114</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Smith, Goldwin, quoted, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>, <A HREF="#P30">30</A>, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>, <A HREF="#P188">188</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Smith, William, his plan of Confederation, <A HREF="#P2">2</A>, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>, <A HREF="#P4">4-6</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +South Africa, her form of government, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Stanley, Lord, and the naming of Canada, <A HREF="#P128">128</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Steeves, W. H., a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> n. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Strachan, Bishop, <A HREF="#P7">7-8</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Strathcona, Lord, and the Red River Rebellion, <A HREF="#P165">165</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Taché, Sir Etienne, prime minister of Canada, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>, <A HREF="#P61">61</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n., <A HREF="#P91">91-2</A>; +death of, <A HREF="#P106">106</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Taché, Bishop, and the Red River Rebellion, <A HREF="#P162">162</A>, <A HREF="#P165">165</A>, <A HREF="#P169">169</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Taché, J. C., <A HREF="#P15">15</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Thibault, Grand Vicar, <A HREF="#P165">165</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Thirteen Colonies, granted independence, <A HREF="#P1">1</A>. See United States. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Thompson, Sir John, <A HREF="#P186">186-7</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tilley, S. L., <A HREF="#P28">28</A>, <A HREF="#P54">54-5</A>; a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> and +note, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P181">181</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>; his defeat in New Brunswick, <A HREF="#P97">97-9</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>; +C.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +'Trent' Affair, the, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Trutch, Joseph, advocates joining the Dominion, <A HREF="#P172">172</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Tupper, Charles, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P154">154</A>; proposes a maritime union, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>, <A HREF="#P48">48-9</A>; his +services to the cause of Confederation, <A HREF="#P45">45-6</A>, <A HREF="#P57">57</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A> n., <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P82">82</A>, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>, +<A HREF="#P154">154-6</A>, <A HREF="#P181">181</A>, <A HREF="#P184">184</A>; plays a waiting game in Nova Scotia, <A HREF="#P99">99</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>, <A HREF="#P115">115-116</A>; +waives his claim to a place in the first Dominion Cabinet, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>, <A HREF="#P146">146</A>, +<A HREF="#P152">152</A>; C.B., <A HREF="#P147">147</A>, <A HREF="#P148">148</A>; his meeting with Howe in London, <A HREF="#P154">154-6</A>, <A HREF="#P116">116</A>; his +death, <A HREF="#P178">178</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +United States, and the 'Trent' Affair, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>; the weakness of her +constitution, <A HREF="#P67">67-8</A>, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Upper Canada, <A HREF="#P3">3</A>; its relations with Lower Canada, <A HREF="#P6">6-8</A>; and +Confederation, <A HREF="#P94">94-5</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Vancouver Island, <A HREF="#P169">169-70</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +War of 1812, a proof of the necessity for Confederation, <A HREF="#P6">6-7</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Watkin, Edward, <A HREF="#P148">148</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wetmore, A. R., defeats Tilley on Confederation, <A HREF="#P98">98-9</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Whelan, Edward, a father of Confederation, <A HREF="#P63">63</A> n. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Whitney, Sir James, <A HREF="#P151">151</A> n. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wolseley, Colonel, quells the Red River Rebellion, <A HREF="#P168">168</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wood, E. B., <A HREF="#P153">153</A>. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty<BR> +at the Edinburgh University Press<BR> +</H5> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THIRTY-TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Edited by GEORGE M. WRONG and H. H. LANGTON +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART I +<BR> +THE FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +1. THE DAWN OF CANADIAN HISTORY +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Stephen Leacock.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +2. THE MARINER OF ST MALO +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Stephen Leacock.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART II +<BR> +THE RISE OF NEW FRANCE +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +3. THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Charles W. Colby.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +4. THE JESUIT MISSIONS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Thomas Guthrie Marquis.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +5. THE SEIGNEURS OF OLD CANADA +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By William Bennett Munro.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +6. THE GREAT INTENDANT +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Thomas Chapais.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +7. THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Charles W. Colby.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART III +<BR> +THE ENGLISH INVASION +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +8. THE GREAT FORTRESS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +9. THE ACADIAN EXILES +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Arthur G. Doughty.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +10. THE PASSING OF NEW FRANCE +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +11. THE WINNING OF CANADA +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART IV +<BR> +THE BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH CANADA +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +12. THE FATHER OF BRITISH CANADA +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +13. THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By W. Stewart Wallace.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +14. THE WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART V +<BR> +THE RED MAN IN CANADA +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +15. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE OTTAWAS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Thomas Guthrie Marquis.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +16. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE SIX NATIONS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Louis Aubrey Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +17. TECUMSEH: THE LAST GREAT LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Ethel T. Raymond.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART VI +<BR> +PIONEERS OF THE NORTH AND WEST +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +18. THE 'ADVENTURERS OF ENGLAND' ON HUDSON BAY +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Agnes C. Laut.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +19. PATHFINDERS OF THE GREAT PLAINS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Lawrence J. Burpee.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +20. ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Stephen Leacock.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +21. THE RED RIVER COLONY +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Louis Aubrey Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +22. PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Agnes C. Laut.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +23. THE CARIBOO TRAIL +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Agnes C. Laut.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART VII +<BR> +THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +24. THE FAMILY COMPACT +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By W. Stewart Wallace.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +25. THE 'PATRIOTES' OF '37 +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Alfred D. DeCelles.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +26. THE TRIBUNE OF NOVA SCOTIA +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Lawson Grant.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +27. THE WINNING OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Archibald MacMechan.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART VIII +<BR> +THE GROWTH OF NATIONALITY +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +28. THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By A. H. U. Colquhoun.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +29. THE DAY OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Sir Joseph Pope.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +30. THE DAY OF SIR WILFRID LAURIER +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Oscar D. Skelton.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART IX +<BR> +NATIONAL HIGHWAYS +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +31. ALL AFLOAT +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +32. THE RAILWAY BUILDERS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Oscar D. Skelton.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Fathers of Confederation, by A. H. U. Colquhoun + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION *** + +***** This file should be named 29972-h.htm or 29972-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/9/7/29972/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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H. U. Colquhoun + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Fathers of Confederation + A Chronicle of the Birth of the Dominion + +Author: A. H. U. Colquhoun + +Release Date: September 13, 2009 [EBook #29972] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: The Fathers of Confederation. After a painting by +Robert Harris.] + + + + + +THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION + +A Chronicle of the Birth of the Dominion + + +by + +A. H. U. COLQUHOUN + + + + + +TORONTO + +GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY + +1916 + + + + + _Copyright in all Countries subscribing to + the Berne Convention_ + + + + + TO + + COLONEL GEORGE T. DENISON + + WHOSE LIFE-WORK IS PROOF THAT + LOYALTY TO THE EMPIRE IS + FIDELITY TO CANADA + + + + +{ix} + +CONTENTS + + Page + + I. THE DAWN OF THE MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 + II. OBSTACLES TO UNION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 + III. THE EVE OF CONFEDERATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 + IV. THE HOUR AND THE MEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 + V. THE CHARLOTTETOWN CONFERENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 + VI. THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 + VII. THE RESULTS OF THE CONFERENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 + VIII. THE DEBATES OF 1865 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 + IX. ROCKS IN THE CHANNEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 + X. 'THE BATTLE OF UNION' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 + XI. THE FRAMING OF THE BILL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 + XII. THE FIRST DOMINION MINISTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 + XIII. FROM SEA TO SEA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 + XIV. THE WORK OF THE FATHERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 + INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 + + + + +{xi} + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + After the painting by Robert Harris. + +WILLIAM SMITH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _facing page_ 4 + From a portrait in the Parliament Buildings, Ottawa. + +SIR ALEXANDER T. GALT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 16 + From a photograph by Topley. + +GEORGE BROWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 32 + From a photograph in the possession of Mrs Freeland + Barbour, Edinburgh. + +SIR GEORGE CARTIER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 42 + From a painting in the Chateau de Ramezay. + +SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 80 + From the painting by A. Dickson Patterson. + +SIR CHARLES TUPPER, BART. . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 116 + From a photograph by Elliott and Fry, London. + +ALEXANDRE ANTONIN TACHE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 166 + From a photograph lent by Rev. L. Messier, St Boniface. + +AN ELECTION CAMPAIGN--GEORGE BROWN ADDRESSING AN AUDIENCE + OF FARMERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 180 + From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys. + + + + +{1} + +CHAPTER I + +THE DAWN OF THE MOVEMENT + +The sources of the Canadian Dominion must be sought in the period +immediately following the American Revolution. In 1783 the Treaty of +Paris granted independence to the Thirteen Colonies. Their vast +territories, rich resources, and hardy population were lost to the +British crown. From the ruins of the Empire, so it seemed for the +moment, the young Republic rose. The issue of the struggle gave no +indication that British power in America could ever be revived; and +King George mournfully hoped that posterity would not lay at his door +'the downfall of this once respectable empire.' + +But, disastrous as the war had proved, there still remained the +fragments of the once mighty domain. If the treaty of peace had shorn +the Empire of the Thirteen Colonies and the great region south of the +Lakes, it had left unimpaired the provinces to the east and {2} +north--Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Canada--while still farther north +and west an unexplored continent in itself, stretching to the Pacific +Ocean, was either held in the tight grip of the Hudson's Bay Company or +was shortly to be won by its intrepid rival, the North-West Company of +Montreal. There were not lacking men of prescience and courage who +looked beyond the misfortunes of the hour, and who saw in the dominions +still vested in the crown an opportunity to repair the shattered empire +and restore it to a modified splendour. A general union of the +colonies had been mooted before the Revolution. The idea naturally +cropped up again as a means of consolidating what was left. Those who +on the king's side had borne a leading part in the conflict took to +heart the lesson it conveyed. Foremost among these were Lord +Dorchester, whom Canada had long known as Guy Carleton, and William +Smith, the Loyalist refugee from New York, who was appointed chief +justice of Lower Canada. Each had special claims to be consulted on +the future government of the country. During the war Dorchester's +military services in preserving Canada from the invaders had been of +supreme value; and his occupation {3} of New York after the peace, +while he guided and protected the Loyalist emigration, had furnished a +signal proof of his vigour and sagacity. William Smith belonged to a +family of distinction in the old colony of New York. He possessed +learning and probity. His devotion to the crown had cost him his +fortune. It appears that it was with him, rather than with Dorchester, +that the plan originated of uniting the British provinces under a +central government. The two were close friends and had gone to England +together. They came out to Quebec in company, the one as +governor-general, the other as chief justice. The period of confusion, +when constructive measures were on foot, suggested to them the need of +some general authority which would ensure unity of administration. + +And so, in October 1789, when Grenville, the secretary of state, sent +to Dorchester the draft of the measure passed in 1791 to divide Quebec +into Upper and Lower Canada, and invited such observations as +'experience and local knowledge may suggest,' Dorchester wrote: + + +I have to submit to the wisdom of His Majesty's councils, whether it +may not be {4} advisable to establish a general government for His +Majesty's dominions upon this continent, as well as a governor-general, +whereby the united exertions of His Majesty's North American Provinces +may more effectually be directed to the general interest and to the +preservation of the unity of the Empire. I inclose a copy of a letter +from the Chief Justice, with some additional clauses upon this subject +prepared by him at my request. + +[Illustration: William Smith. From a portrait in the Parliament +Buildings, Ottawa] + +The letter referred to made a plea for a comprehensive plan bringing +all the provinces together, rather than a scheme to perpetuate local +divisions. It reflected the hopes of the Loyalists then and of their +descendants at a later day. In William Smith's view it was an +imperfect system of government, not the policy of the mother country, +that had brought on the Revolution. There are few historical documents +relating to Canada which possess as much human interest as the +reminiscent letter of the old chief justice, with its melancholy +recital of former mistakes, its reminder that Britons going beyond the +seas would inevitably carry with them their instinct for liberal +government, and its striking prophecy {5} that 'the new nation' about +to be created would prove a source of strength to Great Britain. Many +a year was to elapse before the prophecy should come true. This was +due less to the indifference of statesmen than to the inherent +difficulties of devising a workable plan. William Smith's idea of +confederation was a central legislative body, in addition to the +provincial legislatures, this legislative body to consist of a council +nominated by the crown and of a general assembly. The members of the +assembly were to be chosen by the elective branches of the provincial +legislatures. No law should be effective until it passed in the +assembly 'by such and so many voices as will make it the Act of the +majority of the Provinces.' The central body must meet at least once +every two years, and could sit for seven years unless sooner dissolved. +There were provisions for maintaining the authority of the crown and +the Imperial parliament over all legislation. The bill, however, made +no attempt to limit the powers of the local legislatures and to reserve +certain subjects to the general assembly. It would have brought forth, +as drafted, but a crude instrument of government. The outline of the +measure revealed the honest {6} enthusiasm of the Loyalists for unity, +but as a constitution for half a continent, remote and unsettled, it +was too slight in texture and would have certainly broken down. +Grenville replied at length to Dorchester's other suggestions, but of +the proposed general parliament he wrote this only: 'The formation of a +general legislative government for all the King's provinces in America +is a point which has been under consideration, but I think it liable to +considerable objection.' + +Thus briefly was the first definite proposal set aside. The idea, +however, had taken root and never ceased to show signs of life. As +time wore on, the provincial constitutions proved unsatisfactory. At +each outbreak of political agitation and discontent, in one quarter or +another, some one was sure to come forward with a fresh plea for +intercolonial union. Nor did the entreaty always emanate from men of +pronounced Loyalist convictions; it sometimes came from root-and-branch +Reformers like Robert Gourlay and William Lyon Mackenzie. + +The War of 1812 furnished another startling proof of the isolated and +defenceless position of the provinces. The relations between Upper +Canada and Lower Canada, never cordial, {7} became worse. In 1814, at +the close of the war, Chief Justice Sewell of Quebec, in a +correspondence with the Duke of Kent (Queen Victoria's father), +disclosed a plan for a small central parliament of thirty members with +subordinate legislatures.[1] Sewell was a son-in-law of Chief Justice +Smith and shared his views. The duke suggested that these legislatures +need be only two in number, because the Canadas should be reunited and +the three Atlantic colonies placed under one government. No one heeded +the suggestion. A few years intervened, and an effort was made to +patch up a satisfactory arrangement between Lower Canada and Upper +Canada. The two provinces quarrelled over the division of the customs +revenue. When the dispute had reached a critical stage a bill was +introduced in the Imperial parliament to unite them. This was in 1822. +But the proposal to force two disputing neighbours to dwell together in +the same house as a remedy for disagreements failed to evoke enthusiasm +from either. The friends of federation then drew together, and Sewell +joined hands with Bishop Strachan {8} and John Beverley Robinson of +Upper Canada in reviving the plea for a wider union and in placing the +arguments in its favour before the Imperial government. Brenton +Halliburton, judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia (afterwards +chief justice), wrote a pamphlet to help on the cause. The Canada +union bill fell through, the revenue dispute being settled on another +basis, but the discussion of federation proceeded. + +To this period belongs the support given to the project by William Lyon +Mackenzie. Writing in 1824 to Mr Canning, he believed that + + +a union of all the colonies, with a government suitably poised and +modelled, so as to have under its eye the resources of our whole +territory and having the means in its power to administer impartial +justice in all its bounds, to no one part at the expense of another, +would require few boons from Britain, and would advance her interests +much more in a few years than the bare right of possession of a barren, +uncultivated wilderness of lake and forest, with some three or four +inhabitants to the square mile, can do in centuries. + + +{9} Here we have the whole picture drawn in a few strokes. Mackenzie +had vision and brilliancy. If he had given himself wholly to this +task, posterity would have passed a verdict upon his career different +from that now accepted. As late as in 1833 he declared: 'I have long +desired to see a conference assembled at Quebec, consisting of +delegates freely elected by the people of the six northern colonies, to +express to England the opinion of the whole body on matters of great +general interest.' But instead of pursuing this idea he threw himself +into the mad project of armed rebellion, and the fruits of that folly +were unfavourable for a long time to the dreams of federation. Lord +Durham came. He found 'the leading minds of the various colonies +strongly and generally inclined to a scheme that would elevate their +countries into something like a national existence.' Such a scheme, he +rightly argued, would not weaken the connection with the Empire, and +the closing passages of his Report are memorable for the insight and +statesmanship with which the solid advantages of union are discussed. +If Lord Durham erred, it was in advocating the immediate union of the +two Canadas as the first necessary step, and in announcing as one of +his objects {10} the assimilation to the prevailing British type in +Canada of the French-Canadian race, a thing which, as events proved, +was neither possible nor necessary. + +Many of the advocates of union, never blessed with much confidence in +their cause, were made timid by this point of Durham's reasoning. His +arguments, which were intended to urge the advantages of a complete +reform in the system and machinery of government, produced for a time a +contrary effect. Governments might propose and parliaments might +discuss resolutions of an academic kind, while eloquent men with voice +and pen sought to rouse the imaginations of the people. But for twenty +years after the union of the Canadas in 1841 federation remained little +more than a noble aspiration. The statesmen who wielded power looked +over the field and sighed that the time had not yet come. + + + +[1] It has been said that Attorney-General Uniacke of Nova Scotia +submitted, in 1809, a measure for a general union, but of this there +does not appear to be any authentic record. + + + + +{11} + +CHAPTER II + +OBSTACLES TO UNION + +The prospect was indeed one to dismay the most ardent patriot. After +the passage of the Constitutional Act of 1791 the trend of events had +set steadily in the direction of separation. Nature had placed +physical obstacles in the road to union, and man did his best to render +the task of overcoming them as hopeless as possible. The land +communication between the Maritime Provinces and Canada, such as it +was, precluded effective intercourse. In winter there could be no +access by the St Lawrence, so that Canada's winter port was in the +United States. As late as 1850 it took ten days, often longer, for a +letter to go from Halifax to Toronto. Previous to 1867 there were but +two telegraph lines connecting Halifax with Canada. Messages by wire +were a luxury, the rate between Quebec and Toronto being seventy-five +cents for ten words and eight cents for each additional word. Neither +commerce nor friendship could {12} be much developed by telegraph in +those days, and, as the rates were based on the distance, a telegram +sent from Upper Canada to Nova Scotia was a costly affair. To reach +the Red River Settlement, the nucleus of Manitoba, the Canadian +travelled through the United States. With the colonies of Vancouver +Island and British Columbia the East had practically no dealings. Down +to 1863, as Sir Richard Cartwright once said,[1] there existed for the +average Canadian no North-West. A great lone land there was, and a few +men in parliament looked forward to its ultimate acquisition, but +popular opinion regarded it vaguely as something dim and distant. In +course of time railways came, but they were not interprovincial and +they did nothing to bind the East to the West. The railway service of +early days is not to be confounded with the rapid trains of to-day, +when a traveller leaves Montreal after ten in the morning and finds +himself in Toronto before six o'clock in the afternoon. Said +Cartwright, in the address already cited: + + +Even in our own territory, and it was a matter not to be disregarded, +the state {13} of communication was exceedingly slow and imperfect. +Practically the city of Quebec was almost as far from Toronto in those +days, during a great part of the year, as Ottawa is from Vancouver +to-day. I can remember, myself, on one occasion being on a train which +took four days to make its way from Prescott to Ottawa. + + +Each province had its own constitution, its tariff, postage laws, and +currency. It promoted its own interests, regardless of the existence +of its British neighbours. Differences arose, says one writer, between +their codes of law, their public institutions, and their commercial +regulations.[2] Provincial misunderstandings, that should have been +avoided, seriously retarded the building of the Inter-colonial Railway. +'The very currencies differ,' said Lord Carnarvon in the House of +Lords. 'In Canada the pound or the dollar are legal tender. In Nova +Scotia, the Peruvian, Mexican, Columbian dollars are all legal; in New +Brunswick, British and American coins are recognized by law, though I +believe that the shilling is taken at twenty-four cents, which is less +than its value; in Newfoundland, {14} Peruvian, Mexican, Columbian, old +Spanish dollars, are all equally legal; whilst in Prince Edward's +Island the complexity of currencies and of their relative value is even +greater.' When the Reciprocity Treaty was negotiated at Washington in +1854, Nova Scotia felt, with some reason, that she had not been +adequately consulted in the granting to foreign fishermen of her +inshore fisheries. In a word, the chief political forces were +centrifugal, not centripetal. All the jealousy, the factious spirit, +and the prejudice, which petty local sovereignties are bound to +engender, flourished apace; and the general effect was to develop what +European statesmen of a certain period termed Particularism. The +marvel is not that federation lagged, but that men with vision and +courage, forced to view these depressing conditions at close range, +were able to keep the idea alive. + +There was some advance in public opinion between 1850 and 1860, but, on +the whole, adverse influences prevailed and little was achieved. The +effects of separate political development and of divided interest were +deeply rooted. Leaders of opinion in the various provinces, and even +men of the same province, refused to join hands for any great national +purpose. Party conflict absorbed {15} their best energies. To this +period, however, belongs the spadework which laid the foundations of +the future structure. The British American League held its various +meetings and adopted its resolutions. But the League was mainly a +party counterblast to the Annexation Manifesto of 1849 and soon +disappeared. To this period, too, belong the writings of able +advocates of union like P. S. Hamilton of Halifax and J. C. Tache of +Quebec, whose treatises possess even to-day more than historical value. +Another notable contribution to the subject was the lecture by +Alexander Morris entitled _Nova Britannia_, first delivered at Montreal +in 1858 and afterwards published. Yet such propaganda aroused no +perceptible enthusiasm. In Great Britain the whole question of +colonial relations was in process of evolution, while her statesmen +were doubtful, as ours were, of what the ultimate end would be. That a +full conception of colonial self-government had not yet dawned is shown +by these words, written in 1852 by Earl Grey to Lord John Russell: '_It +is obvious that if the colonies are not to become independent states, +some kind of authority must be exercised by the Government at home._' + +This decade, however, witnessed some {16} definite political action. +In 1854 Johnston, the Conservative Opposition leader in the Nova Scotia +legislature, presented a motion in these terms: 'Resolved, That the +union or confederation of the British Provinces on just principles, +while calculated to perpetuate their connection with the parent state, +will promote their advancement, increase their strength and influence, +and elevate their position.' This resolution, academic in form, but +supported in a well-balanced and powerful speech by the mover, drew +from Joseph Howe, then leader of the government, his preference for +representation in the British House of Commons. The attitude of Howe, +then and afterwards, should be examined with impartiality, because he +and other British Americans, as well as some English statesmen, were +the victims of the honest doubts which command respect but block the +way to action. Johnston, as prime minister in 1857, pressed his policy +upon the Imperial government, but met with no response. When Howe +returned to power, he carried a motion which declared for a conference +to promote either the union of the Maritime Provinces or a general +federation, but expressing no preference for either. Howe never was +pledged to federation as his fixed {17} policy, as so many persons have +asserted. He made various declarations which betokened uncertainty. +So little had the efforts put forth down to 1861 impressed the official +mind that Lord Mulgrave, the governor of Nova Scotia, in forwarding +Howe's motion to the Colonial Office, wrote: 'As an abstract question +the union of the North American colonies has long received the support +of many persons of weight and ability, but so far as I am aware, no +political mode of carrying out this union has ever been proposed.' + +[Illustration: Sir Alexander T. Galt. From a photograph by Topley.] + +The most encouraging step taken at this time, and the most far-reaching +in its consequences, was the action of Alexander Galt in Canada. Galt +possessed a strong and independent mind. The youngest son of John +Galt, the Scottish novelist, he had come across the ocean in the +service of the British American Land Company, and had settled at +Sherbrooke in the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada. Though personally +influential and respected, he wielded no general political authority, +for he lacked the aptitude for compromise demanded in the game of +party. He was the outspoken champion of Protestant interests in the +Catholic part of Canada, and had boldly declared for the annexation of +Canada to the {18} United States in the agitation of 1849. His views +on clericalism he never greatly modified, but annexation to the United +States he abandoned, with characteristic candour, for federation. In +1858 he advocated a federal union of all the provinces in a telling +speech in parliament, which revealed a thorough knowledge of the +material resources of the country, afterwards issued in book form in +his _Canada: 1849 to 1859_. During the ministerial crisis of August +1858 Sir Edmund Head asked Galt to form a government. He declined, and +indicated George Cartier as a fit and proper person to do so. The +former Conservative Cabinet, with some changes, then resumed office, +and Galt himself, exacting a pledge that Confederation should form part +of the government's policy, assumed the portfolio of Finance. The +pledge was kept in the speech of the governor-general closing the +session, and in October of that year Cartier, with two of his +colleagues, Galt and Ross, visited London to secure approval for a +meeting of provincial delegates on union. Galt's course had forced the +question out of the sphere of speculation. A careful student of the +period[3] argues with point {19} that to Galt we owe the introduction +of the policy into practical politics. In the light of after events +this view cannot be lightly set aside. But the effort bore no fruit +for the moment. The colonial secretary, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, +declined to authorize the conference without first consulting the other +provinces, and the government did not feel itself bound because of this +to resign or consult the constituencies. In other words, the question +did not involve the fate of the Cabinet. But Galt had gained a great +advantage. He had enlisted the support of Cartier, whose influence in +Lower Canada was henceforth exerted with fidelity to win over the +French to a policy which they had long resisted. The cause attained +additional strength in 1860 by the action of two other statesmen, +George Brown and John A. Macdonald, who between them commanded the +confidence of Upper Canada, the one as Liberal, the other as +Conservative leader. Brown brought before parliament resolutions +embodying the decisions of the Reform Convention of 1859 in favour of a +federation confined to the Canadas, and Macdonald declared +unequivocally for federative union as a principle, arguing that a +strong central government should be the chief aim. {20} Brown's +resolutions were rejected, and the movement so auspiciously begun once +more exhibited an ominous tendency to subside. The varying fortunes +which attended the cause during these years resembled its previous +vicissitudes. It appeared as if all were for a party and none were for +the state. If those who witnessed the events of 1860 had been asked +for their opinion, they would probably have declared that the problem +was as far from solution as ever. Yet they would have been mistaken, +as the near future was to show. A great war was close at hand, and, as +war so often does, it stimulated movements and policies which otherwise +might have lain dormant. The situation which arose out of the Civil +War in the United States neither created nor carried Confederation, but +it resulted, through a sense of common danger, in bringing the British +provinces together and in giving full play to all the forces that were +making for their union. + + + +[1] Address to Canadian Club, Ottawa, 1906. + +[2] _Union of the Colonies_, by P. S. Hamilton, Halifax, 1864. + +[3] See the chapter, 'Parties and Politics, 1840-1867,' by J. L. +Morison, in _Canada and its Provinces_, vol. v. + + + + +{21} + +CHAPTER III + +THE EVE OF CONFEDERATION + +A day of loftier ideas and greater issues in all the provinces was +about to dawn. The ablest politicians had been prone to wrangle like +washerwomen over a tub, colouring the parliamentary debates by personal +rivalry and narrow aims, while measures of first-rate importance went +unheeded. The change did not occur in the twinkling of an eye, for the +cherished habits of two generations were not to be discarded so +quickly. Goldwin Smith asserted[1] that, whoever laid claim to the +parentage of Confederation, the real parent was Deadlock. But this was +the critic, not the historian, who spoke. The causes lay far deeper +than in the breakdown of party government in Canada. Events of +profound significance were about to change an atmosphere overladen with +partisanship and to strike the imaginations of men. + +{22} + +The first factor in the national awakening was the call of the great +western domain. British Americans began to realize that they were the +heirs of a rich and noble possession. The idea was not entirely new. +The fur traders had indeed long tried to keep secret the truth as to +the fertility of the plains; but men who had been born or had lived in +the West were now settled in the East. They had stories to tell, and +their testimony was emphatic. In 1856 the Imperial authorities had +intimated to Canada that, as the licence of the Hudson's Bay Company to +an exclusive trade in certain regions would expire in 1859, it was +intended to appoint a select committee of the British House of Commons +to investigate the existing situation in those territories and to +report upon their future status; and Canada had sent Chief Justice +Draper to London as her commissioner to watch the proceedings, to give +evidence, and to submit to his government any proposals that might be +made. Simultaneously a select committee of the Canadian Assembly sat +to hear evidence and to report a basis for legislation. Canada boldly +claimed that her western boundary was the Pacific ocean, and this +prospect had long encouraged men like George Brown to look {23} forward +to extension westward, and to advocate it, as one solution of Upper +Canada's political grievances. It was a vision calculated to rouse +the adventurous spirit of the British race in colonizing and in +developing vast and unknown lands. Another wonderful page was about to +open in the history of British expansion. And, hand in hand with +romance, went the desire for dominion and commerce. + +But if the call of the West drew men partly by its material +attractions, another event, of a wholly different sort, appealed +vividly to their sentiment. In 1860 the young Prince of Wales visited +the provinces as the representative of his mother, the beloved Queen +Victoria. His tour resembled a triumphal progress. It evoked feelings +and revived memories which the young prince himself, pleasing though +his personality was, could not have done. It was the first clear +revelation of the intensity of that attachment to the traditions and +institutions of the Empire which in our own day has so vitally affected +the relations of the self-governing states to the mother country. In a +letter from Ottawa[2] to Lord Palmerston, {24} the Duke of Newcastle, +the prince's tutor, wrote: + + +I never saw in any part of England such extensive or beautiful outward +demonstrations of respect and affection, either to the Queen or to any +private object of local interest, as I have seen in every one of these +colonies, and, what is more important, there have been circumstances +attending all these displays which have marked their sincerity and +proved that neither curiosity nor self-interest were the only or the +ruling influences. + + +Of all the events, however, that startled the British provinces out of +the self-absorbed contemplation of their own little affairs, the Civil +War in the United States exerted the most immediate influence. It not +only brought close the menace of a war between Great Britain and the +Republic, with Canada as the battle-ground, but it forced a complete +readjustment of our commercial relations. Not less important, the +attitude of the Imperial government toward Confederation underwent a +change. It was D'Arcy McGee who perceived, at the very outset, the +probable {25} bearing of the Civil War upon the future of Canada. 'I +said in the House during the session of 1861,' he subsequently +declared, 'that the first gun fired at Fort Sumter had a message for +us.' The situation became plainer when the _Trent_ Affair embroiled +Great Britain directly with the North, and the safety of Canada +appeared to be threatened. While Lincoln was anxiously pondering the +British demand that the Confederate agents, Mason and Slidell, removed +by an American warship from the British steamer the _Trent_, should be +given up, and Lord Lyons was labouring to preserve peace, the fate of +Canada hung in the balance. The agents were released, but there +followed ten years of unfriendly relations between Great Britain and +the United States. There were murmurs that when the South was subdued +the trained armies of the North would be turned against the British +provinces. The termination of the Reciprocity Treaty, which provided +for a large measure of free trade between the two countries, was seen +to be reasonably sure. The treaty had existed through a period which +favoured a large increase in the exports of the provinces. The Crimean +War at first and the Civil War later had created an unparalleled demand +for the food products {26} which Canada could supply; and although the +records showed the enhanced trade to be mutually profitable, with a +balance rather in favour of the United States, the anti-British feeling +in the Republic was directed against the treaty. Thus military defence +and the necessity of finding new markets became two pressing problems +for Canada. + +From the Imperial authorities there came now at last distinct +encouragement. Hitherto they had hung back. The era of economic dogma +in regard to free trade, to some minds more authoritative than Holy +Writ, was at its height. Even Cobden was censured because, in the +French treaty of 1861, he had departed from the free trade theory. The +doctrine of _laissez-faire_, carried to extremes, meant that the +colonies should be allowed to cut adrift. But the practical English +mind saw the sense and statesmanship of a British American union, and +the tone of the colonial secretary changed. In July 1862 the Duke of +Newcastle, who then held that office and who did not share the +indifference of so many of his predecessors[3] to the colonial +connection, wrote sympathetically to Lord Mulgrave, the governor of +Nova Scotia: + +{27} + +If a union, either partial or complete, should hereafter be proposed +with the concurrence of all the Provinces to be united, I am sure that +the matter would be weighed in this country both by the public, by +Parliament, and by Her Majesty's Government, with no other feeling than +an anxiety to discern and promote any course which might be the most +conducive to the prosperity, the strength and the harmony of all the +British communities in North America. + + +Nova Scotia, always to the front on the question, had declared for +either a general union or a union of the Maritime Provinces, and this +had drawn the dispatch of the Duke of Newcastle. A copy of this +dispatch was sent to Lord Monck, the governor-general of Canada, for +his information and guidance, so that the attitude of the Imperial +authorities was generally known. It remained for the various +provincial Cabinets to confer and to arrange a course of action. The +omens pointed to union in the near future. But, as it happened, a new +Canadian ministry, that of Sandfield Macdonald, had shortly before +assumed office, and its members were in no wise pledged to the {28} +union project. In fact, as was proved later, several of them, notably +the prime minister himself, with Dorion, Holton, and Huntington, +regarded federation with suspicion and were its consistent opponents +until the final accomplishment. + +The negotiations for the joint construction of an intercolonial railway +had been proceeding for some time. These the ministry continued, but +without enthusiasm. The building of this line had been ardently +promoted for years. It was the necessary link to bind the provinces +together. To secure Imperial financial aid in one form or another +delegates had more than once gone to London. The Duke of Newcastle had +announced in April 1862 that the nature and extent of the guarantee +which Her Majesty's government would recommend to parliament depended +upon the arrangements which the provinces themselves had to propose.[4] +There was a conference in Quebec. From Nova Scotia came Howe and +Annand, who two years later fought Confederation; from New Brunswick +came Tilley and Peter Mitchell, who carried the cause to victory in +their province. Delegates from the Quebec meeting {29} went to London, +but the railway plan broke down, and the failure was due to Canada. +The episode left a bad impression in the minds of the maritime +statesmen, and during the whole of 1863 it seemed as if union were +indefinitely postponed. Yet this was the very eve of Confederation, +and forces already in motion made it inevitable. + + + +[1] _Canada and the Canadian Question_, by Goldwin Smith, p. 143. + +[2] _Life of Henry Pelham, fifth Duke of Newcastle_, by John Martineau, +p. 292. + +[3] Between 1852 and 1870 there were thirteen colonial secretaries. + +[4] Dispatch of the colonial secretary to the lieutenant-governor of +New Brunswick. + + + + +{30} + +CHAPTER IV + +THE HOUR AND THE MEN + +The acceptance of federation in the province of Canada came about with +dramatic simplicity. Political deadlock was the occasion, rather than +the cause, of this acceptance. Racial and religious differences had +bred strife and disunion, but no principle of any substance divided the +parties. The absence of large issues had encouraged a senseless +rivalry between individuals. Surveying the scene not long after, +Goldwin Smith, fresh from English conditions, cynically quoted the +proverb: 'the smaller the pit, the fiercer the rats.' The upper and +lower branches of parliament were elective, and in both bodies the +ablest men in the country held seats. In those days commerce, +manufacturing, or banking did not, as they do now, withhold men of +marked talent from public affairs. But personal antipathies, magnified +into feuds, embittered the relations of men who naturally held many +views in {31} common, and distracted the politics of a province which +needed nothing so much as peace and unity of action. + +The central figures in this storm of controversy were George Brown and +John A. Macdonald, easily the first personages in their respective +parties. The two were antipathetic. Their dispositions were as wide +asunder as the poles. Brown was serious, bold, and masterful. +Macdonald concealed unrivalled powers in statecraft and in the +leadership of men behind a droll humour and convivial habits. From the +first they had been political antagonists. But the differences were +more than political. Neither liked nor trusted the other. Brown bore +a grudge for past attacks reflecting upon his integrity, while +Macdonald, despite his experience in the warfare of party, must often +have winced at the epithets of the _Globe_, Brown's newspaper. During +ten years they were not on speaking terms. But when they joined to +effect a great object, dear to both, a truce was declared. 'We acted +together,' wrote Macdonald long after of Brown, 'dined in public places +together, played euchre in crossing the Atlantic and went into society +in England together. And yet on the day after he resigned we resumed +our old positions {32} and ceased to speak.'[1] To imagine that of all +men those two should combine to carry federation seemed the wildest and +most improbable dream. Yet that is what actually happened. + +[Illustration: George Brown. From a photograph in the possession of +Mrs Freeland Barbour, Edinburgh.] + +In June 1864, during the session of parliament in Quebec, government by +party collapsed. In the previous three years there had been two +general elections, and four Cabinets had gone to pieces. And while the +politicians wrangled, the popular mind, swayed by influences stronger +than party interest, convinced itself that the remedy lay in the +federal system. Brown felt that Upper Canada looked to him for relief; +and as early as in 1862 he had conveyed private intimation to his +Conservative opponents that if they would ensure Upper Canada's just +preponderance in parliamentary representation, which at that date the +Liberal ministry of Sandfield Macdonald refused to do, they would +receive his countenance and approval. In 1864 he moved for a select +committee of nineteen members to consider the prospects of federal +union. It sat with closed doors. A few hours before the defeat of the +Tache-Macdonald ministry in {33} June, he, the chairman of the +committee, reported to the House that + + +a strong feeling was found to exist among the members of the committee +in favour of changes in the direction of a federative system, applied +either to Canada alone, or to the whole British North American +provinces, and such progress has been made as to warrant the committee +in recommending that the subject be referred to a committee at the next +session of Parliament. + + +Three years later, on the first Dominion Day, the _Globe_,[2] in +discussing this committee and its work, declared that 'a very free +interchange of opinion took place. In the course of the discussions it +appeared probable that a union of parties might be effected for the +purpose of grappling with the constitutional difficulties.' Macdonald +voted against the committee's report. Brown was thoroughly in earnest, +and the desperate nature of the political situation gave him an +opportunity to prove his sincerity and his unselfishness. + +{34} + +On the evening of Tuesday, June 14, 1864, immediately after the defeat +of the ministry on an unimportant question, Brown spoke to two +Conservative members and promised to co-operate with any government +that would settle the constitutional difficulty. These members, +Alexander Morris and John Henry Pope, were on friendly terms with him +and became serviceable intermediaries. They were asked to communicate +this promise to Macdonald and to Galt. The next day saw the +reconciliation of the two leaders who had been estranged for ten years. +They met 'standing in the centre of the Assembly Room' (the formal +memorandum is meticulously exact in these and other particulars), that +is, neither member crossing to that side of the House led by the other. +Macdonald spoke first, mentioning the overtures made and asking if +Brown had any 'objection' to meet Galt and himself. Brown replied, +'Certainly not.' Morris arranged an interview, and the following day +Macdonald and Galt called upon Brown at the St Louis Hotel, Quebec. +Negotiations, ending in the famous coalition, began. + +The memorandum read to the House related in detail every step taken to +bring about the coalition, from the opening conversation {35} which +Brown had with Morris and Pope. It was proper that a full explanation +should be given to the public of a political event so extraordinary and +so unexpected. But the narrative of minute particulars indicates the +complete lack of confidence existing between the parties to the +agreement. The relationships of social life rest upon the belief that +there is a code of honour, affecting words and actions, which is +binding upon gentlemen. The memorandum appeared to assume that in +political life these considerations did not exist, and that unless the +whole of the proceedings were set forth in chronological order, and +with amplitude of detail, some of the group would seek to repudiate the +explanation on one point or another, while the general public would +disbelieve them all. To such a pass had the extremes of partyism +brought the leading men in parliament. If, however, the memorandum is +a very human document, it is also historically most interesting and +important. The leaders began by solemnly assuring each other that +nothing but 'the extreme urgency of the present crisis' could justify +their meeting together for common political action. The idea that the +paramount interests of the nation, threatened by possible invasion and +by {36} commercial disturbance, would be ground for such a junction of +forces does not seem to have suggested itself. After the preliminary +skirmishing upon matters of party concern the negotiators at last +settled down to business. + + +Mr Brown asked what the Government proposed as a remedy for the +injustice complained of by Upper Canada, and as a settlement of the +sectional trouble. Mr Macdonald and Mr Galt replied that their remedy +was a Federal Union of all the British North American Provinces; local +matters being committed to local bodies, and matters common to all to a +General Legislature.[3] + +Mr Brown rejoined that this would not be acceptable to the people of +Upper Canada as a remedy for existing evils. That he believed that +federation of all the provinces ought to come, and would come about ere +long, but it had not yet been thoroughly considered by the people; and +even were this otherwise, there were {37} so many parties to be +consulted that its adoption was uncertain and remote. + +Mr Brown was then asked what his remedy was, when he stated that the +measure acceptable to Upper Canada would be Parliamentary Reform, based +on population, without regard to a separating line between Upper and +Lower Canada. To this both Mr Macdonald and Mr Galt stated that it was +impossible for them to accede, or for any Government to carry such a +measure, and that, unless a basis could be found on the federation +principle suggested by the report of Mr Brown's committee, it did not +appear to them likely that anything could be settled. + + +At this stage, then, Brown thought federation should be limited to +Canada, believing the larger scheme uncertain and remote, while the +others preferred a federal union for all the provinces. At a later +meeting Cartier joined the gathering and a confidential statement was +drawn up (the disinclination to take one another's word being still a +lively sentiment), so that Brown could consult his friends. The +ministerial promise in its final terms was as follows: + + +{38} + +The Government are prepared to pledge themselves to bring in a measure +next session for the purpose of removing existing difficulties by +introducing the federal principle into Canada, coupled with such +provisions as will permit the Maritime Provinces and the North-West +Territory to be incorporated into the same system of government. And +the Government will seek, by sending representatives to the Lower +Provinces and to England, to secure the assent of those interests which +are beyond the control of our own legislation to such a measure as may +enable all British North America to be united under a General +Legislature based upon the federal principle. + + +This basis gave satisfaction all round, and the proceedings relapsed +into the purely political diplomacy which forms the least pleasant +phase of what was otherwise a highly patriotic episode, creditable in +its results to all concerned. Brown fought hard for a representation +of four Liberals in the Cabinet, preferring to remain out of it +himself, and, when his inclusion was deemed indispensable, offering to +join as a minister without portfolio or salary. {39} Finally Macdonald +promised to confer with him upon the personnel of the Conservative +element in the Cabinet, so that the incoming Liberals would meet +colleagues with whom harmonious relations should be ensured. The fates +ordained that, since Brown had been the first to propose the sacrifice +of party to country, the arrangement arrived at was the least +advantageous to his interests. He had the satisfaction of feeling that +the Upper Canada Liberals in the House supported his action, but those +from Lower Canada, both English and French, were entirely +unsympathetic. The Lower Canada section of the ministry accordingly +remained wholly Conservative. + +It does not require much depth of political experience to realize the +embarrassment of Brown's position. The terms were not easy for him. +In a ministry of twelve members he and two colleagues would be the only +Liberals. The leadership of Upper Canada, and in fact the real +premiership, because Tache was frail and past his prime, would rest +with Macdonald. The presidency of the Executive Council, which was +offered him, unless joined to the office of prime minister, was of no +real importance. Some party friends throughout the country {40} would +misunderstand, and more would scoff. He had parted company with his +loyal personal friends Dorion and Holton. If, as Disraeli said, +England does not love coalitions, neither does Canada. For the time +being, and, as events proved, for a considerable time, the Liberal +party would be divided and helpless, because the pledge of Brown +pledged also the fighting strength of the party. Although the union +issue dwarfed all others, questions would arise, awkward questions like +that of patronage, old questions with a new face, on which there had +been vehement differences. For two of his new colleagues, Macdonald +and Galt, Brown entertained feelings far from cordial. Cautious +advisers like Alexander Mackenzie and Oliver Mowat counselled against a +coalition, suggesting that the party should support the government, but +should not take a share in it. All this had to be weighed and a +decision reached quickly. But Brown had put his hand to the plough and +would not turn back. With the dash and determination that +distinguished him, he accepted the proposal, became president of the +Executive Council, with Sir Etienne Tache as prime minister, and +selected William McDougall and Oliver Mowat as his Liberal colleagues. +Amazement and {41} consternation ran like wildfire throughout Upper +Canada when the news arrived from Quebec that Brown and Macdonald were +members of the same government. At the outset Brown had feared that +'the public mind would be shocked,' and he was not wrong. But the +sober second thought of the country in both parties applauded the act, +and the desire for union found free vent. Posterity has endorsed the +course taken by Brown and justly honours his memory for having, at the +critical hour and on terms that would have made the ordinary politician +quail, rendered Confederation possible. There is evidence that the +Conservative members of the coalition played the game fairly and +redeemed their promise to put union in the forefront of their policy. +On this issue complete concord reigned in the Cabinet. The natural +divergences of opinion on minor points in the scheme were arranged +without internal discord. This was fortunate, because grave obstacles +were soon to be encountered. + +If George Brown of Upper Canada was the hero of the hour, George +Cartier of Lower Canada played a role equally courageous and +honourable. The hostile forces to be encountered by the +French-Canadian leader were {42} formidable. Able men of his own race, +like Dorion, Letellier, and Fournier, prepared to fight tooth and nail. +The Rouges, as the Liberals there were termed, opposed him to a man. +The idea of British American union had in the past been almost +invariably put forward as a means of destroying the influence of the +French. Influential representatives, too, of the English minority in +Lower Canada, like Dunkin, Holton, and Huntington, opposed it. Joly de +Lotbiniere, the French Protestant, warned the Catholics and the French +that federation would endanger their rights. The Rouge resistance was +not a passive parliamentary resistance only, because, later on, the +earnest protests of the dissentients were carried to the foot of the +throne. But all these influences the intrepid Cartier faced +undismayed; and Brown, in announcing his intention to enter the +coalition, paid a warm tribute to Cartier for his frank and manly +attitude. This was the burial of another hatchet, and the amusing +incident related by Cartwright illustrates how it was received. + +[Illustration: Sir George Cartier. From a painting in the Chateau de +Ramezay.] + +In that memorable afternoon when Mr Brown, not without emotion, made +his {43} statement to a hushed and expectant House, and declared that +he was about to ally himself with Sir George Cartier and his friends, +for the purpose of carrying out Confederation, I saw an excitable, +elderly little French member rush across the floor, climb up on Mr +Brown, who, as you remember, was of a stature approaching the gigantic, +fling his arms about his neck, and hang several seconds there +suspended, to the visible consternation of Mr Brown and to the infinite +joy of all beholders, pit, box, and gallery included. + + +At last statesmanship had taken the place of party bickering, and, as +James Ferrier of Montreal, a member of the Legislative Council, +remarked in the debates of 1865, the legislators 'all thought, in fact, +that a political millennium had arrived.' + + + +[1] _Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald_, by Sir Joseph Pope, vol. i, p. 265. + +[2] This portion of the lengthy survey of the new Dominion in the +_Globe_ of July 1, 1867, is said to have been written by George Brown +himself. + +[3] Sir Joseph Pope states that in the printed copy of this memorandum +which Sir John Macdonald preserved there appears, immediately following +the word 'Legislature' at the end of this paragraph, in the handwriting +of Mr Brown, these words: 'Constituted on the well-understood +principles of federal gov.' + + + + +{44} + +CHAPTER V + +THE CHARLOTTETOWN CONFERENCE + +Not an instant too soon had unity come in Canada. The coalition +ministry, having adjourned parliament, found itself faced with a +situation in the Maritime Provinces which called for speedy action. + +Nova Scotia, the ancient province by the sea, discouraged by the +vacillation of Canada in relation to federation and the construction of +the Intercolonial Railway, was bent upon joining forces with New +Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The proposal was in the nature of +a reunion, for, when constitutional government had been first set up in +Nova Scotia in 1758, the British possessions along the Atlantic coast, +save Newfoundland, were all governed as one province from Halifax. But +the policy in early days of splitting up the colonies into smaller +areas, for convenience of administration, was here faithfully carried +out. In 1770 a separate government was conferred {45} upon Prince +Edward Island. In 1784 New Brunswick was formed. In the same year the +island of Cape Breton was given a governor and council of its own. +Cape Breton was reunited to the parent colony of Nova Scotia in 1820, +but three separate provinces remained, each developing apart from the +others, thus complicating and making more difficult the whole problem +of union when men with foresight and boldness essayed to solve it. +Nova Scotia had kept alive the tradition of leadership. The province +which has supplied three prime ministers to the Canadian Dominion never +lacked statesmen with the imagination to perceive the advantages which +would flow from the consolidation of British power in America. + +In 1864, a few weeks before George Brown in the Canadian House had +moved for his select committee on federal union, Dr Charles Tupper +proposed, in the legislature of Nova Scotia, a legislative union of the +Maritime Provinces. The seal of Imperial authority had been set upon +this movement by the dispatch, already quoted, from the Duke of +Newcastle to Lord Mulgrave in 1862. + +A word concerning the services of Charles Tupper to the cause of union +will be in order here. None of the Fathers of Confederation {46} +fought a more strenuous battle. None faced political obstacles of so +overwhelming a character. None evinced a more unselfish patriotism. +The overturn of Tilley in New Brunswick, of which we shall hear +presently, was a misfortune quickly repaired. The junction of Brown, +Cartier, and Macdonald in Canada ensured for them comparatively plain +sailing. But the Nova Scotian leader was pitted against a redoubtable +foe in Joseph Howe; for five years he faced an angry and rebellious +province; he gallantly gave up his place in the first Dominion ministry +in order that another might have it; and at every turn he displayed +those qualities of pluck, endurance, and dexterity which compel +admiration. The Tuppers were of Puritan stock.[1] The future prime +minister, a practising physician, had scored his first political +victory at the age of thirty-four by defeating Howe in Cumberland +county. Throughout his long and notable career, a superabundance of +energy, and a characteristic which may be defined in a favourable sense +as audacity, never failed him. + +{47} + +When the motion was presented to appoint delegates to a conference at +Charlottetown, to consider a legislative union for the three maritime +provinces, the skies were serene. The idea met with a general, if +rather languid, approval. There was not even a flavour of partisanship +about the proceedings, and the delegates were impartially selected from +both sides. The great Howe regarded the project with a benignant eye. +At this time he was the Imperial fishery commissioner, and it was his +duty to inspect the deep-sea fishing grounds each summer in a vessel of +the Imperial Navy. He was invited to go to Charlottetown as a +delegate, and declined in the following terms: + + +I am sorry for many reasons to be compelled to decline participation in +the conference at Charlottetown. The season is so far advanced that I +find my summer's work would be so seriously deranged by the visit to +Prince Edward Island that, without permission from the Foreign Office, +I would scarcely be justified in consulting my own feelings at the +expense of the public service. I shall be home in October, and will be +very happy to co-operate in {48} carrying out any measure upon which +the conference shall agree. + + +A more striking evidence of his mood at this juncture is afforded by a +speech which he delivered at Halifax in August, when a party of +visitors from Canada were being entertained at dinner. + + +I am not one of those who thank God that I am a Nova Scotian merely, +for I am a Canadian as well. I have never thought I was a Nova +Scotian, but I have looked across the broad continent as the great +territory which the Almighty has given us for an inheritance, and +studied the mode by which it could be consolidated, the mode by which +it could be united, the mode by which it could be made strong and +vigorous while the old flag still floats over the soil.[2] + + +In the time close at hand Howe was to find these words quoted against +him. Meanwhile they were a sure warrant for peace and harmony. + +In addressing the Assembly Tupper stated that his visit to Canada +during the previous {49} year had convinced him that for some time the +larger union was impracticable. He had found in Upper Canada a +disinclination to unite with the Maritime Provinces because, from their +identity of interest and geographical position, they would strengthen +Lower Canada. Lower Canada was equally averse from union through fear +that it would increase the English influence in a common legislature. +Tupper favoured the larger scheme, and looked forward to its future +realization, which would be helped, not hindered, by the union of the +Maritime Provinces as a first step. Other speakers openly declared for +a general union, and consented to the Charlottetown gathering as a +convenient preliminary. The resolution passed without a division; and, +though the members expressed a variety of opinion on details, there was +no hint of a coming storm. + +The conference opened at Charlottetown on September 1, the following +delegates being present: from Nova Scotia, Charles Tupper, William A. +Henry, Robert B. Dickey, Jonathan McCully, Adams G. Archibald; from New +Brunswick, S. L. Tilley, John M. Johnston, John Hamilton Gray, Edward +B. Chandler, W. H. Steeves; from Prince Edward Island, J. H. Gray, +Edward Palmer, W. H. Pope, {50} George Coles, A. A. Macdonald. +Newfoundland, having no part in the movement, sent no representatives. +Meanwhile Lord Monck, at the request of his ministers, had communicated +with the lieutenant-governors asking that a delegation of the Canadian +Cabinet might attend the meeting and lay their own plans before it. +This was readily accorded. The visitors from Canada arrived from +Quebec by steamer. They were George Brown, John A. Macdonald, +Alexander T. Galt, George E. Cartier, Hector L. Langevin, William +McDougall, D'Arcy McGee, and Alexander Campbell. No official report of +the proceedings ever appeared. It is improbable that any exists, but +we know from many subsequent references nearly everything of importance +that took place. On the arrival of the Canadians they were invited to +address the convention at once. The delegates from the Maritime +Provinces took the ground that their own plan might, if adopted, be a +bar to the larger proposal, and accordingly suggested that the visitors +should be heard first. The Canadians, however, saw no reason to fear +the smaller union. They believed that Confederation would gain if the +three provinces by the sea could be treated as a single unit. {51} +But, being requested to state their case, they naturally had no +hesitation in doing so. During the previous two months the members of +the coalition must have applied themselves diligently to all the chief +points in the project. It may be supposed that Galt, Brown, and +Macdonald made a strong impression at Charlottetown. They spoke +respectively on the finance, the general parliament, and the +constitutional structure of the proposed federation. These subjects +contained the germs of nearly all the difficulties. When the delegates +reassembled a month later at Quebec, it is clear, from the allusions +made in the scanty reports that have come down to us, that the leading +phases of the question had already been frankly debated. + +Having heard the proposals of Canada, the delegates of the Maritime +Provinces met separately to debate the question that had brought them +together. Obstacles at once arose. Only Nova Scotia was found to be +in favour of the smaller union. New Brunswick was doubtful, and Prince +Edward Island positively refused to give up her own legislature and +executive. The federation project involved no such sacrifice; and, as +Aaron's rod swallowed up all the others, the dazzling prospects held +out by Canada eclipsed the other proposal, since they {52} provided a +strong central government without destroying the identity of the +component parts. The conference decided to adjourn to Halifax, where, +at the public dinner given to the visitors, Macdonald made the formal +announcement that the delegates were unanimous in thinking that a +federal union could be effected. The members, however, kept the +secrets of the convention with some skill. The speeches at Halifax, +and later on at St John, whither the party repaired, abounded in +glowing passages descriptive of future expansion, but were sparing of +intimate detail. A passage in Brown's speech at Halifax created +favourable comment on both sides of the ocean. + + +In these colonies as heretofore governed [he said] we have enjoyed +great advantages under the protecting shield of the mother country. We +have had no army or navy to sustain, no foreign diplomacy to +sustain,--our whole resources have gone to our internal +improvement,--and notwithstanding our occasional strifes with the +Colonial Office, we have enjoyed a degree of self-government and +generous consideration such as no colonies in ancient or modern history +ever enjoyed at the hands of a {53} parent state. Is it any wonder +that thoughtful men should hesitate to countenance a step that might +change the happy and advantageous relations we have occupied towards +the mother country? I am persuaded there never was a moment in the +history of these colonies when the hearts of our people were so firmly +attached to the parent state by the ties of gratitude and affection as +at this moment, and for one I hesitate not to say that did this +movement for colonial union endanger the connection that has so long +and so happily existed, it would have my firm opposition. + + +These and other utterances, equally forceful and appealing directly to +the pride and ambition of the country, were not without effect in +moulding public opinion. The tour was a campaign of education. By +avoiding the constitutional issues the delegates gave little +information which could afford carping critics an opportunity to assail +the movement prematurely. It is true, some sarcastic comments were +made upon the manner in which the Canadians had walked into the +convention and taken possession. At the Halifax dinner the governor of +Nova Scotia, Sir Richard Graves {54} Macdonnell, dropped an ironical +remark on the 'disinterested' course of Canada, which plainly betrayed +his own attitude. But the gathering was, in the main, highly +successful and augured well for the movement. + +The Charlottetown Conference was therefore an essential part of the +proceedings which culminated at Quebec. The ground had been broken. +The leaders in the various provinces had formed ties of intimacy and +friendship and favourably impressed each other. At this time were laid +the foundations of the alliance between Macdonald and Tilley, the +Liberal leader in New Brunswick, which made it possible to construct +the first federal ministry on a non-party basis and which enlisted in +the national service a devoted and trustworthy public man. Tilley's +career had few blemishes from its beginning to its end. He was a +direct descendant of John Tilley, one of the English emigrants to +Massachusetts in the _Mayflower_, and a great-grandson of Samuel +Tilley, one of the Loyalists who removed to New Brunswick after the War +of Independence. He had been drawn into politics against his wishes by +the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens. A nominating +convention at which he was not present had selected him for {55} the +legislature, and his first election had taken place during his absence +from the country. Yet he had risen to be prime minister of his +province; and his was the guiding hand which brought New Brunswick into +the union. His defeat at first and the speedy reversal of the verdict +against Confederation form one of the most diverting episodes in the +history of the movement. + +The ominous feature of the Charlottetown Conference was the absence of +Joseph Howe, the most popular leader in Nova Scotia. This was one of +the accidents which so often disturb the calculations of statesmen. +When the delegates resumed their labours at Quebec he was in +Newfoundland, and he returned home to find that a plan had been agreed +upon without his aid. From him, as well as from the governors of Nova +Scotia and New Brunswick, the cause of federation was to receive its +next serious check. + + + +[1] See _Recollections of Sixty Years in Canada_, p. 2. The original +Tupper in America came out from England in 1635. Sir Charles Tupper's +great-grandfather migrated from Connecticut to Nova Scotia in 1763. + +[2] _The Speeches and Public Letters of Joseph Howe_, edited by J. A. +Chisholm, vol. ii, p. 433. Halifax, 1909. + + + + +{56} + +CHAPTER VI + +THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE + +The Quebec Conference began its sessions on the 10th of October 1864. +It was now the task of the delegates to challenge and overcome the +separatist tendencies that had dominated British America since the +dismemberment of the Empire eighty years before. They were to prove +that a new nationality could be created, which should retain intact the +connection with the mother country. For an event of such historic +importance no better setting could have been chosen than the Ancient +Capital, with its striking situation and its hallowed memories of +bygone days. The delegates were practical and experienced men of +affairs, but they lacked neither poetic and imaginative sense nor +knowledge of the past; and it may well be that their labours were +inspired and their deliberations influenced by the historic +associations of the place. + +The gathering was remarkable for the varied {57} talents and forceful +character of its principal members. And here it may be noted that the +constitution was not chiefly the product of legal minds. Brown, +Tilley, Galt, Tupper, and others who shared largely in the work of +construction were not lawyers. The conference represented fairly the +different interests and occupations of a young country. It is to be +recorded, too, that the conclusions reached were criticized as the +product of men in a hurry. Edward Goff Penny, editor of the Montreal +_Herald_, a keen critic, and afterwards a senator, complained that the +actual working period of the conference was limited to fourteen days. +Joseph Howe poured scorn upon Ottawa as the capital, stating that he +preferred London, the seat of empire, where there were preserved 'the +archives of a nationality not created in a fortnight.' Still more +vigorous were the protests against the secrecy of the discussions. A +number of distinguished journalists, including several English +correspondents who had come across the ocean to write about the Civil +War, were in Quebec, and they were disposed to find fault with the +precautions taken to guard against publicity. The following memorial +was presented to the delegates: + + +{58} + +The undersigned, representatives of English and Canadian newspapers, +find that it would be impossible for them satisfactorily to discharge +their duties if an injunction of secrecy be imposed on the conference +and stringently carried into effect. They, therefore, beg leave to +suggest whether, while the remarks of individual members of your body +are kept secret, the propositions made and the treatment they meet +with, might not advantageously be made public, and whether such a +course would not best accord with the real interests committed to the +conference. Such a kind of compromise between absolute secrecy and +unlimited publicity is usually, we believe, observed in cases where an +European congress holds the peace of the world and the fate of nations +in its hands. And we have thought that the British American Conference +might perhaps consider the precedent not inapplicable to the present +case. Such a course would have the further advantage of preventing +ill-founded and mischievous rumours regarding the proceedings from +obtaining currency.[1] + + +{59} This ingenious appeal was signed by S. Phillips Day, of the London +_Morning Herald_, by Charles Lindsey of the Toronto _Leader_, and by +Brown Chamberlain of the Montreal _Gazette_. Among the other writers +of distinction in attendance were George Augustus Sala of the London +_Daily Telegraph_, Charles Mackay of _The Times_, Livesy of _Punch_, +and George Brega of the New York _Herald_. But the conference stood +firm, and the impatient correspondents were denied even the mournful +satisfaction of brief daily protocols. They were forced to be content +with overhearing the burst of cheering from the delegates when +Macdonald's motion proposing federation was unanimously adopted. The +reasons for maintaining strict secrecy were thus stated by John +Hamilton Gray,[2] a delegate from New Brunswick, who afterwards became +the historian of the Confederation movement: + + +After much consideration it was determined, as in Prince Edward Island, +that the convention should hold its {60} deliberations with closed +doors. In addition to the reasons which had governed the convention at +Charlottetown, it was further urged, that the views of individual +members, after a first expression, might be changed by the discussion +of new points, differing essentially from the ordinary current of +subjects that came under their consideration in the more limited range +of the Provincial Legislatures; and it was held that no man ought to be +prejudiced, or be liable to the charge in public that he had on some +other occasion advocated this or that doctrine, or this or that +principle, inconsistent with the one that might then be deemed best, in +view of the future union to be adopted.... Liberals and Conservatives +had there met to determine what was best for the future guidance of +half a continent, not to fight old party battles, or stand by old party +cries, and candour was sought for more than mere personal triumph. The +conclusion arrived at, it is thought, was judicious. It ensured the +utmost freedom of debate; the more so, inasmuch as the result would be +in no way binding upon those whose interests were to be affected until +and unless adopted after the {61} greatest publicity and the fullest +public discussions. + + +That the conference decided wisely admits of no doubt. The provincial +secretaries of the several provinces were appointed joint secretaries, +and Hewitt Bernard, chief clerk of the department of the +attorney-general for Upper Canada, was named executive secretary. In +his longhand notes, found among the papers of Sir John Macdonald, and +made public thirty years later by Sir Joseph Pope, we have the only +official record of the resolutions and debates of the conference. +Posterity has reason to be grateful for even this limited revelation of +the proceedings from day to day. It enables us to form an idea of the +difficulties overcome and of the currents of opinion which combined to +give the measure its final shape. No student of Canadian +constitutional history will leave unread a single note thus fortunately +preserved. The various draft motions, we are told by Sir Joseph Pope, +are nearly all in the handwriting of those who moved them, and it was +evidently the intention to prepare a complete record. The conference +was, however, much hurried at the close. When it began, Sir Etienne +Tache, prime minister of Canada, was {62} unanimously elected +chairman.[3] Each province was given one vote, except that Canada, as +consisting of two divisions, was allowed two votes. After the vote on +any motion was put, the delegates of a province might retire for +consultation among themselves. The conference sat as if in committee +of the whole, so as to permit of free discussion and suggestion. The +resolutions, having been passed in committee of the whole, were to be +reconsidered and carried as if parliament were sitting with the speaker +in the chair. + +The first motion, which was offered by Macdonald and seconded by +Tilley, read: _That the {63} best interests and present and future +prosperity of British North America will be promoted by a federal union +under the crown of Great Britain, provided such union can be effected +on principles just to the several provinces_. This motion, general in +its terms, asserted the principle which the conference had met to +decide. It passed unanimously amid much enthusiasm. To support it, +one may think, involved no serious responsibility, since any province +could at a later stage raise objections to any methods proposed in +carrying out the principle. But to secure the hearty and unanimous +acceptance of a federal union, as the basis on which the provinces were +ready to coalesce, was really to submit the whole issue to the crucial +test. {64} Macdonald's motion reflects, in its careful and +comprehensive phrasing, the skill in parliamentary tactics of which he +had, during many years, displayed so complete a mastery. To commit the +conference at the outset to endorsement of the general principle was to +render subsequent objection on some detail, however important, +extremely difficult for earnest and broad-minded patriots. The two +small provinces might withdraw from the scheme, as they subsequently +did, but the larger provinces, led by men of the calibre of Tupper and +Tilley, would feel that any subsequent obstacle must be of gigantic +proportions if it could not be overcome by statesmanship. After +cheerfully taking this momentous step, which irresistibly drove them on +to the next, the conference proceeded to discuss Brown's motion +proposing the form the federation was to assume. There was to be a +general government dealing with matters common to all, and in each +province a local government having control of local matters. The +second motion was likewise unanimously concurred in. Having, as it +were, planted two feet firmly on the ground, the conference was now in +a good position to stand firmly against divergences of view, provincial +rivalries, and extreme demands. + + + +[1] Pope's _Confederation Documents_. + +[2] There were two delegates named John Hamilton Gray, one whose views +are quoted here, the other the prime minister of Prince Edward Island. +Only one volume of Gray's work on Confederation ever appeared, the +second volume, it is said, being unfinished when the author died in +British Columbia. + +[3] A list of the delegates, who are now styled the Fathers of +Confederation, follows: + +_From Canada, twelve delegates_--SIR ETIENNE P. TACHE, receiver-general +and minister of Militia; JOHN A. MACDONALD, attorney-general for Upper +Canada; GEORGE E. CARTIER, attorney-general for Lower Canada; GEORGE +BROWN, president of the Executive Council; OLIVER MOWAT, +postmaster-general; ALEXANDER T. GALT, minister of Finance; WILLIAM +McDOUGALL, provincial secretary; T. D'ARCY McGEE, minister of +Agriculture; ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, commissioner of Crown Lands; J. C. +CHAPAIS, commissioner of Public Works; HECTOR L. LANGEVIN, +solicitor-general for Lower Canada; JAMES COCKBURN, solicitor-general +for Upper Canada. + +_From Nova Scotia, five delegates_--CHARLES TUPPER, provincial +secretary; WILLIAM A. HENRY, attorney-general; R. B. DICKEY, member of +the Legislative Council; JONATHAN McCULLY, member of the Legislative +Council; ADAMS G. ARCHIBALD, member of the Legislative Assembly. + +_From New Brunswick, seven delegates_--SAMUEL LEONARD TILLEY, +provincial secretary; WILLIAM H. STEEVES, minister without portfolio; +J. M. JOHNSTON, attorney-general; PETER MITCHELL, minister without +portfolio; E. B. CHANDLER, member of the Legislative Council; JOHN +HAMILTON GRAY, member of the Legislative Assembly; CHARLES FISHER, +member of the Legislative Assembly. + +_From Prince Edward Island, seven delegates_--COLONEL JOHN HAMILTON +GRAY, president of the Council; EDWARD PALMER, attorney-general; +WILLIAM H. POPE, colonial secretary; A. A. MACDONALD, member of the +Legislative Council; GEORGE COLES, member of the Legislative Assembly; +T. HEATH HAVILAND, member of the Legislative Assembly; EDWARD WHELAN, +member of the Legislative Assembly. + +_From Newfoundland, two delegates_--F. B. T. CARTER, speaker of the +Legislative Assembly; AMBROSE SHEA. + + + + +{65} + +CHAPTER VII + +THE RESULTS OF THE CONFERENCE + +The constitution which the founders of the Dominion devised was the +first of its kind on a great scale within the Empire. No English +precedents therefore existed. Yet their chief aim was to preserve the +connection with Great Britain, and to perpetuate in North America the +institutions and principles which the mother of parliaments, during her +splendid history, had bequeathed to the world. The Fathers could look +to Switzerland, to New Zealand, to the American Republic, and to those +experiments and proposals in ancient or modern times which seemed to +present features to imitate or examples to avoid.[1] But they were +guided, perforce, by the special conditions with which they had to +deal. If they had been free to make a perfect contribution to the +science of government, the constitution might have been {66} different. +It is, of course, true of all existing federations that they were +determined largely by the relations and circumstances of the combining +states. This is illustrated by comparing the Canadian constitution +with those of the two most notable unions which followed. Unlike +Canada, Australia preferred to leave the residue of powers to the +individual states, while South Africa adopted a legislative instead of +a federal union. For Canada, a legislative union was impracticable. +This was due partly to the racial solidarity of the French, but even +more largely to the fully developed individualism of each province. It +is to the glory of the Fathers of Confederation that the constitution, +mainly constructed by themselves as the product of their own experience +and reflection, has lasted without substantial change for nearly half a +century. They were forced to deal with conditions which they had not +created, yet could not ignore--conditions which had long perplexed both +Imperial and colonial statesmen, and had rendered government +ineffective if not impossible. They found the remedy; and the result +is seen in the powerful and thriving nationality which their labours +evolved. + +To set up a strong central government was {67} the desire of many of +the delegates. Macdonald, as has been recorded already, had contended +for this in 1861. He argued to the same effect at the conference. The +Civil War in the United States, just concluded, had revealed in +startling fashion the dangers arising from an exaggerated state +sovereignty. 'We must,' he said, 'reverse this process by +strengthening the general government and conferring on the provincial +bodies only such powers as may be required for local purposes.' When +Chandler of New Brunswick perceived with acuteness that in effect this +would mean legislative union, Macdonald, as we gather from the +fragmentary notes of his speech, made an impassioned appeal for a +carefully defined central authority. + + +I think [he declared] the whole affair would fail and the system be a +failure if we adopted Mr Chandler's views. We should concentrate the +power in the federal government and not adopt the decentralization of +the United States. Mr Chandler would give sovereign power to the local +legislatures, just where the United States failed. Canada would be +infinitely stronger as she is than under such a system {68} as proposed +by Mr Chandler. It is said that the tariff is one of the causes of +difficulty in the United States. So it would be with us. Looking at +the agricultural interests of Upper Canada, manufacturing of Lower +Canada, and maritime interests of the lower provinces, in respect to a +tariff, a federal government would be a mediator. No general feeling +of patriotism exists in the United States. In occasions of difficulty +each man sticks to his individual state. Mr Stephens, the present +vice-president [of the Confederacy], was a strong union man, yet, when +the time came, he went with his state. Similarly we should stick to +our province and not be British Americans. It would be introducing a +source of radical weakness. It would ruin us in the eyes of the +civilized world. All writers point out the errors of the United +States. All the feelings prognosticated by Tocqueville are shown to be +fulfilled. + + +These and other arguments prevailed. Several of the most influential +delegates were in theory in favour of legislative union, and these were +anxious to create, as the best alternative, a general parliament +wielding {69} paramount authority. This object was attained by means +of three important clauses in the new constitution: one enumerating the +powers of the federal and provincial bodies respectively and assigning +the undefined residue to the federal parliament; another conferring +upon the federal ministry the right to dismiss for cause the +lieutenant-governors; and another declaring that any provincial law +might, within one year, be disallowed by the central body. Instead of +a loosely knit federation, therefore, which might have fallen to pieces +at the first serious strain, it was resolved to bring the central +legislature into close contact at many points with the individual +citizen, and thus raise the new state to the dignity of a nation. + +How the designs of the Fathers have been modified by the course of +events is well known. The federal power has been restrained from undue +encroachment on provincial rights by the decisions, on various issues, +of the highest court, the judicial committee of the Imperial Privy +Council. The power to dismiss lieutenant-governors was found to be +fraught with danger and has been rarely exercised. The dismissal of +Letellier, a strong Liberal, from the lieutenant-governorship of Quebec +by the {70} Conservative ministry at Ottawa in 1879, gave rise to some +uneasiness and criticism. The reason assigned was that his 'usefulness +was gone,' since both houses of parliament had passed resolutions +calling for his removal. He was accused of partisanship towards his +ministers. The federal prime minister, Sir John Macdonald, assented +reluctantly, it is said, to the dismissal. But some of the facts are +still obscure. The status of the office and the causes that would +warrant removal were thus given by Macdonald at Quebec, according to +the imperfect report which has come down to us: + + +The office must necessarily be during pleasure. The person may break +down, misbehave, etc.... The lieutenant-governor will be a very high +officer. He should be independent of the federal government, except as +to removal for cause, and it is necessary that he should not be +removable by any new political party. It would destroy his +independence. He should only be removable upon an address from the +legislature. + + +The power of disallowance, the third expedient for curbing the +provinces, was exercised with {71} some freedom down to 1888. In that +year a Quebec measure, the Jesuits' Estates Act, with a highly +controversial preamble calculated to provoke a war of creeds, was not +disallowed, although protests were carried past parliament to the +governor-general personally. The incident directed attention to the +previous practice at Ottawa under both parties and a new era of +non-intervention was inaugurated. Disallowance is now rare, except +where Imperial interests are affected, and never occurs on the ground +of the policy or impolicy of the measure. The provinces, as a matter +of practice, are free within their limits to legislate as they please. +But the Dominion as a self-governing state has long passed the stage +where the clashing of provincial and federal jurisdictions could shake +the constitution. + +When the conference, however, considered provincial powers it went to +the root of a federal system. The maritime delegates as a whole +displayed magnanimity and statesmanship. Brown, as the champion of +Upper Canada, was concerned to see that the interests of his own +province were amply secured. He held radical views. When he spoke, +the calm surface of the conference, where a moderate and essentially +conservative {72} constitutionalism sat entrenched, may have been +ruffled. The following is from the summary which has been preserved of +one of his speeches:[2] + + +As to local governments, we desire in Upper Canada that they should not +be expensive, and should not take up political matters. We ought not +to have two electoral bodies. Only one body, members to be elected +once in every three years. Should have whole legislative +power--subject to lieutenant-governor. I would have +lieutenant-governors appointed by general government. It would thus +bring these bodies into harmony with the general government. In Upper +Canada executive officers would be attorney-general, treasurer, +secretary, commissioner of crown lands and commissioner of public +works. These would form the council of the lieutenant-governor. I +would give lieutenant-governors veto without advice, but under certain +vote he should be obliged to assent. During recess lieutenant-governor +could have power to suspend executive officers. They might be elected +for three years or {73} otherwise. You might safely allow county +councils to appoint other officers than those they do now. One +legislative chamber for three years, no power of dissolution, elected +on one day in each third year. Departmental officers to be elected +during pleasure or for three years. To be allowed to speak but not to +vote. + + +A more suggestive extract than this cannot be found in the discussion. +From the astonished Cartier the ejaculation came, 'I entirely differ +with Mr Brown. It introduces in our local bodies republican +institutions.' From the brevity of the report we cannot gather the +whole of Brown's meaning. Apparently his aim was a strictly +businesslike administration of provincial affairs, under complete +popular control, but with the executive functions as far removed from +party domination as erring human nature would permit. There may be +seen here points of resemblance to an American state constitution, but +Brown was no more a republican than was Napoleon. He was, like +Macdonald, an Imperialist who favoured the widest national expansion +for Canada. The idea of a republic, either in the abstract or the +concrete, had no friends in the {74} conference. Galt believed +independence the proper aim for a young state, but we find him stating +later: 'We were and are willing to spend our last men and our last +shilling for our mother country.'[3] Many years after Confederation +Sir Oliver Mowat declared independence the remote goal to keep in view. +These opinions were plainly speculative. Neither statesman took any +step towards carrying them out, but benevolently left them as a legacy, +unencumbered by conditions, to a distant posterity. + +At the conference Mowat was active to strengthen the central authority, +as also was Brown. But there was general agreement, despite Brown's +plea for a change, that the local governments should take the form +preferred by themselves and that ministerial responsibility on the +British model should prevail throughout. Upon the question of +assigning the same subjects, such as agriculture, to both federal and +provincial legislatures, Mowat said: + + +The items of agriculture and immigration should be vested in both +federal and local governments. Danger often arises where there is +exclusive jurisdiction and not so {75} often in cases of concurrent +jurisdiction. In municipal matters the county and township council +often have concurrent jurisdiction. + + +In the famous contests for provincial rights which he was afterwards to +wage before the courts, and always successfully, Mowat was not +necessarily forgetful that he himself moved for the power of +disallowance over provincial laws to be given to the federal authority. +With the caution and clearness of mind that governed his political +course, he naturally made sure of his ground before fighting, and could +thus safely break a lance with the federal government. The provincial +constitutions were, therefore, left to be determined by the provinces +themselves, and this freedom to modify them continues, 'except as +regards the office of lieutenant-governor.' No province has yet +proposed any constitutional change which could be regarded as an +infringement of the inviolacy of that office, and no circumstances have +arisen to throw light upon the kind of measure which would be so +regarded.[4] + +One more point, touching upon provincial autonomy, deserves to be +noticed. In the {76} resolutions of the conference, as well as in the +British North America Act, the laws passed by the local legislatures +are reviewable for one year by the _governor-general_, not by the +_governor-general in council_. The colonial secretary drew attention +in 1876 to this distinction in the expressions used, and suggested that +it was intended to place the responsibility of deciding the validity of +provincial laws upon the governor-general personally. The able and +convincing memoranda in reply were composed by Edward Blake, the +Canadian minister of Justice. He contended that under the letter and +spirit of the constitution ministers must be responsible for the +governor's action. His view prevailed, and thus within ten years after +Confederation the principle that the crown's representative must act +only through his advisers on all Canadian matters was maintained. +There was nothing in the available records in 1876 to explain why the +term 'governor-general' instead of 'governor-general in council' was +employed.[5] It is, {77} however, an unassailable principle that the +control of the crown over the Canadian provinces can be exercised only +through the federal authorities. + +When the conference had accepted the outline of the federal and +provincial constitutions the danger points might reasonably have been +considered past. But there remained to be discussed the representation +in the federal parliament and the financial terms. These were the +rocks on which the ship nearly split. Representation by population in +the proposed House of Commons had been agreed upon at Charlottetown; +but when the Prince Edward Island delegates saw that, with sixty-five +members for Lower Canada as a fixed number, the proportion assigned to +the Island would be five members only, they objected. They were +dismayed by the prospect, and when the financial proposals also proved +unsatisfactory, their discontent foreshadowed the ultimate withdrawal +of the province from the scheme. The other provinces accepted without +demur the basis of representation in the new House of Commons. + +The composition of the Senate, however, brought on a crisis. 'We were +very near broken up,' wrote Brown in a private letter on {78} October +17, 'on the question of the distribution of members in the upper +chamber of the federal legislature, but fortunately we have this +morning got the matter amicably compromised, after a loss of three days +in discussing it.' The difficulty seems to have been to select the +members of the first Senate with due regard to party complexion, so as +not to operate in Upper Canada, as Brown felt, unfairly against the +Liberals. Finally, an agreement was arranged on the basis that the +senators should be drawn from both parties; and this was ultimately +carried out. + +A far more important point, whether the second chamber should be +nominated or elected, caused less debate. Macdonald opened the +discussion with his usual diplomacy: + + +With respect to the mode of appointments to the Upper House, some of us +are in favour of the elective principle. More are in favour of +appointment by the crown. I will keep my own mind open on that point +as if it were a new question to me altogether. At present I am in +favour of appointment by the crown. While I do not admit that the +elective principle has been a failure in Canada, I think we had {79} +better return to the original principle, and in the words of Governor +Simcoe endeavour to make ours 'an image and transcript of the British +constitution.' + + +Differing on other issues, Brown and Macdonald were at one on this. +They were opposed to a second set of general elections, partly because +it would draw too heavily on the organizations and funds of the +parties. As an instance of the stability of Brown's views, it should +be remembered that he never, at any period, approved of an elective +second chamber. The other Liberal ministers from Upper Canada, Mowat +and McDougall, stood by the elective system, but the conference voted +it down. The Quebec correspondence of the _Globe_ at this time throws +some light on the reasons for the decision: 'Judging from the tone of +conversation few delegates are in favour of election. The expense of +contesting a division is enormous and yearly increases. The +consequence is there is great difficulty in getting fit candidates, and +the tendency is to seek corrupt aid from the administration of the day. +There is also fear of a collision between two houses equally +representing the people. It is less important to us than to the {80} +French. Why should we not then let Lower Canada, which desires to +place a barrier against aggression by the west, decide the question and +make her defensive powers as strong as she likes? It would be no great +stretch of liberality on our part to accord it to her.' During the +debates on Confederation in the Canadian Assembly, in the following +year, Macdonald derided the notion that a government would ever +'overrule the independent opinion of the Upper House by filling it with +a number of its partisans and political supporters.' This, however, is +precisely what has taken place. The Senate is one of the few +unsatisfactory creations of the Fathers of Confederation.[6] + +[Illustration: Sir John A. Macdonald. From the painting by A. Dickson +Patterson.] + +The question of the financial terms was surrounded with difficulties. +The Maritime Provinces, unlike Upper Canada, were without the municipal +organization which provides for local needs by direct taxation. With +them {81} the provincial government was a nursing mother and paid for +everything. Out of the general revenue came the money for bridges, +roads, schools, wharves, piers, and other improvements, in addition to +the cost of maintaining the fiscal, postal, and other charges of the +province. The revenue was raised by customs duties, sales of crown +lands, royalties, or export duties. The devotion to indirect taxation, +which is not absent from provinces with municipal bodies, was to them +an all-absorbing passion. The Canadian delegates were unsympathetic. +John Hamilton Gray describes the scene: + + +Agreement seemed hopeless, and on or about the tenth morning, after the +convention met, the conviction was general that it must break up +without coming to any conclusion. The terms of mutual concession and +demand had been drawn to their extremest tension and silence was all +around. At last a proposition was made that the convention should +adjourn for the day, and that in the meantime the finance ministers of +the several provinces should meet, discuss the matter amongst +themselves, and see if they could not agree upon something.[7] + + +{82} On this committee were Brown and Galt acting for Canada, while the +others were Tupper, Tilley, Archibald, Pope, and Shea. The scheme set +forth in the resolutions was the result. It need not be detailed, but +the sixty-fourth resolution, on which was centred the keenest +criticism, reads as follows: + + +In consideration of the transfer to the general parliament of the +powers of taxation, an annual grant in aid of each province shall be +made, equal to 80 cents per head of the population as established by +the census of 1861, the population of Newfoundland being estimated at +130,000. Such aid shall be in full settlement of all future demands +upon the general government for local purposes and shall be paid +half-yearly in advance to each province. + + +The system of provincial subsidies has often been denounced. The +delegates may have thought that they had shut the door to further +claims, but the finality of the arrangement was soon tested, and in +1869 Nova Scotia received better terms. There were increases in the +subsidies to the provinces on several subsequent occasions, and no one +believes the end has yet been reached. The growing needs of the {83} +provinces and the general aversion from direct taxation furnish strong +temptations to make demands upon the federal treasury. + +The conference, after adopting the seventy-two resolutions embodying +the basis of the union, agreed that the several governments should +submit them to the respective legislatures at the ensuing session. +They were to be carried _en bloc_, lest any change should entail a +fresh conference. The delegates made a tour of Canada, visiting +Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, where receptions and congratulations +awaited them. Their work had been done quickly. It had now to run the +gauntlet of parliamentary discussion. + + + +[1] D'Arcy McGee published a treatise in 1865 entitled _Notes on +Federal Government Past and Present_, presenting a useful summary of +the various constitutions. + +[2] The quotations in this chapter are taken from Pope's _Confederation +Documents_. + +[3] At Cornwall, March 2, 1866. + +[4] It is worth noting that almost any change of importance would +affect the office of the lieutenant-governor and thus challenge federal +interference. + +[5] We know now from Sir Joseph Pope's _Confederation Documents_ (p. +140) that it was proposed in the first draft of the union bill to have +interpretation clauses, and one of these declared that where the +governor-general was required to do any act it was to be assumed that +he performed it by the advice and consent of his executive council. + +[6] In the copy of the Confederation debates possessed by the writer +there appears on the margin of the page, in William McDougall's +handwriting and initialled by himself, these words: 'In the Quebec +Conference I moved and Mr Mowat seconded a motion for the elective +principle. About one-third of the delegates voted for the proposition, +Brown arguing and voting against it. At this date (1887) under Sir +John's policy and action the Senate contains only 14 Liberals; all his +appointments being made from his own party.' + +[7] Gray's _Confederation_, p. 62. + + + + +{84} + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE DEBATES OF 1865 + +In the province of Canada no time was lost in placing the new +constitution before parliament. A dilatory course would have been +unwise. The omens were favourable. Such opposition as had developed +was confined to Lower Canada. The Houses met in January 1865, and the +governor-general used this language in his opening speech: + + +With the public men of British North America it now rests to decide +whether the vast tract of country which they inhabit shall be +consolidated into a State, combining within its area all the elements +of national greatness, providing for the security of its component +parts and contributing to the strength and stability of the Empire; or +whether the several Provinces of which it is constituted shall remain +in their present fragmentary and isolated condition, comparatively +powerless for mutual {85} aid, and incapable of undertaking their +proper share of Imperial responsibility. + + +The procedure adopted was the moving in each House of an address to the +Queen praying that a measure might be submitted to the Imperial +parliament based upon the Quebec resolutions. The debate began in the +Legislative Council on the 3rd of February and in the Assembly three +days later. The debate in the popular branch lasted until the 13th of +March; in the smaller chamber it was concluded by the 23rd of February. + +These debates, subsequently published in a volume of 1032 pages, are a +mirror which reflects for us the political life of the time and the +events of the issue under discussion. They set forth the hopes and +intentions of the Fathers with reference to their own work; and if +later developments have presented some surprises, some situations which +they did not foresee, as was indeed inevitable, their prescience is +nowhere shown to have been seriously at fault. Some of the speeches +are commonplace; a few are wearisome; but many of them are examples of +parliamentary eloquence at its best, and the general level is high. + +The profound sincerity of the leaders of the {86} coalition, whether in +or out of office, is not to be questioned. The supporters of the union +bore down all opposition. Macdonald's wonderful tact, Brown's +passionate earnestness, and Galt's mastery of the financial problem, +were never displayed to better advantage; while the redoubtable Cartier +marshalled his French compatriots before their timidity had a chance to +assert itself. Particularly interesting is the attitude which Brown +assumed towards the French. He had been identified with a vicious +crusade against their race and creed. Its cruel intolerance cannot be +justified, and every admirer of Brown deplores it. He met them now +with a frank friendliness which evoked at once the magnanimity and +readiness to forgive that has always marked this people and is one of +their most engaging qualities. Said Brown: + + +The scene presented by this chamber at this moment, I venture to +affirm, has few parallels in history. One hundred years have passed +away since these provinces became by conquest part of the British +Empire. I speak in no boastful spirit. I desire not for a moment to +excite a painful thought. What was then the fortune of {87} war of the +brave French nation might have been ours on that well-fought field. I +recall those olden times merely to mark the fact that here sit to-day +the descendants of the victors and the vanquished in the fight of 1759, +with all the differences of language, religion, civil law and social +habit nearly as distinctly marked as they were a century ago. Here we +sit to-day seeking amicably to find a remedy for constitutional evils +and injustice complained of. By the vanquished? No, sir, but +complained of by the conquerors! [French-Canadian cheers.] + +Here sit the representatives of the British population claiming +justice--only justice; and here sit the representatives of the French +population, discussing in the French tongue whether we shall have it. +One hundred years have passed away since the conquest of Quebec, but +here sit the children of the victor and the vanquished, all avowing +hearty attachment to the British Crown, all earnestly deliberating how +we shall best extend the blessings of British institutions, how a great +people may be established on this continent in close and hearty +connection with Great Britain. + + +{88} + +In thus proclaiming the aim and intent of the advocates of +Confederation in respect to the Imperial link, Brown expressed the +views of all. It was not a cheap appeal for applause, because the +question could not be avoided. It came up at every turn. What was the +purpose, the critics of the measure asked, of this new constitution? +Did it portend separation? Would it not inevitably lead to +independence? and if not, why was the term 'a new nationality' so +freely used? In the opening speech of the debate Macdonald met the +issue squarely with the statesmanlike gravity that befitted the +occasion: + + +No one can look into futurity and say what will be the destiny of this +country. Changes come over peoples and nations in the course of ages. +But so far as we can legislate, we provide that for all time to come +the sovereign of Great Britain shall be the sovereign of British North +America. + + +And he went on to predict that the measure would not tend towards +independence, but that the country, as it grew in wealth and +population, would grow also in attachment to the crown and seek to +preserve it. This prophecy, as we know, has proved true. + +{89} + +The fear of annexation to the United States figured likewise in the +debate, but the condition of the Republic, so recently in the throes of +civil war, was not such as to give rise to serious apprehension on that +score. The national sentiment, however, which would naturally arise +when the new state was constituted, was a proper subject for +consideration, since it might easily result in a complete, if peaceful, +revolution. + +There were other uncertain factors in the situation which gave the +opponents of Confederation an opportunity for destructive criticism. +The measure was subjected to the closest scrutiny by critics who were +well qualified to rouse any hostile feeling in the country if such +existed. Weighty attacks came from dissentient Liberals like Dorion, +Holton, and Sandfield Macdonald. A formidable opponent, too, was +Christopher Dunkin, an independent Conservative, inspired, it may be +supposed, by the distrust of constitutional change entertained by his +immediate fellow-countrymen, the English minority in Lower Canada. + +Brown bore the brunt of the attack from erstwhile allies and faced it +in this fashion: + + +No constitution ever framed was without defect; no act of human wisdom +was ever {90} free from imperfection.... To assert then that our +scheme is without fault, would be folly. It was necessarily the work +of concession; not one of the thirty-three framers but had on some +points to yield his opinions; and, for myself, I freely admit that I +struggled earnestly, for days together, to have portions of the scheme +amended. + + +This was reasonable ground to take and drew some of the sting from the +criticism. + +But all the criticism was not futile. Some of the defects pointed out +bore fruit in the years that followed. As already stated, the +financial terms were far from final, and a demand for larger subsidies +had soon to be met. Friction between the federal and provincial powers +arose in due course, but not precisely for the reasons given. The +administration of the national business has cost more than was +expected, and has not been free, to employ the ugly words used in these +debates, from jobbery and corruption. The cost of a progressive +railway policy has proved infinitely greater than the highest estimates +put forth by the Fathers. The duty of forming a ministry so as to give +adequate representation {91} to all the provinces has been quite as +difficult as Dunkin said it would be. To parcel out the ministerial +offices on this basis is one of the unwritten conventions of the +constitution, and has taxed the resources of successive prime ministers +to the utmost. With all his skill, as we shall see later, Sir John +Macdonald nearly gave up in despair his first attempt to form a +ministry after Confederation. Yet it must be said, surveying the whole +field, that the critics of the resolutions failed to make out a case. + +Both in the Legislative Council and in the Assembly the resolution for +a nominated second chamber caused much debate. But the elective +principle was not defended with marked enthusiasm. By the Act of 1840 +which united the Canadas the Council had been a nominated body solely. +Its members received no indemnity; and, as some of them were averse +from the political strife which raged with special fury until 1850, a +quorum could not always be obtained. Sir Etienne Tache drew an +affecting picture of the speaker frequently taking the chair at the +appointed time, waiting in stiff and solemn silence for one hour by the +clock, and at last retiring discomfited, since members enough did not +appear to form a {92} quorum. To remedy the situation the Imperial +parliament had passed an Act providing for the election of a portion of +the members. Fresh difficulties had then arisen. The electoral +divisions had been largely formed by grouping portions of counties +together; the candidates had found that physical endurance and a long +purse were as needful to gain a seat in the Council as a patriotic +interest in public affairs; and it had become difficult to secure +candidates. This unsatisfactory experience of an elective upper +chamber made it comparatively easy to carry the resolution providing +for a nominated Senate in the new constitution. + +The agreement that the resolutions must be accepted or rejected as a +whole led Dorion to complain that the power of parliament to amend +legislation was curtailed. What value had the debate, if the +resolutions were in the nature of a treaty and could not be moulded to +suit the wishes of the people's representatives? The grievance was not +so substantial as it appeared. The Imperial parliament, which was +finally to pass the measure, could be prompted later on to make any +alterations strongly desired by Canadian public opinion. + +Why were not the terms of Confederation {93} submitted to the Canadian +people for ratification? The most strenuous fight was made in +parliament on this point, and in after years, too, constitutional +writers, gifted with the wisdom which comes after the event, have +declared the omission a serious error. Goldwin Smith observed that +Canadians might conceivably in the future discard their institutions as +lacking popular sanction when they were adopted, seeing that in reality +they were imposed on the country by a group of politicians and a +distant parliament. In dealing with such objections the reasons given +at the time must be considered. The question was discussed at the +Quebec Conference, doubtless informally.[1] The constitutional right +of the legislatures to deal with the matter was unquestioned by the +Canadian members. Shortly after the conference adjourned, Galt in a +speech at Sherbrooke[2] declared that, if during the discussion of the +scheme in parliament any serious doubt arose respecting the public +feeling on the subject, the people would be called upon to decide for +themselves. The {94} _Globe_, which voiced the opinion of Brown, said: + + +If on the assembling of Parliament the majority in that body in favour +of Confederation shall be found so large as to make it manifest that +any reference to the country would simply be a matter of form, +Ministers will not, we take it, feel warranted in putting the country +to great trouble and expense for the sake of that unessential formality. + + +When challenged in parliament the government gave its reasons. The +question of Confederation had, in one form or another, been before the +country for years. During 1864 there had been elections in eleven +ridings for the Assembly and in fourteen for the Legislative Council. +The area of country embraced by these contests included forty counties. +Of the candidates in these elections but four opposed federation and +only two of them were elected. Brown stated impetuously that not five +members of parliament in Upper Canada dare go before the people against +the scheme. No petitions against it were presented, and its opponents +had not ventured to hold meetings, knowing that an enormous majority of +the {95} people favoured it. This evidence, in Upper Canada, was +accepted as conclusive. In Lower Canada appearances were not quite so +convincing. The ministry representing that section was not a +coalition, and the Liberal leaders, both French and English, organized +an agitation. But afterwards, in the campaign of 1867, Cartier swept +all before him. It was also argued that parliament was fresh from the +people as recently as 1864, and that though the mandate to legislate +was not specific, it was sufficient. The method of ascertaining the +popular verdict by means of a referendum was proposed, but rejected as +unknown to the constitution and at variance with British practice. + +Parliament finally adopted the resolutions by a vote of ninety-one to +thirty-three in the Assembly and of forty-five to fifteen in the +Legislative Council. Hillyard Cameron, politically a lineal descendant +of the old Family Compact, supported by Matthew Crooks Cameron, a +Conservative of the highest integrity and afterwards chief justice, +then moved for a reference to the people by a dissolution of +parliament. But after an animated debate the motion was defeated, and +no further efforts in this direction were attempted. That an eagerness +to invoke the judgment of democracy {96} was not seen at its best, when +displayed by two Tories of the old school, may justify the belief that +parliamentary tactics, rather than the pressure of public opinion, +inspired the move. + +Fortune had smiled upon the statesmen of the Canadian coalition. In a +few months they had accomplished wonders. They had secured the aid of +the Maritime Provinces in drafting a scheme of union. They had made +tours in the east and the west to prepare public opinion for the great +stroke of state. They and their co-delegates had formulated and +adopted the Quebec resolutions, on which a chorus of congratulation had +drowned, for the time, the voices of warning and expostulation. And, +finally, the ministers had met parliament and had secured the adoption +of their scheme by overwhelming majorities. + +But all was not so fair in the provinces by the sea. Before the +Canadian legislature prorogued, the Tilley government had been hurled +from power in New Brunswick, Joseph Howe was heading a formidable +agitation in Nova Scotia, and in the other two provinces the cause was +lost. It seemed as if a storm had burst that would overwhelm the union +and that the hands of the clock would be put back. + + + +[1] See the remark of McCully of Nova Scotia that the delegates should +take the matter into their own hands and not wait to educate the people +up to it--Pope's _Confederation Documents_, p. 60. + +[2] November 23, 1864. + + + + +{97} + +CHAPTER IX + +ROCKS IN THE CHANNEL + +In the month of March 1865, as the Canadian debates drew to a close, +ominous reports began to arrive from all the Maritime Provinces. An +election campaign of unusual bitterness was going on in New Brunswick. +The term of the legislature would expire in the following June; and the +Tilley government had decided to dissolve and present the Quebec +resolutions to a newly elected legislature, a blunder in tactics due, +it may be, to over-confidence. The secrecy which had shrouded the +proceedings of the delegates at first was turned to account by their +opponents, who set in motion a campaign of mendacity and +misrepresentation. The actual terms became known too late to +counteract this hostile agitation, which had been systematically +carried on throughout the province. The bogey employed to stampede the +electors was direct taxation. The farmers were told that every cow or +horse they {98} possessed, even the chickens in the farmyard, would be +taxed for the benefit of Canada. Worse than all, it was contended, the +bargain struck at the honour of the province, because, as the subsidy +was on the basis of paying to the provinces annually eighty cents per +head of population, the people were really being sold by the government +like sheep for this paltry price. The trusted Tilley, easily first in +popular affection by reason of his probity and devotion to public duty, +was discredited. His opponent in the city of St John, A. R. Wetmore, +illustrated the dire effects of Confederation in an imaginary dialogue, +between himself and his young son, after this fashion: 'Father, what +country do we live in?'--and, of course, the reply came promptly--'My +dear son, you have no country, for Mr Tilley has sold us all to the +Canadians for eighty cents a head.' Time and full discussion would +have dissipated the forces of the anti-confederates. But +constituencies worked upon by specious appeals to prejudice are +notoriously hard to woo during an election struggle. There existed +also honest doubts in many minds regarding federation. Enough men of +character and influence in both parties joined to form a strong +opposition, while one of Tilley's {99} colleagues in the ministry, +George Hathaway, went over to the enemy at a critical hour. The +agitation swept the province. It was not firmly rooted in the +convictions of the people, but it sufficed to overwhelm the government. +All the Cabinet ministers, including Tilley, were beaten. And so it +happened that, when the Canadian ministers were in the full tide of +parliamentary success at home, the startling news arrived that New +Brunswick had rejected federation, and that in a House of forty-one +members only six supporters of the scheme had been returned from the +polls. + +Equally alarming was the prospect in Nova Scotia. On arriving home +from Quebec, Dr Tupper and his fellow-delegates found a situation which +required careful handling. 'When the delegates returned to the +Province,' says a pamphlet of the time, 'they did not meet with a very +flattering reception. They had no ovation; and no illuminations, +bonfires, and other demonstrations of felicitous welcome hailed their +return. They were not escorted to their homes with torches and +banners, and through triumphal arches; no cannon thundered forth a +noisy welcome. They were received in solemn, sullen and ominous +silence. {100} No happy smiles greeted them; but they entered the +Province as into the house of mourning.'[1] And in Nova Scotia the +hostility was not, as in New Brunswick, merely a passing wave of +surprise and discontent. It lasted for years. Nor was it, as many +think, the sole creation of the ambitious Joseph Howe. It doubtless +owed much to his power as a leader of men and his influence over the +masses of the Nova Scotians. But there is testimony that this proud +and spirited people, with traditions which their origin and history +fully warranted them in cherishing, regarded with aversion the prospect +of a constitutional revolution, especially one which menaced their +political identity. Robert Haliburton has related the results of his +observations before the issue had been fairly disclosed and before Howe +had emerged from seclusion to take a hand in the game. + + +In September and October, 1864, when our delegates were at Quebec, and +therefore before there could be any objections raised to the details of +the scheme, or to the mode of its adoption, I travelled through six +{101} counties, embracing the whole of Cape Breton and two counties in +Nova Scotia, and took some trouble to ascertain the state of public +opinion as to what was taking place, and was greatly surprised at +finding that every one I met, without a solitary exception, from the +highest to the lowest, was alarmed at the idea of a union with Canada, +and that the combination of political leaders, so far from recommending +the scheme, filled their partisans with as much dismay as if the powers +of light and darkness were plotting against the public safety. It was +evident that unless the greatest tact were exercised, a storm of +ignorant prejudice and alarm would be aroused, that would sweep the +friends of union out of power, if not out of public life. The profound +secrecy preserved by the delegates as to the scheme, until an +accomplice turned Queen's evidence, added fuel to the flame, and +convinced the most sceptical that there was a second Gunpowder Plot in +existence, which was destined to annihilate our local legislature and +our provincial rights.[2] + + +{102} + +This was the situation which confronted Howe when he returned in the +autumn from his tour as fishery commissioner. He had written from +Newfoundland, on hearing of the conference at Charlottetown: 'I have +read the proceedings of the delegates and I am glad to be out of the +mess.' At first he listened in silence to the Halifax discussions on +both sides of the question. These were non-partisan, since Archibald +and McCully, the Liberal leaders, were as much concerned in the result +as the Conservative ministers. Howe finally broke silence with the +first of his articles in the Halifax _Chronicle_ on 'The Botheration +Scheme.' This gave the signal for an agitation which finally bore Nova +Scotia to the verge of rebellion. Howe's course has been censured as +the greatest blot upon an otherwise brilliant career. In justice to +his memory the whole situation should be examined. He did not start +the agitation. Many able and patriotic Nova Scotians urged him on. +Favourable to union as an abstract theory he had been: to Confederation +as a policy he had never distinctly pledged himself. The idea that the +Quebec terms were sacrosanct, and that hostility to them involved +disloyalty to the Empire, must be put aside. It is neither {103} +necessary nor fair to assume that Howe's conduct was wholly inspired by +the spleen and jealousy commonly ascribed to him; for, with many +others, he honestly held the view that the interests of his native +province were about to be sacrificed in a bad bargain. Nevertheless, +his was a grave political error--an error for which he paid +bitterly--which in the end cost him popularity, private friendship, and +political reputation. But the noble courage and patience with which he +sought to repair it should redeem his fame.[3] + +It was no secret that the governor of Nova Scotia, Sir Richard Graves +Macdonnell, was opposed to Confederation. The veiled hostility of his +speech in Halifax has already been noted; and he followed it with +another at Montreal, after the conference, which revealed a captious +mind on the subject. Arthur Hamilton Gordon (afterwards Lord +Stanmore), the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, also hampered the +movement; although the Imperial instructions, even at this early stage +of the proceedings, pointed to an opposite {104} course. In the +gossipy diary of Miss Frances Monck, a member of Lord Monck's household +at Quebec in 1864, appears this item: 'Sir R. M. is so against this +confederation scheme because he would be turned away. He said to John +A.: You shall not make a mayor of _me_, I can tell you! meaning a +deputy governor of a province.' Macdonnell was transferred to +Hong-Kong; and Gordon, after a visit to England, experienced a change +of heart. But the mischief done was incalculable. + +In view of the disturbed state of public opinion in Nova Scotia the +Tupper government resolved to play a waiting game. When the +legislature met in February 1865, the federation issue came before it +merely as an open question. The defeat of Tilley in New Brunswick +followed soon after, and the occasion was seen to be inopportune for a +vote upon union. But, as some action had to be taken, a motion was +adopted affirming the previous attitude of the legislature respecting a +maritime union. There was a long debate; Tupper expounded and defended +the Quebec resolutions; but no one seemed disposed to come to close +quarters with the question. Tupper's policy was to mark time. + +Prince Edward Island made another {105} contribution to the chapter of +misfortune by definitely rejecting the proposed union. The Legislative +Council unanimously passed a resolution against it, and in the Assembly +the adverse vote was twenty-three against five. It was declared that +the scheme 'would prove politically, commercially and financially +disastrous'; and an address to the Queen prayed that no Imperial action +should be taken to unite the Island to Canada or any other province. + +Newfoundland, likewise, turned a deaf ear to the proposals. The +commercial interests of that colony assumed the critical attitude of +the same element in Nova Scotia, and objected to the higher customs +duties which a uniform tariff for the federated provinces would +probably entail. It was resolved to take no action until after a +general election; and the representations made to the legislature by +Governor Musgrave produced no effect. Although the governor was +sanguine, it required no great power of observation to perceive that +the ancient colony would not accept federation. + +The Canadian government took prompt measures. On the arrival of the +bad news from New Brunswick it was decided to hurry the debates to a +close, prorogue parliament, and send a committee of the Cabinet to +England {106} to confer with the Imperial authorities on federation, +defence, reciprocity, and the acquisition of the North-West +Territories. This programme was adhered to. The four ministers who +left for England in April were Macdonald, Brown, Galt, and Cartier. +The mission, among other results pertinent to the cause of union, +secured assurances from the home authorities that every legitimate +means for obtaining the early assent of the Maritime Provinces would be +adopted.[4] But the calamities of 1865 were not over. The prime +minister, Sir Etienne Tache, died; and Brown refused to serve under +either Macdonald or Cartier. He took the ground that the coalition of +parties had been held together by a chief (Tache) who had ceased to be +actuated by strong party feelings or personal ambitions and in whom all +sections reposed confidence. Standing alone, this reasoning is sound +in practical politics. Behind it, of course, was the unwillingness of +Brown to accept the leadership of his great rival. Macdonald then +proposed Sir Narcisse Belleau, one of their colleagues, as leader of +the government. Brown assented; and the coalition was {107} +reconstituted on the former basis, but not with the old cordiality. +The rift within the lute steadily widened, and before the year closed +Brown resigned from the ministry. His difference with his colleagues +arose, he stated, from their willingness to renew reciprocal trade +relations with the United States by concurrent legislation instead of, +as heretofore, by a definite treaty. Although his two Liberal +associates remained in the ministry, and the vacancy was given to +another Liberal, Fergusson Blair, the recrudescence of partisan +friction occasioned by the episode was not a good omen. Brown, +however, promised continued support of the federation policy until the +new constitution should come into effect--a promise which he fulfilled +as far as party exigencies permitted. But the outlook was gloomy. +There were rocks ahead which might easily wreck the ship. Who could +read the future so surely as to know what would happen? + + + +[1] _Confederation Examined in the Light of Reason and Common Sense_, +by Martin I. Wilkins. + +[2] _Intercolonial Trade our only Safeguard against Disunion_, by R. G. +Haliburton. Ottawa, 1868. + +[3] Howe's biographers have dealt with this episode in his life in a +vein of intelligent generosity. See _Joseph Howe_ by Mr Justice +Longley in the 'Makers of Canada' series and _The Tribune of Nova +Scotia_, by Prof. W. L. Grant, in the present Series. + +[4] Report of the Canadian ministers to Lord Monck, July 13, 1865. + + + + +{108} + +CHAPTER X + +'THE BATTLE OF UNION' + +At the dawn of 1866 the desperate plight of the cause of union called +for skilful generalship in four different arenas of political action. +In any one of them a false move would have been fatal to success; and +there was always the danger that, on so extended a front, the advocates +of union might be fighting at cross purposes and so inflicting injury +on each other instead of upon the enemy. It was necessary that the +Imperial influence should be exerted as far as the issues at stake +warranted its employment. Canada, the object of suspicion, must march +warily to avoid rousing the hostile elements elsewhere. The unionists +of New Brunswick should be given time to recover their position, while +those of Nova Scotia should stand ready for instant co-operation. + +The judicious but firm attitude of the Imperial authorities was a +material factor in the {109} situation. From 1862 onwards there was no +mistaking the policy of Downing Street, as expressed by the Duke of +Newcastle in that year to the governor of Nova Scotia. Colonial +secretaries came and went and the complexion of British ministries +changed, but the principle of union stood approved. Any proposals, +however, must emanate from the colonies themselves; and, when an +agreement in whole or in part should be reached, the proper procedure +was indicated. 'The most satisfactory mode,' said the dispatch of +1862, 'of testing the opinion of the people of British North America +would probably be by means of resolution or address proposed in +legislatures of each province by its own government.' This course all +the governments had kept in mind, with the additional safeguard that +the ministers of the day had associated with themselves the leaders of +the parliamentary oppositions. Nothing could have savoured less of +partisanship than the Quebec Conference; and Mr Cardwell, the colonial +secretary, had acknowledged the resolutions of that body in handsome +terms. + +The home authorities faced the difficulties with a statesmanlike front. +They had no disposition to dictate, but, once assured that a {110} +substantial majority in each consenting province supported the scheme, +it was their duty to speak plainly, no matter how vehemently a section +of opinion in England or in the provinces protested. They held the +opinion, that since the provinces desired to remain within the Empire, +they must combine. All the grounds for this belief could not be +publicly stated. It was one of those exceptional occasions when +Downing Street, by reason of its superior insight into foreign affairs +and by full comprehension of the danger then threatening, knew better +than the man on the spot. The colonial opposition might be sincere and +patriotic, but it was wrong. Heed could not be paid to the agitations +in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick because they were founded upon narrow +conceptions of statesmanship and erroneous information. + +Another difficulty with which British governments, whether Liberal or +Tory, had to contend was the separatist doctrine known as that of the +Manchester School. When George Brown visited England in 1864 he was +startled into communicating with John A. Macdonald in these terms: + + +I am much concerned to observe--and I {111} write it to you as a thing +that must seriously be considered by all men taking a lead hereafter in +Canadian public matters--that there is a manifest desire in almost +every quarter that, ere long, the British American colonies should +shift for themselves, and in some quarters evident regret that we did +not declare at once for independence. I am very sorry to observe this; +but it arises, I hope, from the fear of invasion of Canada by the +United States, and will soon pass away with the cause that excites it. + + +The feeling did pass away in time. The responsible statesmen of that +period were forced to go steadily forward and ignore it, just as they +refused to be dominated by appeals from colonial reactionaries who +abhorred change and who honestly believed that in so doing they +exhibited the best form of attachment to the Empire. + +Why Mr Arthur Gordon, the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, was at +first opposed to Confederation, when his ministers were in favour of +it, is not quite clear.[1] {112} However this may be, his punishment +was not long in coming; and, if he escaped from the storm without loss +of honour, he certainly suffered in dignity and comfort. The new +ministry which took office in New Brunswick was formed by A. J. Smith, +who afterwards as Sir Albert Smith had a useful career in the Dominion +parliament. His colleagues had taken a prominent part in the agitation +against Confederation, but it appears that they had no very settled +convictions on this question, and that they differed on many others. +At any rate, dissension soon broke out among them. The colonial +secretary pressed upon the province the desirability of the union in +terms described as 'earnest and friendly suggestions,' and which left +no doubt as to the wishes of the home government. 'You will express,' +said the colonial secretary to the lieutenant-governor, 'the strong and +deliberate opinion of Her Majesty's Government that it is an object +much to be desired that all the British North American colonies should +agree to unite in one government.' In stating {113} the reasons for +this opinion the dispatch continued: + + +Looking to the determination which this country has ever exhibited to +regard the defence of the colonies as a matter of Imperial concern, the +colonies must recognize a right, and even acknowledge an obligation, +incumbent on the home government to urge with earnestness and just +authority the measures which they consider to be most expedient on the +part of the colonies with a view to their own defence. + + +The New Brunswick frontier, as well as Canada, was disturbed by the +threatened Fenian invasion, so that the question of defence was +apposite and of vital importance. + +Presently a change of sentiment began to show itself in the province, +and the shaky Cabinet began to totter from resignations and +disagreements. By-elections followed and supporters of federation were +returned. The legislature met early in March. In the +lieutenant-governor's speech from the throne, a reference to the +colonial secretary's dispatch implied that Gordon had changed his views +and was now favourable to union. He {114} afterwards explained that +the first minister and several of his colleagues had privately +intimated to him their concurrence, but felt unable at the time to +explain their altered attitude to the legislature. The next step +involved proceedings still more unusual, if not actually +unconstitutional: the address of the Legislative Council in reply to +the speech from the throne contained a vigorous endorsement of union; +and the lieutenant-governor accepted it, without consulting his +advisers, and in language which left them no recourse but to resign. A +new ministry was formed on the 18th of April, and the House was +dissolved. The ensuing elections resulted in a complete victory for +federation. On the 21st of June the legislature met, fresh from the +people, and adopted, by a vote of thirty to eight, a resolution +appointing delegates to arrange with the Imperial authorities a scheme +of union that would secure 'the just rights and interests of New +Brunswick.' The battle was won. + +Meanwhile, like the mariner who keeps a vigilant eye upon the weather, +the Tupper government in Nova Scotia observed the proceedings in New +Brunswick with a view to action at the proper moment. The agitation +throughout the province had not affected the {115} position of parties +in the legislature which met in February. The government continued to +treat federation as a non-contentious subject. No reference to it was +made in the governor's speech, and the legislature occupied itself with +other business. The agitation in the country, with Howe leading it, +and William Annand, member for East Halifax and editor of the +_Chronicle_, as his chief associate, went on. Then the debacle of the +anti-confederate party in New Brunswick began to attract attention and +give rise to speculations on what would be the action of the Tupper +government. This was soon to be disclosed. In April, a few days +before the fall of the Smith ministry in New Brunswick, William Miller, +member for Richmond, made a speech in the House which was destined to +produce a momentous effect. His proposal was to appoint delegates to +frame a scheme in consultation with the Imperial authorities, and thus +ignore the Quebec resolutions. To these resolutions Miller had been +strongly opposed. He had borne a leading part with Howe and Annand in +the agitation, although he was always favourable to union in the +abstract and careful on all occasions to say so. Now, however, his +speech provided a means of enabling Nova Scotia to enter the {116} +union with the consent of the legislature, and Tupper was quick to +seize the opportunity by putting it in the form of a motion before the +House. An extremely bitter debate followed; vigorous epithets were +exchanged with much freedom, and Tupper's condemnation of Joseph Howe +omitted nothing essential to the record. But at length, at midnight of +the 10th of April, the legislature, by a vote of thirty-one to +nineteen, adopted the motion which cleared the way for bringing Nova +Scotia into the Dominion. + +Miller's late allies never forgave his action on this occasion. He was +accused of having been bribed to desert them. When he was appointed to +the Senate in 1867 the charge was repeated, and many years afterwards +was revived in an offensive form. Finally, Miller entered suit for +libel against the Halifax _Chronicle_, and in the witness-box Sir +Charles Tupper bore testimony to the propriety of Miller's conduct in +1866. Notwithstanding the hostility between Howe and Tupper, they +afterwards resumed friendly relations and sat comfortably together in +the Dominion Cabinet. In politics hard words can be soon forgotten. +The doughty Tupper had won his province for the union and could afford +to forget. + +[Illustration: Sir Charles Tupper, Bart. From a photograph by Elliott +and Fry, London.] + +{117} + +The tactics pursued in Canada during these exciting months in the +Maritime Provinces were those defined by a great historian, in dealing +with a different convulsion, as 'masterly inactivity.' In that +memorable speech of years afterwards when Macdonald, about to be +overwhelmed by the Pacific Railway charges, appealed to his countrymen +in words that came straight from the heart, he declared: 'I have fought +the battle of union.' The events of 1866 are the key to this +utterance. Parliament was not summoned until June; and meanwhile +ministers said nothing. That this line of policy was deliberate, is +set forth in a private letter from Macdonald to Tilley: + + +Had we met early in the year and before your elections, the greatest +embarrassment and your probable defeat at the polls would have ensued. +We should have been pressed by the Opposition to declare whether we +adhered to the Quebec resolutions or not. Had we answered in the +affirmative, you would have been defeated, as you were never in a +position to go to the polls on those resolutions. Had we replied in +the negative, and stated that it was an {118} open question and that +the resolutions were liable to alteration, Lower Canada would have +arisen as one man, and good-bye to federation. + + +Thus was the situation saved; and, although the delegates from the +Maritime Provinces were obliged to wait in London for some months for +their Canadian colleagues, owing to the Fenian invasion of Canada and +to a change of ministry in England, the body of delegates assembled in +December at the Westminster Palace Hotel, in London, and sat down to +frame the details of the bill for the union of British North America. + + + +[1] Gordon's dispatches to the colonial secretary indicate that from +the first he distrusted the Quebec scheme and that the overthrow of his +ministers owing to it occasioned him no great grief. James Hannay, the +historian, attributes his conduct to chagrin at the pushing aside of +maritime union, as he had hoped to be the first governor of the smaller +union. + + + + +{119} + +CHAPTER XI + +THE FRAMING OF THE BILL + +When the British American delegates met in London to frame the bill +they found themselves in an atmosphere tending to chill their +enthusiasm. Lord Palmerston had died the year before, and with him had +disappeared an adventurous foreign policy and the militant view of +empire. The strictly utilitarian school of thought was dominant. +Canada was unpleasantly associated in the minds of British statesmen +with the hostile attitude of the United States which seemed to threaten +a most unwelcome war. John Bright approved of ceding Canada to the +Republic as the price of peace. Gladstone also wrote to Goldwin Smith +suggesting this course. The delegates were confronted by the same +ideas which had distressed George Brown two years earlier. The +colonies were not to be forcibly cast off, but even in official circles +the opinion prevailed that ultimate separation was the inevitable end. +The reply {120} of Sir Edward Thornton, the British minister at +Washington, to a proposal that Canada should be ceded to the United +States was merely that Great Britain could not thus dispose of a colony +'against the wishes of the inhabitants.' These lukewarm views made no +appeal to the delegates and the young communities they represented. It +was their aim to propound a method of continuing the connection. +Theirs was not the vision of a military sway intended to overawe other +nations and to revive in the modern world the empires of history. To +them Imperialism meant to extend and preserve the principles of +justice, liberty, and peace, which they believed were inherent in +British institutions and more nearly attainable under monarchical than +under republican forms. + +Minds influential in the Colonial Office and elsewhere saw in this only +a flamboyant patriotism. The Duke of Newcastle, when colonial +secretary, had not shared the desire for separation, and he found it +hard to believe that any one charged with colonial administration +wished it. He had written to Palmerston in 1861: + + +You speak of some supposed theoretical gentlemen in the colonial office +who wish {121} to get rid of all colonies as soon as possible. I can +only say that if there are such they have never ventured to open their +opinion to me. If they did so on grounds of peaceful separation, I +should differ from them so long as colonies can be retained by bonds of +mutual sympathy and mutual obligation; but I would meet their views +with indignation if they could suggest disruption by the act of any +other, and that a hostile, Power. + + +The duke was not intimate with his official subordinates, or he would +have known that Palmerston's description exactly fitted the permanent +under-secretary at the Colonial Office. Sir Frederic Rogers (who later +became Lord Blachford) filled that post from 1860 to 1871. He was +therefore in office during the Confederation period. He left on record +his ideas of the future of the Empire: + + +I had always believed--and the belief has so confirmed and consolidated +itself that I can hardly realize the possibility of any one seriously +thinking the contrary--that the destiny of our colonies is +independence; and that in this view, the function of the Colonial +Office is to secure that {122} our connexion, while it lasts, shall be +as profitable to both parties, and our separation, when it comes, as +amicable as possible. This opinion is founded first on the general +principle that a spirited nation (and a colony becomes a nation) will +not submit to be governed in its internal affairs by a distant +government, and that nations geographically remote have no such common +interests as will bind them permanently together in foreign policy with +all its details and mutations. + + +In other words, Sir Frederic was a painstaking honourable official +without a shred of imagination. He typifies the sort of influence +which the delegates had to encounter. + +The conference consisted of sixteen members, six from Canada and ten +from the Maritime Provinces. The Canadians were Macdonald, Cartier, +Galt, McDougall, Howland, and Langevin. From Nova Scotia came Tupper, +Henry, Ritchie, McCully, and Archibald; while New Brunswick was +represented by Tilley, Johnston, Mitchell, Fisher, and Wilmot. They +selected John A. Macdonald as chairman. The resignation of Brown had +left Macdonald the leader of the movement, and the nominal {123} +Canadian prime minister, Sir Narcisse Belleau, was not even a delegate. +The impression Macdonald made in London is thus recorded by Sir +Frederic Rogers in language which gives us an insight into the working +of the conference: + + +They held many meetings, at which I was always present. Lord Carnarvon +[the colonial secretary] was in the chair, and I was rather +disappointed in his power of presidency. Macdonald was the ruling +genius and spokesman, and I was very greatly struck by his power of +management and adroitness. The French delegates were keenly on the +watch for anything which weakened their securities; on the contrary, +the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick delegates were very jealous of +concessions to the _arrieree_ province; while one main stipulation in +favour of the French was open to constitutional objections on the part +of the Home Government. Macdonald had to argue the question with the +Home Government on a point on which the slightest divergence from the +narrow line already agreed upon in Canada was watched for--here by the +French and {124} there by the English--as eager dogs watch a rat hole; +a snap on one side might have provoked a snap on the other and put an +end to the concord. He stated and argued the case with cool ready +fluency, while at the same time you saw that every word was measured, +and that while he was making for a point ahead, he was never for a +moment unconscious of any of the rocks among which he had to steer. + + +The preliminaries had all been settled before the meetings with the +colonial secretary. The gathering was smaller in numbers than the +Quebec Conference, and the experience of two years had not been lost. +We hear no more of deadlocks or of the danger of breaking up. There +was frank discussion on any point that required reconsideration, but +the delegates decided to adhere to the Quebec resolutions as far as +possible. For the Liberal ministers from Upper Canada, Howland and +McDougall, this was the safest course to pursue, because they knew that +George Brown had put his hand and seal upon the basis adopted at Quebec +and would bitterly resent any substantial departure from it. This was +also the view of the representatives of Lower Canada. The {125} +maritime delegates wanted better financial terms if such could be +secured, but beyond this were content with the accepted outline of the +constitution. + +The delegates were careful to make plain their belief that the union +was to cement and not to weaken the Imperial tie. At Quebec they had +agreed upon a motion in these terms: + + +That in framing a constitution for the general government, the +conference, with a view to the perpetuation of our connection with the +Mother Country and to the promotion of the best interests of the people +of these provinces, desire to follow the model of the British +constitution, so far as our circumstances will permit. + + +The saving clause at the close was a frank admission that a federal +system could not be an exact copy of the British model with its one +sovereign parliament charged with the whole power of the nation. But +the delegates were determined to express the idea in some form; and +this led to the words in the preamble of the British North America Act +declaring 'a constitution similar in principle to that of the United +Kingdom.' To this writers {126} of note have objected. Professor +Dicey has complained of the 'official mendacity' involved in the +statement. 'If preambles were intended to express the truth,' he said, +'for the word _Kingdom _ought to have been substituted _States_, since +it is clear that the constitution of the Dominion is modelled on that +of the United States.' It is, however, equally clear what the framers +of the Act intended to convey. If they offended against the precise +canons of constitutional theory, they effected a political object of +greater consequence. The Canadian constitution, in their opinion, was +British in principle for at least three reasons: because it provided +for responsible government in both the general and local legislatures; +because, unlike the system in the United States, the executive and +legislative functions were not divorced; and because this enabled +Canada to incorporate the traditions and conventions of the British +constitution which bring the executive immediately under control of the +popular wish as expressed through parliament. Furthermore, the +principle of defining the jurisdictions of the provinces, while the +residue of power was left to the federal parliament, marked another +wide distinction between Canada and the Republic. A {127} federation +it had to be, but a federation designed in the narrowest sense. In +theory Canada is a dependent and subordinate country, since its +constitution was conferred by an Act of the Imperial parliament, but in +practice it is a self-governing state in the fullest degree. This +anomaly, so fortunate in its results, is no greater than the +maintenance in theory of royal prerogatives which are never exercised. + +It was intended that the name of the new state should be left to the +selection of the Queen, and this was provided for in the first draft of +the bill. But the proposal was soon dropped. It revived the memory of +the regrettable incident of 1858 when the Queen had, by request, +selected Ottawa as the Canadian capital and her decision had been +condemned by a vote of the legislature. The press had discussed a +suitable name long before the London delegates assembled. Some +favoured New Britain, while others preferred Laurentia or Britannia. +If the maritime union had been effected, the name of that division +would probably have been Acadia, and this name was suggested for the +larger union. Other ideas were merely fantastic, such as Cabotia, +Columbia, Canadia, and Ursalia. The decision that Canada should give +up its name {128} to the new Confederation and that Upper and Lower +Canada should find new names for themselves was undoubtedly a happy +conclusion to the discussion. It was desired to call the Confederation +the Kingdom of Canada, and thus fix the monarchical basis of the +constitution. The French were especially attached to this idea. The +word Kingdom appeared in an early draft of the bill as it came from the +conference. But it was vetoed by the foreign secretary, Lord +Stanley,[1] who thought that the republican sensibilities of the United +States would be wounded. This preposterous notion serves to indicate +the inability of the controlling minds of the period to grasp the true +nature of the change. Finally, the word 'Dominion' was decided upon. +Why a term was selected which is so difficult to render in the French +language (_La Puissance_ is the translation employed) is not easy of +comprehension. There is a story, probably invented, that when +'Dominion' was under consideration, a member of the conference, well +versed in the Scriptures, found a verse which, as a piece of +descriptive prophecy, at once clinched the matter: 'And his dominion +shall be from {129} sea even to sea, and from the river even to the +ends of the earth.'[2] + +The knotty question of the second chamber, supposed to have been solved +at Quebec, came up again. The notes of the discussion[3] are as +interesting as the surviving notes of the Quebec Conference. Some of +the difficulties since experienced were foreseen. But no one appears +to have realized that the Senate would become the citadel of a defeated +party, until sufficient vacancies by death should occur to transform it +into the obedient instrument of the government of the day. No one +foresaw, in truth, that the Senate would consider measures chiefly on +party grounds, and would fail to demonstrate the usefulness of a second +chamber by industry and capacity in revising hasty legislation. The +delegates actually believed that equality of representation between the +three divisions, Upper Canada, Lower Canada, and the Maritime +Provinces, would make the Senate a bulwark of protection to individual +provinces. In this character it has never shone.[4] Its chief value +has been as {130} a reservoir of party patronage. The opinions of +several of the delegates are prophetical: + + +HENRY (Nova Scotia)--I oppose the limitation of number. We want a +complete work. Do you wish to stereotype an upper branch irresponsible +both to the crown and the people? A third body interposed +unaccountable to the other two. The crown unable to add to their +number. The people unable to remove them. Suppose a general election +results in the election of a large majority in the Lower House +favourable to a measure, but the legislative council prevents it from +becoming law. The crown should possess some power of enlargement. + +FISHER (New Brunswick)--The prerogative of the crown has been only +occasionally used and always for good. This new fangled thing now +introduced, seventy-two oligarchs, will introduce trouble. I advocate +the principle of the power of the crown to appoint additional members +in case of emergency. + +HOWLAND (Upper Canada)--My remedy would be to limit the period of +service and vest the appointment in the local legislatures. Now, it is +an anomaly. It won't work and cannot be continued. You cannot give +the crown an unlimited power to appoint. + + +One result of the views exchanged is found in the twenty-sixth section +of the Act. This gives the sovereign, acting of course on the advice +of his ministers and at the request of the Canadian government, the +right to add {131} three or six members to the Senate, selected equally +from the three divisions mentioned above. These additional members are +not to be a permanent increase of the Senate, because vacancies +occurring thereafter are not to be filled until the normal number is +restored. Once only has it been sought to invoke the power of this +section. In 1873, when the first Liberal ministry after Confederation +was formed, the prime minister, Alexander Mackenzie, finding himself +faced by a hostile majority in the Senate, asked the Queen to add six +members to the Senate 'in the public interests.' The request was +refused. The colonial secretary, Lord Kimberley, held that the power +was intended solely to bring the two Houses into accord when an actual +collision of opinion took place of so serious and permanent a kind that +the government could not be carried on without the intervention of the +sovereign as prescribed in this section. The Conservative majority in +the Senate highly approved of this decision, and expressed its +appreciation in a series of resolutions which are a fine display of +unconscious humour. + +Not the least important of the changes in the scheme adopted at London +was that relating to the educational privileges of {132} minorities. +This is embodied in the famous ninety-third section of the Act, and +originated in a desire to protect the Protestant minority in Lower +Canada. Its champion was Galt. An understanding existed that the +Canadian parliament would enact the necessary guarantees before Canada +entered the union. But the proposal, when brought before the House in +1866, was so expressed as to apply to the schools of both the +Protestant minority in Lower Canada and the Catholic minority in Upper +Canada. This led to disturbing debates and was withdrawn. No +substitute being offered, Galt, deeming himself pledged to his +co-religionists, at once resigned his place in the Cabinet and stated +his reasons temperately in parliament. Although no longer a minister, +he was selected as one of the London delegates, partly because of the +prominent part taken by him in the cause of Confederation and partly in +order that the anxieties of the Lower Canada minority might be allayed. +Galt's conduct throughout was entirely worthy of him. That he was an +enlightened man the memoranda of the London proceedings prove, for +there is a provision in his handwriting showing his desire to extend to +all minorities the protection he claimed for the Lower {133} Canada +Protestants. The clause drawn by him differs in its phraseology from +the wording in the Act and is as follows: + + +And in any province where a system of separation or dissentient schools +by law obtains, or where the local legislature may adopt a system of +separate or dissentient schools, an appeal shall lie to the governor in +council of the general government from the acts and decisions of the +local authorities which may affect the rights or privileges of the +Protestant or Catholic minority in the matter of education. And the +general parliament shall have power in the last resort to legislate on +the subject.[5] + + +The bill passed through parliament without encountering any serious +opposition. Lord Carnarvon's introductory speech in the House of Lords +was an adequate, although not an eloquent, presentation of the subject. +His closing words were impressive: + + +We are laying the foundation of a great State--perhaps one which at a +future day {134} may even overshadow this country. But, come what may, +we shall rejoice that we have shown neither indifference to their +wishes nor jealousy of their aspirations, but that we honestly and +sincerely, to the utmost of our power and knowledge, fostered their +growth, recognizing in it the conditions of our own greatness. We are +in this measure setting the crown to the free institutions which more +than a quarter of a century ago we gave them, and therein we remove, as +I firmly believe, all possibilities of future jealousy or +misunderstanding. + + +No grave objections were raised in either the Lords or the Commons. In +fact, the criticisms were of a mild character. No division was taken +at any stage. In the House of Commons, Mr Adderley, the +under-secretary for the Colonies, who was in charge of the measure, +found a cordial supporter, instead of a critic, in Mr Cardwell, the +former colonial secretary, so that the bill was carried through with +ease and celerity. John Bright's speech reflected the anti-Imperial +spirit of the time. 'I want the population of these provinces,' he +said, 'to do that which they believe to be the {135} best for their own +interests--remain with this country if they like, in the most friendly +manner, or become independent states if they like. It they should +prefer to unite themselves with the United States, I should not +complain even of that.' + +The strenuous protests made by Joseph Howe and the Nova Scotian +opponents of Confederation were not unnoticed. It was claimed by one +or two speakers that the electors of that province should be allowed to +pronounce upon the measure, but this evoked no support, and the wishes +of all the provinces were considered to have been sufficiently +consulted. The argument for further delay failed to enlist any active +sympathy; and the wish of the delegates that no material alteration be +made in the bill, as it was a compromise based upon a carefully +arranged agreement, was respected. The constitution was thus the +creation of the colonial statesmen themselves, and not of the Imperial +government or parliament. + +That so important a step in the colonial policy of the Empire should +have been received at London in a passive and indifferent spirit has +often been the subject of complaint. When the Australian Commonwealth +came into existence, the event was marked by more {136} ceremony and +signalized by greater impressiveness. But another phase of the +question should be kept in mind. The British North America Act +contained the promise of the vast Dominion which exists to-day, but not +the reality. The measure dealt with the union of the four provinces +only. The Confederation, as we have it, was still incomplete. When +the royal proclamation was issued on the 10th of May bringing the new +Dominion into being on July 1, 1867, much remained to be done. The +constitution must be put to the test of practical experience; and the +task of extending the Dominion across the continent must be undertaken. +Upon the first government of Canada, in truth, would rest a duty as +arduous as ever fell to the lot of statesmen. They had in their hands +a half-finished structure, and might, conceivably, fail in completing +it. + + + +[1] He became Lord Derby in 1869 and bore this title in 1889 when Sir +John Macdonald related the incident. + +[2] Zechariah ix 10. + +[3] Sir Joseph Pope's _Confederation Documents_. + +[4] The recent increase in the number of western senators modifies this +feature. + +[5] _Confederation Documents_, p. 112. Mr Justice Day of Montreal, an +English Protestant enjoying the confidence of the French, is believed +to have had a hand in framing the Galt policy on this subject. + + + + +{137} + +CHAPTER XII + +THE FIRST DOMINION MINISTRY + +Before the delegates left London the governor-general privately invited +John A. Macdonald to form the first ministry of the Dominion. A month +later the same offer was made more formally in writing: + + +I entrust this duty to you as the individual selected for their +chairman and spokesman by the unanimous vote of the delegates when they +were in England, and I adopt this test for my guidance in consequence +of the impossibility, under the circumstances, of ascertaining, in the +ordinary constitutional manner, who possesses the confidence of a +Parliament which does not yet exist. In authorizing you to undertake +the duty of forming an administration for the Dominion of Canada, I +desire to express my strong opinion that, in future, it shall be +distinctly understood that the position of first minister shall be +{138} held by _one_ person, who shall be responsible to the +Governor-General for the appointment of the other ministers, and that +the system of dual first ministers, which has hitherto prevailed, shall +be put an end to.[1] + + +The selection of Macdonald was inevitable. When George Brown by his +action in 1864 made Confederation possible and entered a Cabinet where +his great rival was the commanding influence, he must have foreseen +that, in the event of the cause succeeding, his own chances of +inaugurating the new state as its chief figure were not good. And by +leaving the coalition abruptly before union was accomplished he had put +himself entirely out of the running. In a group of able men which +included several potential prime ministers Macdonald had advanced to +the first place by reason of gifts precisely suited to the demands of +the hour. Lord Monck's choice was therefore justified. Nor was the +resolve to abolish the awkward and indefensible system of a dual +premiership less open to question. It may have given pain to Cartier, +but it was a wise and necessary decision. + +{139} + +Lord Monck, however, does not rank high in the list of talented men who +have filled the office of governor-general. The post had gone +a-begging when he accepted it in 1861. It had been offered to and +refused by Lord Wodehouse, a former viceroy of Ireland; Lord Harris, +once governor of Madras and a contemporary of Elgin; Lord Eversley, who +had been speaker of the House of Commons; and the Duke of Buckingham. +Lord Monck had scarcely arrived in Canada when the _Trent_ Affair +occurred. Later on the St Albans Raid intensified the bitter feelings +between Great Britain and the United States. On both occasions he +performed his duties as an Imperial officer judiciously and well. But +his relations with Canadian affairs were not so happy. He became +dissatisfied with the political conditions as he found them; and his +petulance over the slow progress of Confederation led him to threaten +resignation. He contrived, moreover, to incur much personal +unpopularity, which found vent, during the first session of the +Dominion parliament, in a measure to reduce the salary of the +governor-general from L10,000 to $32,000. That this unparalleled +action was, in part, directed at Lord Monck is shown in the +determination {140} to put the reduction in force at once. The home +authorities, however, disallowed the bill. In his speech in the House +of Lords on the British North America Act, Monck failed to rise to the +occasion, owing to a sympathy with the views of the Manchester School. +To remain long enough in Canada to preside over the new Dominion had +been his own wish. But it does not appear that he utilized his +opportunities to marked advantage. + +A unique political situation confronted Macdonald. It was natural to +suppose that, as the federation leaders belonged to both parties, the +first Cabinet should be composed of representative men of both. This +was the line Macdonald proposed to take. By this policy a strong +national party, with larger aims, would arise, and the old prejudices +and issues would be swept away. This statesmanlike conception involved +certain embarrassments, because the number of ambitious men looking for +Cabinet appointments would be increased and the expectations of +faithful Conservative supporters must suffer disappointment. These +problems, however, were not new to Macdonald. He had faced similar +dangers before, and his skill in handling them was equal to his +experience. + +{141} + +Meanwhile, Brown set himself to prevent a plan which would detach a +section of the Liberals from their former associates and permanently +range them under a Conservative leader. He cannot be blamed for this. +Confederation being now a fact, he considered himself under no +obligation to continue an alliance proposed for a special object. +Although Macdonald might be able to enlist the support of some maritime +Liberals, Brown strove to reunite his party in Ontario and present a +solid phalanx to the enemy. + +A Liberal convention met in Toronto on the 27th and 28th of June 1867. +There was a good attendance, and impassioned appeals were made to men +of the party throughout the province to join in opposing any ministry +which Macdonald might form. It was generally understood that the three +Liberal ministers--Howland, McDougall, and Blair--were to continue in +the government, which would be renewed as a coalition with a certain +degree of Liberal support in the House. To strict party men this was +obnoxious. George Brown denounced any further coalition of parties: + + +If, sir, there is any large number of men in this assembly who will +record their votes {142} this night in favour of the degradation of the +public men of that party [the Liberals] by joining a coalition, I +neither want to be a leader nor a humble member of that party. +[Cheers.] If that is the reward you intend to give us all for our +services, I scorn connection with you. [Immense cheering.] Go into +the same government with Mr John A. Macdonald! [Cries of never! +never!] Sir, I understood what degradation it was to be compelled to +adopt that step by the necessities of the case, by the feeling that the +interests of my country were at stake, which alone induced me ever to +put my foot into that government; and glad was I when I got out of it. +None ever went into a government with such sore hearts as did two out +of the three who entered it on behalf of the Reform party--I cannot +speak for the third. It was the happiest day of my life when I got out +of the concern. [Cheers.] + + +These were warm words, designed to rally a divided party. In due time +the tireless energy of the speaker and his friends reawakened the +fighting strength of their followers. For the moment, however, a +considerable number of {143} Liberals were disposed to give the new +conditions a trial. Howland and McDougall were invited to address the +convention, and they put their case in temperate and dignified +language. Howland pointed out that in the new ministry there would be +several Liberals from the lower provinces, and these men had requested +their Ontario friends not to leave them. McDougall's address was +especially apt and convincing: + + +We think that the work of coalition is not done, but only begun. We +think that British Columbia should be brought into the confederacy, +that the great north-western territory should be brought in, that +Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland should be brought in. I say that +the negotiations of the terms upon which these provinces are to be +brought in are important, and that it is as necessary that the +government in power should not be obliged to fight from day to day for +its political existence, as when Confederation was carried up to the +point we have now reached.... I think the coalition ought not to cease +until the work begun under Mr Brown's auspices is ended. + + +{144} + +It was evident from these remarks that the arguments--what his critics +called the blandishments--of Macdonald had prevailed. + + +The first Cabinet, which was announced on July 1, began on a non-party +basis. This commended it to moderate men generally. But the task of +getting it together had been herculean. To secure a ministry +representative of all parts of the country seemed a reasonable policy +at the beginning. With time this has grown into an unwritten +convention of the constitution which cannot be ignored. In 1867 the +Cabinet representation had to be determined by geography, race, creed, +and party. None but an old parliamentary hand could have made the +attempt successfully. Ontario claimed and was assigned five ministers, +Quebec four, and the Maritime Provinces four. So much for geography. +Then came race and creed. It was found necessary to give the Irish +Catholics and the English minority in Quebec each a minister. The +French demanded and were granted three ministers. Finally, the fusion +of parties imposed another difficulty upon the cabinet-maker. He could +not find room for all the really deserving. There were thirteen +ministers--too many, {145} thought Brown and the _Globe_--and of these +six were Liberal and six Conservative, while Kenny of Nova Scotia had +once been a Liberal but had lately acted with the Tupper party. The +surprises were the absence of the names of McGee and Tupper from the +list. To have selected McGee as the Irish Catholic minister meant five +representatives for Quebec, and Ontario would not consent. This +threatened a deadlock, and Macdonald was about to advise the +governor-general to send for George Brown, when McGee and Tupper, with +a disinterested generosity rare in politics, waived their claims, and +Edward Kenny became the Irish representative and second minister from +Nova Scotia. The first administration was thus constituted: + + + JOHN A. MACDONALD, Prime Minister and Minister of Justice. + GEORGE E. CARTIER, Minister of Militia and Defence. + S. LEONARD TILLEY, Minister of Customs. + ALEXANDER T. GALT, Minister of Finance. + WILLIAM McDOUGALL, Minister of Public Works. + WILLIAM P. HOWLAND, Minister of Inland Revenue. + ADAMS G. ARCHIBALD, Secretary of State for the Provinces. + A. J. FERGUSSON BLAIR, President of the Privy Council. + +{146} + + PETER MITCHELL, Minister of Marine and Fisheries. + ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, Postmaster-General. + JEAN C. CHAPAIS, Minister of Agriculture. + HECTOR L. LANGEVIN, Secretary of State of Canada. + EDWARD KENNY, Receiver-General. + + +The two men who had stepped aside in order that a ministry might be +formed under Macdonald were actuated partly by personal regard for +their leader. It was not a small sacrifice. Macdonald wrote to McGee: + + +The difficulties of adjusting the representation in the Cabinet from +the several provinces were great and embarrassing. Your disinterested +and patriotic conduct--and I speak of Tupper as well as yourself--had +certainly the effect of removing those difficulties. Still, I think +you should have first consulted me. However, the thing is done and +can't be undone for the present; but I am very sure that at a very +early day your valuable services will be sought for by the government. + + +McGee was to have retired from political life and to have received the +appointment of commissioner of patents at $3200 a year, a sinecure +which would have enabled him to pursue his literary work. His +assassination in the {147} early morning of April 7, 1868, on returning +to his lodging after a late session of the House, is one of the most +tragic episodes in the annals of Canada. + +The ministers having been sworn of the Privy Council, Lord Monck +announced that Her Majesty had been pleased to confer upon the new +prime minister the rank of Knight Commander of the Bath, and upon +Cartier, Galt, Tilley, Tupper, Howland, and McDougall the companionship +of the same order. No previous intimation had been given to any of +them. Cartier and Galt, deeming the recognition of their services +inadequate, declined to receive it. This incident is only worthy of +mention because it tended to disturb the personal relations of men who +should have acted in complete harmony at a time of national importance. +No Imperial honours had been conferred in Canada since 1860, and it was +unfortunate that the advice tendered the crown on this historic +occasion should have been open to criticism and have engendered ill +feeling. Cartier thought that his race had been affronted in his +person, and his reasons for protest were political. He told his +colleagues: 'Personally I care nothing for honours, but as a +representative of one of the {148} two great provinces in Confederation +I have a position to maintain, and I shall not accept the honour. I +regret that such an action is necessary, because it may be construed as +an insult to Her Majesty. I feel aggrieved that I should not have been +notified in advance, so that I should not now have to refuse, but I +shall write to Her Majesty myself explaining the reasons for my +refusing the honour.'[2] The error was soon rectified and Cartier was +made a baronet. A number of persons, including Charles Tupper and +Edward Watkin, a member of the Imperial parliament, interested +themselves in the matter, pointing out to the London authorities the +unwisdom of bestowing titles without due regard to the Imperial +services of the recipients. The reputations of Galt and Cartier as +serious statesmen were not enhanced. Explain it as we may, there is a +flavour of absurdity about their proceedings. Galt was offered a +knighthood in 1869, and would not accept until the Imperial government +had been made aware of his views upon the ultimate destiny of Canada. +In a letter to the governor-general he thus placed himself on record: + + +{149} + +I regard the confederation of the British North American Provinces as a +measure which must ultimately lead to their separation from Great +Britain. The present connection is undoubtedly an embarrassment to +Great Britain in her relations to the United States and a source of +uneasiness to the Dominion, owing to the insecurity which is felt to +exist from the possibility of a rupture between the two nations. It +cannot be the policy of England, and is certainly not the desire of the +people here, to become annexed to the United States; but I believe the +best, and indeed the only way to prevent this, is to teach the Canadian +people to look forward to an independent existence as a nation in the +future as desirable and possible. Unless such a spirit be cultivated, +the idea will become engrained in the public mind, that failing the +connection with Great Britain annexation must ensue. + + +Galt went on to state that he hoped separation would be postponed as +long as possible. The reply of the secretary of state, Lord Granville, +was private, but it appears to have been in effect a declaration that +Galt could hold {150} any views he pleased about the future of the +Empire. He accepted the K.C.M.G. and worthily wore it to the end of an +honourable and public-spirited career. Thus was vindicated the freedom +of speech which is the birthright of every British subject. But Galt, +in exercising it, showed lack of stability and a tendency to take an +erratic course, which crippled his influence in the young state he had +done so much to found. + +It was an enormous burden of duty which now fell upon the executive. +The whole machinery of state required recasting. The uncertainties of +a situation wherein party bonds sat lightly and diversities of opinion +lingered, taxed all the resources of the leader of the government. +Although different views are held as to the particular stage in his +long career in which the remarkable qualities of Sir John Macdonald +displayed themselves most conspicuously, the first five years of the +union may well be regarded by future historians as the period when his +patience, tenacity, and adroitness were especially in evidence. + +The provincial governments had to be constituted; and in Ontario +Macdonald scored again by persuading Sandfield Macdonald to form a +coalition ministry in which party lines {151} were effaced and the +policy of coalition was defended by an erstwhile Liberal leader. +Sandfield Macdonald was a man of talent and integrity. His attitude of +mind was rather that of an oppositionist, upon whom the functions of +independent critic sat more easily than the compromises and discipline +entailed by party leadership. He bore restraint with impatience, and +if his affiliations had always been with the Liberals, it was not +because his sympathies were radical and progressive.[3] In the Liberal +caucus of 1864 he had moved the resolution requesting George Brown to +enter the coalition government, without recognizing, apparently, that +he thereby incurred an obligation himself to support federation. Both +in the Ontario legislature, where he was loth to follow any course but +his own, and in the Dominion parliament, where he ostentatiously {152} +sat on an Opposition bench, he presented a shining example of that type +of mind which lacks the capacity for unity and co-operation with +others. He illustrated, too, one of the difficult features of +Macdonald's problem--the absence of unity among the public men of the +time--a condition which complicated, if it did not retard, the +formation of a homogeneous national sentiment.[4] + +The general elections were impending, and everything turned upon the +verdict of the country. The first elections for the House of Commons +took place during the months of August and September, the practice of +holding elections all on one day having not yet come into vogue. The +three provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick sustained the +government by large majorities. But in Nova Scotia the agitation +against the union swept the province. Tupper was the only Conservative +elected. His victory was the more notable in that he defeated William +Annand, the chief lieutenant of Howe and afterwards the leader of the +repeal movement. Adams Archibald, the secretary of state, was {153} +defeated in Colchester by A. W. McLelan, and Henry, another member of +the Quebec Conference, was rejected in Antigonish. In Ontario there +were losses. George Brown was defeated in South Ontario by a few +votes, and did not again sit in parliament until he was appointed to +the Senate in 1874. In the early years of the Dominion a member might +sit both in the House of Commons and in the legislature of his +province. So it was that at this election Edward Blake was returned +from South Bruce to the Ontario legislature and from West Durham to the +House of Commons. Other members who occupied seats in both bodies were +Sandfield Macdonald, John Carling, Alexander Mackenzie, and E. B. Wood. +Cartier's success in Quebec left his opponents only fifteen seats out +of sixty-five. The stars in their courses fought for the government; +and had it not been for Nova Scotia, where the victorious and hostile +forces were pledged to repeal, the consolidation of the Dominion could +have gone forward without hindrance. + +To deal with 'that pestilent fellow Howe,' to use Macdonald's phrase, +was a first charge upon the energies of the government. The history of +the repeal movement in Nova Scotia, {154} with all its incidents and +sidelights, has yet to be written. It was but one of the +disintegrating forces which Macdonald found so hard to cope with, that +in a moment of discouragement he seriously thought of withdrawing from +the government and letting others carry it on. A large portion of the +year 1868 was occupied with the effort to reconcile the Nova Scotians. +Instead of abating, the anti-confederate feeling in that province grew +more bitter. A delegation headed by Howe and Annand went to England to +demand repeal from the Imperial authorities. To counteract this move +the Dominion government sent Charles Tupper to present the other side +of the case. None of the passages in his political life reflect more +credit upon him than his diplomacy upon this occasion. He had already +declined, as we have seen, a seat in the Cabinet. Later, he had +further strengthened his reputation by refusing the lucrative office of +chairman of the commission to build the Intercolonial Railway. This +fresh display of independence enabled him to meet the repeal delegates +on ground as patriotic as their own, for it had shown that in this +crisis they were not the only Nova Scotians who wanted nothing for +themselves. + +{155} + +Tupper's first step on reaching London was to call on Howe. 'I said to +him,' writes Tupper, 'I will not insult you by suggesting that you +should fail to undertake the mission that brought you here. When you +find out, however, that the Government and the Imperial Parliament are +overwhelmingly against you, it is important for you to consider the +next step.'[5] This was to put the finger upon the weakest spot in +Howe's armour. After his mission had failed and the Imperial +authorities had refused to allow the union to be broken up, as they +most assuredly would, what could Howe and his friends do next? A +revolution was unthinkable. A province 'on strike' would have no +adequate means of raising a revenue, and a government lacking the power +of taxation soon ceases to exist. The extremists talked Annexation; +but in this they counted without Howe and the loyal province of Nova +Scotia. The movement, noisy and formidable as it appeared, was +foredoomed to failure. All this Tupper put to Joseph Howe; and when +Tupper proposed that Howe should enter the Dominion Cabinet, not as his +docile follower but as his leader, it {156} can readily be believed +that he was 'completely staggered.' + +True to Tupper's forecast, and due in part, at least, to his powerful +advocacy of the cause of union, the home government stood firm against +the cry from Nova Scotia. The delegates and their opponents returned +home. Then the rapid development of events compelled Howe to face the +issue: when legal and constitutional methods were exhausted without +avail, what then? The crisis came. Howe was obliged to break with his +associates, some of whom were preaching sedition, and to take a stand +more in accordance with his real convictions and his Imperial +sentiments. Early in August 1868 Sir John Macdonald went to Halifax +and met the leading malcontents. 'They have got the idea into their +heads,' wrote Howe in a private letter, 'that you are a sort of wizard +that, having beguiled Brown, McDougall, Tupper, etc., to destruction, +is about to do the same kind of office to me.' Howe was not beguiled, +but a master of tactics showed him the means by which Nova Scotia could +be kept in the union; the way was paved for a final settlement; and a +few months later Howe joined the Dominion government. + +Long after Joseph Howe had passed to his {157} rest, echoes of the +repeal agitation were heard in Nova Scotia; and it was frequently +asserted that the question of union should have been submitted to a +vote of the people. Such a course, owing to the circumstances already +narrated, was impracticable and would have been fatal to Confederation. +But the pacification of the province was a great feat of statesmanship; +for to maintain the young Dominion intact was essential to its further +extension. + + + +[1] _Memoirs_, vol. i, p. 319. + +[2] _Sir George Etienne Cartier, Bart; His Life and Times_, by John +Boyd. Toronto, 1914. + +[3] Sir James Whitney, prime minister of Ontario from 1903 to 1914, who +was a young student in Sandfield Macdonald's law office in Cornwall and +shared his political confidence, assured the present writer that +Ontario's first prime minister was not a Liberal in the real sense, his +instincts and point of view being essentially Conservative. After +Robert Baldwin's retirement Sandfield Macdonald's natural course would +have been an alliance with the progressive Conservatives under John A. +Macdonald, but his antipathy to acknowledging any leader kept him +aloof. His laconic telegram in reply to John A. Macdonald's offer of +cabinet office is characteristic: 'No go!' + +[4] A conspicuous case in point is the entire want of sympathy between +Brown and Galt, men of similar type, whose opinions on several +questions coincided. + +[5] _Recollections of Sixty Years in Canada_, by the Rt. Hon. Sir +Charles Tupper, Bart. + + + + +{158} + +CHAPTER XIII + +FROM SEA TO SEA + +The extension of the Dominion to the Pacific ocean had been discussed +at the Quebec Conference. Some of the maritime delegates, however, +thought they had no authority to discuss the acquisition of territory +beyond the boundaries of the provinces; and George Brown, one of the +strongest advocates of western extension, conceded that the inclusion +of British Columbia and Vancouver Island in the scheme of union was +'rather an extreme proposition.' But the Canadian leaders never lost +sight of the intervening regions of Rupert's Land and the North-West +Territory. They foresaw the danger of the rich prairie lands falling +under foreign control, and entertained no doubts as to the necessity of +terminating in favour of Canada the hold of the Hudson's Bay Company +over these regions. + +In 1857 the select committee of the Imperial House of Commons, +mentioned in a preceding {159} chapter, had believed it 'essential to +meet the just and reasonable wishes of Canada to be enabled to annex to +her territory such portion of the land in her neighbourhood as may be +available to her for the purposes of settlement.' The districts on the +Red River and on the Saskatchewan were considered as likely to be +desired; and, as a condition of occupation, Canada should open up and +maintain communication and provide for local administration. The +committee thought that if Canada were unwilling to take over the Red +River country at an early date some temporary means of government might +be devised. Nothing, however, had come of the suggestion. Had it been +carried out, and a crown colony created, comprising the territory which +is now the province of Manitoba, the Dominion would have been saved a +disagreeable and humiliating episode, as well as political +complications which shook the young state to its foundations. This was +the trouble known to history as the Red River Rebellion. As an armed +insurrection it was only a flash in the pan. But it awoke passions in +Ontario and Quebec, and revived all those dissensions, racial and +religious, which the union had lulled into a semblance of harmony. + +{160} + +One of the first steps taken by parliament in the autumn of 1867 was +the adoption of an address to the Queen, moved by William McDougall, +asking that Rupert's Land and the North-West Territory be united with +Canada. Two members of the government, Cartier and McDougall, went to +England to negotiate for the extinction of the rights of the Hudson's +Bay Company. After months of delay, caused partly by the serious +illness of McDougall, it was agreed that the company should receive +L300,000, one-twentieth of the lands lying within the Fertile Belt, and +45,000 acres adjacent to its trading-posts. The Canadian parliament +formally accepted the bargain, and the deed of surrender provided that +the change of rule should come into force on December 1, 1869. + +It was no mean ambition of William McDougall to be the first Canadian +administrator of this vast region with its illimitable prospects; a man +of talent, experience, and breadth of view, such as McDougall was, +might reasonably hope there to carve out a great career for himself and +do the state some service. He was appointed on September 26, 1869, +lieutenant-governor of the 'North-West Territory'--an indefinite term +meant {161} apparently to cover the whole western country--and left at +once for his post. He appears to have been quite in the dark +concerning the perilous nature of the mission. At any rate, he could +not foresee that, far from bringing him distinction, the task would +shortly end, as Sir John Macdonald described it, in an inglorious +fiasco. + +At this time, it should be remembered, the actual conditions in the +West were but vaguely known in Canada. Efforts towards communication +and exploration, it is true, had begun as early as 1857, when Simon +Dawson made surveys for a road from Fort William and Professor Henry +Youle Hind undertook his famous journey to the plains for scientific +and general observation. A number of adventurous Canadians had gone +out to settle on the plains. There was a newspaper at Fort Garry--the +_Nor'Wester_--the pioneer newspaper of the country--which had been +started by Mr William Buckingham and a colleague in 1859. But even in +official circles the community to which Governor McDougall went to +introduce authority was very imperfectly understood. + +The Red River Settlement in 1869 contained about twelve thousand +inhabitants. The English-speaking portion of the population {162} +consisted of heterogeneous groups without unity among them for any +public purpose. Some were descendants or survivors of Lord Selkirk's +settlers who had come out half a century before; others were servants +of the Hudson's Bay Company, both retired and active; a third group +were the Canadians; while a fourth was made up of a small though noisy +body of Americans. Outnumbering the English, and united under leaders +of their own race, the French and French half-breeds dwelt chiefly on +the east bank of the Red River, south of Fort Garry. These +half-breeds, or Metis, were a hardy race, who subsisted by hunting +rather than by farming, and who were trained to the use of arms. They +regarded with suspicion the threatened introduction of new political +institutions, and were quite content under the paternal sway of the +Hudson's Bay Company and under the leadership of their spiritual +advisers, Bishop Tache and the priests of the Metis parishes. + +The Canadian population numbered about three hundred, with perhaps a +hundred adults, and they, conscious that they represented the coming +regime, were not disposed to conciliate either the company or the +native settlers. It was mooted among the half-breeds that they {163} +were to be swamped by the incoming Canadians, and much resentment was +aroused among them against the assumption of authority by the Dominion +government. To make matters worse, a Canadian surveying party, led by +Colonel J. Stoughton Dennis, had begun in the summer of 1869 to make +surveys in the Province. This created alarm among the half-breed +settlers, whose titles did not rest in any secure legal authority, and +who were fearful that they were about to lose their possessions. Thus +it came about that they resolved upon making a determined attempt to +resist the transfer of the country to Canada. + +Underrating the difficulty and impatient of delay, McDougall took the +unwise step of issuing a proclamation, from his temporary headquarters +at Pembina, assuming control of the territory and calling upon the +inhabitants to recognize his authority. He supposed, of course, that +the transfer would be made, according to agreement, on December 1, and +did not know that the Canadian government had declined to accept it or +pay over the purchase-money until assured that peace and good order +prevailed. The advices from Ottawa to McDougall were delayed, and he +felt himself {164} obliged to act without definite knowledge of the +position of affairs. + +After months of agitation the Metis under Louis Riel took command of +the situation, armed their fighting men, seized Fort Garry, put a +number of prominent white residents under arrest, and formed a +provisional government. They sent word to the new governor not to +enter the country; and when he advanced, with his official party, a +short distance over the frontier, he was forcibly compelled by the +insurgents to retreat into the United States. The rebels at Fort Garry +became extremely menacing. Louis Riel, the central figure in this +drama, was a young French half-breed, vain, ambitious, with some +ability and the qualities of a demagogue. He had received his +education in Lower Canada, and was on intimate terms with the French +priests of the settlement. His conduct fifteen years later, when he +returned to head another Metis rebellion farther west and paid the +penalty on the scaffold, indicates that once embarked on a dangerous +course he would be restrained by no one. That he was half, or wholly, +insane on either occasion is not credible. + +Efforts were now made to negotiate with {165} the rebels and quiet the +disturbance. Delegates went to the West from Canada consisting of +Grand Vicar Thibault, Colonel de Salaberry, and Donald A. Smith +(afterwards Lord Strathcona). There were exciting scenes; but the +negotiations bore no immediate fruit. It was the depth of winter. The +delegates had not come to threaten because they had no force to employ. +The rebels had the game in their own hands. Bishop Tache, who was +unhappily absent in Rome, was summoned home to arrange a peace on terms +which might have left Riel and his associates some of the high stakes +for which they were playing, had they not spoiled their own chances by +a cruel, vindictive murder. + +After the departure of the Canadian delegates and the announcement of +Bishop Tache's return, Riel felt his power ebbing away. His +provisional government became a thing of shreds and patches, in spite +of its large assumptions and its temporary control during the winter +when the country was inaccessible. Among the imprisoned whites was +Thomas Scott, a young man from Ontario who had been employed in +surveying work and who was prominent in resistance to the usurpers. +Riel is credited with a threat to shed some {166} blood to prove the +reality of his power and to quell opposition. He rearrested a number +of whites who had been released under promise of safety. One of them +was Scott, charged with insubordination and breaking his parole. He +was brought before a revolutionary tribunal resembling a court-martial, +and was sentenced to be shot. Even if Riel's lawless tribunal had +possessed judicial authority, Scott's conduct in no respect justified a +death sentence. He had not been under arms when captured, and he was +given no fair opportunity of defending himself. Efforts were made to +save him, but Riel refused to show mercy. On March 4, a few days +before Bishop Tache arrived at the settlement, Scott was shot by six +men, several of them intoxicated, one refusing to prime his rifle, and +one discharging a pistol at the victim as he lay moaning on the ground. + +[Illustration: Alexandre Antonin Tache. From a photograph lent by Rev. +L. Messier, St. Boniface.] + +When the news of this barbarous murder reached the East, a political +crisis was imminent. Scott was an Orangeman; and Catholic priests, it +was said, had been closely identified with the rising. This was enough +to start an agitation and to give it the character of a race and creed +struggle. There existed also a suspicion that a miniature Quebec was +to {167} be set up on the Red River, thus creating a sort of buffer +French state between Ontario and the plains. Another cause of +discontent was the belief that the government proposed to connive at +the assassination of Scott and to allow his murderers to escape +punishment. McDougall returned home, mortified by his want of success, +and soon resigned his position. He blamed the government for what had +occurred, and associated himself with the agitation in Ontario. The +organization known as the Canada First party took a hand in the fray. +It was composed of a few patriotic and able young men, including W. A. +Foster, a Toronto barrister; Charles Mair, the well-known poet; John +Schultz, who many years later, as Sir John Schultz, became governor of +Manitoba, and who with Mair had been imprisoned by Riel and threatened +with death; and Colonel George T. Denison, whose distinguished career +as the promoter of Imperial unity has since made him famous in Canada +and far beyond it. + +The circumstances of the time, the distrust between the races and the +vacillation of a sorely pressed government, combined to make an awkward +situation. The evidence does not show that the Ontario agitators let +slip any {168} of their opportunities. The government was compelled to +send under Colonel Wolseley an expeditionary force of Imperial troops +and Canadian volunteers to nip in the bud the supposed attempt to +establish French ascendancy on the Red River. This expedition was +completely successful without the firing of a shot. Riel, at the sight +of the troops, fled to the United States, and the British flag was +raised over Fort Garry. So, in 1870, Manitoba entered the Dominion as +a new province, and the adjacent territories were organized under a +lieutenant-governor and council directly under federal jurisdiction. +Out of them, thirty-five years later, came the provinces of Alberta and +Saskatchewan. + +But the fruits of the rebellion were evident for years. One result was +the defeat in Ontario of Sandfield Macdonald's ministry in 1871. 'I +find the country in a sound state,' wrote Sir John Macdonald during the +general elections of 1872, 'the only rock ahead being that infernal +Scott murder case, about which the Orangemen have quite lost their +heads.'[1] + +When order was restored the clever miscreant Riel returned to the +settlement. By raising a force to aid in quelling a threatened Fenian +{169} invasion, he gulled Bishop Tache and the new governor, Adams G. +Archibald, and had himself elected to the Dominion parliament. But +Riel's crimes were too recent and too gross to be overlooked. His +effrontery in taking the oath as a member was followed by his expulsion +from the House; and once more he fled the country, only to reappear in +the role of a rebel on the Saskatchewan in 1884, and, in the following +year, to expiate his crimes on the scaffold. + + +Having carried the Dominion to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, the +next step for the government was the acquisition of British Columbia. +After the Oregon Treaty of 1846 the British possessions on the Pacific +coast lay in three divisions, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and +the Stikeen Territory, all in the domains of the Hudson's Bay Company. +In 1863, after the inrush of gold-seekers, the two latter had been +united under one government and granted a Legislative Council, partly +elective. Vancouver Island already had a legislature with two +chambers, one elective. In 1865 Amor DeCosmos, one of the members of +the Assembly for Victoria, began the union movement by proposing that +Vancouver Island should be joined to British Columbia. There {170} was +friction between the two colonies, largely on commercial grounds. A +tariff enacted by the colony on the mainland proved injurious to the +island merchants who flourished under a free port. So in 1866 the +Imperial parliament passed an Act uniting the two colonies. Despite +the isolation of the Pacific coast settlements from the British +colonies across the continent on the Atlantic, the Confederation +movement had not passed unnoticed in the Far West; and in March 1867 +the Legislative Council of British Columbia adopted a resolution +requesting Governor Seymour to take measures to secure the admission of +British Columbia into the Dominion 'on fair and equitable terms.' In +transmitting the resolution to the home authorities the governor +candidly pointed out the difficulties. He was not strongly in favour +of the policy. The country east of the Rocky Mountains, it should be +kept in mind, was still in the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company. An +alien population from the United States was increasing in number. +Enormous obstacles stood in the way of communication eastward. 'The +resolution,' wrote Seymour, 'was the expression of a despondent +community longing for change.' However, a public meeting in Victoria +held on January {171} 29, 1868, urgently recommended union. A memorial +to the Canadian government declared that the people generally were +enthusiastic for the change. The leading newspapers endorsed it. The +popularly elected councils of Victoria and New Westminster were of the +same mind. Opposed to this body of opinion were the official class and +a small party who desired annexation to the United States. The terms +demanded were the assumption by Canada of a debt of about $1,500,000, a +fixed annual subsidy, a wagon-road between Lake Superior and the head +of navigation on the Fraser within two years, local representative +institutions, and representation in the Canadian parliament. + +The legislature, despite the alluring prospect set forth in an address +to the Queen moved by DeCosmos, cautiously adopted an amendment +declaring that, while it adhered to its previous action in endorsing +the principle of union 'to accomplish the consolidation of British +interests and institutions in North America,' it lacked the knowledge +necessary to define advantageous terms of union. A convention of +delegates met at Yale to express dissatisfaction with local conditions +in British Columbia and to frame the terms on which {172} union would +be desirable. The Legislative Council, still unconvinced, again +declared for delay; but a dispatch from Lord Granville in August 1869, +addressed to the new governor, Anthony Musgrave, who, on the +recommendation of Sir John Macdonald, had succeeded Seymour, +emphatically endorsed Confederation, leaving open only the question of +the terms. The Confederation debate took place in the Legislative +Council in 1870. In concluding his speech in favour of the policy, +Joseph Trutch, one of the three delegates who afterwards went to Canada +to perfect the bargain, said: + + +I advocate Confederation because it will secure the continuance of this +colony under the British flag and strengthen British interests on this +continent, and because it will benefit this community--by lessening +taxation and giving increased revenue for local expenditure; by +advancing the political status of the colony; by securing the practical +aid of the Dominion Government...; and by affording, through a railway, +the only means of acquiring a permanent population which must come from +the east of the Rocky Mountains. + + +{173} The arrangement made by Canada was a generous one. It included a +promise to begin within two years and to complete within ten a railway +to the Pacific, thus connecting British Columbia with the eastern +provinces. The terms were ratified by the people of British Columbia +in the general election of 1870, and the union went into force on July +20, 1871. The Dominion now stretched from sea to sea. + +Prince Edward Island had fought stoutly in resistance to the union. +For six years it remained aloof. The fears of a small community, proud +of its local rights and conscious that its place in a federal system +could never be a commanding one, are not to be despised. At first +federation had found eloquent advocates. There could not be, it was +pointed out, any career for men of distinction in a small sea-girt +province cut off completely from the life and interests of the larger +area. But these arguments failed, as also did proposals of a more +substantial kind. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick desired greatly to +augment the maritime importance and influence in the Dominion by the +inclusion of the little island province. During the summer of 1866, +while the delegates from the two maritime provinces {174} were waiting +in London for the arrival of their Canadian colleagues, they made an +offer to James C. Pope, prime minister of the Island, who happened to +be in London, that the sum of $800,000 should be allowed the Island, in +order to extinguish the rights of the absentee land-owners, an incubus +that had long caused discontent. The Canadian delegates, at first +reluctant, were brought to agree to this proposal. But it was +declined, and the same fate overtook better financial terms which +Tilley offered in 1869. The Island went its way, but soon found that +the capital necessary for internal development was hard to secure and +harder still to repay if once obtained. A railway debt was incurred, +and financial difficulties arose. + +This situation came to the knowledge of Sir John Rose, the first +finance minister of Canada, who had gone to reside in London as a +partner in the great banking house of Morton, Rose and Co. There is a +touch of romance both in the career of Rose and in the fact that it was +through his agency that the little province entered the federation. +Rose was a Scottish lad who had come to Canada to make his fortune. +When a practising barrister in Montreal he had lost his silk gown as +Queen's Counsel {175} for signing the Annexation Manifesto in 1849. +His abilities were of the first order, but his tastes inclined to law +rather than to politics. The Dominion was in its infancy when his +talents for finance attracted attention abroad and secured him the +handsome offer which drew him away from Canada and led to his +remarkable success in the money centre of the world. But he never lost +interest in the Dominion. He maintained a close and intimate +correspondence with Sir John Macdonald, and, learning of Prince Edward +Island's difficulties, communicated with the Canadian prime minister. +Thus was the way opened for negotiations. Finally a basis of union was +arranged by which the Dominion assumed the provincial burden and made +the Island railway part of the state system of railways. Prince Edward +Island joined the union on July 1, 1873, and has contributed its full +quota of brain and energy to the upbuilding of Canada. + + +Newfoundland definitely rejected union in the general election of 1869, +and only once since has it shown an inclination to join the Dominion. +During the financial crisis of 1893 delegates from Newfoundland visited +Ottawa and sought to reach a satisfactory {176} arrangement. But the +opportunity was allowed to pass, and the ancient colony has ever since +turned a deaf ear to all suggestions of federation. But it is still +the hope of many that the 'Oldest Colony' will one day acknowledge the +hegemony of Canada. + + + +[1] _Memoirs_, vol. ii, p. 150. + + + + +{177} + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE WORK OF THE FATHERS + +The lapse of fifty years should make it possible for us to value the +work of the Fathers with due regard for historical truth. Time has +thrown into bold relief the essential greatness of their undertaking +and has softened the asperities of criticism which seem inseparable +from all political movements. A struggle for national unity brings out +the stronger qualities of man's nature, but is not a magic remedy for +rivalries between the leading minds in the state. On the contrary, it +accentuates for the time being the differences of temperament and the +clash of individual opinions which accompany a notable effort in +nation-making. But distance from the scene and from the men furnishes +a truer perspective. The Fathers were not exempt from the defects that +mark any group of statesmen who take part in a political upheaval; who +uproot existing conditions and disturb settled interests; and who bid, +each {178} after his own fashion, for popular support and approval. +The chief leaders in the federation movement survived to comparatively +recent years. The last of them, Sir Charles Tupper, died in the autumn +of 1915. All were closely associated with party politics. There yet +live many who walked and talked with them, who rejoiced with them in +victory and condoled with them in defeat. It were vain to hope that +the voice of faction has been silenced and that the labours of the +Fathers can be viewed in the serene atmosphere which strips the mind of +prejudice and passion. And yet the attempt should be made, because the +founders of Canada are entitled to share the fame of those who made the +nineteenth century remarkable for the unification of states and the +expansion of popular government. + +During Sir John Macdonald's lifetime his admirers called him the Father +of Confederation. In length and prestige of official service and in +talent for leadership he had no equals. His was the guiding hand after +the union. The first constructive measures that cemented the Dominion +are identified with his regime. When he died in the twenty-fourth year +of Confederation he had been prime minister for nearly nineteen years. +To his contemporaries {179} he towered above others. Time established +his reputation and authority. The personal attachment of his followers +was like to nothing we have seen since, because to their natural pride +in his political triumphs was added a passionate devotion to the man +himself. His opponents have cheerfully borne tribute to the +fascination he exercised over young and old. Holton's delightfully +ambiguous remark, on the occasion of Macdonald's marvellous restoration +to office in 1878, is historic: 'Well! John A. beats the devil.' Sir +Oliver Mowat said, 'He was a genial man, a pleasant companion, full of +humour and wit.' Even his satirical foe, Sir Richard Cartwright, +recognized in him an unusual personality impressing all who came in +contact with it. 'He had an immense acquaintance,' wrote Cartwright, +'with men of all sorts and conditions from one end of Canada to the +other.' + +As long as he lived, therefore, an impartial estimate of Macdonald's +share in effecting Confederation could not be expected. After his +death the glamour of his name prevented a critical survey of his +achievements. Even yet it is too soon to render a final verdict. He +took control of the situation at an early stage, because to frame a new +constitution was a task {180} after his own heart. He managed the +Quebec Conference with the arts which none of the other members +possessed in equal degree. As political complications arose his +remarkable astuteness soon overcame them; and he emerged from the +negotiations the most conspicuous figure in a distinguished group. It +is inevitable that genius for command should overshadow the merits of +others. True in every line of endeavour, this is especially so in +politics. With his great gifts, Macdonald preserved his ascendancy in +the young nation and was the chief architect of its fortunes for many +years. + +[Illustration: An election campaign--George Brown addressing an +audience of farmers. From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys] + +To assert, however, that one person was the author of Confederation, in +the sense that the others played subordinate parts and were mere +satellites revolving round the sun, is to mistake the nature and +history of the movement. It was a long battle against adverse +influences. If left unchallenged, they forbade the idea of a Dominion +stretching from sea to sea. It was not Macdonald who forced the issue +to the front, who bore down stubborn opposition, and who rallied to its +support the elements indispensable to success. Into the common fund +contributions were made from many sources. At least eight of the +Fathers of Confederation {181} must be placed in the first rank of +those to whom Canada owes undying gratitude. The names of Brown, +Cartier, Galt, Macdonald, Tupper, Tilley, McGee, and McDougall stand +pre-eminent. All these performed services, each according to his +opportunities, which history will not ignore. + +The foremost champion of union at the critical moment was George Brown. +But for him, it is easy to believe, Confederation might have been +delayed for a generation or never have come at all. His enthusiasm +inspired the willing and carried the doubting. In the somewhat rare +combination of courage, force, and breadth of view no one excelled him. +As a political tactician he was not so successful, and to this defect +may be traced the entanglements in which he was prone to land both +himself and his party. His resignation from the coalition in 1865 was +a mistake. It could not be explained. In leaving the ship before it +reached the haven of safety he laid himself open to charges of spleen +and instability. Impulsive he was, but not unstable, and his jealousy +was not greater than other men's. He was always embarrassed by the +fact that the criticisms of his newspaper the _Globe_, in the exercise +of its undoubted rights as an organ {182} of public opinion, were laid +at his door. He found, as other editors have found, that the +compromises of political life and the freedom of the press are natural +enemies. In his patriotic sacrifice in behalf of Confederation lies +his best claim to the respect and affection of his countrymen. + +The quality most commonly ascribed to Cartier is courage; and rightly +so. But equally important were his freedom from religious bigotry and +his devotion to the interests of his own people. He guarded at every +step the place of his race in the constitution of the Dominion; and if +we are to believe the story that he fought stoutly in London for strict +adherence to every concession agreed upon at Quebec, his insight into +the future proved equal to his courage. The French were rooted in the +belief that union meant for them a diminished power. There were +grounds for the apprehension. To Cartier was due the subordination of +prejudice to the common good. He was great enough to see that if Lower +Canada was to become the guardian of its special interests and +privileges, Upper Canada must be given a similar security; and this +threw him into the closest alliance with Brown. This principle, as +embodied in the {183} constitution, is the real basis of Confederation, +which cannot be seriously menaced as long as neither of the central +provinces interferes with the other. Cartier exemplified in his own +person the truth that the French are a tolerant and kindly community, +and that pride of race, displayed within its own proper bounds, makes +for the strength and not the weakness of the Dominion. Unhappily, his +health declined, and he did not live to lead his race in the +development of that larger patriotism of which, with good reason, he +believed them to be capable. But his example survives, and its +influence will be felt in the generations to come. + +What share Galt had in affecting Cartier's course is not fully known, +but the two men between them dominated Lower Canada, and their +_rapprochement_ was more than a match for the nullifying efforts of +Dorion and Holton. Galt's best work was also done before the +consummation of the union. After 1867 he practically retired from the +activities of politics, owing more to a distaste for the yoke of party +than to any loss of interest in the welfare of Canada. He had an ample +mind, and in his speeches and writings there is a valuable legacy of +suggestion. + +{184} + +Thomas D'Arcy McGee was the orator of the movement. While other +politicians hung back, he proclaimed the advantages of union in season +and out with the zeal of the crusader. His speeches, delivered in the +principal cities of all the provinces, did much to rouse patriotic +fervour. + +To Tupper and to Tilley, as this narrative has sought to show, we owe +the adherence of the Maritime Provinces. The present Dominion would +have been impossible but for their labours and sacrifice. A federated +state without an Atlantic seaboard would have resulted in a different +destiny for Canada. Each of these statesmen withstood the temptation +to bend before the storm of local prejudice. By yielding to the +passion of the hour each would have been a hero in his own province and +have enjoyed a long term of office. If evidence were needed that +Confederation inspired its authors to nobler aims than party victories, +the course taken by these leaders furnishes conclusive proof. + +William McDougall's part in the movement has suffered eclipse owing to +his political mishaps. No one brought more brilliant qualities to bear +upon the work than he. On the platform and in parliament he had, as a +{185} speaker, no superior. In his newspaper, the _North American_, he +had espoused a federal union as the first article of his political +creed; and when Brown purchased the paper, McDougall, as the chief +writer for the _Globe_, strengthened Brown's hands and became his +natural ally in the coalition. They quarrelled openly when McDougall +elected to cast in his lot with Macdonald in the first Dominion +ministry. The Red River episode ruptured his relations with Macdonald, +who never again sought his support. Avoided by both leaders and never +tolerant of party discipline, McDougall sought to fill the role of +independent critic and thus earned for himself, unfairly, the sobriquet +'Wandering Willie.' But the Dominion owed much to his constructive +talent. There is evidence that his influence was potent in the +constitutional conferences, and that during his term as minister he had +a strong hand in shaping public policy. + +Oliver Mowat left politics for the judicial bench immediately after the +Quebec Conference. He has related that, as the delegates sat round the +table, Macdonald, on being notified of the vacancy in the +vice-chancellorship of Upper Canada, silently passed him a note in +appreciative terms offering him the place. {186} For seven years he +remained on the bench. But he returned in 1872 to active political +life, and his services to the nation as prime minister of Ontario +display his balanced judgment and clearness of intellect. + +Some Canadian statesmen who were invaluable to the new nationality +suffer in being judged too exclusively from a party standpoint. Canada +was fortunate in drawing from the ranks of both Conservatives and +Liberals many men capable of developing the Dominion and adapting an +untried constitution to unforeseen conditions. None had quite the same +opportunities as Sir John Macdonald, who not only helped to frame the +union but administered its policy for a lengthy period. Alexander +Mackenzie gave the country an example of rectitude in public life and +of devotion to duty which is of supreme value to all who recognize that +free government may be undermined and finally destroyed by selfishness +and corruption. Edward Blake, with his lofty conceptions of national +ambition and his profound insight into the working of the constitution, +also exerted a beneficial effect on the evolution of the state. He, +like Sir John Thompson, was a native of the country. In temperament, +in breadth of mind, and in contempt for petty {187} and sordid aims, +Blake and Thompson had much in common. They, and others who are too +near our own day for final judgment, fully grasped the work of the +Fathers and helped to give Canada its honourable status in the British +Empire and its distinctive place as a self-governing community. + + +A retrospective glance reveals the extent to which the Fathers attained +their principal objects. A threefold purpose inspired them. Their +first duty was to evolve a workable plan of government. In this they +succeeded, as fifty years of experience shows. The constitution, after +having stood the usual tests and strain, is firmly rooted in national +approval; and this result has been reached by healthy normal processes, +not by exaggerated claims or a spurious enthusiasm. The constitution +has always been on trial, so to speak, because Canadians are prone to +be critical of their institutions. But at every acute crisis popular +discontent has been due to maladministration and not to defects of +organization. The structure itself stands a monument to those who +erected it. + +In the second and most trying of their tasks, the unification of the +provinces, the Fathers {188} were also triumphant. From the beginning +the country was well stocked with pessimists and Job's comforters. +They derived inspiration during many years from the brilliant writings +of Goldwin Smith. But in the end even the doubters had to succumb to +the stern logic of the facts. Under any federation, growth in unity is +bound to be slow. The relations of the provinces to the federal power +must be worked out and their relations to each other must be adjusted. +Time alone could solve such a problem. Until the system took definite +shape national sentiment was feeble. But a modified and well-poised +federation, with its strong central government and its carefully +guarded provincial rights, at last won the day. Years of doubt and +trial there were, but in due course the Nova Scotian came to regard +himself as a Canadian and the British Columbian ceased to feel that a +man from the East was a foreigner. The provinces have steadily +developed a community of interest. They meet cordially in periodical +conferences to discuss the rights and claims possessed in common, and +if serious, even menacing, questions are not dealt with as they should +be, the failure will be traced to faulty statesmanship and not to lack +of unity. + +{189} + +To preserve the Imperial tie was the third and greatest object of the +Fathers. They realized that many dangers threatened it--some tangible +and visible, others hidden and beyond the ken of man. It may not be +denied that the barque of the new nationality was launched into an +unknown sea. The course might conceivably lead straight to complete +independence, and honest minds, like Galt's, were held in thrall by +this view. Could monarchy in any shape be re-vitalized on the +continent where the Great Republic sat entrenched? What sinister ideas +would not the word Imperialism convey to the practical men of the +western world? These fears the Fathers met with resolute faith and the +seeing eye. They believed that inherent in the beneficent rule of +Queen Victoria there was a constitutional sovereignty which would +appeal irresistibly to a young democracy; that unwavering fidelity to +the crown could be reconciled with the fullest extension of +self-government; and that the British Empire when organized on this +basis would hold its daughter states beyond the seas with bonds that +would not break. + +And so it has proved. Of all the achievements of the Fathers this is +the most splendid {190} and enduring. The Empire came to mean, not the +survival of antiquated ideas, but the blessings of a well-ordered +civilization. And when in 1914 the Great War shook the world, +Canadians, having found that the sway of Britain brought them peace, +honour, and contentment, were proud to die for the Empire. To debate +the future of Canada was long the staple subject for abstract +discussion, but the march of events has carried us past the stage of +idle imaginings. A knowledge of the laws by which Divine Providence +controls the destinies of nations has thus far eluded the subtlest +intellect, and it may be impossible for any man, however gifted, to +foresee what fate may one day overtake the British Empire. But its +traditions of freedom and toleration, its ideals of pure government and +respect for law, can be handed on unimpaired through the ages. The +opportunity to maintain and perpetuate these traditions and ideals is +the priceless inheritance which Canada has received from the Fathers of +Confederation. + + + + +{191} + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The printed material relative to Confederation is voluminous. The +earliest proposals are to be found in the _Constitutional Documents_ by +Shortt and Doughty. The parliamentary debates of the four provinces +from 1864 to 1867 record the progress of the movement which culminated +in the British North America Act. For the intimate history of the +coalition ministry and the conferences in Quebec and in London the two +works by Sir Joseph Pope, _Memoirs of Sir John Macdonald_ and +_Confederation Documents_, are mines of indispensable information. The +files of the Toronto _Globe_ and the Halifax _Chronicle_ are valuable, +while the pamphlets, especially those relating to the events in Quebec +and Nova Scotia, are essential. Gray's _Confederation_ confirms other +material, but is not in itself of paramount importance. Mr Chisholm's +_Speeches and Public Letters of Joseph Howe_ and Dr Saunders's _Three +Premiers of Nova Scotia_ must be consulted. Mr John Boyd's _Sir George +Etienne Cartier: His Life and Times_ exhibits full knowledge and is +free from bias. See also the _Life and Speeches of {192} George +Brown_, by Alexander Mackenzie, which contains some valuable material. +For a clear and impartial biography of Brown, see _George Brown_, by +John Lewis. For the period after the union, consult Pope's _Memoirs of +Sir John Macdonald_ and Sir John Willison's _Sir Wilfrid Laurier and +the Liberal Party_. _The Life and Times of Sir Leonard Tilley_ by +James Hannay and Sir Charles Tupper's _Recollections_ throw light on +the question in the Maritime Provinces. The official dispatches +between the colonial secretary and the governors of the provinces laid +before the Imperial parliament are collected in one volume. Mr +William Houston's _Constitutional Documents_ contains useful notes. + +See also _Canada and its Provinces_, vols. v, vi, xiii, xix, xxi; and, +in the present Series, _The Day of Sir John Macdonald_, _The Day of Sir +Wilfrid Laurier_, and _The Railway Builders_. + + + + +{193} + +INDEX + +Adderley, Mr, 134. + +Alberta, in the Dominion, 159, 168. + +American Civil War, the, and Confederation, 20, 24-5, 67. + +American Revolution, 1; cause of, 4. + +Annand, William, his opposition to Confederation, 28, 115, 152, 154. + +Annexation Manifesto of 1849, the, 15, 18. + +Archibald, Adams G., a father of Confederation, 49, 62 n., 82, 102, +122, 145, 152-3; lieutenant-governor of Manitoba, 169. + +Australia, her form of government, 66. + + +Belleau, Sir Narcisse, prime minister of Canada, 106, 123. + +Bernard, Hewitt, secretary of the Quebec Conference, 61. + +Blair, A. J. Fergusson, 107, 141, 145. + +Blake, Edward, 76, 153, 186-187. + +Bright, John, his anti-Imperial views, 119, 134-5. + +British American League, the, 15. + +British Columbia, 169-70; joins the Dominion, 170-3. + +British North America Act, the, 76, 124-36. See Confederation. + +Brown, George, advocates a federation confined to the Canadas, 19, 20; +and extension westward, 22-3, 158; his relations with Macdonald, 31-2, +106, 138, 142; his committee on federal union, 32-3; expresses his +readiness to co-operate with the Conservatives in promoting the federal +system, 32-3, 143; his conference with Macdonald and Galt, 34-8; joins +Macdonald in a coalition government, 38-43, 138, 151; an amusing +incident in the House, 42-3; at the Charlottetown Conference, 50-1; his +speech emphasizing the happy relations of Canada with Britain, 52-3; at +the Quebec Conference, 57, 62 n., 64, 71-3, 74, 77-8, 79, 80 and note, +82, 158; his speech upholding the Imperial link, 86-7, 88; admits +imperfection in the Confederation constitution scheme, 89-90, 94; +resigns from the coalition, 106-7; and the Manchester School, 106, +110-11, his influence in the London Conference, 124; after +Confederation denounces any further coalition of parties, 141-2, 144-5, +185; a member of the Senate, 153; an estimate of his work, 181-2; his +personality, 31-2, 43, 73, 86, 152 n., 181-2. + +Buckingham, William, 161. + + +Cameron, Hillyard, 95. + +Cameron, M. C., 95. + +Campbell, Alexander, a father of Confederation, 50-1, 62 n., 146. + +Canada, in the early nineteenth century, 11-14; the call of the West, +22-3; the visit of the Prince of Wales (Edward VII), 23-4; her +relations with United States, 25-6, 107; the intercolonial railway +negotiations, 28-9. See Dominion, Parliament. + +Canada First party, the, 167. + +Canada Union Bill of 1822, the, 8. + +Cape Breton Island, 45. + +Cardwell, Mr, colonial secretary, 109, 134; his dispatch urging +federation, 112-13. + +Carleton, Sir Guy, 2. See Dorchester. + +Carling, John, 153. + +Carnarvon, Lord, on Canadian currency, 13-14; and Confederation, 123, +133-4. + +Carter, F. B., a father of Confederation, 63 n. + +Cartier, George E., his work on behalf of Confederation 18, 19, 37, +41-3, 50-1, 62 n., 73, 86, 95, 122, 145, 153, 160; Brown's tribute to, +42-3; accepts a baronetcy, 147-8; an estimate of his work, 182-3. + +Cartwright, Sir Richard, on land communication in the early nineteenth +century, 12-13; an amusing incident in the House, 42-3; on Sir John +Macdonald, 179. + +Chandler, E. B., a father of Confederation, 49, 63 n., 67. + +Chapais, Jean C., a father of Confederation, 62 n., 146. + +Charlottetown Conference, the, 47-55, 77. See Confederation. + +Cobden, William, 26. + +Cockburn, James, a father of Confederation, 62 n. + +Coles, George H., a father of Confederation, 50, 63 n. + +Confederation, when first mooted, 2; William Smith's plan, 3-6; +Sewell's plan, 7; W. L. Mackenzie's belief in, 8-9; Lord Durham's plan, +9-10; Constitutional Act of 1791, 10-11; a period of Particularism, +11-15; 21, 30-1; makes headway in Nova Scotia, 16-17, 26-7, 44-5; +becomes a question of practical politics, 17-20; events which hastened, +20-5; political deadlock, 30-2; coalition government formed to promote, +34-41; some opposition and objection to, 42-3, 49, 84, 89-90, 135; the +CHARLOTTETOWN CONFERENCE, 47-55, 77. THE QUEBEC CONFERENCE: +constituted, 56-7, 61-2; held with closed doors, 58-61; the Fathers of +Confederation, 62 n.-63 n.; federal union, 62-64; provincial +legislatures with a strong central government, 64, 66-9; federal +powers, 69-71; provincial powers, 71-77; the governor-general's powers, +76-7; the House of Commons, 77; the Senate, 77-80, 91-2, 129-31; the +financial terms, 80-3, 90; the Quebec resolutions adopted in Canada, +84-96; opposition in Maritime Provinces, 97-105; finally accepted in +New Brunswick, 112-14, and in Nova Scotia, 114-16. THE FRAMING OF THE +BILL: the lukewarm reception of the delegates in London, 118-22, 124, +135-6, 173-4; the desire to cement the Imperial tie by framing a +constitution similar in principle to that of Britain, 125-7; naming of +the Dominion, 127; the Senate, 129-131; the educational privileges of +minorities, 131-2; the passage of the British North America Act, 133-5; +some criticism, 90-1, 92-5; a priceless inheritance, 187-90. THE +DOMINION: Nova Scotia reconciled, 152-7; the prairie provinces, 158-9, +168; British Columbia, 158, 169-73; Prince Edward Island, 173-6. See +Dominion, Fathers, Parliament. + +Constitutional Act of 1791, the, 3, 11. + + +Dawson, Simon, 161. + +Day, Mr Justice, 133 n. + +DeCosmos, Amor, advocates union, 169, 171. + +Denison, Colonel G. T., vii, 167. + +Dennis, Colonel J. S., 163. Dicey, Professor, his view of the +Canadian constitution, 126. + +Dickey, R. B., a father of Confederation, 49, 62 n. + +Dominion of Canada, the, source and extent of, 1-2; her constitution +compared, 65-6, 125-7; her government representative of all parts of +the country, 144; the naming of, 127-9; the forming of the first +ministry, 137-8, 144-6; the first general elections, 152-153; the +Hudson's Bay Company, 158-60; the Red River Rebellion, 159, 161-8; her +Imperialism, 190. See Canada, Confederation, Parliament. + +Dorchester, Lord, and Confederation, 2-4. + +Dorion, A. A., his opposition to Confederation, 28, 40, 42, 89, 92, 183. + +Draper, Chief Justice, 22. + +Dunkin, Christopher, his opposition to Confederation, 42, 89, 91. + +Durham, Lord, his scheme of union, 9-10. + + +Edward VII, his visit to Canada, 23-4. + + +Fathers of Confederation, the, 62 n.-63 n.; the leaders honoured, +147-50; an estimate of their work, 177-90. See Confederation. + +Fenian invasion, the, and Confederation, 113, 118. + +Ferrier, James, 43. + +Fisher, Charles, a father of Confederation, 63 n., 122, 130 + +Foster, W. A., 167. + +Fournier, Telesphore, 42. + + +Galt, A. T., forces Confederation out of the sphere of speculation, +17-19, 34-8, 40, 50-1, 57, 62 n., 80, 86, 93, 106, 122, 132-3, 145, +181; his views on the ultimate destiny of Canada, 74, 148-9; desires to +extend educational privileges to all minorities, 132-3; K.C.M.G., +147-50; his personality, 17-18, 132, 152 n., 183. + +George III, and the American Revolution, 1. + +Gladstone, W. E., favours cession of Canada to United States, 119. + +Gordon, A. H., lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, 55, 103, 104, +111-12, 113-14. + +Gourlay, Robert, and Confederation, 6. + +Gray, J. H. (P.E.I.), a father of Confederation, 49, 63 n. + +Gray, J. H. (N.B.), a father of Confederation, 49, 59-61, 63 n., 81. + +Great Britain: the Union Bill of 1822, 7; her colonial policy in 1852, +15; the Hudson's Bay Company, 22, 158-9; the 'Trent' Affair, 25; her +interest in Confederation, 26-27, 108-13, 170; opinions in regarding +the ultimate destiny of Canada, 110-11, 119-122; her consideration for +United States, 119, 128. + +Granville, Lord, colonial secretary, 149, 172. + +Grenville, Lord, and Dorchester's proposal, 3, 6. + +Grey, Earl, governor-general, 15. + + +Haliburton, Robert, on opinion in Nova Scotia regarding Confederation, +100-1. + +Halifax, the Canadian delegates entertained at, 48, 52-4. + +Halliburton, Brenton, 8. + +Hamilton, P. S., 15. + +Hathaway, George, 99. + +Haviland, T. Heath, a father of Confederation, 63 n. + +Head, Sir Edmund, governor of Canada, 18. + +Henry, William A., a father of Confederation, 49, 62 n., 122, 130, 153. + +Hind, Prof. Henry Youle, 161. + +Holton, Luther H., opposes Confederation, 28, 40, 42, 89, 183; on Sir +John Macdonald, 179. + +House of Commons, the basis of representation in, 77. See Parliament. + +Howe, Joseph, 28-9; his opposition to Confederation, 16-17, 46, 55, 57, +100, 102-3, 115-116, 135; favours maritime union, 47-8; his speech +upholding federation, 48; 'that pestilent fellow,' 153; goes to England +to demand repeal, 154, 156; his meeting with Tupper, 155-6; enters the +Dominion Cabinet, 156. + +Howland, William P., and Confederation, 122, 130, 141, 143, 145; C.B.; +147. + +Hudsons Bay Company, the, 2, 22; and the Dominion, 158-60. + +Huntington, L. S., opposes Confederation, 28, 42. + + +Intercolonial Railway, the, 13, 28-9. + + +Jesuits' Estates Act, the, 71. + +Johnston, J. W., and Confederation, 16. + +Johnston, John M., a father of Confederation, 49, 63 n., 122. + + +Kenny, Edward, his inclusion in the first Dominion Cabinet, 145, 146. + +Kent, Duke of, and Confederation, 7. + +Kimberley, Lord, his views on the power to add to the Senate, 131. + + +Langevin, Hector L., a father of Confederation, 50-1, 62 n., 122, 146. + +Letellier, Lieutenant-Governor, 42; the case of his dismissal, 69-70. + +Liberals, and Confederation, 39, 40, 42, 141-4. + +Lincoln, Abraham, and the 'Trent' Affair, 25. + +Lotbiniere, Joly de, 42. + +Lower Canada, 3; its relations with Upper Canada, 6-8; and +Confederation, 84, 95. + +Lyons, Lord, and the 'Trent' Affair, 25. + +Lytton, Sir E. B., and Confederation, 19. + + +McCully, Jonathan, a father of Confederation, 49, 62 n., 93 n., 102, +122. + +Macdonald, A. A., a father of Confederation, 50, 63 n. + +Macdonald, John A., the Father of Confederation, 19, 33, 54, 106, +178-81; his relations with Brown, 31-2, 106, 142; the reconciliation +and conference with Brown, 34-8, 39; the Charlottetown Conference, +50-1, 52; the Quebec Conference, 59, 61, 62 and note, 64, 180, 185; his +appeal for a strong central authority, 67-8; on the office of +lieutenant-governor, 70; on the mode of appointment to the Senate, +78-9, 80 and note; his prophetic utterance, 88; his policy of 'masterly +inactivity,' 117; chairman at the London Conference, 122; a tribute to, +123-4; forms the first Dominion Cabinet on a non-party basis, 137-8, +140, 142, 144-6, 150; K.C.B., 147; his troubles with Howe and Nova +Scotia, 153-6; the Red River Rebellion, 161; the Scott murder case, +168; and Sir John Rose, 175; his personality, 31, 86, 117, 150, 178-180. + +Macdonald, John Sandfield, 151-2; opposed to Confederation, 27-8, 32, +89; prime minister of Ontario, 150-1, 153, 168. + +Macdonnell, Sir R. G., governor of Nova Scotia, 53-4, 55, 103, 104. + +McDougall, William, 160, 184-185; a father of Confederation, 40, 50-1, +62 n., 79, 80 n., 122, 181, 184-5; joins the Dominion Cabinet, 141, +143-4, 145, 160; C.B., 147; lieutenant-governor of the West Territory, +160-1, 163-164, 167. + +McGee, Thomas D'Arcy, the orator of the Confederation movement, 24-5, +50-1, 62 n., 65 n., 181, 184; his patriotic conduct, 145, 146; +assassinated, 146-7. + +Mackenzie, Alexander, 40, 153; and a hostile Senate, 131; his +integrity, 186. + +Mackenzie, W. L., 6; his plan of Confederation, 8-9. + +McLelan, A. W., 153. + +Mair, Charles, 167. + +Manitoba, in the Dominion, 159-68. + +Maritime Provinces, the, and communication with Canada, 11-12; object +to direct taxation, 80-1, 97. See various provinces. + +Miller, William, his troubles in Nova Scotia, 115-16. + +Mitchell, Peter, 28; a father of Confederation, 63 n., 122, 146. + +Monck, Lord, first governor-general of the Dominion, 27, 50, 84-5, +137-8, 147; his personality and record, 139-40. + +Morris, Alexander, 15; and the meeting between Macdonald and Brown, 34, +35. + +Mowat, Oliver, a father of Confederation, 40, 62 n., 74-5, 79, 80 n.; +and Macdonald, 179, 185; his career, 185-6. + +Mulgrave, Lord, governor of Nova Scotia, 17, 26-7. + +Musgrave, Anthony, governor of Newfoundland, 105; and of British +Columbia, 172. + + +New Brunswick, 13, 44-5, 49, 51; the agitation against Confederation, +97-9; a change of front, 112-14, 173-4. + +Newcastle, Duke of, on Canadian loyalty, 24; and Confederation, 26-7, +28, 109, 120-121. + +Newfoundland, 13-14, 44, 50; rejects Confederation, 105, 175-6. + +North-West Company, the, 2. + +Nova Scotia, 13, 14; favours maritime union, 27, 45, 47, 49, 51; the +opposition to Confederation, 99-104, 114-116; the agitation for repeal, +152-7; reconciled, 82, 156, 173-4. + + +Ontario. See Upper Canada. + + +Palmer, Edward, a father of Confederation, 49, 63 n. + +Palmerston, Lord, 23; his adventurous foreign policy, 119, 120. + +Parliament: Confederation a question of practical politics, 18-19; +political deadlock, 30-32; Brown's committee on federal union, 32-3; +the public reconciliation of Brown and Macdonald, 34; a coalition +formed to forward Confederation, 38-41, 44, 144; an amusing incident, +42-3; the debate on the Quebec resolutions, 84-96; the mission to +England and the resignation of Brown, 105-7; a period of 'masterly +inactivity,' 117; the educational privileges of minorities, 132-3; dual +premiership abolished, 137-9; the Hudson's Bay Company, 160. See +Dominion. + +Penny, Edward Goff, 57. + +Pope, James C., 174. + +Pope, John Henry, and Brown, 34, 35. + +Pope, Sir Joseph, quoted, 32, 36, 61, 72 n., 76 n., 80, 93 n., 129, 138 +n. + +Pope, W. H., a father of Confederation, 49, 63 n., 82. + +Prince Edward Island, 14, 44-45, 49, 51; and Confederation, 77, 104-5, +173-6. + + +Quebec. See Lower Canada. + +Quebec Conference, the, 56-83. See under Confederation. + + +Reciprocity Treaty, the, 14, 25-26, 107. + +Red River Rebellion, the, 159, 161-8. + +Riel, Louis, leader in the Red River Rebellion, 164-6, 167, 168; his +later career, 168-9. + +Robinson, John Beverley, 8. + +Rogers, Sir Frederic, his colonial views, 121-2; his tribute to +Macdonald, 123-4. + +Rose, Sir John, 174-5. + +Ross, John, 18. + +Rouges, the, and Confederation, 42. See Liberals. + +Russell, Lord John, 15. + + +Saskatchewan, in the Dominion, 159, 168. + +Schultz, Sir John, 167. + +Scott, Thomas, his murder, 165-6. + +Senate, the, composition of, 77-78, 129-31; mode of appointment to, +78-80, 91-2. See Parliament. + +Sewell, Chief Justice, his plan of Confederation, 7-8. + +Seymour, Frederick, governor of British Columbia, 170, 172. + +Shea, Ambrose, a father of Confederation, 63 n., 82. + +Smith, Sir Albert, prime minister of New Brunswick, 112, 114. + +Smith, Goldwin, quoted, 21, 30, 93, 188. + +Smith, William, his plan of Confederation, 2, 3, 4-6. + +South Africa, her form of government, 66. + +Stanley, Lord, and the naming of Canada, 128. + +Steeves, W. H., a father of Confederation, 49, 63 n. + +Strachan, Bishop, 7-8. + +Strathcona, Lord, and the Red River Rebellion, 165. + + +Tache, Sir Etienne, prime minister of Canada, 39, 40, 61, 62 n., 91-2; +death of, 106. + +Tache, Bishop, and the Red River Rebellion, 162, 165, 169. + +Tache, J. C., 15. + +Thibault, Grand Vicar, 165. + +Thirteen Colonies, granted independence, 1. See United States. + +Thompson, Sir John, 186-7. + +Tilley, S. L., 28, 54-5; a father of Confederation, 49, 57, 62 and +note, 82, 122, 145, 181, 184; his defeat in New Brunswick, 97-9, 184; +C.B., 147. + +'Trent' Affair, the, 25. + +Trutch, Joseph, advocates joining the Dominion, 172. + +Tupper, Charles, 46, 154; proposes a maritime union, 45, 48-9; his +services to the cause of Confederation, 45-6, 57, 62 n., 64, 82, 122, +154-6, 181, 184; plays a waiting game in Nova Scotia, 99, 104, 115-116; +waives his claim to a place in the first Dominion Cabinet, 145, 146, +152; C.B., 147, 148; his meeting with Howe in London, 154-6, 116; his +death, 178. + + +United States, and the 'Trent' Affair, 25; the weakness of her +constitution, 67-8, 126. + +Upper Canada, 3; its relations with Lower Canada, 6-8; and +Confederation, 94-5. + + +Vancouver Island, 169-70. + + +War of 1812, a proof of the necessity for Confederation, 6-7. + +Watkin, Edward, 148. + +Wetmore, A. R., defeats Tilley on Confederation, 98-9. + +Whelan, Edward, a father of Confederation, 63 n. + +Whitney, Sir James, 151 n. + +Wolseley, Colonel, quells the Red River Rebellion, 168. + +Wood, E. B., 153. + + + + + Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty + at the Edinburgh University Press + + + + +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA + +THIRTY-TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED + +Edited by GEORGE M. WRONG and H. H. LANGTON + + + +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA + +PART I + +THE FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS + +1. THE DAWN OF CANADIAN HISTORY + By Stephen Leacock. + +2. THE MARINER OF ST MALO + By Stephen Leacock. + + +PART II + +THE RISE OF NEW FRANCE + +3. THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE + By Charles W. Colby. + +4. THE JESUIT MISSIONS + By Thomas Guthrie Marquis. + +5. THE SEIGNEURS OF OLD CANADA + By William Bennett Munro. + +6. THE GREAT INTENDANT + By Thomas Chapais. + +7. THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR + By Charles W. Colby. + + +PART III + +THE ENGLISH INVASION + +8. THE GREAT FORTRESS + By William Wood. + +9. THE ACADIAN EXILES + By Arthur G. Doughty. + +10. THE PASSING OF NEW FRANCE + By William Wood. + +11. THE WINNING OF CANADA + By William Wood. + + +PART IV + +THE BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH CANADA + +12. THE FATHER OF BRITISH CANADA + By William Wood. + +13. THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS + By W. Stewart Wallace. + +14. THE WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES + By William Wood. + + +PART V + +THE RED MAN IN CANADA + +15. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE OTTAWAS + By Thomas Guthrie Marquis. + +16. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE SIX NATIONS + By Louis Aubrey Wood. + +17. TECUMSEH: THE LAST GREAT LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE + By Ethel T. Raymond. + + +PART VI + +PIONEERS OF THE NORTH AND WEST + +18. THE 'ADVENTURERS OF ENGLAND' ON HUDSON BAY + By Agnes C. Laut. + +19. PATHFINDERS OF THE GREAT PLAINS + By Lawrence J. Burpee. + +20. ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH + By Stephen Leacock. + +21. THE RED RIVER COLONY + By Louis Aubrey Wood. + +22. PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST + By Agnes C. Laut. + +23. THE CARIBOO TRAIL + By Agnes C. Laut. + + +PART VII + +THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM + +24. THE FAMILY COMPACT + By W. Stewart Wallace. + +25. THE 'PATRIOTES' OF '37 + By Alfred D. DeCelles. + +26. THE TRIBUNE OF NOVA SCOTIA + By William Lawson Grant. + +27. THE WINNING OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT + By Archibald MacMechan. + + +PART VIII + +THE GROWTH OF NATIONALITY + +28. THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION + By A. H. U. Colquhoun. + +29. THE DAY OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD + By Sir Joseph Pope. + +30. THE DAY OF SIR WILFRID LAURIER + By Oscar D. Skelton. + + +PART IX + +NATIONAL HIGHWAYS + +31. ALL AFLOAT + By William Wood. + +32. THE RAILWAY BUILDERS + By Oscar D. Skelton. + + + +TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Fathers of Confederation, by A. H. U. 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