The Story of Canada

Champagne and Waltzes Confederation A Tour of Canada – John A. – The Coalition – A Letter to the British of Lower Canada – The Charlottetown Conference – Remembering the Charlottetown Conference – Take the Dare! – Presiding Over Our Destinies – Confederation – Another View of Confederation – John A. MacDonald, Drunk and in Flames

Frances O. Monck: “A Tour of Canada” From My Canadian Leaves: An Account of a Visit to Canada Mrs. Monck was the wife of Governor General Monck, Queen Victoria’s representative in British North America. In the early 1860’s, they undertook a grand took of the East. My Canadian Leaves was the name she gave to her diary of the time spent travelling once she published it. -

Thursday, October 6th.—I was too tired to sleep that night till towards morning; besides, there was a hurricane, and torrents of rain. Lord L. got up at four! After eating a mouthful of breakfast, Dick, Mr. S., and I walked out to see the Houses of Parliament, which are building. Lord L. and Mr. M. were out long before. We went over part of the Houses, but they are in the most unfinished state conceivable, and in front of them nothing but mud and dirt. They will be very magnificent, built of grey stone, with a good deal of pink mixed; the architecture a sort of French Gothic. We saw the sun rise on them, making them all pink. We saw the Chaudière Falls in the distance. They do not look so pretty as our Quebec Chaudière. We then returned to the Hotel. We found a flag flying in front of it in honour of Lord Lyons, and the mayor and corporation wanted to come and pay their respects; but we all left by 7.30 a.m. train, which had been delayed half an hour for us. We had a “special car” for our party and the servants, and were very snug. They put about our arrival in the Ottawa paper, and said that “this distinguished party” were staying at the Russell House, and were going to inspect the Houses early and then leave. We were a few hours in the train till we came to the steamer Grecian. It was larger than any steamer we had yet been in; it also had been detained half an hour for us. The scenery in the train was not pretty after starting from Ottawa. Rideau Hall, the future Government House, is some way from the town. We all groaned over Ottawa; it looks as if it was at “t'other end of nowhere,” and we felt so out of the way. The Hotel was clean but third-rate, and the food looked and tasted uncivilized. When we got out of the “cars” to get into the ship, the people were all looking out for Lord Lyons; and I heard them wondering which he was. I think I was rather a puzzle, as I leant on his arm, and they knew he had no wife. He was so funny on board the ship. There is one large cabin in all these boats, which Lord L. says is called “the nuptial cabin.” Mr. Sheffield took it for himself, and locked himself in to take a quiet sleep. It was blowing a gale when we got into the steamer at Prescott, the clouds looked most awfully wild and lurid. The river St. Lawrence was very rough, but it got smo other when we came to the Lake of the Thousand Islands. It is very pretty, in some places extremely pretty, when you come to a large number of these rocky and wooded islands together, and have to steer between them; but in general they are not so pretty as the Ottawa river islands. The autumn tints made everything look its best. We went to Kingston, which we reached about 5.30 p.m., too late to catch the train for Toronto. I vowed I would not stay in the steamer which crosses Lake Ontario, and is more than twelve hours crossing to Toronto, out of sight of land. This gives one some idea of the size of the lakes here! People are often sea-sick on these lakes. There is “a nasty chopping sea” generally, like the Channel. Lord L. also determined to leave the ship. We saw that there was some idea of making us go on in the ship, so he gave me his arm, and we ran off out of the ship, and I got into a cab without waiting for any of them. I saw a man looking like a mayor on the wharf. Mayors and corporations and addresses were great dreads to Lord L. all through the journey. We drove off to the Hotel in one cab, and the others walked. We were ashamed to go into the Hotel till the others came, so we waited at a corner of the street. When I asked the “carter” where they were, he said, “I guess they are gone astray.” At last they came, and then, after seeing our rooms, we sallied out to walk about the town. It was nearly six p.m. The town is prim and desolate -looking; it is remarkable for a fine Lake Ontario view, and the number of panes of glass in every window. We walked on in the cold wind and gathering darkness to the lake point. You could never imagine the Lake to be anything but a sea—so rough and stormy and enormous. I jumped with joy to think we were not in the ship! On our way back to the Hotel we all, including Lord L., climbed up on a railing to see the Grecian pass, and were more thankful than ever to be on land, when we saw how she pitched. We stood there clinging to the railing till we saw a policeman coming, and were so afraid of being scolded that we jumped down and ran away! At the hotel we had a capital hot

supper in a long, low room. At these meals Lord L. and I always fought about the dry toast, which we both liked so much, and which in trans-Atlantic hotels is always so excellent. Lord L. always said before going into meals, “Now, let us go in state,” giving me his arm all through the house. After supper I went to bed about eight. Lord L. told me if he did not get one night's rest, he would be ill, so he and Mr. Sheffield slept that night at Kingston, while Mr. M., and Dick, and I went on at 3.30 a.m.!! to Toronto and Niagara. We got up in the dead of night, dressed, and drove two miles to the train in torrents of rain. I could not sleep much with fuss and excitement. I felt like “the Wandering Jew,” or the “steam leg.” They wanted us to get into a sleeping-car, where Conway and I, “two ladies,” as the conductor said, were to sleep in one bed! Dick and Mr. M. were to sleep in a second bed; but the smell of coal-oil and suffocation was so stifling, and the heat so great, we preferred the day car, except Mr. Malet, who can sleep in a furnace, and ventured into this “hot bed.” We slept very tolerably with our feet up on the bench opposite to us, and I felt quite fresh when we stopped at Coburg for breakfast. We got cold mutton-chops, tasting of sheep and wool, and delicious poached eggs, and bad coffee.

We then went on to Toronto, which we reached at eleven, and had to wait an hour there. It was a wet day, and we could not walk about the town, which seems to be a large one. We contented ourselves with looking at the titles of books on the stand—all of the most sensational kind—blood, murder, bigamy, etc. We got into another train then, and went on to Hamilton, where we had to wait one hour and a half; but there we had dinner. I was so ravenous, I ate first roast beef, then hot boiled mutton, because there was no more beef! The dinners you get at railway stations in Canada are so much better than what you get when you are travelling at home. The station-house is a nice English-looking one, and you see cultivation about Toronto and Hamilton that you see nowhere else in Canada. The soil is good, and the meat excellent; quite different from what you get in Lower

Canada. Conway sat next me at dinner; and, so dirty were the men opposite to me, that I could not look at them. They were third-class passengers, and their hands were perfectly black with dirt. After dinner the rain had stopped, so Dick and I walked as far as we could about the deserted, clean, airy town. We looked into the large, fine-looking R.C. Cathedral. We then took up another train, and went on to the Suspension Bridge, Niagara Falls. From the bridge you get a splendid view of the Falls, at least it is said to be a first-rate view, but, I must own, the bridge view disappointed me a little; but I will tell of my second view further on. Then we had to wait threequarters of an hour for the train to take us only five minutes' distance, to the hotel on the American side. Trying state of things, and very un-English! Our luggage passed through the Custom House without being examined. At last we found ourselves in the 'bus, on our way to the Hotel, shivering in snow and wind. This Hotel is enormous, and I often lose my way in it. It is very comfortable, except for the horrible stoves, which are a great except, my head suffers so from them. After our arrival, we went out in the snow to look at the Niagara curiosities, but all are so dear I don't think I shall buy anything. We then had supper, and were amused looking at the Yankee ladies in their many-coloured head-gear and shawls, and quantities of false hair in such structures. After supper I began my letter, and then, oh, the bliss of a good night's rest from 11.30 till near nine! But I find the excitement of travelling does me much good, and cures my head for the time. To -day I have suffered terribly, but on the journey I had no headache. Sunday.—Lord Lyons meant to come on here to-night, but has not turned up; there are no steamers or trains on any part of Sunday. We expect him to-morrow. The servants asked Conway when “the lord” was coming. There is only an American Episcopal Church here. We were at breakfast when it began, and only found out about it when too late. Dick and Mr. Malet are gone to it to-night. After tea (at eight) my head aches too much to go. Conway was so ill to -day, she was quite miserable about herself. I thought yesterday she had the jaundice, which is going here. I made her send for the Yankee doctor of the hotel to-day. He says she has the jaundice. He is giving her a strong bitter, and says that she will be well in a few days. She is happier. She is better to -night, and I think the arrival of Lord L.'s “Thomas” will make her still better to-morrow. After breakfast to-day we walked out all round Goat Island, and we saw the Falls and rapids to perfection. I do not think I can attempt to describe them, but I suppose I must try to give you some idea of them. The best idea I can give you is, to say that when we returned and read the service, I could a thousand times better realize the goodness of that powerful God who made Niagara, and yet listens to our prayers. I almost felt as if I must say in the Litany, “Oh, Thou who madst Niagara, have mercy upon us.” I say this in all reverence. It was better than any sermon, seeing what we saw to -day. The Falls are so magnificent, when you are close to them, and the rapids really too wonderful. The little bits of red colouring made everything look twice as beautiful.

We dined to-day at the table-d'hôte at three, and were much amused with the Yankees. There are two or three pretty women, and one or two nice-looking men. There are several bridal couples; they look very loving. I looked into “the ladies' parlour” once or twice, and found the bridal couples walking up and down the room arm-in-arm, as hard as they could go, and talking confidingly to each other. In all Yankee and Canadian hotels there is a “ladies' parlour,” with chairs all round the room—no table, a stove, a bad piano, a large jug full of iced water, and some tumblers. It is the same everywhere, I hear, from comparing notes and observation. The men are supposed to smoke and “liquor up” at the bar. We were waited on at dinner by negroes in white jackets and aprons. They are pleasant, funny creatures. Our rooms were on the rapids. When the windows were open, we could not hear ourselves speak, and when shut we were stifled from the stoves, and I felt as if my head was bound round with a band of iron. After dinner we went out to walk, and crossed in the horrid ferry to the Canadian side. The sunset was fine beyond expression: bright orange, crimson, yellow, pale blue, pink, grey, and purple were the colours of it, changing every moment; and, now the moon is shining over the rapids, it looks so beautiful. The moon is twice as bright out here as it is at home. We did all this side this morning, except the whirlpool and more rapids. I would not drive on Sunday, so we could not go to them. Oh, the giddiness of crossing bridges over the rapids! I rushed over with my hand over my eyes, and would not go to the tower in the midst of the Falls where Dick went. I felt as if I must rush after the rapids; it is a sort of feeling difficult to describe. The cold is too intense. One of the negroes came to us at dinner, and whispered that he had a prairie hen for our table—no one else was to have it. It was very good, and tasted, Dick said, like black cock. The Austrian Minister to Washington, Count Georgi, is here. He will, I fear, join our party when Lord L. arrives. I have waited for Dick to help me to make you imagine the Falls as to immensity. Imagine the water of the Channel half-way between Boulogne and Folkestone rushing over rugged rocks, and then falling over a height twice as high as Nelson's pillar in Dublin, and as broad as the width of Sackville Street, Dublin, twenty times multiplied! then boiling up from the bottom, the spray reaching as high above the top of the Falls as the water has fallen beneath. This is only a faint and quaint description of what no pen (especially a steel one) could describe. The body of water falling down is a mile in breadth.

Begun Cataract House, Niagara Falls, October 10th.—I over-walked myself to-day. Dick, Mr. M., and I walked to the whirlpool, hoping to drive back, but we could get no vehicle, and I nearly dropped from exhaustion. It is a very long walk, and the sun was very hot. Dick left me with Mr. M., leaning against a tree, and at last found a carriage. The whirlpool is well worth seeing, and very wonderful. All the waters from the Falls gather there, and make their way out to Lake Ontario. There is a handsome college for orphan boys near there. A lady died in this hotel this morning of a sort of jaundice, I believe. Conway is better and happier. This day is lovely and fine. Dick and Mr. M. were so amused with their sermon yesterday, which was interesting and good, but too familiar. The preacher spoke of God and Ahab as the “opposite parties,” and stopped to spit in the sermon! There was a large red cross with I.H.S. on it. The service is very like ours, and they sang rather well. The housemaid here is Irish, but has been fifteen years in the States, and speaks like a Yankee; but she loathes the North, and told Conway how they deceive the wretched Irish, and get them into their armies. She said she wished she were a man, and she would fight for the South. This hotel has been kept up this season by the “shoddy” aristocracy, which means people who have made their money in bad ways by the war, selling bad cloth; and the housemaid complained that you see people now with watches and chains who, before the war, did not know how to sit on a chair! She also complained to Conway that the Duchess of Athol was very proud, she did not “converse” at all with her when staying at the hotel! I must tell you a story of Conway and a negro, which Lord L. says is like the Christy Minstrels. He came to tell her tea was ready, and she said she would not be ready for a quarter of an hour—he was to come and fetch her. He said, “I advise you not to be so late as a quarter of an hour, you had better come in ten or fifteen minutes.” Dick and Mr. M. went to the Cave of the Winds this morning. Very awful it is, and they went without a guide, as the man was away, which I am glad I did not know till after. You know it is a cave under part of the Falls, caused by a rock shelving out, and the water falling over it. “The currents of wind there are terrific, the noise deafening, and the spray blinding,” says Dick. That morning Dick took a “current bath” in the hotel; it is made by letting the rapids run through the bath by means of an open grating at each end. After lunch I walked a little way to see the sun on the Falls, and found Lord L. and Mr. Sheffield had arrived on my return. We were charmed to meet again. Count Georgi joined us at dinner. He asked Mr. M. why I wore the Order of the Medjidie, which was my Coldstream star brooch. He is going on to Quebec. After dinner all except myself went to see the Falls by moonlight. It was too cold, and my chest ached from over-walking, so I stayed at home. Tuesday, 11th.—A lovely day. Lord L., Mr. M., and I got an open carriage very soon after breakfast, and drove over to the Canadian side, where we were joined by Dick and Mr. S., who went by ferry-boat. The carriages are so grand, and have a fur-skin in them to keep you warm. I would not let Lord L. go in the ferry-boat, because I should have been afraid, and you have to get to it in a sort of little tramway, running down a very steep inclined plane; but Lord L. said he had looked forward to going up and down in this all day long! I walked down by steps on Sunday. The path of the rapid where the boat crosses looked so rough and horrible to me. Lord L. had been at Niagara with the Prince of Wales, and had seen Blondin cross the rapids on the tight-rope. He never crossed the Falls; but the rapids were quite awful enough. When we got to the Canadian side, we were photoed in a group on the Table Rock about eighteen times. I will send you some when they are finished. It was very amusing being photoed. We are sitting on this Table Rock, with the Falls in the background. They will make you giddy when you see how near a precipice we were! When I thought of it after, it made me feel sick. Two different men did us—one an English Jew, the other a Yankee, and the jealousy of the men was funny. The Yankee said, “Now then, Mr. Lyons;” he also said to Dick, “Have you got your women together?” Dick's women being

myself. Oh, how free they are! these Yankees. I bought some blue birds for you; they are so cheap, only half a dollar apiece. After the photoing was over, we drove to Mr. Street's lovely place, and nice English house. Lord L. sent in his card, and Mrs. Street asked us all in. Mr. Street was in England. She is his mother, and a sweet, kind old lady, so pretty and ladylike. Two old maids were with her on a visit—one a very meek, cat-like old lady, the other (Miss White) merry and bouncing. Lord L. had been there with the Prince of Wales, and was supposed to know the way to the Island Walk (to which he had not gone that time with the prince, however), so he was entreated to show us the way, as the old ladies feared wetting their feet. We all sallied out to see the Is land, where the rapids rush past you in the walk, and make you giddy under shaking bridges. It is very beautiful and peculiar. Lord L. did not know the way, and told me he feared setting out wrong before Mrs. Street. Mr. Sheffield and I were famished with hunger, and longed for food, so I told Lord L. if he was offered lunch he was not to refuse, because we were hungry; he never eats lunch. I think Mr. Street has not shown good taste in putting fantastic seats about near the curious rapids and among the wonderful underwood and trees at the water's edge; it looks too like a tea-garden business. To our joy, on our return to the house, we found ginger cordial, wine, cakes, and fruit. We were so very cold, besides being hungry. I drank two glasses of ginger cordial, which, they afterwards said, ought to have made me tipsy; but I had no idea it was strong, and it did me no harm. We looked at the stuffed birds. In one case there is an enormous eagle, and a tiny humming bird shot close here. Miss White gave me some lovely autumn leaves, and, when they were questioning me about how I pressed them, Lord L. overheard me saying, “There is a person who does them for me” (meaning Captain Pem.), and Lord L. laughed well at this afterwards. I did not know he was listening to me. We took leave of the old ladies, and drove away to the “Burning Springs,” a curious spring of sulphur water, which takes fire when a lighted match is put to it, and burns like gas. Dick and Mr. M. put their pocket-handkerchiefs on it, and they did not burn, so it is a harmless flame. It was discovered by some Indians, who were so afraid they ran away from it. Lord L. said we had better go and see it, or we should be worried afterwards by people saying, “You missed seeing the best thing.” We had another look at the Falls from the Canadian side; they are more and more beautiful and grand every time you look at them. The water in parts of them was of the deepest green! The driver wanted us to be photoed for the third time at another photographer's, “where you can be taken with a splendid view of the hotels in the background.” We drove back as we came, over the Suspension Bridge, one of the wonders of the world! It is over the rapids; but I must wait till I ask Dick about its length, and how many hundred wires it took to fasten it to the rocks. They made us pay duty on our photos done on the Canadian side. The man was so afraid when he heard from the driver just too late that it was Lord Lyons. Conway and Lord Lyons's servants had themselves photoed in a group also. The sunset was so lovely. After late dinner, which Lord L. insisted on having instead of at two, we all, except Mr. S., went out to see the lunar rainbows over the Falls — very curious and grand; but I felt so eerie on Goat Island, among the Falls and rapids in the dark, that I ran away from the rainbows. How Lord L. laughed when I said I have an aunt who would not stay alone in a room with the moon for anything. I meant moonlight; but, of course, my words were not ever forgotten, Lord L. getting into fits of laughing often, speaking of “a tête-à-tête with the moon.” Some of the photos came that night, and we had great work choosing. I was given the first choice. Lord L. said, “Of course we think them all bad—everybody thinks themselves better looking than they are.” Montreal, Thursday, October 13th.—Here we are, rather tired, having left Niagara yesterday at 9.30 a.m. We were so very sorry to say “good-bye” to each other. Lord L. said he hoped we should be late for the train. We travelled for twenty-four hours in the train from Niagara to Montreal. The

scenery is mostly flat, and not pretty, and it rained on and off. The Customs officer was so civil when he found out Dick's name, and made me come and rest in his room. None of the trains this side the Atlantic connect, so we had to wait every now and then an hour or more, and they are all always after their time. I know nothing more irritating than travelling in this country—what with the trains missing “connection,” and the spitting. We had a very good dinner at Hamilton—roast beef, potatoes and butter, cabbage, apple pie, beer, and cheese. I give you our bill of fare to show how much more civilized the food is than what you get in civilized England, where you rush in at stations to get old and cold soup, and very horrid sandwiches. At Toronto we “embarked aboard the sleeping cars,” where they can't spit much because there is matting, and they are not allowed. We were more comfortable than the others, as no one was allowed to sleep over us. I must tell you of the vulgar people who got in there and amused us so. This is what I made out about them by likenesses and conversations. Two canny Scots (men) had evidently married two Irish girls; all had made their fortunes out here, and one couple were just married, and were going to Scotland. The men looked like bricklayers in their Sunday best, the ladies wore feathers in small hats, and talked with stingy fine brogues, which sounded delicious after the Yankee twang. “Maggie” was the bride, and “Sally” was the sister come to see her off. There were promises of writing from Montreal and Quebec, and talks of photos. Sally's husband said, “Remember me to all inquiring friends in the old country, and tell me if there is room for me there.” The newly married were to go first to Liverpool in the Peruvian, and then to Ardrossan. At last, after a hundred vulgar jokes, the sisters fell on each other and kissed, and the bride cried. “None of your gum-sucking,” said Sally's husband. Then they parted, Maggie's husband telling them not to pay their cab back, as he had paid it. Then they talked out of the window to each other, and then Sally was called “Sarah” in a more stingy and fine brogue than before, and Sally said to the bridegroom, “Won't you make Maggie laugh?” and he vowed he would make her “roar.” Then she was made to look out to show she had done crying, and she sighed, and wiped her eyes under her small hat like a kitchen-maid. It was all so natural it interested me, and I felt for them. When we were off, Maggie said it was hot, and the man said, “It's better than to have you getting cold,” and he put his red hand and arm round her neck, and sat petting her for some time, and got quite sentimental! She was rather welllooking; he was red and hideous. At last, seeing my eye-glass levelled at her, she undid herself from the man's embrace, and said, “I am tired of this position;” she seemed, however, to like him much. They talked over their family, etc., till it was late or dark, and then they went to bed, and, oh, that was a horrid sight! Off went the man's coat, waistcoat, braces, and boots, and then they tucked themselves into bed. We had no curtains, and only cloaks for bed-clothes, so we were lucky; but these wretches tucked the curtains all round them. Ugh! Trying to sleep was not easy; the shaking was something I could not describe, and we seemed to go on for five minutes and then stop; it seemed as if we were shunted off on to another line every few moments, and every time we stopped I awoke. We stopped in the night for supper, and had fish, chicken, and potatoes. We were not sorry to arrive at Montreal. We breakfasted at the St. L. Hall. Then Dick went to see Captain Seymour, and we were invited to dine at Col. Conolly's, where Captain Seymour is now living. We drove out in pours of rain to see Miss Rose. We also went to see Sir Fenwick, who is settled in General Lindsay's house. He showed us all over the house. We finished our day by dining with Colonel C. and Captain S. After dinner, in the twilight and cold, we two and Captain Seymour drove off to the wharf, and embarked in the Europa for Quebec. Spencer Wood, October 14th.—We arrived here all right to-day. We were late in arriving, because of the fog, but I slept tolerably well on board. Crowds of people were on board going to the delegates' ball to-night. My friend Maggie and her bridegroom I found in the ship. We all had

much laughing here over our different stories. The dresses at the Drawing-room were much improved; some wore feathers. George Augustus Sala dines here to-night. We dine at seven, and then go to the ball. Captain Seymour goes home in the Peruvian to-morrow. Saturday, October 15th.—My room feels so snug after the stovey hotel rooms. I have double windows, warm red curtains, and an enormous fire all day long. There dined last night Mr. Chandler, who is a Minister from New Brunswick, Mr. Johnson, Attorney General of (I believe) the same place, Mr. G. A. Sala, Mr. Livesay (I believe a writer for Punch), Gordon the Good, and Major Brice. I went in with Mr. Chandler, who amused me much. Sala was rather amusing. His bows to us were worthy of a courtier. He speaks like a book, and says “garments” and “nay, nay,” instead of “no, no.” I showed our Niagara groups. He said to me, “Your pose is most graceful, madam.” I said I thought I looked very cross, whereupon he answered, “Nay, nay, madam.” Mr. Chandler got quite excited over it, wanting to see Lord Lyons's portrait. He observed that “I did not look myself in it; I looked serious.” He had never seen me before, so I don't think he was much of a judge. In wind and rain we set off for the ball. We were received by the Ministry in the speaker's room. Some were in grand official uniforms.

The G. G. and Mr. Godley looked very nice in theirs. This ball, you know, was given in the Parliament House by the Ministry to the delegates from the Maritime Provinces, who are come here to arrange about a United Kingdom of Canada. The Maritime Provinces mean Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward's Island. It was arranged that I was to follow the G. G. with the Prime Minister, Sir E. Taché, and to dance the first quadrille with him, but Sir E. is so very old that he can't dance, and he would not take me in for fear of having to dance with me, so he walked in first alone; then came the G. G., then John A. with me, and then Cartier and Mrs. Godley. “God save the Queen” was played, and we marched up to the throne in procession. Sir R. M. and wife (Gov. of ----) came very late. Between their being late, and old Sir E. hiding behind a screen to escape from me, the first quadrille was upset. The G. G. danced with Madame

Cartier, and I with a New Brunswick Minister, Colonel Grey by name. The Ministers were very angry about my being left without my proper partner, and made apologies; but poor Sir E. is about seventy, so I think he was right to hide! I made acquaintance between the dances with Lady M. and with Mrs. Jervoise, who came out here for ten weeks with her husband, and they were nearly lost at sea! She is very pleasing and handsome. Lady M. is also pretty. The G. G. then introduced me to Sir R. M. He asked me to walk about with him and have some refreshments, so off we went. He wore a red riband and order. Well, this old king and I wandered on and on for a long time. A vulgar waiter ran after us and said, “Do you want to go upstairs, sir?” meaning the servants' gallery, upon which my friend waved him off and went on. With difficulty I at last got an ice, and then we lost ourselves quite, and found at last that we were seated under the wrong throne, in the wrong room! This all took up some time, and when we at last found the right room, I danced with Dr. Tupper, Prime Minister of Nova Scotia. The 25th string-band played in one of the rooms; it is a lovely band. When supper was announced, Sir R. M. wanted me again; but it was decreed that Sir E. Taché was to take me. We walked in procession. Sir E. proposed the Queen's health. After supper I danced a quadrille with Sir R. He talked a good deal about “the French element,” which, looking at Madame Duval dancing, he said it was delightful to see. He and his wife had been out moose hunting; he said unfortunately he had not shot one animal the ten days he was out. We call Lady M. “La reine Blanche.” Captain Seymour came to the ball with us; he was almost the only young man I danced with. Sala was not seen at the ball, though he was said to be there. Sir E. Taché is the only non-dancing old man here—wigs, spectacles, and grey hairs don't hinder people from dancing. We came home early. That Mr. Chandler who took me in to dinner told me a great deal about the happiness of slaves, and how miserable they are when emancipated. He says slaves are treated like servants, and well cared for, and they adore their masters. After dinner, I forgot to say, I asked Sala to write his autograph in my book. He just wrote his name—“only this, and nothing more.” He said he could not write anything else! To-day Captain Seymour left early per Peruvian. We are so sorry he is gone. The Godleys left also for their own home. I went out to drive, covered by a buffalo robe, it is so very very cold. I paid visits, and brought Dick and F. B. home with me. Sunday, 16th.—A wet day. Went to afternoon service in waggon. There are waterproof curtains to the waggon, which can be put down, and one is kept quite dry. Monday, 17th.—Dick and I, and Captain Pem. are going, I hope, to-night to a “drum” at Judge Meredith's. Tuesday, 18th.—After lunch yesterday, Dick and I tried to walk to the village; but the wind was so great I could not face it; the day was dark and damp. The G. G. dined with the Godleys, and Captain Pem. with the 17th, so we dined alone, and went to the “drum” at Judge Meredith's. There was a very large party, and the house is large. I was much amused, and talked to many people, among others to M. Duvergier d'Hauraune, a young Frenchman, who is come over here to travel, and has brought a letter to the G. G. from Lord Clarendon. His father was a well-known man in France under Louis Philippe. My friend, Sir R. M., rushed to me, and asked me to walk about with him, and invited us to Government House at H., which he told me was much finer and larger than “Spencer's Wood.” Lady M. and Dick flirted together for a long time; she is so pretty and pleasant. A Miss Tilstone sang—a handsome girl, with a pretty voice. Then a Madame Tachereau sang— good voice; and then the man sang, Mr. Harwood, an M.P.P., half French. He has a very fine voice, and is a pupil of Garcia's. He was offered an engagement at the Italian Opera, London. The large rooms were too small for his voice, which wants modulation. I got quite giddy with the loudness

of it! He sang from operas; he wants expression and more teaching. Judge Meredith introduced him to me, and he sang again for me. My friend Madam Tessier (the Speaker's wife), asked us to a party she is giving on Wednesday night for us and the delegates. We did not stay very long at the party. We were in an open waggon, and the cold was intense. The home letters came very quick this time by the old Damascus; they were written the day after we went to Niagara, and we received them to-day. To-day is showery, and dark, and cold. Dinner-party according to enclosed list. Count Georgi took me in. He is a great aristocrat; is said by Mr. M. to wear a red shirt at dinner, and always; he wore a white one this time, but buttoned his coat over it, as if ashamed of it. He talked German, French, and English with me—English the most hard to me to understand. Some of his stories I pretended to understand, and made remarks according to his own faces, not having an idea what he was saying. He spoke fluently, but shut his mouth. He put down his knife and fork every time I spoke, so I feared he would never finish. He admires English women more than any other nation. He is from Slavonia himself. He told me some rambling story about his staying with an archbishop somewhere, and shooting birds with a pistol, and he showed me the way he did it, shooting in the air, and saying, “Ei-ei-ei,” to show each shot. This is a coherent (?) story, but more so than some that I caught. He says Mrs. Lincoln knows nothing about society, often keeping her company waiting while she finishes her toilette. He wants us to go to New York in spring; write him a line, and he is to receive us at the train, and give us a grand dinner, where the best people of New York are to be got to meet us. He told me the difficulty he has in getting a room at the hotels where he is not known. I think his embassy is at Washington; but he has so little to do that he generally lives at New York. After dinner we sang choruses. Count G. wanted to walk into the drawing-room after dinner with me on his arm—and I had to try to get away from him; he persisted, however, till he was stopped by the French Consul, and made to stay where he was. M. Duvergier d'Hauraune told Dick he would not go to the armies, because he could not then write to his family. He always writes twice a week, and his mother would be disappointed without a letter. Colonel G. is gone to stay with Sir Fenwick. Wednesday, October 19th.—Fine day at last, but cold. I am reading “Prescott's Life,” by Ticknor, doubly interesting to me from having been at Boston, and knowing something about the country. I forgot to tell you of a tomb at the Montreal Cemetery; it is a pretty white Grecian cr oss with a little garden round it; it is where poor young Mr. Disbrowe is buried; he died out here —the last brother. I got some flowers from it, and Mr. Goldwin Smith settled them for me in an envelope, and I sent them to L., to send to his poor sisters. Thursday, 20th.—We drove after lunch yesterday to hear the 25th band play on the esplanade. After dinner, Dick, Captain Pem. and I drove to Madame Tessier's ball in the open waggon. M. Tessier is the orateur of the Upper House. I opened the ball with him, opposite to Madame and Dick. At French parties there are no fast dances, all quadrilles and lancers; it seems so odd. The R.C. Bishop won't allow “round” dances. Six of the 25th string-band played so well. So many old people I don't think I ever saw, and the older they were the more they danced. No officers but Captain Webber, 17th, and Colonel Hassard, R.E.—they were in uniform, because this is considered an official week. Amongst others I danced with Dr. Tupper, Premier of Nova Scotia, and with Honourable Mr. Coles, leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of Prince Edward's Island. Colonel Grey is gentlemanly. I like Dr. Tupper. Mr. Coles asked to be introduced to me, and, when I said we were going away, he got introduced to Dick, and said to me, “Silence means assent, so come and dance.” He does steps, and gives you his hand with a bow of the head and a shake of the body. He said to me, “I'm a sort of fellow who talks away and forgets to dance.” He

said, “We gentlemen don't know how to decide between Mrs. Dundas and Lady M., they are both so pretty and nice.” The G. G. has had a telegram that has fussed him, and he is gone on now the moment after breakfast to Quebec; it is about Confederates and Yankees, I believe. The K.O.B. soldiers' theatricals come off to-night for the Canadian Mil. Asylum (for widows or orphans of soldiers out here). To-morrow night is the Bachelors' ball, given by six rich bachelors in the Parliament House—they are lumberers and merchants. It is to be “select.” The invitation has on it “Quadrilles nine,” which does not mean only quadrilles. Friday, 21st.—Had an early visit yesterday from old Mr. Archibald (Abraham, I call him). He made me quite angry about Lord L. He said, “I hope he is going back soon to Washington; there is a great deal of important business awaiting him there,” just as if he was neglecting it. His brother is Consul at New York. The day was fine, cold, and dry. We dined at 6.30, and after dinner we drove to the 25th plays; Mrs. Godley and Capt. Pem. came with us. They took place at the musichall, as you know there is no theatre at Quebec. They never replaced the burnt-down one. I send programme. The actors were soldiers of the K.O.B.'s, and acted so very well, with such nice voices; the women's parts were done by men. The house was crowded, and very demonstrative. Our seats were quite in front, so we had a good view. Some of the delegate people were there. There was the cleverest Irish soldier I ever saw at the plays. He was inimitable. Saturday, October 22nd, '64, Spencer Wood.—Yesterday evening after dinner we went to the bachelors' ball at the Parliament House. At the door there was a guard of honour of volunteers. We were received by ladies in the ballroom, mothers of the bachelors, who themselves never came near any one the whole night. The G. G. opened the ball with Madame Duval. There were forty bachelors, not six, as I was told. The attractions of the two rooms were supposed to be equally divided. “One room had the G. G. and party, and the other the 25th string-band.” I only danced quadrilles, as I feared to tear my lace. Amongst others I danced with Mr. Cartier (Attorney-General East), and with Mr. John A. Macdonald (Attorney-General West). I went to supper with Judge Caron (or Caw-ron, as they say here), father of a bachelor. Dick's conduct was atrocious; he flirted with two married ladies all night. Madame Duval says she is going to give a ball for Colonel Monck. John A. is very agreeable. I asked John A. what the kingdom of Canada is to be called— some say “Canadia.” He said that in some speech he had said that, to please the Nova Scotians, it should be called “Acadia,” Ottawa should be called “Evangeline,” and Mr. Brown shall be “our Longfellow”—he is very big and tall. There were several pretty people at the ball, and the dresses were some of them very good. There is no more to tell of the ball.

Sir Joseph Pope: “John A.” From The Day of Sir John MacDonald

John Alexander Macdonald… was born in Glasgow on January 11, 1815… In the year 1820, [his family] embarked for Canada in the good ship Earl of Buckinghamshire, and after a voyage long and irksome even for those days, landed at Quebec and journeyed overland to Kingston, then and for some years after the most considerable town in Upper Canada, boasting a population (exclusive of the military) of about 2500 souls…. Communication with the outside world, in those early days, was slow, toilsome, and sometimes dangerous. The roads were, for the most part, Indian paths, somewhat improved in places, but utterly unsuited, particularly in spring and autumn, for the passage of heavily laden vehicles. In 1817 a weekly {3} stage began running from Kingston to York (Toronto), with a fare of eighteen dollars. The opening of an overland highway between Kingston and Montreal, which could be travelled on by horses, was hailed as a great boon. Prior to this the journey to Montreal had been generally made by water, in an enlarged and improved type of bateau known as a Durham boat, which had a speed of two to three miles an hour. The cost to the passenger was one cent and a half a mile, including board. .... When Hugh Macdonald moved from Hay Bay to the Stone Mills, his son John, then about ten years of age, returned to Kingston to pursue his studies. He attended the grammar school in that town until he reached the age of fifteen, when he began the world for himself. Five years at a grammar school was all the formal education Sir John {6} Macdonald ever enjoyed. To reflect upon the vast fund of knowledge of all kinds which he acquired in after years by his reading, his

observation, and his experience, is to realize to the full the truth of the saying, that a man's education often begins with his leaving school. He always regretted the disadvantages of his early life. 'If I had had a university education,' I heard him say one day, 'I should probably have entered upon the path of literature and acquired distinction therein.' He did not add, as he might have done, that the successful government of millions of men, the strengthening of an empire, the creation of a great dominion, call for the possession and exercise of rarer qualities than are necessary to the achievement of literary fame. In 1830 Macdonald, then fifteen years of age, entered upon the study of law in the office of George Mackenzie of Kingston, a close friend of his father, with whom also he lodged. In 1832 Mackenzie opened a branch office in the neighbouring town of Napanee, to which place Macdonald was occasionally sent to look after the business. In 1833, by an arrangement made between Mackenzie and L. P. Macpherson—a relative of the Macdonalds—young {7} Macdonald was sent to Picton, to take charge of Macpherson's law-office during his absence from Canada. On being called to the bar in 1836, Macdonald opened an office in Kingston and began the practice of law on his own account. In the first year of his profession, there entered his office as student a lad destined to become, in Ontario, scarcely less eminent than himself. This was Oliver Mowat, the son of Macdonald's intimate personal and political friend, John Mowat of Kingston. Oliver Mowat studied law four years with Macdonald, leaving his office in 1840. About the same time another youth, likewise destined to achieve more than local celebrity as Sir Alexander Campbell, applied for admission to the office. Few circumstances in the political history of Canada have been more dwelt upon than this noteworthy association; few are more worthy of remark. A young man, barely twenty-one years of age, without any special advantages of birth or education, opens a law-office in Kingston, at that time a place of less than five thousand inhabitants. Two lads come to him to study law. The three work together for a few years. They afterwards go into politics. One drifts away {8} from the other two, who remain closely allied. After the lapse of twenty-five years the three meet again, at the Executive Council Board, members of the same Administration. Another twenty-five years roll by, and the principal is prime minister of Canada, while one of the students is lieutenant-governor of the great province of Ontario, the other his chief adviser, and all three are decorated by Her Majesty for distinguished services to the state.

The times were rough. In Macdonald's first case, which was at Picton, he and the opposing counsel became involved in an argument, which, waxing hotter and hotter, culminated in blows. They closed and fought in open court, to the scandal of the judge, who immediately instructed the crier to enforce order. This crier was an old man, personally much attached to Macdonald, in whom he took a lively interest. In pursuance of his duty, however, he was compelled to interfere. Moving towards the combatants, and circling round them, he shouted in stentorian tones, 'Order in the court, order in the court!' adding in a low, but intensely sympathetic voice as he passed near his protégé, 'Hit him, John!' I have heard Sir John Macdonald {9} say that, in many a parliamentary encounter of after years, he has seemed to hear, above the excitement of the occasion, the voice of the old crier whispering in his ear the words of encouragement, 'Hit him, John!' In 1837 the rebellion broke out, and Macdonald hastened to give his services to the cause of law and order. 'I carried my musket in '37,' he was wont to say in after years. One day he gave me an account of a long march his company made, I forget from what place, but with Toronto as the objective point. 'The day was hot, my feet were blistered—I was but a weary boy—and I thought I should have dropped under the weight of the flint musket which galled my shoulder. But I managed to keep up with my companion, a grim old soldier, who seemed impervious to fatigue.' In 1838 took place the notorious Von Shoultz affair, about which much misunderstanding exists. The facts are these. During the rebellion of 1837-38 a party of Americans crossed the border and captured a windmill near Prescott, which they held for eight days. They were finally dislodged, arrested, and tried by court-martial. The quartermaster of the insurgents was a man named Gold. He {10} was taken, as was also Von Shoultz, a Polish gentleman. Gold had a brother-in-law in Kingston, named Ford. Ford was anxious that some effort should be made to defend his relative. Leading lawyers refused the service. One morning Ford came to Macdonald's house before he was up. After much entreaty he persuaded Macdonald to undertake the defence. There could be practically no defence, however, and Von Shoultz, Gold, and nine others were condemned and hanged. Von Shoultz's career had been chequered. He was born in Cracow. His father, a major in a Cracow regiment, was killed in action while fighting for the cause of an independent Poland, and on the field of battle his son was selected by the corps to fill his father's place. He afterwards drifted about Europe until he reached Florence, where he taught music for a while. There he married an English girl, daughter of an Indian officer, General Mackenzie. Von Shoultz subsequently crossed to America, settled in Virginia, took out a patent for crystallizing salt, and acquired some property. The course of business took him to Salina, N.Y., not far from the Canadian boundary, where he heard of the rebellion going on in Canada. He not unnaturally {11} associated the cause of the rebels with that of his Polish brethren warring against oppression. He had been told that the Canadians were serfs, fighting for liberty. Fired with zeal for such a cause, he crossed the frontier with a company and was captured. He was only second in command, the nominal chief being a Yankee named Abbey, who tried to run away, and who, Von Shoultz declared to Macdonald, was a coward. Von Shoultz left to Macdonald a hundred dollars in his will. 'I wish my executors to give Mr John A. Macdonald $100 for his kindness to me.' This was in the original draft, but Macdonald left it out when reading over the will for his signature. Von Shoultz observed the omission, and

said, 'You have left that out.' Macdonald replied yes, that he would not take it. 'Well,' replied Von Shoultz, 'if it cannot be done one way, it can another.' So he wrote with his own hand a letter of instructions to his executors to pay this money over, but Macdonald refused to accept it. It has been generally stated that it was the 'eloquent appeal' on behalf of this unfortunate man which established Macdonald's reputation at the bar, but this is quite a mistake. {12} Macdonald never made any speech in defence of Von Shoultz, for two very good reasons. First, the Pole pleaded guilty at the outset; and, secondly, the trial was by court-martial, on which occasions, in those days, counsel were not allowed to address the court on behalf of the prisoner. This erroneous impression leads me to say that a good deal of misapprehension exists respecting the early manhood of Canada's first prime minister. He left school, as we have seen, at an age when many boys begin their studies. He did this in order that he might assist in supporting his parents and sisters, who, from causes which I have indicated, were in need of his help. The responsibility was no light one for a lad of fifteen. Life with him in those days was a struggle; and all the glamour with which writers seek to invest it, who begin their accounts by mysterious allusions to the mailed barons of his line, is quite out of place. His grandfather was a merchant in a Highland village. His father served his apprenticeship in his grandfather's shop, and he himself was compelled to begin the battle of life when a mere lad. Sir John Macdonald owed nothing to birth or fortune. He did not think little of either of them, but it is the {13} simple truth to say that he attained the eminent position which he afterwards occupied solely by his own exertions. He was proud of this fact, and those who thought to flatter him by asserting the contrary little knew the man. Nor is it true that he leaped at one bound into the first rank of the legal profession. On the contrary, I believe that his progress at the bar, although uniform and constant, was not extraordinarily rapid. He once told me that he was unfortunate, in the beginning of his career, with his criminal cases, several of his clients, of whom Von Shoultz was one, having been hanged. This piece of ill luck was so marked that somebody (I think it was William Henry Draper, afterwards chief justice) said to him, jokingly, one day, 'John A., we shall have to make you attorney-general, owing to your success in securing convictions!' …We have seen that Macdonald, at the outbreak of the rebellion, hastened to place his military services at the disposal of the crown. On the restoration of law and order we find his political sympathies ever on the side of what used to be called the governor's party. This does not mean that at any time of his career he was a member of, or in full sympathy with, the high Toryism of the 'Family Compact.' In those days he does not even seem to have classed himself as a Tory.[2] Like many moderate men in the province, Macdonald sided with this party because he hated sedition. The members of the 'Family {17} Compact' who stood by the governor were devotedly loyal to the crown and to monarchical institutions, while the violent language of some of the Radical party alienated many persons who, while they were not Tories, were even less disposed to become rebels. The exacting demands of his Radical advisers upon the governor-general at this period occasionally passed all bounds. One of their grievances against Sir Charles Metcalfe was that he had ventured to appoint on his personal staff a Canadian gentleman bearing the distinguished name of deSalaberry, who happened to be distasteful to LaFontaine. In our day, of course, no minister could dream of interfering, even by way of suggestion, with a governor-general in the selection of

his staff. In 1844, when the crisis came, and Metcalfe appealed to the people of Canada to sustain him, Macdonald sought election to the Assembly from Kingston. It was his 'firm belief,' he announced at the time, 'that the prosperity of Canada depends upon its permanent connection with the mother country'; and he was determined to 'resist to the utmost any attempt (from whatever quarter it may come) which may tend to {18} weaken that union.' He was elected by a large majority. In the same year, the year in which Macdonald was first elected to parliament, another young Scotsman, likewise to attain great prominence in the country, made his début upon the Canadian stage. On March 5, 1844, the Toronto Globe began its long and successful career under the guidance of George Brown, an active and vigorous youth of twenty-five, who at once threw himself with great energy and conspicuous ability into the political contest that raged round the figure of the governor-general. Brown's qualities were such as to bring him to the front in any labour in which he might engage. Ere long he became one of the leaders of the Reform party, a position which he maintained down to the date of his untimely death at the hands of an assassin in 1880. Brown did not, however, enter parliament for some years after the period we are here considering.

The Conservative party issued from the general elections of 1844 with a bare majority in the House, which seldom exceeded six and sometimes sank to two or three. Early in that year the seat of government had been removed from Kingston to Montreal. The first {19} session of the new parliament—the parliament in which Macdonald had his first seat—was held in the old Legislative Building which occupied what was afterwards the site of St Anne's Market. In those days the residential quarter was in the neighbourhood of Dalhousie Square, the old Donegana Hotel on Notre Dame Street being the principal hostelry in the city. There it was that the party chiefs were wont to forgather. That Macdonald speedily attained a leading position in the councils of his party is apparent from the fact that he had not been two years and a half in parliament when the prime minister, the Hon. W. H. Draper, wrote him (March 4, 1847) requesting his presence in Montreal. Two months later Macdonald was offered and accepted a seat in the Cabinet.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: “The Coalition” From Canada: A People’s History John A. MacDonald: http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP8CH3PA1LE.html George-Etienne Cartier: http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP8CH3PA2LE.html George Brown: http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP8CH3PA3LE.html Thomas Darcy McGee: http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP8CH3PA4LE.html The Great Coalition: http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP8CH3PA5LE.html

John A. MacDonald: “A Letter to the British of Lower Canada” 1856

The truth is, that you British Lower Canadians can never forget that you were once supreme - that Jean Baptiste was your hewer of wood and drawer of water. You struggle, like the Protestant Irish in Ireland, like the Norman invaders in England, not for equality, but ascendancy - the difference between you and these interesting and amiable people being that you have not the honesty to admit it. You can't and you won't admit the principle that the majority must govern. The Gallicans may fairly be reckoned as two thirds against one third of all the other races who are lumped together as Anglo-Saxons - Heaven save the mark!... The only remedies are immigration and copulation and these will work wonders. The laws are equally administered to the British and the French, at least if we may judge by the names of your judges it ought to be so. Lumping your judges of the Queen's Bench, Supreme and Circuit courts, you have full one half British. More than one half of the Revenue officers, indeed of all officers of emolument, are held

by men not of French origin. It would surprise you to go over the names of officials in a Lower Canada almanac and reckon the ascendancy you yet hold of official positions. Take care the French don't find out and make a counter-cry. True, you suffer occasionally from a Gavossi riot or so, but in the first place you Anglo-Saxons are not bad hands at a riot yourselves, and, in the second place, the rioters are not Franco-Canadians, nor Canadians of any kind. A proper jury law, if the present one does not suit, is all you can want. but you must be represented in the cabinet... No man in his senses can suppose that this country can for a century to come be governed by a totally unfrenchified [sic] government. If a Lower Canadian British desires to conquer he must 'stoop to conquer'. He must make friends with the French, without sacrificing the status of his race or language, he must respect their nationality. Treat them as a nation and they will act as a free people generally do - generously. Call them a faction and they become factious. Supposing the numerical preponderance of British in Canada becomes greater than it is, I think the French would give more trouble than they are said to now to do. At present they divide as we do, they are split up into several sections, and are governed by more or less defined principles of action. As they become smaller and feebler, so they will be more united; from a sense of selfpreservation, they will act as one man and hold the balance of power. Look how the house of 600 Pitt was supported through Dundas by the whole Scotch vote, and remember that O'Connell with his tail absolutely governed England after the Lichfield House bargain. So long as the French have twenty votes they will be a power, and must be conciliated. I doubt very much if the French will lose their numerical majority in L.C. in a hurry. What with the cessation of immigration from Europe, their own spread in the Townships, the opening up of the Ottawa and St. Maurice, and the certainty that they will ere be the labourers in our factories that are fast coming , I am inclined to think they will hold their own for many a day yet.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: “The Charlottetown Conference” From Canada: A People’s History http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP8CH4LE.html

George Brown: “Remembering the Charlottetown Conference” From the Memoirs of George Brown ...Having dressed ourselves in correct style, our two boats were lowered man-of-war fashion -and being each duly manned with four oarsmen and a boatswain, dressed in blue uniform, hats, belts, etc. in regular style, we pulled away for shore and landed like Mr. Christopher Columbus who had the precedence of us in taking possession of portions of the American Continent. Our brother delegates were there before us. Five from Nova Scotia, five from New Brunswick and five from Prince Edward Island. Newfoundland goes heartily with the movement, but was not notified in time to take part in the proceedings. At two o'clock the Conference was organized by the appointment of Col. Gray, Prime Minister of Prince Edward Island, as President of the Convention. You are aware that the Conference was originally summoned merely to consider the question of a union of the Maritime Provinces and that Canada was no party to that Arrangement and had no interest in it. We came their [sic], not as recognized members of the Conference, but unofficially to discuss with them the propriety of extending their scheme and seeing whether the whole of British America could not be included in one government. The Conference was accordingly organized without us, but that being done we were formally invited to be present and were presented in great style to the Conference. Having gone through the shake elbow and the how dyedo and the fine weather -- the Conference adjourned to the next morning at 10 when to meet for the serious despatch of business. In the evening the Governor, Mr. Dundas, gave a large Dinner party to as many of the party as he could conveniently receive -- I being one.... On Friday we met in Conference and Canada opened her batteries -- John A. and Cartier exposing the general arguments in favour of Confederation -- and this occupied the time until the hour of adjournment at three. At four o'clock Mr. Pope gave us a grand déjeuner à la fourchette.... On Saturday the Conference resumed its deliberations and Mr. Galt occupied the sitting in opening up the financial aspects of the Federation and the manner in which the financial disparities and requirements of the several Provinces ought to be arranged. When the Conference adjourned, we all proceeded on board our steamer and the members were entertained at luncheon in princely style. Cartier and I made eloquent speeches -- of course -and whether as the result of our eloquence or of the goodness of our champagne, the ice became completely broken, the tongues of the delegates wagged merrily, and the banns of matrimony between all the Provinces of BNA having been formally proclaimed and all manner of persons duly warned their [sic] and then to speak or forever after to hold their tongues -- no man appeared to forbid the banns and the union was thereupon formally completed and proclaimed! In the evening, Col. Gray gave a grand dinner party at his beautiful mansion.... On Monday the Conference resumed its sittings, when I addressed the members on the Constitutional aspects of the question -- the manner in which the several governments general and local should be constructed -- and the Judiciary should be constituted -- what duties should be ascribed to the general and local legislatures respectively -- and so forth. My speech occupied

the whole sitting... On Tuesday the Conference resumed its deliberations -- earnestly discussing the several details of the scheme. The Canadians this day closed their case, and left the Conference to decide what course it would take on their propositions. At four o'clock Mr. Palmer, Attorney-General, gave the delegates a grand luncheon at his residence....

On Wednesday, the Conference gave the Canadian Delegates their answer -- that they were unanimous in regarding Federation of all the Provinces to be highly desirable, if the terms of union could be made satisfactory -- and that they were prepared to waive their own more limited questions until the details of our scheme could be more fully considered and matured. It was agreed that the Conference should stand adjourned until Monday the 12th Sept. then to meet at Halifax....

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: “Take the Dare!” From Canada: A People’s History The Quebec Conference: http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP8CH4PA3LE.html Quebec Resolutions: http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP8CH4PA4LE.html St. Albans Raid: http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP8CH4PA5LE.html

John A. MacDonald: “Presiding Over Our Destinies” 1865 I HAVE had the honor of being charged, on behalf of the government, to submit a scheme for the confederation of all the British North American Provinces—a scheme which has been received, I am glad to say, with general if not universal approbation in Canada. This subject is not a new one. For years it has more or less attracted the attention of every statesman and politician in these provinces, and has been looked upon by many far-seeing politicians as being eventually the means of deciding and settling very many of the vexed questions which

have retarded the prosperity of the Colonies as a whole, and particularly the prosperity of Canada. The subject, however, tho looked upon with favor by the country, and tho there were no distinct expressions of opposition to it from any party, did not begin to assume its present proportions until the last session. Then men of all parties and all shades of politics became alarmed at the aspect of affairs. They found that such was the opposition between the two sections of the Province, such was the danger of impending anarchy in consequence of the irreconcilable differences of opinion with respect to representation by population between Upper and Lower Canada, that unless some solution of the difficulty was arrived at we would suffer under a succession of weak governments—weak in numerical support, weak in force, and weak in power of doing good. In the proposed constitution all matters of general interest are to be dealt with by the general legislature; while the local legislatures will deal with matters of local interest which do not affect the confederation as a whole, but are of the greatest importance to their particular sections. By such a division of labor the sittings of the general legislature would not be so protracted as even those of Canada alone. And so with the local legislatures: their attention being confined to subjects pertaining to their own sections, their sessions would be shorter and less expensive. Then, when we consider the enormous saving that will be effected in the administration of affairs by one general government; when we reflect that each of the five Colonies has a government of its own with a complete establishment of public departments and all the machinery required for the transaction of the business of the country; that each has a separate executive, judicial, and militia system; that each Province has a separate ministry, including a minister of militia, with a complete adjutant-general’s department; that each has a finance minister, with a full customs and excise staff; that each Colony has as large and complete and administrative organization with as many executive officers as the general government will have—we can well understand the enormous saving that will result from a union of all the Colonies, from their having but one head and one central system. We in Canada already know something of the advantages and disadvantages of a federal union.

The whole scheme of confederation as propounded by the conference as agreed to and sanctioned by the Canadian government, and as now presented for the consideration of the people and the legislature, bears upon its face the marks of compromise. Of necessity there must have been a great deal of mutual discussion. When we think of the representatives of five Colonies, all supposed to have different interests, meeting together, charged with the duty of protecting those interests and of pressing the views of their own localities and sections, it must be admitted that had we not met in a spirit of conciliation and with an anxious desire to promote this union; if we had not been impressed with the idea contained in the words of the resolution,—“that the best interests and present and future prosperity of British North America would be promoted by a federal union under the Crown of Great Britain,”—all our efforts might have proved to be of no avail. If we had not felt that, after coming to this conclusion, we were bound to set aside our private opinions on matters of detail; if we had not felt ourselves bound to look at what was practicable—not obstinately rejecting the opinions of others nor adhering to our own; if we had not met, I say, in a spirit of conciliation, and with an anxious, overruling desire to form one people under one government, we never would have succeeded. With these views we press the question on this House and the country. I say to this House, if you do not believe that the union of the Colonies is for the advantage of the country, that the joining of these five peoples into one nation under one sovereign is for the benefit of all, then reject the scheme. Reject if you do not believe it to be for the present advantage and future prosperity of yourselves and your children. But if, after a calm and full consideratio n of this scheme, it is believed, as a whole, to be for the advantage of this Province —if the House and country believe this union to be one which will ensure for us British laws, British connection, and British freedom, and increase and develop the social, political, and material prosperity of the country—then I implore this House and the country to lay aside all prejudices and accept the scheme which we offer. I ask this House to meet the question in the same spirit in which the delegates met it. I ask each member of this House to lay aside his own opinions as to particular details and to accept the scheme as to a whole, if he think it beneficial as a whole. As I stated in the preliminary discussion, we must consider this scheme in the light of a treaty. By the happy coincidence of circumstances, just when an administration had been formed in Canada for the purpose of attempting a solution of the difficulties under which we labored, at the same time the Lower Provinces, actuated by a similar feeling, appointed a conference with a view to a union among themselves, without being cognizant of the position the government was taking in Canada. If it had not been for this fortunate coincidence of events, never, perhaps, for a long series of years would we have been able to bring this scheme to a practical conclusion. But we did succeed. We made the arrangement, agreed upon the scheme, and the deputations from the several governments represented at the Conference went back pledged to lay it before their governments, and to ask the legislatures and people of their respective Provinces to assent to it. I trust the scheme will be assented to as a whole. I am sure this House will not seek to alter it in its unimportant details; and if altered in any important provisions the result must be that the whole will be set aside and we must begin de novo. If any important changes are made, every one of the Colonies will feel itself absolved from the implied obligation to deal with it as a treaty, each Province will feel itself at liberty to amend it ad libitum so as to suit its own views and

interests; in fact the whole of our labors will have been for naught, and we will have to renew our negotiations with all the colonies for the purpose of establishing some new scheme. I hope the House will not adopt any such course as will postpone, perhaps for ever, or at all events for a long period, all chances of union. All the statesmen and public men who have written or spoken on the subject admit the advantages of a union if it were practicable; and now, when it is proved to be practicable, if we do not embrace this opportunity, the present favorable time will pass away, and we may never have it again. Because, just so surely as this scheme is defeated, will be revived the original proposition for a union of the Maritime Provinces irrespective of Canada; they will not remain as they are now, powerless, scattered, helpless communities; they will form themselves into a power which, tho not so strong as if united with Canada, will nevertheless be a powerful and considerable community, and it will be then too late for us to attempt to strengthen ourselves by this scheme, which, in the words of the resolution, “is for the best interests and present and future prosperity of British North America.” If we are not blind to our present position we must see the hazardous situation in which all the great interests of Canada stand in respect to the United States. I am no alarmist, I do not believe in the prospect of immediate war. I believe that the common sense of the two nations will prevent a war; still we can not trust to probabilities. The government and legislature would be wanting in their duty to the people if they ran any risk. We know that the United States at this moment are engaged in a war of enormous dimensions: that the occasion of a war with Great Britain has again and again arisen and may at any time in the future again arise. We can not foresee what may be the result; we can not say but that the two nations may drift into a war as other nations have done before. It would then be too late, when war had commenced, to think of measures for strengthening ourselves or to begin negotiations for a union with the sister Provinces. At this moment, in consequence of the ill feeling which has arisen between England and the United States—a feeling of which Canada was not the cause—in consequence of the irritation which now exists owing to the unhappy state of affairs on this continent, the reciprocity treaty, it seems probable, is about to be brought to an end; our trade is hampered by the passport system, and at any moment we may be deprived of permission to carry our goods through United States channels; the bonded goods system may be done away with, and the winter trade through the United States put an end to. Our merchants may be obliged to return to the old system of bringing in during the summer months the supplies for the whole year. Ourselves already threatened, our trade interrupted, our intercourse, political and commercial, destroyed, if we do not take warning now when we have the opportunity, and, while one avenue is threatened to be closed, open another by taking advantage of the present arrangement and the desire of the Lower Provinces to draw closer the alliance between us, we may suffer commercial and political disadvantages it may take long for us to overcome. It is the fashion now to enlarge on the defects of the Constitution of the United States, but I am not one of those who look upon it as a failure. I think and believe that it is one of the most skilful works which human intelligence ever created; is one of the most perfect organizations that ever governed a free people. To say that it has some defects is but to say that it is not the work of omniscience, but of human intellects. We are happily situated in

having had the opportunity of watching its operation, seeing its working from its infancy till now. It was in the main formed on the model of the Constitution of Great Britain, adapted to the circumstances of a new country, and was perhaps the only practicable system that could have been adopted under the circumstances existing at the time of its formation. We can now take advantage of the experience of the last seventy-eight years during which that Constitution has existed, and I am strongly in the belief that we have in a great measure avoided in this system which we propose for the adoption of the people of Canada the defects which time and events have shown to exist in the American Constitution. In the first place, by a resolution which meets with the universal approval of the people of this country, we have provided that for all time to come, so far as we can legislate for the future, we shall have as the head of the executive power the sovereign of Great Britain. No one can look into futurity and say what will be the destiny of this country. Changes come over nations and peoples 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. By adhering to the monarchical principle we avoid one defect inherent in the Constitution of the United States. By the election of the president by a majority and for a short period, he never is the sovereign and chief of the nation. He is never looked up to by the whole people as the head and front of the nation. He is at best but the successful leader of a party. This defect is all the greater on account of the practise of reelection. During his first term of office he is employed in taking steps to secure his own reelection, and for his party a continuance of power. We avoid this by adhering to the monarchical principle—the sovereign whom you respect and love. I believe that it is of the utmost importance to have that principle recognized so that we shall have a sovereign who is placed above the region of party—to whom all parties look up; who is not elevated by the action of one party nor depressed by the action of another; who is the common head and sovereign of all. With us the sovereign, or in this country the representative of the sovereign, can act only on the advice of his ministers, those ministers being responsible to the people through Parliament. Prior to the formation of the American Union, as we all know, the different States which entered into it were separate Colonies. They had no connection with each other further than that of having a common sovereign, just as with us at present. Their constitutions and their laws were different. They might and did legislate against each other, and when they revolted against the mother country they acted as separate sovereignties and carried on the war by a kind of treaty of alliance against the common enemy. Ever since the Union was formed, the difficulty of what is called “State rights” has existed, and this had much to do in bringing on the present unhappy war in the United States. They commenced, in fact, at the wrong end. They declared by their Constitution that each State was a sovereignty in itself, and that all the powers incident to a sovereignty belonged to each State, except those powers which by the Constitution were conferred upon the general government and Congress. Here we have adopted a different system. We have strengthened the general government. We have given the general legislature all the great subjects of legislation. We have conferred on them, not only specifically and in detail all the powers which are incident to sovere ignty, but we have expressly declared that all subjects of general interest not distinctly and exclusively conferred upon the local governments and local legislatures shall be conferred upon the general government and legislature. We have thus avoided that great source of

weakness which has been the cause of the disruption of the United States. We have avoided all conflict of jurisdiction and authority, and if this Constitution is carried out, as it will be in full detail in the imperial act to be passed if the colonies adopt the scheme, we will have in fact, as I said before, all the advantages of a legislative union under one administration, with at the same time the guaranties for local institutions and for local laws which are insisted upon by so many in the Provinces now, I hope, to be united. I think it is well that in framing our Constitution our first act should have been to recognize the sovereignty of her majesty. I believe that while England has no desire to lose her Colonies, but wishes to retain them—while I am satisfied that the public mind of England would deeply regret the loss of these Provinces—yet, if the people of British North America, after full deliberation, had stated that they considered it was for their interest, for the advantage of the future British North America, to sever the tie, such is the generosity of the people of England that, whatever their desire to keep these Colonies, they would not seek to compel us to remain unwilling subjects of the British Crown. If, therefore, at the conference, we had arrived at the conclusion that it was for the interest of these Provinces that a severance should take place, I am sure that her majesty and the imperial Parliament would have sanctioned that severance. We accordingly felt that there was a propriety in giving a distinct declaration of opinion on that point, and that in framing the Constitution its first sentence should declare that “The executive authority or government shall be vested in the sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and be administered according to the well-understood principles of the British Constitution, by the sovereign personally, or by the representative of the sovereign duly authorized.” That resolution met with the unanimous assent of the conference. The desire to remain connected with Great Britain and to retain our allegiance to her majesty was unanimous. Not a single suggestion was made that it could by any possibility be for the interest of the Colonies, or of any section or portion of them, that there should be a severance of our connection. Altho we knew it to be possible that Canada, from her position, might be exposed to all the horrors of war by reason of causes of hostility arising between Great Britain and the United States—causes over which we had no control and which we had no hand in bringing about—yet there was a unanimous feeling of willingness to run all the hazards of war, if war must come, rather than lose the connection between the mother country and these Colonies. We provide that “the executive authority shall be administered by the sovereign personally, or by the representative of the sovereign duly authorized.” It is too much to expect that the queen should vouchsafe us her personal governance or presence except to pay us—as the heir-apparent to the throne, our future sovereign, has already paid us—the graceful compliment of a visit. The executive authority must therefore be administered by her majesty’s representative. We place no restriction on her majesty’s prerogative in the selection of her representative. As it is now, so it will be if this Constitution is adopted. The sovereign has unrestricted freedom of choice. Whether in making her selection, she may send us one of her own family, a royal prince, as a viceroy to rule over us, or one of the great statesmen of England to represent her, we know not. We leave that to her majesty in all confidence. But we may be permitted to hope that when the union takes place, and we become the great country which British North America is certain to be, it will be an object

worthy the ambition of the statesmen of England to be charged with presiding over our destinies.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: “Confederation” From Canada: A People’s History Lower Canada Dissent: http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP8CH5PA1LE.html Maritime Opposition: http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP8CH5PA3LE.html Confederation: http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP8CH6LE.html

A. H. U. Colquhoun: “Another View of Confederation" The Fathers of Confederation: A Chronicle of the Birth of the Dominion 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 enco unter.

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.

“Sir John A. MacDonald, Drunk and in Flames” http://torontodreamsproject.blogspot.ca/2015/01/sir-john-macdonald-drunk-in-flames.html