Part 12 (1/2)
Mr. Tilley became minister of customs and the Hon. Mr. Mitch.e.l.l minister of marine and fisheries, while the two Nova Scotia representatives, Messrs. Archibald and Kenny, became respectively secretary of state for the provinces and receiver-general.
It will thus be seen that the Maritime Provinces had four representatives out of thirteen members of the cabinet, and this proportion has generally been maintained since that time; so that the fears of those who antic.i.p.ated that the provinces by the sea would not receive fair treatment in the distribution of high offices have proved to be groundless. On the contrary, it can be said that the Maritime Province members of the government appear always to have occupied a very influential position.
The office of minister of customs, which Mr. Tilley received, was thought by some of his friends to be less important than he deserved, they being of the opinion that he should have been made minister of finance. This office, however, went to Mr. Galt, who, owing to a difference with the rest of the government, resigned four months later, his place in the cabinet being taken by Sir John Rose, who held the office of finance minister until October, 1869, Sir Francis Hincks then receiving the appointment. It was not until the resignation of the latter in February, 1873, that Mr. Tilley became minister of finance.
The office at first a.s.signed to him, however, was one of great importance, involving as it did the reorganization of the entire establishment of the customs of Canada, and it gave ample scope for his great ability as a business man.
The elections for the House of Commons in the new parliament of Canada took place in August, when Tilley was chosen to represent the city of St. John, and John H. Gray, the county. It had been expected, in view of the fact that these men had been so largely instrumental in bringing about confederation, that they would be allowed to walk over the course unopposed. This was the case with Mr. Gray, whose candidature met with no opposition; but Mr. Tilley was opposed by Mr. John Wilson, who received a very small vote. This needless and futile opposition to the candidature of a man who deserved so well from the province, was merely one of the proofs of the existence of political rancour in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of those who had been defeated on the confederation question.
{FIRST CANADIAN PARLIAMENT}
The first parliament of united Canada met on November 6th, 1867, and the address was moved by the Hon. Charles Fisher, who had been elected to represent the county of York. The session was a very long one, lasting until May 22nd of the following year; but there was an adjournment, extending from December 21st to March 20th. This meeting of parliament was especially memorable, inasmuch as it brought together, for the first time, the representatives of all the provinces, and the ablest men of all political parties. The people of Ontario and Quebec were little known to the people of the Maritime Provinces, and those who resided in the larger provinces in like manner knew comparatively little of their fellow-subjects who dwelt by the sea. It was expected by some that the Maritime Province representatives would be completely overshadowed by men of greater political reputation belonging to the larger provinces, but this did not prove to be the case. The Maritime representatives at once took a leading position in parliament, and this position they have steadily maintained down to the present time. No man stood better in the House of Commons than the representative from St. John, the Hon. S. L.
Tilley. At that time Her Majesty, the Queen, in acknowledgment of his services in the cause of confederation, had created him a Companion of the Bath, a distinction which was also given to the Hon. Charles Tupper, of Nova Scotia.
A vast amount of business had to be disposed of at the first session of the parliament of Canada. Although the Union Act embodied the plan upon which confederation was founded, it was necessary to supplement it by a great deal of special legislation, for the purpose of interpreting it and making preparations for the practical working of the const.i.tution.
In all the discussions relative to the measures which had to be pa.s.sed at that time, Tilley took a prominent part, and, when the session was over, he had established in the House of Commons, as fully as he had in the legislature of New Brunswick, a reputation for ability as a speaker and as a man of affairs. He was looked upon as one whose wide knowledge of the needs of the province and whose experience in departmental work were likely to be of the greatest use to the confederation. His high character gave weight at all times to his words, and caused him to be listened to with the most respectful attention. During the whole period that Tilley sat in the House of Commons, he had the pleasure of knowing that even his political enemies respected his character and abilities, and, with the exception of the premier, perhaps no man wielded a more potent influence in the councils of the Dominion than he.
It is not necessary here to trace to any large extent the career of Sir S. L. Tilley in the parliament of Canada; that belongs rather to the history of the Dominion than to a work which deals particularly with his connection with his native province. Only so much of his public life in the House of Commons will be dealt with as seems necessary to complete his personal history. Tilley continued to hold the position of minister of customs during the whole of the term of the first parliament of Canada. This parliament held five sessions and dissolved in the summer of 1872, the general election being in the month of July, upon which occasion he was reelected for the city of St. John without opposition.
{MINISTER OF FINANCE}
The second parliament met on March 5th, 1873. Eleven days before that time Mr. Tilley had become minister of finance, succeeding Sir Francis Hincks, who had resigned that office after holding it for more than three years. The advancement of Mr. Tilley to this responsible and influential position was very pleasing to his friends, and was received with satisfaction by the country generally.
The first confederation ministry of Canada resigned office on November 5th, 1873, under circ.u.mstances which are a part of the political history of the Dominion and need not be gone into in this volume, further than to say that, whatever basis there may have been for charges of corruption in connection with the Pacific Railway contract against other persons in the government, none were ever preferred against Mr. Tilley; nor did any one suspect or believe that he had anything whatever to do with the transactions which led to the resignation of the government.
Prior to that event Mr. Tilley had been appointed lieutenant-governor of the province of New Brunswick in succession to the Hon. Lemuel A.
Wilmot, whose term had expired. Every one felt that the honour thus bestowed upon Tilley was a most fitting one, for he was New Brunswick's foremost son in political life, and had reached his high position purely through his own ability and his own good character. That position he filled a greater number of years than any of his successors are likely to do, and it is admitted on all sides that no man could have performed the duties of the office more satisfactorily than he did.
CHAPTER XII
FINANCE MINISTER AND GOVERNOR
Mr. Tilley took up his residence in the old Government House, Fredericton, and he must have been struck with the changed aspect of affairs from that presented under the old regime, when lieutenant-governors were appointed by the British government and sent out from England to preside over the councils of a people of whom they knew little or nothing. Most of these former governors had been military men, more accustomed to habits of command than to deal with perplexing questions of state. They looked with a very natural degree of impatience on the attempts which the people of the province were making to get the full control of their own affairs. Under the old regime the governor was surrounded with military guards, and sentries paced the walks and guarded the entrances to the Government House. The withdrawal of the British troops from Canada before the lieutenant-governors.h.i.+p of Mr.
Tilley commenced relieved him of any embarra.s.sment in regard to dispensing with military guards and sentries; but all pretentious accompaniments of authority were foreign to his nature, and he always showed, by the severe simplicity of his life, that he felt he was one of the people, and that it was his duty as well as his pleasure to permit all who had any occasion to see him to have free access to him, without the necessity of going through any formal process.
{THE PROTECTIONIST TARIFF}
When Mr. Tilley became lieutenant-governor of the province, he was fifty-five years of age, and he seems to have thought that his political career was ended, because, by the time his term of office expired in its natural course, he would have reached the age of sixty, a period when a man is not likely to make a new entrance into public life. But circ.u.mstances, quite apart from any desire on his part, made it almost necessary for him to change his determination, and during the summer of 1878, when the general election was imminent, he found himself pressed by his old political friends to become once more the candidate of his party for his old const.i.tuency, the city of St. John. There was great enthusiasm amongst them when it was announced that he would comply with their wishes, and that he had resigned the lieutenant-governors.h.i.+p. The result of that general election is well known. The Liberal party, which had succeeded to the government less than five years before with a large majority in the House of Commons, experienced a severe defeat, and the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, seeing this, very properly did not await the a.s.sembling of parliament, but sent in the resignation of the ministry, and Sir John A. Macdonald was called upon to form a new government. In the cabinet thus constructed Mr. Tilley resumed his old office of minister of finance, and one of his first duties was to a.s.sist in the framing of a new customs tariff which was to give effect to the principle, upon which the election had been run, of protection to home industries. This idea of protection had not been heard of in the Canadian confederation as the policy of any political party until Sir John A. Macdonald took it up about a year before the general election, but it proved a winning card and was the means of giving the new government a long lease of power.
Sir Leonard Tilley's speech in introducing the new tariff was well received and made a strong impression upon all who heard it. It was admitted, even by those who were opposed to the views he held, that he showed a great mastery of the details, and that he ill.u.s.trated in a very clear manner the view that the country was suffering because the duties imposed upon foreign goods were not sufficiently high to protect Canadian manufactures.
It is not the intention of this volume to deal to any full extent with the career of Sir Leonard Tilley during his second term of office as minister of finance of Canada. To enter into that phase of his career would be to relate the history of Canada, for he was but one member of the government, and not its leader. It is admitted that, in respect to financial questions, Sir Leonard showed the same ability that had characterized his career during his previous term of office, and he was looked upon by his colleagues as a man in whose judgment the utmost confidence could be placed. At this time, however, his health began to fail, and the disease which finally carried him off developed to such an extent that he was told he must cease all active work or his days would be shortened. Under these circ.u.mstances, it became necessary for him to retire from the severe duties of his very responsible and laborious office, and on October 31st, 1885, he was again appointed lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, an office which he had filled with so much acceptance between 1873 and 1878. Sir Leonard Tilley continued lieutenant-governor during a second term, for almost eight years, or until the appointment of the Hon. John Boyd to that position. He was lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick for considerably more than twelve years, a record which is not likely to be equalled by any future lieutenant-governor for many years to come, if ever.
{SECOND TERM AS GOVERNOR}